thanks for that...been bugging me for years

It’s a long time ago since I bothered with satellite but I think even then when Astra 1a was getting crowded they shared transponders and weakened the signal. Plus I got home one winter’s night to find half a programme blue screened thanks to snow on the dish.

@@bdavebaldwin No, I don't agree channels sharing analogue satellite transponders doesn't weaken a satellite signal at all. There are many factors that determine how good a reception you get from satellite, satellite footprints / the dish size used / the received signal strength at your location / the satellite's transmitted EIRP / objects in the way of your dish i.e trees etc / the quality of your dish and receiver / and the noise figure of your lnb and signal to noise ratio of your satellite receiver. Astra tended to be received better on 60cm dishes in the south and central portions of England weakening the further north you went, north of Birmingham Astra got progressively weaker and 80cm dishes and up to 90cm dish sizes in Scotland guaranteed better reception giving a bigger received dBW gain and fewer to no sparklies. I invested in an 80cm dish and was happy with the results. The reception was 100% near perfect with barely any sparklies except the heaviest rain snow sleet and hail. The Amstrads were crap for pics and sound quality and were dreadful for weak Astra signal sensitivity with a shit signal to noise ratio and an annoying automatic frequency control circuit which would frequently drift off tune. The cheapie Alba / Bush Astra Satellite receiver equipment also suffered from crap reception on 60cm dishes and were worse for reception in Northern England too.

@@anthonyperkins7556 lost out on two counts. Amstrad decoder and North of England.

Yes I'll Remember Had Amstrads Satellite In 1990 Started With 16 Astra Channel's & Also Had Later 48 Channel's With 2nd Amstrad Box When Astra 1B & 1C Later Launched Great Day's When I'll Listen To Sky Radio & Listened To Radio Luxembourg With Hi-Fi in Stereo On Astra Channel 13 When I'll Had A Luxcrypt Decoder When RTL 4 Was Scrambled.

@@ianbennett66 The Amstrads were dreadful for sparklie pictures - even with an 80cm dish, especially on the awful UK Gold and would give black and white sparklies in fine weather with awful signal to noise ratio and an annoying tendancy on the srx 100 200 and 400 to drift off frequency with a temperamental automatic frequency control circuit. They never used genuine Wegener Panda 🐼 1 noise reduction circuitry either sounding hissy and unpleasant.