4.8 E from North London

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newcomers2

Member
My Satellite Setup
DM800 80cm Dish
My Location
Hertfordshire North London
Hey guys,

I have just tried to watch a channel on the viasat package (viasat xtraPL 1-7) and I can no longer get a signal on any of those channels, but I can get other channels on the same satellite.

I know these channels used to work as I last watched them about 2 weeks ago, and have been watching them since the summer. I have tried everything I can think of but Im not getting anywhere. Why would I suddenly get no signal?

If it helps, I have a DM800 and I think my dish is 80-90cm and I live in North London. Would a bigger dish help and if so, what size?
 
I get them OK ish here on a Triax TD110. An 80cm dish is too small. You would have had very little margin for rain/cloud.

Any dish bigger than you have will help a little. It depends how big you want to go. Perhaps a 1.2m would be reasonable I would have thought, based on what I have seen on a 1m dish (Orbital) and my dish.
 
I know little about setups etc, but how much work would be involved in sticking a 1.2 sat in place of my one? geI need a new pole also?

Out of interest, Im only getting 68% SNR on 13e and only about 60% on 28.2E, does that sound right?
 
It would depend on how it is mounted already. Ideally it would be fitted to a 3 inch diameter pole.

Percentages from your receiver are pretty meaningless. Can you watch both those two satellites in all weathers? If yes, then the signal is OK, if not then is not.

I take it that its a motorised then?
 
Yeah it is motorised.

I havent noticed any problems weather related either. Im just curious as to why they were working for so long, and now nothing?
 
If its not the weather, it could be many others things, like your receiver has gone deaf, the LNB isn't performing as well as it was, the dish is slightly misaligned, you have a a line of sight issue that you didn't have before, or the power heading you way from the satellite has reduced slightly... who knows..

With an 80cm dish, its not going to need much to stop it working as that tp is weak.

But, with accurate alignment, and no line of sight issues,coupled to a good receiver a dish of 1m or above should get them.
 
newcomers2 said:
Yeah it is motorised.

I havent noticed any problems weather related either. Im just curious as to why they were working for so long, and now nothing?
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Is it foggy down there this evening by any chance??
 
I notice you state "a good receiver". Does a DM800 fall into that category?
 
Analoguesat said:
Is it foggy down there this evening by any chance??
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It has been foggy for the past couple of days, but not at the moment no
 
newcomers2 said:
I notice you state "a good receiver". Does a DM800 fall into that category?
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Not sure how sensitive the tuner is on it, especially if its not an original Dream Multimedia product.
 
I am not far from OP and all 5°e channels are watchable on an 80cm most of the time.

Are you sure you are not confusing a blank screen with poor reception, the viasat xtraPL 1-7 only transmit when matches are on. Check again on Saturday afternoon.
 
No, Im definitely not getting a lock or signal on the transponder. I know that unless a game is on then the screen is black, but I would still get a signal (although I cant rememeber what sort of quality signal I was getting).

Dont want really want to fork out for a new dish and lnb if the fault may lie else where, as like I said earlier, the last time I tried they were all working, all 7 channels.
 
I can get around 70% signal strength from.those tp's on a clear day with my triax 1.1 and inverto black ultra lnb,this can drop to around 55% when its raining or slightly higher when its foggy.i actually get a better signal because i changed from dm800 to a vu+ so i cobsider the tuner in the dm to be very poor,i also found an improvement since i installed the inverto lnb.my dish has dropped from ab old ecostar 1.2 to a triax 1.1,so the reciver and lnb are making the difference
 
Ok, I dont really want to replace the DM800 just yet as its only just a year old. Would it be an Idea to try a new LNB first? What would be a good one to go for and how would it cost?

Thanks
 
The weakest clear channel round here (on an 80cm dish) is the Baltic Music Channel on 11843H. This drops out if the weather closes in.

But regarding the channels you used to be able to view, do you have a videoguard subscriber card in the box or is this with help from another receiver in another part of the world ?
 
Inverto black ultra LNB. :)
 
Channel Hopper said:
The weakest clear channel round here (on an 80cm dish) is the Baltic Music Channel on 11843H. This drops out if the weather closes in.

But regarding the channels you used to be able to view, do you have a videoguard subscriber card in the box or is this with help from another receiver in another part of the world ?
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Its with a little help from a friend in another part of the world.

Is this a common problem, being able o get a signal one day and not the next? I dont want to start throwing money at new stuff if it could be something simple.

If this happened to one of you guys, would you replace first, the receiver, dish or lnb?
 
newcomers2 said:
Ok, I dont really want to replace the DM800 just yet as its only just a year old. Would it be an Idea to try a new LNB first? What would be a good one to go for and how would it cost?

Thanks
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Can't see it being the DM800, an 80cm is on the limit of the signal threshold for 5E, a slight misalignment and you will lose it. Try peaking the dish on a FTA channel in the positioner setup menu using the "Position fine movement" East/West function. You should be able to optimise the SNR and BER, be patient, the figures don't refresh instantly. I find the DM800 very tolerant to high BERs, some of my channels from 16E are watchable with 33% SNR and 9K BER without breakup.

60% from 28E is not good even from something like NME TV, I would expect 90-100% on BBC 1/2 from an 80cm. But when you've looked at the postioner setup menu, you will start to get the "feel" for dish alignment.
 
I am only a few miles from you, as I said earlier, and my 15 year old 80cm dish with holes in it and a 7 year old "0.6"db LNB cope in most weathers.

I would first check for obstructions (trees or buildings), then check your alignment, then finally try a new "0.1"db LNB. (WARNING: a modern "0.1" LNB is unlikely to be any better than my 7 year old "0.6"db LNB, but it shouldn't be any worse.

Oh, I almost forgot, I've got a crap tuner too.
 
Looks like the winds blown it off a bit
 
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