Sky signal strength.
 

For years I have been unable to receive a number of channels,due I was led to believe, to the signal being of insufficent strenth. I refer to channel 324 and others following but not all of them,( Movies for Men +1 etc.). Free to Air channels.

This weekend, however, the effected channels have become perfect to view and one presumes the signal strength has been increased. Does anyone know if this is to be permanent or is it likely to return to the former strength. I am considering returning to a subscription to Sky but only if all channels are available.

Re: Sky signal strength.
 

Maybe some trees were cut down nearby that were interfering in your signal

Re: Sky signal strength.
 

only one tree that would be a problem and that one is now in leaf but the signal only improved yesterday and is very good today. I shall, of course, see how the picture continues over the next few weeks, as the leaves grow in size, Many thanks for your reply.

Re: Sky signal strength.
 

Keep the electric saw handy too...and just say you wanted to preserve water..so cut the tree down :D

Re: Sky signal strength.
 

Have you had high winds recently? The weakest channels on our box all suddenly improved after a storm, but that was soon followed by the main channels (BBC etc) beginning to deteriorate in bad weather. The reason for it all was the dish had moved.

A well-aimed dish picks out the best compromise point in between all the satellites broadcasting to the UK. But because the dish can't be aimed precisely at all of the sats simultaneously, some will always be better or worse than others. Many people will not be any the wiser, but if you have interference from trees, poor cabling or connectors, or are towards the edge of the sat footprints (in Scotland, for example), then you will notice that some of the channels, the ones broadcast from the sats you are not so well aimed at, will suffer.

I would say it's unlikely that the transmit power of any of the channels has changed. If the quality shift was sudden, then they may have moved to a different satellite or (in my experience more likely) your dish has shifted position slightly.

Re: Sky signal strength.
 

Cable Forum Team. Many thanks for your reply.

The reception today of the channels normally not good is again perfect and your view that the dish could have moved just slightly, but enough to change reception, seems to be possible as we did have heavy Hail Storms recently. It will be interesting to see if they change back ,indicating a change by the Sender.

The Free to Air channels from the Sky setup, Movies4Men x4, do show some good films and are useful additions to my Cable XL. I found the Film Channels (Sky) but obtainable from VM, to be a bit of a nonsense being the same titles constantly and very poor choice.