Problems with third Sky decoder "Rain Fade" even on clear days / nights

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Sket

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Topic # 95944 17-Jan-2012 11:34

Hi guys,

I'm in a flatting situation whereby the head tenant is away quite often for long periods of time, I'm hoping to try resolve this myself before asking him to contact Sky (which is in his name) to sort out some support.

The set up:
We have Sky digital with Mysky in lounge 1, sky in lounge 2 and now a third decoder in my room.

The problem:
When we got the third decoder installed the technician had to climb on the roof to replace the LNB as apparently it was quite old and would not support 3 decoders.
The decoder ran fine for a fortnight but then when i went away I accidently unplugged the decoder while packing up my PS3. Not giving it much thought, I decided to leave it unplugged while I was away.
Upon returning (a week later) I found that in the slightest cloud cover I couldn't get reception but on fine days it worked okay. Now I'm getting "loss of signal due to rain fade" anytime of the day or night despite what the weather is doing. It tells me I am getting 35 (%?) signal but the bars are all grey.
Also I found that my TV seems to be magnetised.

I have checked all cables and reset the box a number of time.

I know there are previous suggestions in this forum but due to the gradual detrition and the fact I had the sky box unplugged for a week I wonder if this is actually a LNB problem (which should be a new unit) or maybe something else?

vexxxboy

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Reply # 569935 17-Jan-2012 14:39

are the other people connected to the same dish having signal problems at the same time, if they are then it is probably the LNB, a sky technician was telling me that the last shipment of LNB's were crap , his words, and when he replaced my LNB for the same reason as yours , he couldn't guarantee how long it would last, some last only weeks some are still going, and he was waiting for the next shipment for the problem to be solved.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Jaxson

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Reply # 569941 17-Jan-2012 14:50

Sket: Also I found that my TV seems to be magnetised.

This bit sounds cool, like are teaspoons sticking to it and stuff?

Brunzy

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Reply # 569946 17-Jan-2012 14:53

Jaxson:
Sket: Also I found that my TV seems to be magnetised.?

This bit sounds cool, like are teaspoons sticking to it and stuff?

Quality Jaxson ,quality ;-)

Jaxson

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Reply # 569950 17-Jan-2012 15:03

Ok, how about this then,

What happens if you swap your 3 sky boxes around? Like do the others work on all 3 outlets around the house, and does your 'faulty' one work in any of the other locations. Sounds like you have all the tools to do a fair bit of analysis already.

B1GGLZ

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Reply # 569986 17-Jan-2012 15:51

Sket: Hi guys,

Also I found that my TV seems to be magnetised.

I presume therefore you are using an old CRT TV?
I had on old Phillips set that needed degaussing occasionally. I found that the degaussing circuit only worked when switching on at initial power up and not from standby. So unplug the TV, wait 30 secs then plug in and switch on. That should demagnetise it.
The problem doesn't exist with LCDs and Plasmas.

Niel

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Reply # 569997 17-Jan-2012 16:17

B1GGLZ: I had on old Phillips set that needed degaussing occasionally. I found that the degaussing circuit only worked when switching on at initial power up and not from standby. So unplug the TV, wait 30 secs then plug in and switch on. That should demagnetise it.

That is how you activate the degaussing circuit, because it should be done only when you move your TV location (usually requires unplugging) or else if you've had magnets too close.

Regarding the OT, are you sure you screwed in the satellite cable? When we moved into our new house and had to get an installation done the installer only partly screwed in (all) the cables which causes impedance mismatch. Especially in our humid climate you get corrosion (tarnish) so after a while the installer has to come back and do an easy "repair". Sorry, I'm a bit sceptical when it comes to general tradesmen.

There is also a chance the satellite cable had an assembly fault and broke when you unplugged it. That is not your problem, but something you can easily confirm by swapping with another cable (just like swapping the STB to isolate the problem).

You can never have enough Volvos!

Sket

13 posts

Geek

Reply # 570010 17-Jan-2012 16:35

vexxxboy: are the other people connected to the same dish having signal problems at the same time, if they are then it is probably the LNB, a sky technician was telling me that the last shipment of LNB's were crap , his words, and when he replaced my LNB for the same reason as yours , he couldn't guarantee how long it would last, some last only weeks some are still going, and he was waiting for the next shipment for the problem to be solved.

Sorry i forgot to mention this - then other two boxes seem to be working fine

Sket

13 posts

Geek

Reply # 570012 17-Jan-2012 16:35

Jaxson:
Sket: Also I found that my TV seems to be magnetised.

This bit sounds cool, like are teaspoons sticking to it and stuff?

Haha

Sket

13 posts

Geek

Reply # 570016 17-Jan-2012 16:35

Jaxson: Ok, how about this then,

What happens if you swap your 3 sky boxes around? Like do the others work on all 3 outlets around the house, and does your 'faulty' one work in any of the other locations. Sounds like you have all the tools to do a fair bit of analysis already.

I haven't tried this but will when i get home - thanks for the idea

Sket

13 posts

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Reply # 570022 17-Jan-2012 16:38

Niel:
B1GGLZ: I had on old Phillips set that needed degaussing occasionally. I found that the degaussing circuit only worked when switching on at initial power up and not from standby. So unplug the TV, wait 30 secs then plug in and switch on. That should demagnetise it.

That is how you activate the degaussing circuit, because it should be done only when you move your TV location (usually requires unplugging) or else if you've had magnets too close.

Regarding the OT, are you sure you screwed in the satellite cable? When we moved into our new house and had to get an installation done the installer only partly screwed in (all) the cables which causes impedance mismatch. Especially in our humid climate you get corrosion (tarnish) so after a while the installer has to come back and do an easy "repair". Sorry, I'm a bit sceptical when it comes to general tradesmen.

There is also a chance the satellite cable had an assembly fault and broke when you unplugged it. That is not your problem, but something you can easily confirm by swapping with another cable (just like swapping the STB to isolate the problem).

Haha yeah degaussing it from the power point seems to work fine

I've checked the cable and it looks to be fine but that is an option. I'll double check this when home also.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

Jaxson

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Reply # 570298 18-Jan-2012 10:41

How did you get on?

Sket

13 posts

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Reply # 570398 18-Jan-2012 14:41

Jaxson: How did you get on?

I asked the flatmate if he wouldn't mind me switching the boxes around to do a test, he told me that they had a problem last week (we don't catch each other often) where the screen was getting pixelated every couple of minutes so we called Sky

They did all the usual checks (is it plugged in, are the settings right, etc) and have sent someone out today.

I'll update once we've got a result.