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Hello everyone. After a lot of research I purchased a Kathrein CAP910 satellite system. My wife and I spend the winter in Spain and Portugal and it seemed to me that this system was the best on the market. I read several reviews that stated that the CAP910 was the most likely system to enable the reception of the maximum amount of British TV. So I bought it. I am currently in Spain (near Cadiz) having spent 4 weeks in Portugal (near Olhao). I have been able to get ITV (central), ITV1+1, C4HD, and Channel 5 in both Portugal and Spain. But no BBC1 or BBC2. I was told BBC Scotland generally has the strongest BBC signals but I get nothing. If there is anyone who has more experience of this system on this forum who can give me some advice or pointers as to changes to the system setup that may increase my chances of getting BBC 1 or 2 or both then I would greatly appreciate it.
I have been able to get ITV (central), ITV1+1, C4HD, and Channel 5 in both Portugal and Spain. But no BBC1 or BBC2.
Becasue ITVCentral, Fives and C4HD are on a different satellite (Astra 1n) than BBC channels (Astra 2d), and 1n reception in areas of spain is much better than bbc channels.
Mike0753 wrote:
I was told BBC Scotland generally has the strongest BBC signals but I get nothing..
Depends where you are in Spain will determine which is the best BBC regions to use. In Valencia / Alicante its BBC1 and 2 Wales, and BBC Scotlands are the weakest. So maybe search for the other bBC regions and they may prove to hve better reception.
Mike0753 wrote:
If there is anyone who has more experience of this system on this forum who can give me some advice or pointers as to changes to the system setup that may increase my chances of getting BBC 1 or 2 or both then I would greatly appreciate it.
Probably a lot of fine tuning may get the signal spot on...
or a bigger dish may be required - as reception of BBC channels across Spain varies from 60cm dishes to 2.4m dishes. In the Cadiz area dishes generally used on houses are at least 1.2m for decent reception of 2d...
edit: just done a few checks and yes 1.2 is recommneded in that area for good 24/7 reception. Smaller dishes will do, but expect bbcs to drop off during the evening when the signal gets weaker.
A search on this forum (using the search function at the top of the page of the satellite tv section and search for cadiz) suggests some results with an oyster dish system...and that reception varies a lot in that area.
I have a house not far from Cadiz and we have a 1.2m dish. BBC is good with this size of dish in all but the worst weather. Assuming you have clear vision of the satellite (no trees, buildings etc)then it may just be that your dish is too small to be effective so far south.
As Jon (pcandsatguy) has explained, you are well out of the foot print if the 910 dose not pick up the signal, nothing else will from my experience, but I'll have a personal look next week as I'm in faro.... And will report bact using the cap910 and the oyster digital... Some time soon someone will have a broadcast dish on the roof!! Which would make a difference. With that week signal you'll need a larger dish.... Then weather condition and the time of day comes into play due to the very low signal....
Thanks to all for the replies. This is all fairly new to me and I may be slightly naive but I am slightly confused. I thought my satellite dish was pointing at the Astra 2 satellite but Satandpcguy (sorry i dont know real name) mentioned the Astra 1n dish. Does this mean my dish is pointing at the wrong satellite? One other point. When i was in Spain (El Rocio - near Seville) last winter i had a different (maxview) dish with a manual control. I eventually got quite adept aligning it and was able to pick up all the BBC radio,s plus BBC news and BBC Parliament (not that much use to me by the way). however this year BBC news is nowhere to be seen? Why is this? At El Rocio a neighbouring van was able to get BBC Scotland with their Oyster dish. I had hoped to be able to match that.
Hi Mike.... Jon is his name.... Astra 1n is the latest satelite in that astra2 cluster or as near as it makes no difference..... when you are dealing with very very week signals the slightest difference in position might make the difference, it might be worth going into the service menue and do a up date in the softwear for the 910 (i cant remember how to do this with out looking at the menul) there have been some changes in frequencys certainley bbc news 24 has been moved to the weeker astra 2d transponders.... its only for the uk so thats why its been done and also to save the bbc money.... your radio programs should still be ok except for radio 5 live & extra which if i recal is using the news 24 transponder Jon has all that info in his head as he uses it all day every day for his work... be looking at all the tv signal levels and doing some tests on my way down to Faro next week...... when in Roma last year the tv was fine in Genoa, pisa but at camping roma there was no signal as shuch which did suprise me but then going further south in Pompei all was better.... funey stuff this RF stuff
Thanks Clive and Jon. Sorry i have not posted replies sooner. I have a very poor internet connection here. I will try to update to the latest software. Always a good idea. I have tried to do some research online about Astra 1N. Looks like something set up to increase capacity for the olympics. Can you help me with a couple of queries? Is it possible to make fine adjustments to the direction of the dish and also the LNB skew? and do you think I might get more channels using an alternative receiver? I am currently using the Kathrein control unit as a receiver. Would a Sky or other box achieve better results?
Astra 1N is in the same "group" or "constellation" as Astra 2a, 2b, 2d, and EB1. So no need to change your dish for 1n reception as if you are getting UK TV then it will be getting in (C4HD, ITV1 Central S and E and the Fives are on 1n already.
It is there for extra capacity...for all channels and new channels, and more HD channels.
It may provide some olympic capacity, but not seen anything about htis...i know the bbc have said they wil have about streams for the olympics, but as i undertand these will only be online not on satellite..
Thanks Clive and Jon. Sorry i have not posted replies sooner. I have a very poor internet connection here. I will try to update to the latest software. Always a good idea. I have tried to do some research online about Astra 1N. Looks like something set up to increase capacity for the olympics. Can you help me with a couple of queries? Is it possible to make fine adjustments to the direction of the dish and also the LNB skew? and do you think I might get more channels using an alternative receiver? I am currently using the Kathrein control unit as a receiver. Would a Sky or other box achieve better results?
Hi mike, yes you can make manual adjustments (again I can't remember how, other than looking at the menu) the cap 910 receiver is very good and slightly better than the sky receiver, I say that as I do have the pace receiver on the other lnb, the cap 910 receiver is fed into the tv via the skart input and the sky receiver is fed into the tv using the RF input on channel 69 if I recall.... Just has a little snow here so its very soon time for me to get out of here and head for faro
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