Dish TV box not picking up satellite

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georgiacbsmith

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

# 258561 9-Oct-2019 22:09

Hi all,

My flat recently bought a second-hand TV and Dish TV Freeview box. We live in lower Hataitai and it appears can't access UHF, only satellite.

We've plugged everything in according to instructions, but the box keeps giving us the "tuning failed" error. The signal and quality for all is 0%. I've factory reset a couple of times but it made no changes. I've changed the LNB settings according to a couple similar threads on this site (10750, 11300 etc). By all accounts the box was working fine yesterday for the people we bought it off, so I'm not too sure what the issue is. We have a satellite dish - it's just above our front door and we can see it. When we plugged the TV directly into the satellite (it's a UHF-only TV) it could list the shows that were playing and coming up next, but not play them - which we took to assume that the satellite is working on some level.

Any suggestions? I'm feeling close to just throwing the thing out.

Thank you!!

kiwiace

28 posts

Geek

# 2333589 9-Oct-2019 22:42

Not an expert. I think you are maybe getting the EPG (what is on and coming up next) from the internet (assuming the TV is connected to your flat wifi) - I doubt a UHF only TV would get the EPG off the Satellite. Can you watch TV on demand and youtube etc? If so the EPG is probably coming from the same place.

Not sure if there is an easy way to test your satellite feed unless you have another satellite box you know is good (e.g. could borrow a sky box from a friend I guess)

good luck!

fe31nz

481 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 2333600 10-Oct-2019 00:03

Is there more than one connection to the dish available? If so, there may be a splitter between the connection and the dish, and only one of the connections on the splitter will have power passthrough to allow the voltage needed to pass through the splitter up to the dish. The dish needs this voltage to supply power the LNB and to control it - the voltage is changed to tell the LNB to switch the polarization. So try connecting to the other connector.

If your UHF TV was able to get the EPG data and you have not connected it to the Internet, then the aerial it is plugged into must be a UHF one and it is getting a signal enough to get the EPG data. Which means it should also be able to get the channels, as with a digital signal you get all or nothing. It is possible in a high signal area to get UHF reception from a satellite dish - I believe the UHF signal leaks into the aerial cable and is picked up that way. But that is unlikely if you are actually in an area that is shadowed from the UHF transmitters. If you are getting UHF from a satellite aerial, then rabbits ears should work to pick up the UHF signal also.

The settings you want for Freeview satellite are:

System: DVB-S (not DVB-S2)

Polarization: Horizontal (18 volts to the LNB)

FEC: 3/4

Symbol rate: 22500000

There are two frequencies transmitted by Freeview:

12456000

12483000

And there is another frequency transmitted by Sky with the free-to-air channels it provides for Freeview (eg Prime):

12519000

I do not know anything about your Dish box, but most satellite receivers have settings available for all sorts of LNBs. The ones used in New Zealand are different from most of the rest of the world in that they are a simplified version of a dual frequency LNB which has had all the upper frequency circuitry removed. So if your receiver sends the 22 kHz tone used to tell LNBs to switch from their lower to their upper frequency, the LNB will switch to using its non-existent upper frequency circuitry and will give you no signal. So make sure the 22 kHz tone is off. The way the tone is controlled varies, but the most common option is to have two different LNB frequency settings, one for the lower frequency and one for the upper, and also to have a frequency setting for where the receiver will switch from using the lower frequency to the upper. So for an NZ LNB, you need to set the lower frequency setting to the correct setting for your dish (most often 10750 as you have tried, but there are some others such as 11300 with older dishes). You then need to set the switching frequency to the largest number the field will allow you to put in it, to prevent the receiver from ever switching to the upper frequency. Then the value you put in for the upper frequency will not matter - I usually put in the same as the lower frequency.

georgiacbsmith

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

# 2333662 10-Oct-2019 08:57

Thanks both!!

The TV isn’t set up to the Internet, and there are two connections to the dish (one in the lounge, one in a bedroom) though we’ve tested the box on both and same result.

I’ll try your settings today. Thanks for all the info on getting UHF via a satellite still, super helpful. If those settings don’t work we’ll pick up some bunny ears and give that a go.

kiwiace

28 posts

Geek

# 2335228 10-Oct-2019 20:33

We are also in Hataitai, up the hill a bit, and we need a roof aerial to get UHF. But it might work better where you are.

If you do have good (unlimited) internet this box is supposed to be good for getting (and recording) TV over the internet. I'd probably get that myself if we didn't already have the roof aerial

https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/02-10-2019/review-vodafone-tv-is-the-last-thing-youll-ever-buy-for-your-television/

tripper1000

1059 posts

Uber Geek

# 2335677 11-Oct-2019 16:20

Where to start?

Satellite systems are not as easy or simple as terrestrial antennas. Dish alignment tolerance is about +\-1 degree. 3 degrees off and you get absolutely zip. If the dish is warped/bent/dented, again - zip. Additionally once water gets into the LNB (receive head) or coax it ceases to receive anything. Unlike terrestrial there has to be an unimpeded view of transmitter/satellite because the satellite signal is easily blocked so even if the dish/LNB/Coax hasn't been messed up, trees growing into the path of the signal or a building/vehicle being put in the way will kill the signal.

If you have more than 1 coax or antenna around the house, you definitely need to follow the coax from the dish back to the receiver to be certain you are using the right one and also to see if there are any splitters in the line. Satellite splitters require power + a special signal feed to them from the receiver on the master/#1 outlet, so if that is gone/off/miss-configured or you plug the only receiver into a secondary port/coax you get no signal. Often times people inadvertently mix up UHF and Satellite coaxes. And in multi-tv houses some coaxes are old/disconnected outgoing feeds to other rooms (to share sky around etc), so won't have anything to tune in on them.

Morgenmuffel

513 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

# 2335701 11-Oct-2019 16:59

Stupid Question possibly but what model is the DishTV unit.

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