Reception reports for Europe
Updated
Friday, 14th February, 2014
AUSTRIA
Reception on a Gibertini 1.0 m in Landeck, Tyrol, but nothing on a 1.5 m in Wernberg, Villach. A well-installed 3 metre dish receives nothing in Graz, in the south-east.
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Austria Reception Reports
We live next to Lake Millstatt (north of Villach) in the south of Austria. All previous perfect signal on 1.2 metre into Humax Foxsat has now gone - even radio. So now its all done over the
internet. Let’s face it, that’s probably the future anyway. Seems to me that UK TV not cashing in by selling their programs to millions of Brits around the
world is incredibly short sighted !!
Steve, Villach Southern Austria
I just wanted to drop you a quick mail to inform you about my current situation regarding the reception of BBC channels in Austria after the move to Astra 2E. I've got a 1.0m dish and a PACE
digi-box. Used to have great reception, after the move, none whatsoever for BBC channels. I may try out bigger dishes soon and will report back if I do.
I am living in Tyrol, about 60km east of Innsbruck (near the German border).
Ingo, Austria
CANARY ISLANDS
Dishes of 2.4 to 3.2 now necessary. In Gran Canaria, a good quality, and expensive, 2.4 m ChannelMaster type is needed with a top quality LNB, but it seems this is too small in Tenerife.
3.1 m
working in Lanzarote, as well as a 3 m in Adeje, Tenerife. 5 metres in Tenerife.
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Canaries Reception Reports
We have started getting more channels in the past few days I am guessing around 120 more,
I don't think we are receiving them from Astra 2A though I believe we are getting them from 2E European beam as we can not get Astra 2A North.
I think this because ITV 2HD, ITV3Hd and ITV4 HD are now receivable here now and they were on Astra 2A north beam before, Since yesterday we can now get them so I am assuming they are now on 2E
European beam.
Darren, Canary Islands
DENMARK
The centre of Denmark is now an Astra 2E "black hole", where there is virtually no signal. It is on a "null", which extends the length of the country. The west coast of Sweden is also affected.
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Denmark Reports
2.4 m in Korsør, Denmark, no 2E reception
1m in Randers, Denmark, nothing
Anything under 180cm on west coast of sweden is getting no signal
Frederikshavn, no signal
1.5 m working in Copenhagen
FRANCE
Large scale losses from the southernmost quarter of the country. Typically dishes have been 80-90cm in the past. In some areas, a re-tune and a better LNB will get the signals back, but with little
rain margin. A 120cm. may be needed in many areas. Near the border with Catalunya, the signal is worse. There is a report of a well-tuned 90 cm retaining the BBC between Cannes and Nice, but many
reports of BBC loss in the region, roughly in a line drawn eastwards and westwards north of Toulouse. Planning regulations in many areas restrict dish sizes to 1 metre.
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Receiving the BBC:
90 cm, marginal with a Humax in Agen
100 cm marginal in Fréjus, Nice
100 cm between Narbonne and Perpignan
85 cm and 90 cm dishes working in Nizas
Languedoc-Roussillon, Nr Millau, 120 cm
Manosque, 90 cm
90 cm, 60 km NE of Marseille
85 cm in Grenoble, with a Humax receiver.
Location Castillon du Gard, near Nimes & Avignon, S of France
Dish: 95cm
LNB: Zinwell octal claimed to be 0.2dB
Pace Skybox, Samsung Skybox & Sagem Freesat
All channels present and correct.
Default xponder signal on Pace - same signal bars as last week
Default xponder signal on Samsung - same signal bars as last week
Sagem signal
BBC1,2,3,4
was Quality 100% Strength 68% on Wed 5th
is Quality 100% Strength 64% on Thurs 6th
BBC1,2 HD
was Quality 100% Strength 76% on Wed 5th
is Quality 100% Strength 68% on Thurs 6th
However, I notice large fluctuations in strength and some in quality today
despite clear weather,
so I'd like to see things settle before I'm convinced.
After severe mistral last November, I did a quick fix peaking of the dish
and I aim to do it very carefully when things are settled, so I'd expect some improvement.
I currently have little rain margin on ITV HD, esp when heavy.
