Satellite tv booster

Has any one tried a booster to improve tv reception ? We have excellent reception till about 18.00 hours and then we are left with only 5. 5* etc

any suggestions or advice would be welcome.

duggy in Mallorca .

A "booster" can only amplify the signal if it is able to be received in the first place.

For examople,if your dish is too small to reiceve the signals in the first place, then a booster will not work. A booster cannnot magically make signals appear if the dish is too small to receive those signals in the first place.

Boosters are usally used on long cable runs...to make sure the signal is not lost along those cable runs - the downside is that they can also boost the "noise" in the cable also.

If you are losing channels then either your dish is too small to recvei those signals where you are, or your dish needs a very small realignment.

Thanks. What I don't understand is I can receive all the channels in the morning/ afternoon and then it tapers off with massive pixelation in the evening. The fact that I get the channels at all would seem to indicate correct alignment of the dish which is pretty massive .

duggy

I can receive all the channels in the morning/ afternoon and then it tapers off with massive pixelation in the evening. The fact that I get the channels at all would seem to indicate correct alignment of the dish

Signals from the satellite can and do vary during the day. And heat and humidity can also affect the signals getting through.

If channels are coming and going then although you may think your dish is aligned correctly, but it may not be. There is correct alignment - where it is on the satellites but not 100% so channels are there when the signals are strong. But if not aligned 100% correctly the channels go when the channels are weak.

Of course it also depends on your LNB (type and make) and LNB skew, insects inside the lnb, cabling (any water ingress? cable damage), type of receiver (not all perform well).

It also depends what you mean by "pretty massive" -compared to the uk sky dishes a 1m dish is massive. For some a 3m dish is massive.

Reception reports for Mallorca say you need at least a "1.5m" dish - a 1.25m dish is not getting the signals - http://www.satandpcguy.com/Site/astra_2e_satellite_reception_footprint_uk_tv_spain.php

I think your dish is to small, change it and then you will know, the TV guy would give you a loan of one for a few Weeks....

I live in the centre of Mallorca (Algaida) and have a ‘1.6’ metre dish (1.6 vertical, 1.5 horizontal). It’s on my garage roof and has quite a long cable run to the house. When 2E and 2F took over transmission I had problems with reception, but took the poor mans route of climbing onto the garage roof myself complete with my Foxsat receiver, small TV monitor, and a long extension cable and had a tweak. In my case it made a huge difference. Now I get no pixilation, apart from when it rains (OK, I did noticed a tiny bit one night on News 24). I have a friend who lives about 1.5  kilometres away and he only has a 1.25 metre dish. He, like you, was suffering pixilation, but not as frequent or as bad as you suggest you have. I went round to his finca with my Foxsat receiver, mintor etc. and managed to get about 5% more on the signal strength, but with hardly a noticeable increase in the signal ‘quality’ %, which is a very important part of the equation. He says that his reception is now appears to be better, but I’m sure he will still suffer slightly at times. I have suggested that he either lives with the problem, or takes the plunge and goes for a bigger dish.

Another factor that was noticeable when at his house was the comparison of how the sensitivity of various satellite boxes affected the reception for the same channel. His main SKY receiver was the poorest, followed by his basic Bush Freesat receiver, and the best was my Foxsat HDR box. Another factor to take into consideration in trying to solve your problem, but I would certainly suggest that you get a pro guy around to fine tune your dish.  

Because of the long run of cable I have at my house I did some experiments and tests with one of the cable boosters. Satandpcguy is absolutely correct. The booster will improve the ‘strength’ of the signal on a long run, but it can’t improve the ‘quality’ if it wasn’t received by the dish in the first place. They make no difference to pixilation problems. If you want to try it, you can have mine!

Rod