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Ch 4 problems


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Anyone had problems with ch 4? From time to time it freezes and the remote will not make any of the sky box functions work. Turning off and reconnecting the power solves the problem until the next time. Warping the dish slightly in the two axes does not improve the signal strength or quality indicators. Quality indicator is to the right of the K in OK........any ideas anyone........John not Jackie
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The box is a Panasonic TU-DSB30. The LNB was replaced a couple of years ago. The only thing I have noticed otherwise is that the signal strength indicator does not read as high as it once did. I had assumed that was due to changes of the footprint of the transmission but maybe I am wrong about that! Location is near Niort in Dept 79 and the dish is a standard Sky mini-dish........................John
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I noticed a couple of “freezes” night before last (Tues 25th Oct), though was watching (or rather my guests were watching !!!) BBC1. The “freezes” lasted up to 10 seconds then everything just continued OK. Not weather related as our weather was fine. Don’t know why but seems fine again today.

Ian

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CH 4 seems to be the one that locks up and then the whole box is locked up and nothing works. I have today tried moving the dish slightly up and down and from side to side. Cannot improve either the signal quality or strength so I don't think the dish has moved. Twisting the LNB does not help. It is a wet day here in Deux Sevres and the two indicators only come to just to the right of the K in OK. When I put it in four years ago the signal strength and quality registered a lot higher than they do now, maybe the LNB has gone a bit insensitive, is this possible or is this because the sat' signal is less than it was?.............John

PS Washed LNB and dish with a damp soapy cloth but no change in signal

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You really need a decent satellite meter to align your dish correctly and get maximum signal quality.  It will pay you to buy one.  The cheap audio ones are not really suitable for maximising the signal, you need a meter that you can see and can be attenuated if the needle moves too far. 
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I had a Panasonic digibox until it died recently, which would often totally freeze and could only be bought back to life by switching off at the mains for 10 seconds, my system setup had no other faults. I was informed that some Panasonics models were prone to  freezing  due to a software problem. I would suggest before trying to solve the situation, you may save time and effort by connecting your box  to somebody's elses system to see if the fault still happens. If it does then it might need repairing or replacing but I would  firstly try a forced download which might fix your internal software.

Baz

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I can't advise on a dealer in France but Castorama have the Digisat Plus meter, but I can't see a price for it. http://www.castorama.fr/boutique/sku/sku.jhtml?elementId=Casto802238&productId=CastoECO0113&_requestid=64975#upSelling  Some of the Bricomarches also sell sat equipment and you may get a meter from one of their outlets.

Brymar Satellite in the UK have a number of meters for sale.  This is for information only although you may wish to contact them to see if they will deliver to France. http://www.brymar.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Alignment_Meters_26.html

Their SLX Satellite Finder is quite suitable.  If you want to get a superb meter, which will also give you information about your box, you could go for the Digisat Pro, which is the meter I use.  It's possible that Castorama will have this as they sell the cheaper model as above.

If your box is only freezing on Ch 4 it could be alignment, but if it does the same on other channels it is more likely to be the box. 

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Just done a search on Castorama and the Digisat Plus is too expensive at 89.27 Euros.  The Digisat Pro is only £69 in the UK and is a much better product.  You'll probably be able to find something like the SLX Sat Finder in France, which will do the job quite adequately.
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Thanks for all the info folks and I will certainly look for one of the meters suggested. Has the signal level from the sat' gone down since the recent changes because if not that would further suggest my dish is not pointing exactly right! Where do the two signal bars come to on your box, assuming you have a mini-dish that is.............John (Location Deux Sevres)
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I’m no expert but I installed and aligned my Sky dish, etc. without any meter just using the Sky box and it only took a couple of hours (including bolting to the wall, alignment with a cheap walking compass and then fine tuning using the sky box). Since then it has worked with far better signal quality and signal strength than I ever got when in the UK.

It is also a Panasonic box and used to occasionally freeze and then require unplugging and plugging back in. I believe that this used to happen when the signal strength was weak and the signal was dropping out/returning/dropping, etc. which seemed to them upset the box.

Ian

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Of course you can align a dish just using the Sky box, but if you want to peak the dish for maximum signal strength and quality then there is no substitute for a decent meter. 

The added advantage of a meter is that you can see what you are doing at the dish head, without either getting somebody to relay the info from the box or moving a tv within viewing distance

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Ok I am trying to look at the signal strength and quality for Ch 4, using manual tuning. I need to know:

Frequency,Polarisation,Symbol Rate and FEC

Must be doing something wrong as cannot see them on the Lyngsat site. Has anyone got these figures, many thanks in advance......John

 

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Of all the FTA channels, Channel 4 seems to give the most problems with no or freezing picture and sometimes the box freezes.

 If it is only Channel 4 and not any other channel you are having a problem with , it is unlikely to be a hardware problem.  If it happens infrequently so as not really to be a nuisance then I would just unplug your box and let it reset itself provided that you are showing good signal strenghth and quality, rather than mess your set up about. I am a great believer in  "if it ain't broke don't fix it" 

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[quote]Of course you can align a dish just using the Sky box, but if you want to peak the dish for maximum signal strength and quality then there is no substitute for a decent meter. The added advantage o...[/quote]

Should I re-align my dish with a meter. I have over 75% max signal strength and 75% max signal quality (as shown on the Sky box) and this was done very quickly using only the indications on the Sky box. Both are higher that I had in the UK where the disk was installed by a professional with a meter. Are these inaccurate indicators as I always thought them OK and aligning the dish with them was no trouble (and cheaper).

Question is, would I get better signal if I forked-out on a meter and re-aligned my dish ?

Ian

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Thanks for all the info folks. Spent the morning on the dish and LNB alignment, think I have slightly improved things.

Found a small wasp nest inside the LNB casing. Played with dish alignment/ LNB skew and have got as good a signal as I could. No freezing so far and watched Stargate and Startrek this pm with no problems, sad you may think but I like them!

 The signal level of Ch 4 is now no worse than that of the default transponder so don't think I can do much more short of changing the dish and LNB. BBC 1 gives a better signal quality level than most. Still toying with the idea of a meter but doubt that anymore fiddling will do much.

I still suspect that changes in satellites or footprint or power output or whatever has reduced the signal level and nobody has yet commented on that. I believe Astra 2D has a smaller footprint than it once did and some sites show Deux Sevres as being a bit near the edge.

Regards to all.....................John 
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[quote]The bad news is that it might well be the box. NatPans were prone to this because of power supply faults (not switching the LNB) The good news is that they are about the best of the bunch with a fast...[/quote]

Sorry, but this is just rubbish. The Panasonic is famous for faulty card readers and an ability to be unable to cope with software changes. There was also a band-switching problem with certain LNBs but that was sorted a couple of years ago.

If the original poster receives Sky News, then the problem lies with the installation and not with the receiver. Channel 4 is one of the first channels to disappear when there are dish problems and the link from the Big Dish site below explains. Note the screenshot particularly:

http://www.bigdishsat.com/fs10.php

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