Also the offset dish is 13 years old and was shipped to France 4 yrs ago after use in England.
It has to be warped by now, so I'll be aiming to renew with one of appropriate size
when SES have stopped tweaking the lobes.
Robin, Castillon du Gard, near Nimes & Avignon, 6th. February
GERMANY
BBC channels have disappeared most parts of Germany on the dishes typically installed for Astra 2. Previously, 60 to 90cm dishes were sufficient. Dishes of around 120cm may now be needed. This is
guesswork, no-one needed dishes this big before. North of Hamburg, the signal weakens. Not far to the north, some parts of Denmark have virtually no signal. To the south, near the Austrian border, 2.4 metre dishes are now needed.
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Receiving the BBC:
100 cm in Ausburg, NW of Munich
Munich: 95 cm with Kathrein and LNB: Inverto Black Ultra
100 cm 20 Km west of Hannover, marginal reception
Lindau, 90 cm
85 cm, Marburg.
GREECE
Just one report, from Lindos, Rhodes, 2.4m with petals, extended to 3.2m, 100% working on BBC. Some other Sky channels patchy. Using Sky receivers. This report is highly surprising, confounding
predictions.
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Report from Rhodes
Hi,been following the news on your site regarding "2e".i have a business in Lindos Rhodes I currently use 7 dishes for various things at my bar and at home.the biggest dish is a 2.4m with the
petals to make 3.2m,this is of course for sky I'm also using a 2.4 at my house as well.since the movement of channels to 2e I am getting a far better signal,we are watching bbc1 clear for the 1st
time in about 3 years,using the 3.2 dish straight into my lg smart tv is giving me bbc all regions 100% clear 24 hrs,the same smart tv is also pulling 1 but pixelating slightly early morning/late
night the sky hd box performs ok but still recieve no signal on 2.4 some periods of the day....my d boxes are the poorest reception all skysports channels including Ssn are working but only in
sd,crime hd is playing and a lot more of the kids stuff including. Cbbc some movies are lost ie premier hd.hope some more ppl are able to give positive reports
Zoe, Rhodes, Greece
ITALY
No BBC for most in the centre and south. Between this area and Rome, 1.8 to 2.5 metres. Further south, in Potenza, Basilicata (well south of Rome, 40.38N 15.48E), a 3.4 metre (11 feet) Prodelin
dish is just about receiving the the 2E UK Spot beam.
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Receiving the BBC:
1.5 m in Verona
1.25 m in Milan
100 cm in Liguria, 50 km W. of Verona
80 cm in Milan
1.5 m in Modena (marginal)
75 cm in Rivaalo Canavese, Turin
1.5 m in Parma
100 cm in
Turin.
I confirm that we too have a much better signal just slightly to the south of Modena City, in the countryside.
Daytime, we receive BBC1 and 2 in HD. Standard definition BBC, ITV and C4 channels ran through all last night , 80% signal 60% quality.
This on the Freesat box, the old Panasonic SKY box remains pretty much useless on FTA.
Chris, Modena City
MENORCA
BBC signals have disappeared on 1.2 m dishes, which 90% of expats have. 1.8 m is the new minimum. Only 2.4 m Skyware dishes (formerly ChannelMaster) give good rain margin.
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Receiving the BBC:
2.4 m ChannelMaster with 8 way LNB
hello just wanted to share some info
we are currently fitting 1.8m offset dishes in Menorca with good cable and inverto lnb with channel master feed horn the results are good we have the new gibertini feed horn on order and hope to increase signal with this.
today we were called to a bar to fit a cannel plus package when we arrived the owner said he was still receiving bbc service on a gibertini 1.25 when we went on to the roof we found he had a 1.6 offset dish .
when i returned home i quickly installed an old dish that measured 1.6 by 1.7 height fitted it with a invacom lnb plus channel master feed horn and was surprised by the results picked up all channels with a snr of 3.9 on the box i then added new cable and snr went up to 7 don't know what to make of these results
John,
uktvmenorca.com
To confirm we now have lost all ITV & CH4 as expected on 1.3m dish in Menorca.
