Unwatchable TV, only 39% signal strength on freeview, DVB-S, in Queenstown

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › Unwatchable TV, only 39% signal strength on freeview, DVB-S, in Queenstown

travelermatt

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#138235 26-Dec-2013 15:01

Hi all!

First post so sorry if this is formatted wrong, had a look and doesnt seem to be another topic on the same subject.

So, I live in a complex in Queenstown where one satellite dish is shared between 52 apartments, I have just bought a brand new freeview dvb-s decoder and it finds the Optus 1 satellite.

The problem is it shows only 39% strength and 75% quality so when i try and watch any channel, it has so much interference it is basically unwatchable.

My landlord has said he will call a technician but if it is something I'v done wrong, E.G. not connected properly, he will charge me for the technician.

So my steps taken so far,
1, tried other freeview receiver (same result)
2, tried all aerial sockets in house (same result)

My landlord said, the the satellite is shared between 52 apts and no one else has complained so it is making me second guess my decision to call out the technician. When i get home from work I will ask my neighbor if they have the same problem.

Does is sound like the satellite is slightly mis-aligned? I have used http://www.dishpointer.com/ to get azimuth and elevation values and will look around the complex for the dish tonight after work to check rough angles.

Thanks for your help in advance!

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8953 posts

Uber Geek

#957589 26-Dec-2013 15:19

It must be pointed roughly in the right direction to get any signal, and using dishpointer will not get it accurate enough - it needs to be aligned to within a mm or so, and you won't see the difference by eye.

I'd take your box and plug it in at the neighbour's place and see if it goes OK there.

What settings have you used for the LNB?

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

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Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#957590 26-Dec-2013 15:20

Can you try your receiver in another apartment?

Could easily be an internal cabling fault or tap / splitter / amplifier

travelermatt

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#957595 26-Dec-2013 15:27

Thank you greatly for the quick replies.

Just at work until 2100 but I will take the receiver round to a friends house probably tomorrow morning and post back with results.

If the box works at a friends house do you suggest getting the technician booked? If it is house wiring or the dish not aligned the landlord cant charge me for that surely as it is not my fault? I will have to ask him and confirm it!

Thanks again!

Zeon

3916 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#957598 26-Dec-2013 15:32

I think rather than a friends house, you should try it in another apartment in yoru complex which shares that dish.

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B1GGLZ

1961 posts

Uber Geek

#957600 26-Dec-2013 15:36

Could also be a faulty cable from wall plate to decoder. Try another cable.

RunningMan

8953 posts

Uber Geek

#957604 26-Dec-2013 15:51

Zeon: I think rather than a friends house, you should try it in another apartment in yoru complex which shares that dish.

This. If you think that your dish is faulty, then this is the next step to sorting it out.

However, can you advise what settings you have used for the LNB - these may be incorrect, which would lead to the issues you describe.

travelermatt

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#957607 26-Dec-2013 16:00

runningman: will post lnb settings tonight.

Will test in another apartment asap.

Cheers everyone :)

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Apsattv

2388 posts

Uber Geek

#957621 26-Dec-2013 16:32

Make and model of the receiver?

travelermatt

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#957723 26-Dec-2013 22:15

Evening guys,

Ok, so the make and model of my receiver is a Dish TV - Sat box s7070r.

The settings used for lnb as follows:

Type: Ku Band
Low: 10750
Hi: 10750
22khz: off
DiSEqC: none
Tone burst: none
Positioned: none
Power: on

That's all the options I get, apart from the satellite (optus d1).

RunningMan

8953 posts

Uber Geek

#957793 27-Dec-2013 08:15

Depending on the lnb fitted to to the apartment you may want to try 11300 for both lnb frequencies.

travelermatt

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#957796 27-Dec-2013 08:23

Changed to Ku Band 11300 but doesn't find any channels then, and signal strength / quality goes to 0%

Our neighbors (don't no them well enough for them to let me in and test my receiver) say theirs is fine and they have freeview not sky (in case that made a difference) so I'm guessing it could be the wiring inside the walls of this apartment?

I will buy a satellite aerial cable and try that as at the moment we have a UHF cable with 2 sat adapters at the end, would that make a difference?

If not i guess il have to stick to streaming programs.... No one on this thread lives in the Alpine Village Apartments in Queenstown by a huge coincidence do they?

RunningMan

8953 posts

Uber Geek

#957807 27-Dec-2013 08:44

travelermatt:I will buy a satellite aerial cable and try that as at the moment we have a UHF cable with 2 sat adapters at the end, would that make a difference?

Absolutely. There's been a couple of cases of exactly that reported on here previously. The cable is often not rated to a high enough frequency, and the combination of adapters can be poor. The result is just enough drop in signal to affect reception.

EDIT: This sort is OK

http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=WV7392&form=CAT2&SUBCATID=1013#4

this isn't:
http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=WV7386&form=CAT2&SUBCATID=1013#4

Make sure that it is RG6 not RG59 cable, as there's a bunch of even quite expensive looking cables that are not RG6.

travelermatt

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#957867 27-Dec-2013 10:11

So the new sat cable made a slight difference, we can now get TV3 without it stuttering but that's it.

Thanks Runnerman for all the help. I think we can safely say that it must be a wiring problem somewhere along the line? so at least the landlord cant charge me for the technician call out.

Thanks again!

Apsattv

2388 posts

Uber Geek

#958130 27-Dec-2013 22:37

travelermatt: So the new sat cable made a slight difference, we can now get TV3 without it stuttering but that's it.

Thanks Runnerman for all the help. I think we can safely say that it must be a wiring problem somewhere along the line? so at least the landlord cant charge me for the technician call out.

Thanks again!

That does not make sense. If you get tv3 without it messing up you will also get every other channel on that same transponder.

The TVNZ Freeview transponder has always been lower signal than the one with TV3 Please confirm that the Tv3 you are watching is on transponder settings 12456 H Sr 22500? perhaps you are in fact watching the SKY feed of Tv3 on 12644 H ?

travelermatt

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#958167 28-Dec-2013 06:19

confirmed, tv3 works with no stuttering. it has same signal strength and quality as all the other channels but they just arent watchable.

TV3 = 12456 / 22500 / H

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