Trouble shooting Freeview Satellite reception

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CutCutCut

1007 posts

Uber Geek

#85501 20-Jun-2011 20:56

I'm having some problems getting freeview satellite working. We've been in this house for about 2 years but I've never used the dish. My brother gave me his old sat box which was working fine and I thought I should be able to jsut plug it in and let it do it's thing. Unfortunately it keeps giving me a 'No (or bad) signal' message. Occasionally it'll manage to display TV1 and TV2 for a while but then they disapear too. I've crawled up into the roof and checked all the cables and all looks good. The signal was split into 2 using a splitter but I've removed that in order to try and track down where the signals gone missing.
Any suggestions on how to find what's wrong?

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#483399 20-Jun-2011 21:00

CutCutCut: I'm having some problems getting freeview satellite working. We've been in this house for about 2 years but I've never used the dish. My brother gave me his old sat box which was working fine and I thought I should be able to jsut plug it in and let it do it's thing. Unfortunately it keeps giving me a 'No (or bad) signal' message. Occasionally it'll manage to display TV1 and TV2 for a while but then they disapear too. I've crawled up into the roof and checked all the cables and all looks good. The signal was split into 2 using a splitter but I've removed that in order to try and track down where the signals gone missing.
Any suggestions on how to find what's wrong?

The LNB may need replacing or the sat is out of alignment. The freeview box mite be setup for a different lnb etc.

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CutCutCut

1007 posts

Uber Geek

#483416 20-Jun-2011 21:32

Yup, it could be out of alignment I guess. I tried all the different LNB settings in the box itself with no luck. Maybe if it's not raining tomorrow I'll be able to get up on the roof and inspect.

openmedia

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#483458 20-Jun-2011 23:23

I've got a similar issue and wonder if it is LNB related.

So I've just moved house and until we get a new aerial fitted we don't have DVB-T but there is an old Sky dish so I thought I'd make do until the Toroidal is mounted,

Now my DVB-S had been playing up a bit at the old house so I thought the LNB might have been on the way out, or the SkyStar 2 card I used with MythTV was playing up.

At the new house similar problems so I swapped the SkyStar 2 card for a known working one but still the same issues.

If I tune to the Sky broadcast of TV2 no issues, signal locks and I can watch the show. If I tune to any freeview channels I get lock for 3-5 seconds and then it changes to TV One. That locks for 3-5 seconds and then it re-tunes back to TV One.

I've tried tweaking the skew etc of the dish, and a vanilla DVB-S STB will tune in, but MythTV won't lock.

Anyone here seen similar issues.

Also I'm trying to remember which MUX on Optus D1 is the best one to use for aligning a disk.

Steve

--------------------------------------------
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OpenMedia Limited - The Home of myPVR
email - steven@openmedia.co.nz
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Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

l43a2

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#483466 20-Jun-2011 23:42

the problem i had recently, the standard sky box would skip when you changed channels etc play up alot, the DVB-S card i had in one of my computers wouldnt pickup Freeview muxes at all. Called sky, LNB had to be replaced.. it had suffered from frequency slipping "lnb was only around 2-3 yrs old"

mcraenz

1117 posts

Uber Geek

#483473 21-Jun-2011 00:26

I just had sky installed and I have fine reception (no picture issues) on the sky decorder but skystar2 will hardly get lock on any optus d1 muxes and when it does its unwatchable. The BER meter on the sky box sits around xxE-5 dropping to xxE-4 sometimes. I'm sure it should be 00-E7 unless it's really bad weather? Do I need to re-align my brand new dish with quad LNB!?

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Jaxson

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#483506 21-Jun-2011 09:24

openmedia: which MUX on Optus D1 is the best one to use for aligning a disk.

Any freeview one will do for getting a rough alignment but ideally SBS to really nail it down as this is a weaker signal and very polarity/lnb rotation dependant.

