Sky Set Top Box Issue

[barch]

An update which maybe will help others.
Trying to isolate stuff, I took the LNB back to the shop today, just to check all was ok. They sort of dismissed it being faulty with a cursory check and mainly said, if you want us to come and look......
So, having eliminated that, I went back home and cleaned the cable joints, screwed them in without any connection to any power and fired up a freeview box again. The signal strength was the same, as was the quality. So, just out of curiosity, I tweaked the dish alignment down a little. LIFT OFF! I got Alexander Armstrong with a great picture on BBC1.

A quick scan thru the channels and some were very clear, others less so, and a few totally blank. So, I went up the ladder again and moved the dish a gnats tadger and lost all picture again, signal strength fluctuating from 0-40%. So I think we know where the issue is now. Took me a little more time to find the signal again.

In summary, when I started this, I thought that the dish alignment was important, but not as critical as it appears. I'd chatted with friends and they had also thought pretty much the same that alignment would affect picture quality but "as long as its pointing in the right direction.... you'd get a picture"

So, getting a satellite finder delivered and see if I can improve things from there.
Thanks for listening and advice, I hope my experiences help others.
cheers

 

[Sam Gangee]

Different box received signal and channels with new LNB.

This is what confused us. If the dish was misaligned then the "different box" could not have received all channels.

 

[barch]

Different box received signal and channels with new LNB.

This is what confused us. If the dish was misaligned then the "different box" could not have received all channels.

Sorry for any confusion Sam. Further update for you. I ordered a 4 way low noise LNB and satellite finder. Using the new Freeview box for powering the finder, I adjusted the dish to get good signal. Really easy to lose signal altogether. So, so sensitive.

So, when I was sure I had a great picture, I reintroduced the old sky box. No picture. I doubt that I can get the allignment any better, its not the best designed dish, but it does seem bizarre I can go from everything on the freeeview box to nothing on the Sky one. Actually thats not true. When I select Find channels, it does find 10 or so, none of which are free to air and I ge tthe same "no signal" message or the screen when I go back to the TV guide.

Ian

 

[Sam Gangee]

Excellent. So you've established that the Amstrad (model?) Digibox is faulty. Did you...

Download "Troubleshooting Sky Digital", here:
http://www.The-Cool-Book-shop.co.uk/satellite_freeview.htm#undersky

...and read it?

 

[barch]

Excellent. So you've established that the Amstrad (model?) Digibox is faulty. Did you...

Download "Troubleshooting Sky Digital", here:
http://www.The-Cool-Book-shop.co.uk/satellite_freeview.htm#undersky

...and read it?

A further update for you. The solution that was working for me was using a freeview box lent to me by a friend. Having used this for a few months, I thought I'd better get round to sorting the two sky boxes. Either chuck 'em or fix'em. Thanks to the guides that Sam gangee recommended, I reset the transponders on both boxes and took the freeview box down to my mates. Sorted. Thanks very much. I wouldnt of known about the hidden menus on a sky box, how to access them without the knowledge on this forum. Very many thanks.

 

[Sam Gangee]

The solution that was working for me was using a freeview box

Yes, it's much easier to align a Freeview aerial than to align a satellite dish. Bear in mind that the Freeview transmitter is probably no more than 40 miles away, whereas the satellites are 24,000 miles away!

You really need pinpoint accuracy but most people have a brain fart trying to visualise the distance.

I reset the transponders on both boxes

Aha. If you'd told us you'd been fiddling with the settings in the first place...
Those transponder frequencies don't (usually) change all by themselves, although I've know it happen (rarely) after a mains power "brown out".