Discussion
Think I'm going to need to get my satellite dish looked at, as my freeview box says 'no signal' on every single channel. Oddly it seems to go like this for a while, and then start working again perfectly (for another while). What I can't understand though, is when I go into the system menu, it says the signal quality is 95-100% and the signal strength is around 55%. Doesn't this imply that it is receiving a decent signal? I've tried rescanning for channels several times and it always finds 170 odd channels, which is around what it normally would when working properly.
Pretty sure it's not the box itself (a cheap Manhattan one), because it's just replaced an ancient sky box that was doing pretty well the same thing. Anything else to try before I call out an aerial man?
Pretty sure it's not the box itself (a cheap Manhattan one), because it's just replaced an ancient sky box that was doing pretty well the same thing. Anything else to try before I call out an aerial man?
It's difficult to say how long a 'while' is because I don't use it regularly, and when I find it not working I just switch it off again and leave it, sometimes several days/weeks at a time.
It's still not working again this morning though, and whilst the weather last night was fairly wet and windy (although I wouldn't have said it was exceptionally bad/enough to block the signal), today it has been dry and sunny for most of the morning, albeit still quite windy.
I'm just trying to work out the anomaly of why the diagnostic screen says 95%+ signal quality if all the channels have not signal? I believe signal quality is a measure of the error rate of the decoding, so it must be receiving and decoding something to give that measurement? Is it from some sort of beacon transponder channel, that's separate from the tv and radio channels? And then the channel scan finds all the channels, even when trying to view them says no signal. It appears that the channel scan is actually sweeping through the frequency band and locking onto signals to find channels, rather than just downloading an index from some separate data/administration channel?
It's still not working again this morning though, and whilst the weather last night was fairly wet and windy (although I wouldn't have said it was exceptionally bad/enough to block the signal), today it has been dry and sunny for most of the morning, albeit still quite windy.
I'm just trying to work out the anomaly of why the diagnostic screen says 95%+ signal quality if all the channels have not signal? I believe signal quality is a measure of the error rate of the decoding, so it must be receiving and decoding something to give that measurement? Is it from some sort of beacon transponder channel, that's separate from the tv and radio channels? And then the channel scan finds all the channels, even when trying to view them says no signal. It appears that the channel scan is actually sweeping through the frequency band and locking onto signals to find channels, rather than just downloading an index from some separate data/administration channel?
Dish will probably be fine, I bet it has just lost its alignment.
Easy enough to adjust...
CSL sat-finder / satellite finder with level display | pointer display / measuring device with signal sound | HD-capable | high-quality measuring device for optimal positioning / adjustment of satellite antennas / digital satellite systems | high input sensitivity | damping controller for optimal adaptation of the signal strength | easily readable scale | includes connection cable and brief operating instructions https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00O0YA868/ref=cm_sw_r...
Easy enough to adjust...
CSL sat-finder / satellite finder with level display | pointer display / measuring device with signal sound | HD-capable | high-quality measuring device for optimal positioning / adjustment of satellite antennas / digital satellite systems | high input sensitivity | damping controller for optimal adaptation of the signal strength | easily readable scale | includes connection cable and brief operating instructions https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00O0YA868/ref=cm_sw_r...
The EPG showing the channel data is on its own data carrier.
The signal meters will not provide anything other than a basic reading.
If both boxes are experiencing the same problem then your issue will be dish or cabling related.
Assuming the dish is aligned properly the LNB on the end of the dish may be faulty or the cabling may be shorting or disconnecting. This can be caused by water getting in the cable.
The LNB. Is operated by the box via a 12 or 18 v tone from the receiver, if this is corrupted the LNB will not work properly.
It would probably be easier to get an aerial man in, as you could end up replacing bits without result. It shouldn’t be too expensive. The dish for sky/freesat has changed a couple of years ago so may have to get the dish replaced as triax who make the dishes for sky have changed the LNB fitting and the new LNB will not fit older dishes now.
The signal meters will not provide anything other than a basic reading.
If both boxes are experiencing the same problem then your issue will be dish or cabling related.
Assuming the dish is aligned properly the LNB on the end of the dish may be faulty or the cabling may be shorting or disconnecting. This can be caused by water getting in the cable.
The LNB. Is operated by the box via a 12 or 18 v tone from the receiver, if this is corrupted the LNB will not work properly.
It would probably be easier to get an aerial man in, as you could end up replacing bits without result. It shouldn’t be too expensive. The dish for sky/freesat has changed a couple of years ago so may have to get the dish replaced as triax who make the dishes for sky have changed the LNB fitting and the new LNB will not fit older dishes now.
It's a quad LNB, but I'd only been using one output from it. Just been in the loft and pulled out two of the other cables to try, and both of those are working normally, showing signal. Also tried another freesat box on the cable that isn't working and that one, and that says no signal on every channel I've tried too. But curiously the 'First Time Installation' channel scan does get a transport ID and a signal lock, and also finds channels on the scan as well. So I don't know where the channel scan is finding things, maybe the signal is just so weak that it finds them but not strong enough to lock on?? Or maybe the channel list comes off it's own stream, separate to the watchable channels?
So the problem appears to be with one of the LNB outputs, guessing it's going to be a problem with the cabling (water ingress most likely), rather than alignment.
So the problem appears to be with one of the LNB outputs, guessing it's going to be a problem with the cabling (water ingress most likely), rather than alignment.
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