double Lmb

[Chris_Haze]

At the moment I have a 60cm sat dish and single Lmb, conected to my old sky digibox. During sunny weather I can only recieve bbc1, itv3, sky news and a few other not worth watching channels.

However when it rains I can also get bbc 2, 3+4.

Any Ideas on how to rectify problems, also if I changed my mono lbm for a dual lbm would it increase my reception. Could I also move sat dish slightly to recieve signal from hotbird sat, and if so would my sky digibox decoad them or recieve clear free to view signals.

Totaly confused and in need of help/advice.

Chris.

[Eslier]

Chris, I can't tell you what's wrong but I can clear up a couple of your points and maybe give you some things to check.

Firtly, it is a LNB ("N" not "M"), and having a dual or quad output LNB won't help you. These are used to provide seperate outputs when more than one digibox is being used or if you are using Sky+.

Secondly, the UK tv channels are broadcast by Sky on Astra-2D which is where your dish needs to be pointing. Pointing it towards Hotbird won't help if you want to watch BBC1/2 etc.

Thirdly, the first thing to check is what you "signal strength" and "signal quality" is like which you can do so from one of the sky menus. The "signal strength" needs to be up around 70%, if it's not then your dish may need some re-alignment. "Signal Quality" should be 90-100% and if it's not then you may be able to improve it by rotating the LNB in its mount slightly. It probably needs to be scewed to approximately between one and two o-clock. You may need to have someone inside watching the visual meter display as you are up the ladder adjusting it.

Fourthly, check that you haven't got water into the F-type connector that connects the cable to the LNB. If this gets wet inside then it can affect the commands that tell the LNB to switch between high and low band signals.

Finally, there could be a problem with your digibox not sending the signal to switch between high and low band signals. If you have a Panasonic box then there is a known incompatibility problem with some LNBs. If this is the case then there is a relatively simple fix for it - you can find the details here: http://www.satcure.co.uk/panasonic.htm

Good luck

[JohnM]

You've got me on why things are better when it rains. Usually, moisture attenuates the signal so things get worse. I'm not an expert but I don't think you can get Hotbird and Astra on one stationary dish, I "think" they are too far apart. If an expert doesn't reply have a good search through the archives because I am sure something like that has been asked before.

As for improving your signal, well my place is in the Savoie, I manage with a 60cm dish and I understand that people even further south cope as well, so size should not be an issue.

What might be an issue are: Is the dish pointing in exactly the right direction (Horizontal and Vertical)? Are there any trees in the way (the moisture in the leaves can have an effect)? Are you using the correct cable (the wrong cable can "loose" signal)? Is the cable continuous or have you a number of short ones joined (connectors also loose signal)? Is it a very long cable (the longer the cable the greater the loss)? Are your connections good (bad connections mean signal loss)? Has the cable been damaged (guess what, damage can equal signal loss)?

 

[Babnik]

I know that rain refracts the signal coming in, and usually on a well set-up dish, heavy rain can result in lose of signal quality. What could be happening in your case, is that the refraction actually makes things better. Was the dish installed on a rainy day perhaps? Only guessing here!

[Chris_Haze]

Thanks for the replies so far, answers to some questions.

The sat dish is attached to my chimney on top of 2 story house, higher than any trees in garden.

It was put there by gitem a company that specialises in tv installations.

Internal ariel cable put in by previous owner( I am going to have to check this out for bad connections).

Sat dish erected in fine sunny weather.

regards chris.