SKY box problem

[Ron Avery]

I have two "sky" digiboxes operating off a double LNB on a single dish, one works perfectly well, the other started fragmenting ( like the reception in heavy rain) on both radio and TV

After extended unplug  Radio 2, Radio 4, Sky news and BBC 2 are still badly affected, but BBC 1 ITV 3 and Radios 3 and 5 live are now absolutely fine.  Any polite suggestions as to further cures welcome

Ron

[Nick Trollope]

I imaging it is the skew, or one of the LNB's is slightly deafer that the other. Check the basic alignment of the dish (what does your quality meter say, and are they different on the 2 boxes) using a meter. If this makes no difference, rotate the LNB's a few (5) degrees on way & retry, etc etc.

 

[Ron Avery]

Sorry Nick, what I meant by double LNB was a single head LNB with two outlets, that is why it is so puzzling that one works fine and the other doesn't

[Anton Redman]

Suggestions (You may have already tried them )

First I believe that twin output LNBs for sky dishes were replaced by 4 output LNBs . Details was too long ago but when Sky Plus started I think Satcure stopped supplying them as they were almost as expensive as 4 output and performed worse and were less reliable.

Step A.  Check Signal Quality and Strength using both digiboxes, TV and the hand set. (Services Set Up Quality ?)  If signal quality is only just above 50 % on either set I would try the following. I would first check that dish is firmly mounted and if it is easily accessible then I would mark the exact position of both the angle of the dish and the direction by scribing a thin scratch on the two brackets. I would loosen a pair of the mounting bolts so the dish will move but stick when you let go. You then move it by minute amounts either up/down or east west  (less than the thickness of piece of paper) count to ten and check the impact signal quality on both TVs. You may be able to get an improvement on the weakest box without changing the stronger.

 Step B. I might do this first if the dish was hard to access. Take the signal quality and strength readings with the boxes as they are then. Swap the boxes and see if the problems are with the same box or with the same feed. If the problems are with the same box then have a look at the SATCURE site for common digibox problems and suggested cures.

If the problems is with one of the feeds then buy some self annealing tape ( Plumbing repair tape which you stretch to twice its length then release which self welds and forms a water tight seal )  The tape is for sale in Castorama and Leroy Merlin and you need it to reseal the LNBs to Co Ax feeds.  Then

Note the signal quality and signal strength readings on both boxes. You will find these in the menus for Services, Set Up etc. Then swap the coax cables at the LNB end, recheck the readings, the swap the boxes again and recheck the readings.

The quality of the readings may vary box to box BUT if with the same box connected to the same LNB it varies when you swap cables then the cable with the worse readings is probably damaged. Examine them try dekinking or replace.

If the choice of cable makes no difference then try Step A

Step C - If you got close but not perfect with Step A then. Look up the signal characteristics  ( Frequency, Polarisation and FEQ on the web )

 

Services

4

0

1

Select

 

Which will allow you to see signal quality for a specific channel and try moving the dish or skew to get the specific channel better on both dishes.

Hope that helps - its too wet to paint of concrete - Please let us know how you get on

 

[Ron Avery]

Anton

Thank you for your excellent and informative response, I have so far checked the signal and that is showing 80% on both boxes, so I will swap boxes over tomorrow as the dish is a bit of a pig to get at.

Will keep you posted

Thanks again

[Ron Avery]

Anton

An update, since first post the Amstrad box has got worse, after receiving only a few channels (but all of these with good reception) it then took to showing "no signal being received" or "searching for listings"  but after an hour I decided it probably wasn't

I swapped the boxes over and first box worked  fine in 2nd position, but the Amstrad  had the same problem at the other location, just said No satellite signal being received,  so it looks like LNB, dish and cabling are all OK.  Then something odd happened, when I put the Amstrad back, it restored itself to the first stage of the problem, ie  Radio 2, Radio 4, Sky news, BBC 2 very slow download and no sound hardly at all, BUT BBC 1,  ITV 3 and Radios 3, 5 and 6 absolutely fine.

Could this be the sort of problem you used to get on the old analogue of the V pick up being OK and the H ones faulty?  Is there a way to tell if there is a pattern with the " faulty " channels, IE that they are all V or H or does digital not work that way?

[Anton Redman]

List below has I hope full channel line up so that you should be able to see if it is :

Sat, ( H or V) or even Frequency

http://www.ses-astra.com/tv-radio/guide/lineup/markets/UK_digitalfree.htm

[Ron Avery]

Anton

No obvious pattern I'm afraid, good channels/bad channels are a mix of V and H

What  I have noticed is that apart from BBC1 , many of the channels that have the poor reception are on the Favourites listing eg Radio 2 and 4 are on favourites and poor,  Radio's 1 and  3 are not and are fine,  This may sound daft, but is it possible that a setting can get worn out, I cannot see any reason why it should but that is the only emerging pattern.  Could it be something as daft as that 

[Anton Redman]

I cannot see that being on the favourites list makes any difference. You could check by deleting from your favourites and adding Radios 1 and 3.

Is is much more likely to be a marginal fault on the digibox compounded by the dish alignment not being quite spot on. If you look at Page 6 of the printout of channels Radio 2 and Radio 4 are both on Transponder 38 ar 27500. Whereas  Radios 1 and 3 are on Transponder 47 at 10802.

If you only use second box for FTA ( Most Radios BBC but not ITV1,C4 and C5) I might try setting up a French Numeric receiver ) otherwise :

Try the SATCURE site for your particular box and known faults or

Try marginal movement of dish.

 

[Racerbear02]

Dear Ron

Just a quick question, does that mean you have to use two Sky cards to get both boxes to work in the first place, or is there a way round this expense

[Ron Avery]

For the "Free to air" channels ie the BBC package plus others including ITV 3,  but not ITV 1 & 2 and Ch 4 & 5, you do not need any card in a sky type box.  To get ITV 1 & 2 and Ch's  4 & 5 you need an " authorised" Sky card in EACH box. The cost as I understand it for a FTV card from Sky is £20 for each card, but it has been rumoured on this Forum, that ITV may be following the BBC away from SkY.

[Abbaye]

Hi all, we have a sat dish and sky box and have just been given a second box which we would like to set up to run both boxes from the single dish but to watch different channels on each. I note from your comments above Ron that you need an "LNB" - can you get them in France or do you need to get one from the UK.  Is there anything else we would need.  Along with the second box we were given another smaller box which has on the front of it "CGV Moduline Twin" and 4 buttons marked 1, 2, +, -        does anyone know what this box is for?

Thanks.

[Nick Trollope]

Having read through the rest of your posts, the only sensible conclusion is that your Amstrad is faulty, I'm afraid. I have had two Amstrads where the RF section has become noisy and would produce the symptoms you describe. Suggest you ditch it!

 

[Ron Avery]

[quote]Having read through the rest of your posts, the only sensible conclusion is that your Amstrad is faulty, I'm afraid. I have had two Amstrads where the RF section has become noisy and would produce the...[/quote]

Yes Nick I have come to her ame conclusion, the Amsrtrad box is the problem, it has good days and bad days, the longer it is off the better the reception on the poor channels, I was hoping that after an extended lay off it might get better, but after a while it derteriorates to "No Signal being received".  I have French bosx to use but as hta ahs no slot I cannot get ITV or Ch 4 & 5 on it.

 

For Abbaye, yes,  you can get a sigle head LNB (its the pick up on the dish) with two terminals on it, you then run each feed to the respective boxes and you can watch what you want on them, provided youy have the "right" cards.  Sorry no idea what the other box is, all I can suggest is that you do a google serach on it.