joidevie Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 I'm beginning to get quite frustrated. I am just finding it very hard to get a decent reception. "Weak signal" and pixelating BBC is becoming tiresome.. I'm wondering whether to simpy pay someone to come and "magic" the whole thing for me..Up until a year ago things were ok - then I had a dodgy box. I now have a new OPTEX and a new LNB. I also have another box (Metronic) as a backup (although it will not tune into any BBC right now which suggests a weak signal?).I've been up the ladder a few times and tweaked and tweaked and have Strength 60% and quality a twitchy 45-65%. Dish is standard French size. One thing that is coming to mind is the length of coax I have. Dish on roof.. Coax (6m) to first floor bedroom(no receiver yet). Connector in bedroom and to more coax to courtyard (5m). Another connector in courtyard (no reason, just had to break the length during building) to the final length which runs in a gaine under the ground floor to the main living room with the decoder (9m).. Then obviously another connector to the back of the box.. Is this too much or should I be looking at other causes? I'm using a TV set set to "info" to monitor the signal when adjusting the dish..Do I find an expert? Do I find a "super strength" receiver/decoder? Do I buy a 20 foot dish!Many thanks.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 In your shoes, I'd test the reception in the bedroom first, as it's the shortest cable length... but I'm not a specialist... [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joidevie Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 Good suggestion - and I have now tested in the bedroom and the picture is excellent..So, is there a rule about how long the coax can be and whether connecters diminish a signal? Am I better off slinging a very long coax from the dish OVER the roof and down the front wall ?Thanks.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Why not leave the box in the bedroom and get one of those radio transmitter things for your down stairs TV? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 In general terms, you don't want to have more tahn about 30 metre cable run in totaland every joint can reduce the signal by up to half and that's with proper connectors so no bits of insulating tape. this is possibly one of the few situations where a booster box can help. If you have a strong signal near the dish but not at 'the other end' then a booster can help.Just a thought, you are using good quality sat. cable aren't you? Ordinary TV coax just won't do I'm afraid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fridgeman Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 HiIt is not so much the lenth of the cable but all those joints I believe is your problem, try one cable from dish to TV then if not better come back and we will try and solve, your other receiver not picking up BBC is more than likely that is not tuned in to the correct transducers but get the single cable sorted first and come back for further info, best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Curiously enough one of our (five) cable runs has two connectors on it, as well as terminal connectors at dish and sat receiver, and we have no trouble. But having said that, connectors are in general very bad news and the advice you've been given is spot-on. Other friends in the village have just one connector (in the form of a wall outlet that then feeds the next part of the run) and it's disastrous. Pictures coming off the dish are fine, but at the other end........... Problem is there's no slack anywhere to do anything about eliminating the joint as such, so they live with marginal reception.Which I still feel they hold me slightly responsible for as dish-setter even though I've explained that a new cable run is the answer......Yesterday I repaired the damage I had done trying to unscrew an f-connector from one of the two outputs of a dual-lnb - the connector had sheared off leaving a fragile internal metal strip that touches the inner conductor under normal circumstances sticking out of the bottom of the LNB. A lot of solder later and - d'you know - it works fine, but I'm ashamed of the bodged visual aspect!!If it wasn't for the collapsed £ I'd be buying a new LNB, but €44 for a dual is a lot of £ at the moment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joidevie Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 Thanks as ever - lots of good tips..OK, small update - I bought an "amlificateur interieur 18dB"- a small sausage shaped "image improver". Result - a vastly poorer/un-usable signal. Another €20 down the toilet.. :o(I've now tidied up the TV, decoder & amp and re-did the connector (threaded type, not crimped) at the rear of the box and the image is now better, but by no means 100%.. It is a clear day however and I know the minute it rains/clouds/wind I'll be pixelating all over the place again.. Is there any better way to connect lengths of coax (as opposed to fixing to units)? (soldering??) Another worry is the 'connection' in the yard which I will need to wrap in butyl rubber tape.. with dampness?The reason for feeding the cable into the bedroom (and hence the additional connector) was to add a 'splitter' and put in another decoder.. However, as soon as this went in, the main reception went again displaying "LNB short".. I dare not try that one again!I think we might be barking up the right tree with the quality of the connections.. A bit like plumbing - poor joints = leaking power.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin963 Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Unless you've a very sophisticated system, a "splitter" simply won't work. A sat receiver "takes control" of its LNB via voltage and sine wave signalling (13V/18V and 22 kHz presence or absence) and WILL NOT TAKE KINDLY to another sat box countermanding its instructions. In fact you'll likely get "expensive smoke" in the end - that may be what that message is trying to tell you!!You CAN daisychain sat boxes IF your intermediate box has an "IF (intermediate frequency) out" (looks like a second F connection point) but even then you loose considerable functionality as the intermediate box can only receive programmes of the same polarisation and band as the "final" box, unless you switch the latter off when the intermediate box regains control.I think you might have to do a rethink - better still buy an LNB with two outputs and send cables separately to each viewing site - then you have real independence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joidevie Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 Great info Martin.. It would be nice if some of these "items" had clearer descriptions/functions on their packaging.. It seemed so easy.. "split your sat into 2".. Hmmmm...But I've now tried again this evening,and I'm back on breaking up images.. How really dull.. :o( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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