hi yes it was locked, but its back open again now.
im going to leave this alone now, i dont want to make it worst, and lose what i have, but yes i am a little frustrated, i use to get these, now for some reason i cant, maybe its the signal has been tighted up slightly, a change in fec etc might also be the reason.
I would like to thank everyone who helped me give there views on this, i was thinking as the dish was not quite straight that might have been the issue, but as captain jack has explained, its nothing to do with that.
Only other thing to maybe try is a few different LNBs, yes i know the best thing is a bigger dish, but i have a few different LNBs here, i could try the signal on them seems worst on the channels i tried, but who knows maybe they might be better on 7 west, i dont think i ever tried them on 7 west before.
Last question, and i think the answer is no, but would a signal booster of some sort help, with the v box taken out the picture is fine, so the picture needs so little to be watchable, would that be worth a try, my guess is no, but if anyone here has any views......
thank you all for your replies