This post should hopefuuly explain why you have to change the Default Transponder Frequency Settings for a Sky digibox when in Spain.
NO SATELLITE SIGNAL BEING RECEIVED MESSAGE
HOW TO CHANGE THE SKY DEFAULT TRANSPONDER FREQUENCY SETTINGS FOR SPAIN.
When a Sky receiver / digibox / box is turned on the first time the first thing the box tries to do is, amongst other things, to download approximately 6 hours of EPG information from a specific default frequency from the satellite. The digibox must have this information to start to work.
Unfortunately, the default transponder frequency that the decoder is initially set on (11778) is one of the weaker signals in Spain and the Costa Blanca, especially during the afternoons.
When power is cut, such as during one of Spains frequent power cuts, the Sky boxes default to their UK transponder frequency settings - 11778. This may not be on of the strongest transponder frequency in Spain, and so the box may not be able to lock onto this weka frequency and therefore you will receive the "No satellite signal is being received" on screen message.
Therefore, to assist the digibox to receive the bare minimum information it requires boot up the default frequency must be changed to another frequency to enable the initial information download.
The best / most popular default transponder frequency for the Costa Blanca Spain is 12.129, although you can use any of the many frequencies that you can actually receive at the time. Yes ANY frequency will work, as long as you can receive the particular frequency!
In most cases, after a successful download the default transponder frequency will return to 11778. This is normal, and you should not really expect the digibox to keep the default transponder you have manually input.
IMPORTANT:
Changing this default transponder frequency on a Sky box does not increase how long channels are available, no matter what people tell you. It is only used to “assist” the receiver to boot up. For example if you change the default transponder frequency setting to another frequency setting, say 12129, then when you ask the receiver to change to Sky News the receivers will look for Sky News on 12207, and as a basic Sky receiver can only look at one frequency at a time, the default transponder setting of 12129 is not used and overridden. So this is why changing the default transponder does not increase the time a channel is available and why changing this frequency does not keep BBC or ITV One, Two, Three Four for longer.
You do not have to do this process for Freesat or Generic receivers, just Sky receiver.
If you want to see how this process works, you can watch a video of the operation http://www.satandpcguy.com/Site/sky_satellite_default_transponder_frequency_settings_costa_blanca_spain.htm
Frequency For Sky TV in Spain
A question that is asked frequency on Google is "What is the frequency for Sky TV in Spain?"
The answer is simple: you use the same frequncies for Sky TV in Spain as if you were in the UK.
UK TV abroad uses the same satellites and satellite frequencies as if you were using your Sky digibox in the UK. The UK TV channels available on Sky (of Freesat) come from the same group of four satellites: Astra 2a, Astra 2b, Astra 2d, and Eurobird 1. All UK TV channels are transmitted from one of the 90plus satellite transponder frequencies on these four satellites.
So if you want to watch Sky Sports 1 HD in the UK you will be using a satellite frequency of 11798 H 29500 3/4. If you want to watch Sky Sports 1 HD in Spain you will use the same frequency.
Here is a list of those frequencies used on Astra and Eurobird satellites for UK "Sky" and "Freesat" TV in the UK and abroad.
Sky Freesat Frequency Settings
There is of course another reason for asking this question - which could be interpretated as "What is the best default transponder frequency setting for Sky TV in Spain?"
I have mentioned this many times in other posts, so here are some links:
Best Transponder Frequency for Sky and Freesat in Spain and abroad
Default Transponder Frequency Settings for the Costa Blanca Spain
Default Transponder Frequency Settings for the Costa Blanca Spain (HD EPG)
For more information visit
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