To email us now

click HERE

This section of the website is designed to help you to reset your digibox after a power cut, and perform various functions of the Sky system that may not appear obvious. Please bear with us while this section grows. As we continue to add guides and updates, we ask you to email your comments for inclusion in our Comments page. You will need the latest version of Adobe Reader to view (and print) these PDF files out, which you can download for FREE by clicking here.

 

Our most popular guide:

To learn how to successfully reset your Sky Digibox after a power cut or other interruption, click here.

 

ITV1, C4, More4, E4, Five, Fiver & Five USA on SKY DIGITAL

If you are the proud owner of a new WHITE Sky card (FTV or pay-monthly) and a 2.4m dish, and you are losing UK channels early, you can take advantage of a few extra programmable channels which should improve evening reception of terrestrial UK channels dramatically - so much so that even owners of 1m - 1.2m dishes can enjoy all the following channels, at least during daylight hours:

Press SERVICES on your Sky remote control.

Choose option 4 - System Setup, then option 4 again - Add Channels. Use these details:

 

ITV1                                Frequency: 12.402

(choose ITV1 Mer SE)     Polarisation: V or Vertical

                                       Symbol rate: 27.5 or 27,500

                                       FEC: 2/3

 

C4, More4, E4                  Frequency: 12.480

and the +1’s                   All other details as above

 

Five, Fiver, Five USA       Frequency: 12.422

and the +1’s                   Polarisation: H or Horizontal

                                       Symbol Rate: 27.5 or 27500

                                       FEC: 2/3

After selecting each of these frequencies in turn and choosing ‘FIND CHANNELS’, you should be presented with a list of a few channels, including the ones you’re after on that particular frequency.

Press the yellow button to put a tick next to each channel you wish to store for future use, then press Select twice to store your changes. Finally, press the big blue Sky button at the top of the remote control to return to TV viewing.

You should only need to carry out this process once in order to store the backup frequencies for these extra channels permanently.

Now, to access your new channels, press SERVICES, then choose ‘Other Channels’.

From the list of channels available highlight the one you want to watch with the yellow bar and press Select to view it. If it comes up as ‘No satellite signal is being received’ we may be able to help by retuning your dish properly or replacing your old LNB... Please call us for assistance! To return to the main EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) key in any 3-digit channel number, eg 501 for Sky News.

 

Astra 2 footprints

Astra 2 is the name for the fleet of satellites (currently 4 of them) which broadcast the Sky Digital and FreeSat signals. A ‘footprint’ is a map of a geographical area that is covered by the signal beam from a particular satellite.

The Astra 2 satellites are arranged in a rough square in space, with some 40 miles on a side.

Because of their distance from Earth (some 27,000 miles or more), the satellites appear as one signal source when tuning in a signal- so no need for 4 separate dishes!

Think of a satellite in space as you would a lighting rig above a theatre stage.

On this rig (or satellite) are various different individual lights (transponders) which broadcast signals of varying strength and coverage (called footprints).

For example, there are WIDE beams which light up the whole stage, or in our case project signals to most of Europe. These are found on the Astra 2A and 2B satellites, which project a NORTHERN beam, and a SOUTHERN beam.

As we are in the South of Europe, channels broadcast on the Southern Beam appear strongest to us. This includes channels such as Sky News, Sky One, Living, Discovery, and others.

Northern beam channels are slightly weaker from our perspective, but still receivable on a small(ish) dish, ie. 1 - 1.35m. Channels on this beam include Five and many of the ‘+1’ channels such as Living +1.

Finally, there is Astra 2D, which currently carries BBC, ITV, C4 and other ‘big-dish’ channels. Astra 2D projects a very narrow beam, focussed tightly on the UK. Imagine a spotlight on an individual actor on stage… It is for this reason that we need such a large dish to be able to pick up BBC and ITV at all - we are fighting for the scraps of signal from Astra 2D which is focussed on an area 1,200 miles north of us!

The following maps show the generally accepted footprints of the Astra 2 satellite fleet:

 

Astra 2 Northern Beam:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Astra 2 Southern Beam:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Astra 2D Beam:

 

========================================================

PIN NUMBERS

Sometimes Sky boxes may ask you for your PIN number, for example when switching to some movie channels. So do YOU know your PIN, or where to find it?

Usually your PIN is the last 4 digits of your viewing card number (the 9-digit number printed across the middle of the back of your Sky card (white side with a gold chip).

To avoid removing your card during this process, you can access your viewing card number by pressing SERVICES, 4 (System Setup), 5 (System Details) on your Sky remote control and reading the details off the screen. Press Backup repeatedly to leave the menus.