You said a 1.8 plus dish would restore signal but I suspect the cost would be 1500 euro at least. When I ask myself if it worth it, I think not. Still have lots of other channels to watch plus SKY news.
Mike, Menorca
Hi,
Just to keep you informed.
As of 07:00 today, no BBC receivable on the normal 1.25m dishes that 90% of expats in Menorca have. 1.5m still ok at this time and in this 100% clear weather, but we have found that around 09:00 is the weakest time so am expecting problems with the 1.5s later. Of course anything larger than those two dishes are ok at the moment and again with clear skies. From measurements it appears that 2E is exactly the same as 2F in Menorca, so 1.2, 1.5 will be too small . 1.8m will be ok in clear weather and the 2.3m prime focus famaval and the 2.4m offset skyware will be the best option for all year watching
I will keep you informed over the day and different weather.
Nigel, Satellite Services
Hi. I am receiving all the channels that moved in the last few days here in Binibeca Menorca using a 1.5 m dish and Humax h.d. box. Only problem seems to be when it rains heavily.
Geoff, Binibeca
NORTH AFRICA
Tunisia and Tangiers, loss of BBC on 2 metre dishes. Perhaps surprisingly, the BBC was easy to receive in N. Africa.
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From Casablanca, Morocco:
I waited until the dust settled to send in the final report.
1.4m Motorised Dish, inverto LNB, VU+ Solo2 Receiver.
co-ordinates: 33.35.60 N / 7.38.18 W
Last week Lost: All BBC channels gone (1,2,3,4, children’s, news, red button, etc....)
Last week Gained: As I lost some, some came back after being gone for a few months (maybe a year), like challenge & +1, some sky movies on HD, Sky Sports 3HD came back, Channel 5 HD, Fox 1/2 & Fox News came back
This week Lost: ITV1 & +1, ITV+2, ITV +3 and ITV +4. FILM4 +1
This week still working: ITV2, 3, 4, channel 4 & +1, E4 & +1, More 4 HD, FILM 4 HD
I will let you know if there is any more substantial changes, and when the weather gets better
Hamid
NORWAYDishes of 90cm used to be OK in the south, but not now. Upgrades to 120cm may be needed.
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Receiving the BBC:
110 cm near Bergen
Hamar, 120 km n. of Oslo, 1.8m
Current set up: 120cm dish (used to work fine)
Location: Bergen, Norway
We used have everything, but of course BBC was lost on Thursday night with the move.
Chris, Bergen
We live in the south of Norway in Lillesand (30km north of Kristiansand) and have a humax freesat box and a 90 cm Dish.
We have lost all access to BBC channels.
Luke, Lillesand
I have lost all BBC channels tonight. ITV and CH4 are still working.
We have an 86cm dish.
Susan, Bergen
POLAND
A 1.0m dish has lost BBC near the German border, 100km east from Berlin.
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From Poland:
Writing to You from western Poland 40 km from Polish-German border (100km east from Berlin) Just lost all BBC channels, signal is 0. Will try to readjust the dish in next couple of days but I do
not have hope I will get it back. Installation - 100cm dish, Panasonic TV build in freesat tuner, also another one Goodmans SD tuner - on both of them BBC is gone.
Slawek, Poland
PORTUGAL
From the centre of the country southwards, little or no signal is being received on dishes of 3 metres. In Coimbra, a 1.5 m will give a just-about adequate signal with no rain margin. In Villa
Real, in the north, 1.8 m works OK. The Algarve is a BBC disaster zone. Nothing on any size dish, even 3 metres and up.
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From Portugal:
Just for info
We are in Silves, about 40Km west of Faro in the Algarve.
Relevant equipment: Humax Freesat+HD box, 2.4m dish on roof with Hi-gain 4-way LNB.
We have lost all BBC channels - as expected. As of this morning we still have all the ITV, CH4 and all the other commercial channels.
(We do not have SKY, too expensive for watching advertising!)
Norman, Faro, Algarve
BBC channels all lost on Thursday morning.
Still have ITV and Channel 4 this morning - 07.02.14.
All Channel 5's lost some time ago.
Many very upset ex-pats around here, mostly retired and UK TV is a lifeline. It all seems very unfair, why couldn't the footprint have been left as before?
