Sky signal crap - any recommendations for Sky / aerial
Discussion
If your dish is just a few millimetres out of alignment then it will affect your signal. A few mm's out at ground level equates to several miles at satelite height! Unless you are a Sky engineer then the worst thing you can do is go up a ladder and state fiddling with your dish.
I know this because I'm not a Sky engineer but I do work for them in the studios. As an employee I get free Sky which I gave to my parents (the last thing I want to do with my days off is watch TV).
But I digress....so, while visiting my parents they complained that the picture was breaking up and now wasn't working at all. I checked the signal which was weak but there, reset the Sky box, restored the settings, phoned Sky and went through a few more procedures. Then finally, scratching my head, I booked a call out to get it fixed. After I got off the phone I thought about what my dad had said and the weather we'd had.
Me: "Dad, was it windy when the picture started breaking up?"
Dad: "yeah, really windy, it moved the dish. I had to get the ladder out and point it back in the right direction"
Me: How do you know you pointed it the right way?
Dad: I pointed it the same direction as everyone elses aerials.
Me: Aerials?
Sure enough I looked outside to discover the Sky dish pointing towards the TV transmitter on the Isle of wight. Almost 180 degrees out! After explaining the difference between a satelite dish and an aerial we pointed the dish in roughly the same direction as the other dishes and hey presto picture was restored! We still had break up on a few channels though and had to get the engineer who lives round the corner to align it correctly. They have a precise compass thingy they plug into it to make sure it's spot on. They now have perfect picture again.
The initial break up problems were no doubt caused by the weather, after that was all my dads doing! Of course I'm not suggesting you are as technically challenged as my dad. The initial break up problem was no doubt caused by the weather, the rest was all him. Bad weather can affect signal as can lorries passing the house if your dish is low down, heavy air traffic can also interfere as can other electrical things in the house like a cordless phone base being positioned near your Sky box.
Hope that helps.
I know this because I'm not a Sky engineer but I do work for them in the studios. As an employee I get free Sky which I gave to my parents (the last thing I want to do with my days off is watch TV).
But I digress....so, while visiting my parents they complained that the picture was breaking up and now wasn't working at all. I checked the signal which was weak but there, reset the Sky box, restored the settings, phoned Sky and went through a few more procedures. Then finally, scratching my head, I booked a call out to get it fixed. After I got off the phone I thought about what my dad had said and the weather we'd had.
Me: "Dad, was it windy when the picture started breaking up?"
Dad: "yeah, really windy, it moved the dish. I had to get the ladder out and point it back in the right direction"
Me: How do you know you pointed it the right way?
Dad: I pointed it the same direction as everyone elses aerials.
Me: Aerials?
Sure enough I looked outside to discover the Sky dish pointing towards the TV transmitter on the Isle of wight. Almost 180 degrees out! After explaining the difference between a satelite dish and an aerial we pointed the dish in roughly the same direction as the other dishes and hey presto picture was restored! We still had break up on a few channels though and had to get the engineer who lives round the corner to align it correctly. They have a precise compass thingy they plug into it to make sure it's spot on. They now have perfect picture again.
The initial break up problems were no doubt caused by the weather, after that was all my dads doing! Of course I'm not suggesting you are as technically challenged as my dad. The initial break up problem was no doubt caused by the weather, the rest was all him. Bad weather can affect signal as can lorries passing the house if your dish is low down, heavy air traffic can also interfere as can other electrical things in the house like a cordless phone base being positioned near your Sky box.
Hope that helps.
I've got a White Amstrad box. Dish is firmly bolted in. It's not at the top of a pole. I can move it the tiniest fraction by heaving on it but watching the system test that does nothing. I can lose signal completely on all channels when it rains. It looks like plastic insulation tape on the cable ends. The rest of the cable run looks ok. It could be water I'm really not sure.
edc said:
I've got a White Amstrad box. Dish is firmly bolted in. It's not at the top of a pole. I can move it the tiniest fraction by heaving on it but watching the system test that does nothing. I can lose signal completely on all channels when it rains. It looks like plastic insulation tape on the cable ends. The rest of the cable run looks ok. It could be water I'm really not sure.
May be a water damaged LNG or simple a water damaged coax cable. If you need the lnb and ladder let me know. May be able to get hold of a signal strength metre as well.
Steve
Just get someone who knows what they're doing out to fix it, It'll save you alot of headache in the end.
