Fransat dish realignment

P

pandarock32

Member
My Satellite Setup
Sky uk, Fransat (Cgv E-sat HD-W), hispasat 30w (TDT SAT)
My Location
England
Hello
I tried to post this in the single satellite installation forum, but for some reason it wouldn't let me post :( for ages my fransat system has been erratic, pixelating and losing signal at random times for up to about five minutes at a time, sometimes with days of working perfectly in between. The dish was realigned today and raised higher, and it seems to have worked, but whilst the signal quality was always resolutely between 80-90, it has now gone down to 50-60, yet in reality it is much better. Do you think this is because the dish is coming at the satellite from another angle?
 
Not sure why you weren't able to get into the Dish Setup Forum, but I've moved it for you now.



Do you actually mean Signal Quality? The reason I say this is that I have found that some Receivers behave as you describe in relation to Signal Strength indication when swamped with a strong signal. ie A "respectable" 80-90% Signal Strength indication suddenly jumps down to an apparently inferior 60-70%.

A false and misleading indication probably relating to AGC operation.
 
Hi I mean signal quality, the signal strength at the moment is 86, and it has always been 85-90 strength I think
 
It's the french version of freeview, but via satellite for people who can't recieve terrestrial coverage, another option is TNTSAT which broadcats on the same satellite as the french version of sky, canalsat; both options have the same channels, but tntsat cards expire after four years, while fransat cards have an unlimited lifetime
 
pandarock32 said:
Hi I mean signal quality, the signal strength at the moment is 86, and it has always been 85-90 strength I think
Click to expand...

Hmm, not sure then!

Probably still an innate metering characteristic of your box.

It really doesn't matter much if you get lock on all desired Channels and with decent Rain Margin.
 
Cool, thank you for answering! It hasn't rained yet but I'm sure it'll be fine :D
 
Oh also on another reciever I have when I come out of the menu the picture pixelates for a few seconds, then is fine. Can you tell me if this is just a inherent problem with the software or my tv? It doesn't cause me any problems, I'm just curious :)
 
I've worked it out: i noticed the no signal light flashes as the picture freezes after a channel change and coming out of the menu, so I guess it is just verifying there is a signal
 
Could be two reasons for the variation: 1) dish misaligned resulting in a weaker signal quality or 2) the signal is TOO strong and is overwhelming the tuner therefore making it look like lower signal. This is especially true if you have a very short cable run but it doesn't look like it's the case here.

Like you say, if it all works, then leave it alone.
 
Cool thanks :D I just checked the signal quality of my other reciever, and it fluctuates all the way from full green (100) to red (about 5%) constantly, yet I see no degradation in picture quality. Also, as well as the brief freezing, I have noticed when I change channels it sometimes shows the channel i switched to for a second and then goes black, and then shows the channel again, as if I were changing channels again. Please can you clarify that this is a software bug? It can't be hardware can it, as I always get a perfectly good picture when the channel 'loads' after the brief interference. Thanks for answering before :D
 
Are there any trees near by. The last time is saw something like that was when the wind blew a tree branch into the line of sight of the dish when the wind gusted.

It may also be an intermittent short in the cable or water in the cable.

Nano
 
No it has a clear line of sight sorry I forgot to say it has a constant signal strength of 86 but not of signal quality, I don't think it could be water as it was only recently installed
 
Signal quality flashing from green to red, 100% to 5%, could be a problem with the connection, cable, or dish.
First check the F Connector, at the rear of your receiver, try re-doing the connection, ensuring you have sufficient braid connecting with the lower part of the F Connector.
Just because it was recently installed does not rule out water ingress, or a loose connection. If possible check all connections, at the dish, and receiver, as well as the cable, for any signs of damage. Also check the dish, to see if it is loose, or has moved.
f-connector.webp
 
Ok thank you I've checked the connections and they seem fine, could it be a fault with the tuner or something?
 
If the dish is pointing to the 5West transmissions then you have to be very precise with the skew setting of the LNB, moreso on a dish that is borderline diameter.
 
Are the two receivers you have the same make/model? It could be an inherent software "feature" - would be interesting to try on a completely different receiver. Though it does sound like a connection or a tree waving in front of it. Could be a faulty LNB.

Ignore the strength reading - I've said many times that this reading should be removed from all receivers as it's so misleading as it tells you virtually nothing.
 
The reciever isn't the same model it is a televes 5113 combo which gets signals from 30w hispasat. I don't think it could be a faulty lnb as the problem only happens when I switch channels, once I am on the channel and it has pixelated/frozen or gone black and refreshed the channel, it is fine, and usually is fine which me changing the channel a couple of times more, but after a while it does it again, and nearly always when i come out of the menu. The installer took ages setting up the dish as well as he could, so I don't want to call him out if I can help it. Maybe it could be the RAM being overloaded? I forgot that this receiver is usually subsidised by the Spanish government so maybe it could be a design fault, as this is only meant as a last resort for getting tdt signal
 
Have you tuned in FTA channels (e.g. 11591 V, 20000) on your other receiver to check if the same problem occurs there? You might also check all your connectors to make sure they their contacts are all OK and that there are no shorts. Do you use a through-window feed cable? This can also result in considerable signal loss.
I have also experienced fluctuation problems when there are trees located over the dish, the signal may be coming in at a higher angle than you think.
Surely the signal should be strong enough in your neck of the woods:
http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/footprints/Eutelsat-5-West-A-Super.html
 
I don't use a through window cable, the cable comes in through a drilled hole :), I don't think the other receiver would work as it's designed for fransat at 5w but I can always try :D the dish is on the roof and looks at the top of the tree but the true angle goes way over as far as I can tell
 
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