David, Albufeira, Algarve
We are using a 120 dish and have lost all bbc's at the moment. A friend has had a system put in a few months ago that use the old dish pointing at astra for sky channels and another 120 dish pointing in almost the opposite direction and a Technomate-5400 receiver. She can pick up BBC channels and ITV ones.
I looked today and when she is on BBC 1 it shows 34.0w TF-Sat 11.495v 44.102 any idea which satellite this is and is it an alternative? She does NOT pay any monthly payment.
Dave, Algarve
All bbc channels lost in the Algarve - bitterly disappointing
Nigel, Algarve
Would like to report that all BBC channels are lost in Sintra, Portugal with a 1.8m dish
Frank, Sintra
reception reports from my clients here in Central Portugal:
out of 27 clients with various size dishes (1m- 3.2m) only 4 have kept all the `lost` channels.
1st one is on the lower south side of the Caramulo mountain with a 1.8m dish
2nd one is south facing in Santa Ovaia near Olivera d Hospital with a 1.4m dish
both have good line of site and are quite high in ground elevation.
3rd is in Carregal d Sal south facing on a hill with a 2.1m dish
4th one is near Viseu and has a 2m dish
other clients around Penacova, Coimbra , Santa Comba Dao and Tondela have 2.8m dishes with high powered LNB`s that they installed ready for the switchover. They too have lost the channels.
to clarify ..out of the people i know , the ones who still have all channels are all higher up than the others.
there are a few folks with 1.8+m dishes who seem to be getting intermittent signals, But lets face it , the weather at the moment is not great for figuring out signal strength.
so.....as I and others stated many many weeks if not months ago:
It all depends on your location as well as dish size.
Stephen
SLOVAKIA
In, Prietrzka (100km N. of Bratislava, near the border with the Czech Republic), a 2.5m prime focus dish has very limited reception of the 2E UK spot.
SPAIN
The lower third of the country has lost all BBC. Dishes of 3 metres are receiving no signal in Costa Del Sol. Most dishes in the Málaga region are 1.2m (1.3m vertically) which will just get the
Europe beam used by Sky's pay channels. However, no BBC, ITV, Channel Four and associated channels will be received. If you have an Irish Sky card you will be able to watch C4, E4 More 4 Ireland. The only ITV channels which can be received are
ITV 2,3,4 in HD as part of the Sky HD pack.
The cut off point seems to be around Mojácar. To the north, some dishes are still working. To the south, there are no reports of any dish of any size still receiving the BBC. In Quesada, 1.8m is
OK, as is a 1.9m in Alicante. In Benidorm, 1.2m is OK. Mazarrón seems to be OK with 1.8m. A 2.4m in this region gives good rain margin.
In Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque country, many
dishes have stopped working. 1.2m to 1.5m may now be needed. Galicia now needs 1.5 metres, as does northern Portugal. In León, a 1.5 receives nothing, as does an 80cm in Vitoria-Gasteiz. In the Balearics, many dishes are still working.
Barcelona and Catalunya are now in a dead spot, with no measurable signal. Previously, 80-90cm dishes were used. The signal starts to appear north of the French
border. Southern Catalunya is better, around Tortosa 1.8 m dishes are working. There are reports of people planning 3.0 metre dishes in Catalunya. It remains to be seen if they will work.
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Receiving the BBC:
1.8 m Prime Focus in Alcúdia, Mallorca
1.45 m Prime Focus W. of Cartegena, (marginal reception)
1.8 m ChannelMaster in Tortosa, a 1.2 m is marginal in the same area
90 cm in Madrid, no
rain margin
120 cm Madrid, reasonable rain margin
2.4 m Montserrat, nr. Valencia, working 100%
1.9 m Torrevieja, Costa Blanca
1.3 m in Pontevedra, Galicia, no rain margin
1.4 m
in Hondón, 20 Km W. of Alicante, 1.2 m in same area
1.9 m, 18 km W. of San Javier Airport, Murcia
1.9 m in Mazarrón
1.45 m in Daya Nueva, Alicante
1.9 m in Alcossebre,
Castellón
1 m in Oliva, Costa Blanca.