SBS is
Freq: 12646MHz

Pol: Vertical

SR: 12600

I believe of the two freeview mux's, 12456 is the stronger, but they all have the same rough EIRP strength.

illicit

553 posts

Ultimate Geek

#483597 21-Jun-2011 12:48

mcraenz: I just had sky installed and I have fine reception (no picture issues) on the sky decorder but skystar2 will hardly get lock on any optus d1 muxes and when it does its unwatchable. The BER meter on the sky box sits around xxE-5 dropping to xxE-4 sometimes. I'm sure it should be 00-E7 unless it's really bad weather? Do I need to re-align my brand new dish with quad LNB!?

No, xxE-04 or higher is normal. Your alignment seems ok based on that.

On the Skystar box, try changing the freq by 1 at a time ie: 12484 instead of 12483 - see if it locks then.
You may need to rescan all channels each time after changing the freq. Shouldn't need to be changed by more than 5 (up or down from original).

mcraenz

1117 posts

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#483614 21-Jun-2011 13:10

illicit:
mcraenz: I just had sky installed and I have fine reception (no picture issues) on the sky decorder but skystar2 will hardly get lock on any optus d1 muxes and when it does its unwatchable. The BER meter on the sky box sits around xxE-5 dropping to xxE-4 sometimes. I'm sure it should be 00-E7 unless it's really bad weather? Do I need to re-align my brand new dish with quad LNB!?

No, xxE-04 or higher is normal. Your alignment seems ok based on that.

On the Skystar box, try changing the freq by 1 at a time ie: 12484 instead of 12483 - see if it locks then.
You may need to rescan all channels each time after changing the freq. Shouldn't need to be changed by more than 5 (up or down from original).

Thanks I'll give that a go. What's the reason behind this? I used to use this SkyStar2 card without issue but haven't used it in about 2 years. Are you suggesting that something could be causing some kind frequency drift? I guess I could just change the LNB LOF settings?

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mcraenz

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#483947 21-Jun-2011 20:51

Seems like it was a driver issue, installed the WDM driver instead of the BDA and everything is fine. Win7 x64 btw

Sorry for hijacking the thread, how are you getting on CutCutCut?

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CutCutCut

1007 posts

Uber Geek

#484010 21-Jun-2011 22:06

mcraenz: Seems like it was a driver issue, installed the WDM driver instead of the BDA and everything is fine. Win7 x64 btw

Sorry for hijacking the thread, how are you getting on CutCutCut?

Climbed up on the roof this afternoon. Can't see any obvious physical damage to the dish, LNB or cabling. Borrowed another set top box and it had the same result. I'll probably lug a tele and box up into the loft and plug it directly into where the satellite enters the roof and see if I get any signal.

CutCutCut

1007 posts

Uber Geek

#485141 23-Jun-2011 19:28

Are those sat finders on tradme selling for less than $30 any good? Would they be any good or is there more equipment needed for finding the satellite? Any rough guides as to what a professional would cost to get it sorted?

mcraenz

1117 posts

Uber Geek

#485164 23-Jun-2011 20:30

I would't bother. They help you find a satellite. Which one you've found? Who knows. It tells you the signal strength of that sat. But the critical info you need is the signal quality.

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CutCutCut

1007 posts

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#485918 25-Jun-2011 23:22

Are dishes something you have to have re-calibrated every couple of years or so?

mm1352000

1149 posts

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Inactive user

#485935 26-Jun-2011 00:26

Personally, I would say "no". Having said that, I guess strong winds can move them out of alignment over time. I think I also heard a case where the house was gradually moving... enough to get the dish out of alignment...

illicit

553 posts

Ultimate Geek

#486003 26-Jun-2011 11:42

Depends on the initial install - If done correctly, then no, it shouldn't move unless there is a tornado or something.

But lots of installs aren't done very well, sky installs are a common one - screwing the dish to the fascia/barge board instead of somewhere solid, allows flex in the mounting and over time can pull the fascia or barge board off.

like this....

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