Not all sky dishes are the same (Theres 4 or 5 different 'generations' of dish.) The LNB's are not universal and will not fit on every sky dish.
You've also got to think about the settings on the dish, The signal is not a simple swing it left and right job. You've also got to consider the skew setting on the LNB and The elevation setting of the dish you can't. It has to be alot more accurate than a TV aerial aswell.
Also, the signal meters that B+Q/Maplins and the like will sell you are utter crap. The majority of them are unable to actually identify the correct satellite, and in that section of the sky you're going to be looking at:
Left to right from behind the dish:
Turksat (42e), Hellasat (39E), Astra 28 (28.2e - This is the one you want), Badr4 (26e), Astra-1E (23.5e) Astra-19 (19.2e), Eutelsat (16e), Hotbird (13e), Eutel W2A (10e), Eurobird (9e), Eutel W3A (7e)... and im going to stop here.... The ones that will cause you trouble are Astra 19 (This WILL cause interference with cheap meters.) and Hotbird. The rest will most likely not be registered on a dish so small.
If your serious about doing it yourself, Send me a PM and ill talk you through it (OR so see if i end up in your area at any point soon.) but you may aswell save yourself all the hassle and just get sky out to do it for £65 and get a warranty too.
Not all sky dishes are the same (Theres 4 or 5 different 'generations' of dish.) The LNB's are not universal and will not fit on every sky dish.
You've also got to think about the settings on the dish, The signal is not a simple swing it left and right job. You've also got to consider the skew setting on the LNB and The elevation setting of the dish you can't. It has to be alot more accurate than a TV aerial aswell.
Also, the signal meters that B+Q/Maplins and the like will sell you are utter crap. The majority of them are unable to actually identify the correct satellite, and in that section of the sky you're going to be looking at:
Left to right from behind the dish:
Turksat (42e), Hellasat (39E), Astra 28 (28.2e - This is the one you want), Badr4 (26e), Astra-1E (23.5e) Astra-19 (19.2e), Eutelsat (16e), Hotbird (13e), Eutel W2A (10e), Eurobird (9e), Eutel W3A (7e)... and im going to stop here.... The ones that will cause you trouble are Astra 19 (This WILL cause interference with cheap meters.) and Hotbird. The rest will most likely not be registered on a dish so small.
If your serious about doing it yourself, Send me a PM and ill talk you through it (OR so see if i end up in your area at any point soon.) but you may aswell save yourself all the hassle and just get sky out to do it for £65 and get a warranty too.
Despite living in the Midlands I could never get my Sky box to register a decent quality signal. In the setup screens there's a couple of bar graphs. One shows signal strength, the other signal quality. My quality was so low that those channels with interactive options would not work, breaking up all pixelly. I know enough about satellite tech to be ably to install and align my own dish but I couldn't improve upon it. I reasoned that trees on the hills behind my house were attenuating the signal enough to cause a problem. It was worse when it was raining and just after. I guessed it was because wet trees are more radio-absorbant that dry trees.
After speaking to Sky technicians (in Mumbai) who refused to acknowledge that there was any higher gain equipment available (I wanted a larger dish) I noted that in the North of UK, inc NI, there's an optionally-wider dish. I bought one, installed it and I now have 100% signal strength and quality.
When the Sky engineers came to switch me to PLUS they installed a new LNB and downlead and commented about my signal strength/quality, somewhat pleased they didn't have to install a new dish.
After speaking to Sky technicians (in Mumbai) who refused to acknowledge that there was any higher gain equipment available (I wanted a larger dish) I noted that in the North of UK, inc NI, there's an optionally-wider dish. I bought one, installed it and I now have 100% signal strength and quality.
When the Sky engineers came to switch me to PLUS they installed a new LNB and downlead and commented about my signal strength/quality, somewhat pleased they didn't have to install a new dish.
Roop said:
If weather has been fine it could also be:
- Water ingress into the co-ax cable from the dish.
- PSU failing in your Digibox (well known on some Thomson HD models).
- Other stuff I have forgotten, I am sure others will pipe up.
I had this problem and my signal always appeared to be low. The capacitors on the PSU board were bulging and needed replacing. I think the PSU supplies the LNB with power, hence the low signal.- Water ingress into the co-ax cable from the dish.
- PSU failing in your Digibox (well known on some Thomson HD models).
- Other stuff I have forgotten, I am sure others will pipe up.
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