Sky Dish alignment out?

[lastexile69]

Morning everyone

Out of nowhere this morning my Sky+HD box is giving "Signal Not Received" errors on random channels and at random times, and showing picture breakup randomly on those that are working.

I've seen this before due to storms or persistent heavy rain but it was been blue skies here all day yesterday and today.

I've visually inspected the dish as best I can - no birds nest appeared or other obstruction - and I've unscrewed and checked the two input cables are OK and reseated the HDMI. Needless to say I've also done the full Power Cycling routine too.

My problem is that according to Sky website, an engineer is NOT permitted to enter the property at the moment. This is a problem as although the dish is exclusive to me, it is attached right at the top of my townhouse style building (ie third floor) and was installed in the first place by an engineer working by leaning out of the window (the dish is secured on top of the flat area above my middle floor bay window) not via ladders.

I have (hopefully) attached a pic of my signal details screen from the box - not sure if the readouts should be all blue or all white?

Is this most likely a dish alignment issue? Or the Sky+HD box itself?

I can get another box locally for only £30 so maybe try that first?

Thanks for any help.

[SS2.]

Have you tried swapping round the coax connections on the back of the Sky box ?

If nothing else, this will indicate whether the problem affects just one of the inputs (more likely to be cable / connection) or both inputs (dish alignment, LNB or Sky box itself).

[lastexile69]

Hi SS2

Thanks I'll try that. Do you know which way round the indicator bars on the pic I added depict? Does all white in the readout mean max or min?

Cheers

[bristolracer]

Those signal readings are healthy and fine.
But they only analyse part of the signal so they are not to be relied on

Few possibilities.
Sky box is dying
Cable faults
Dish out of line/lnb failure.

The other possibility is outside interference.
Dect phones
Baby monitors
Wifi equipment
Nearby or next to the cable/box.

As it is an HD box it is yours and not skys,so you could call out an indy to have a look for you. Any local aerial chap should be able to do it and would appreciate the work right now.

[SS2.]

lastexile69 said:

Thanks I'll try that. Do you know which way round the indicator bars on the pic I added depict? Does all white in the readout mean max or min?

The indicators in your photo are showing close to full strength.

[lastexile69]

bristolracer said:

Those signal readings are healthy and fine.
But they only analyse part of the signal so they are not to be relied on

Few possibilities.
Sky box is dying
Cable faults
Dish out of line/lnb failure.

The other possibility is outside interference.
Dect phones
Baby monitors
Wifi equipment
Nearby or next to the cable/box.

As it is an HD box it is yours and not skys,so you could call out an indy to have a look for you. Any local aerial chap should be able to do it and would appreciate the work right now.

Thanks - yes I have already scoped out a local company who could check it out - and their website says they WILL enter the property but insisting on 2m separation.

[lastexile69]

SS2. said:

The indicators in your photo are showing close to full strength.

Thanks

Do you think it is worth me getting the replacement box that is local to me before I pay for engineer to attend (indy)?

[VEX]

Fairly typical sign of a Sky psu failing, if nothing else has changed I’d look into that first.

Also those signal strength bars with change for each channel so go to one that is having problems and try again if you can.

V

[lastexile69]

Some amazing service from my local Indy.

Phoned back within 10 mins of email, attended just now and changed the LNB - all channels working now. There was water inside the old LNB it appears.

Fingers crossed

[SS2.]

Sounds like a result

[lastexile69]

Indeed.
The bloke was a top guy and if anyone else in my area needs assistance I'd certainly recommend him (Somerset, UK).

[illmonkey]

Generally signal is picked up from a few satellites. So if the dish shows signal it may not be for all. It’s normally a slight misalignment. I find BBC and a few others go, even giving the dish a tap will line it back up.

[bristolracer]

illmonkey said:

Generally signal is picked up from a few satellites. So if the dish shows signal it may not be for all. It’s normally a slight misalignment. I find BBC and a few others go, even giving the dish a tap will line it back up.

You need to get your dish properly aligned and clamped up, the only thing that should stop your dish receiving a signal is a heavy thunderstorm.

[untakenname]

Are there any trees nearby? If so then the foliage growth in spring may cause signal disruption.

[illmonkey]

bristolracer said:

illmonkey said:

Generally signal is picked up from a few satellites. So if the dish shows signal it may not be for all. It’s normally a slight misalignment. I find BBC and a few others go, even giving the dish a tap will line it back up.

You need to get your dish properly aligned and clamped up, the only thing that should stop your dish receiving a signal is a heavy thunderstorm.

It was from previous experience. But yes, my point!

[LuS1fer]

It was trees when mine went funny. Had to take down a 30 foot willow ("That's never a willow") which was once 3 foot high.