Location: Just north of Huercal-Overa, Almeria Spain ( 37° 29’ N, 1° 56’W)
Equipment: 1.6m dish (1.7m tall), Amstrad DRX890 2TB Sky+ HD box
Reception: Varies during the day. In the morning CH4 and 5 are available, BBC1/2 a weak (can get a picture but it breaks up a bit) but can’t get ITV1. During the day (yesterday) all BBC channels
were lost as well as CH4 and CH5 (but CH5 HD ok). However, after 10pm I was getting a good signal on BBC 1 & 2 (SD), ITV (SD), CH4 (inc CH4 HD) and CH5. Also I can now get ALL Sky movies channels
(never been possible to get all since we came to Spain 4 years ago).
Nigel, Huercal-Overa, Almeria
I have checked all my channels this morning and have lost none that I can see.
I am at Rojales on the edge of Quesada, Alicante province.
I have a self installed 1.8 off set Channel Master dish (I am a retired TV engineer) using a Humax (foxsat hdr) freesat rx.
At the moment we have heavy cloud cover but no rain, it will be interesting to see what happens when it does rain.
Neville, Quesada, Alicante Province
1.45 dish used with Bush SD Freesat.
Initially BBC channels became very (very) marginal but regional versions seemed unaffected.
Lots of unexplained instances of picture but no sound. All seemed to recover after time.
Today I did a freesat retune, and all BBC channels are back albeit with much reduced signal strength. These are almost sure not to provide a rain margin. So many non freesat channels have
moved recently its worth a retune anyway.
My friends have a 2.4 in Moraira (northern costa blanca) report reduced signal strength but still well within margins
Stuart, Guardamar, Torrevieja
La Manga club near Cartegena Murcia
1.8 m dish Humax reciever reception good on all channels
BBC change over channels lost in afternoon but having dish realigned brought signal back to green bands , quality better than strength just in green band
Andrew, Cartegena, Murcia
Whilst I am aware of the forthcoming loss of the ITV, BBC, 5 and and channel 4 programmes, I would like to know why, and by whom, was the decision taken to take such action. Bearing in mind that
the size of the ex-pat population here in Spain alone has to exceed, or at the very least be approaching the 1 million mark, was the decision based purely on the desire to improve the signal to the
UK, if so to what or who’s advantage, or was it a “political” decision based upon the somewhat not too smooth political relationship between the UK and Spain. I realise that this change affects
other countries in Europe, which makes it all the more difficult to understand.
Talking to a few of the Spanish people here in the village, they watch UK TV via freesat because the programmes are in general better than the home grown ones and they get better news coverage.
they are not happy with the changes being made at all!
Nigel, Tarragona
SWEDEN
Losses on 1.2 m dishes, but this size may be OK in Gothenburg. 1.5 to 1.8 m may be needed in most parts of the country.
More reports to follow.
In all cases, well-installed dishes with high quality components have fared better. Many installations are not up to standard, or have been affected by strong winds,
rain, or extreme sunlight. In some cases, a re-tune will help, or a better LNB. (more to follow on this subject)
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From Sweden
I live in Lundsbrunn, Sweden, this is located on the E20 between Göteborg and Stockholm *below lake Vänern*. I read on your site that the reception saw almost no change in Southern Norway and the signal gets weaker above Stockholm, I am lower than Oslo and yet I lost all BBC.
Christian, Lundsbrunn
I can just about receive the 2f UK beam (with very minor pixelation during the day otherwise a good reception) but the 2e spotbeam is a lot weaker here. ...I think in Gothenburg you would get away with a 1.2m dish as the very minimum for 2e.
MORE REPORTS OF BETTER SIGNALS
It's too early to say whether signal strength on the new satellite has increased, it may just a result of drier weather in some places.
More reports of improved 2E reception have arrived. In Fredrikstad,
Norway, a 1m Nokia dish has the BBC again, as does a 120cm in Mazarrón, Spain, a 125cm in Modena, Northern Italy, and 1 metre dishes in Horadada, South Costa Blanca and Lake Garda in northern
Italy.
Signals are better in the mornings and late evenings after 11pm, followng a daily pattern