Freesat issues in France (2 boxes, 2 dishes)

[dbx]

Hello,

This has been doing my head in for a while so maybe you can help me out.

Problem 1: Freesat Audio & Video Interference

Was running an 80cm dish with an ELAP FTA receiver for 2 years to catch all the FTA channels on the 28.8 satellites. Quality was beautiful for a couple years, but about a month ago interference popped up. Buzzing with the audio and faint horizontal lines scrolling up and down the screen. Sometimes they were static, and sometimes climbing fast or slow.

The problem only happened with the satellite feed. When the cable was unplugged no audio interference and rock solid image from the box (menus, etc). No interference on DVD, other inputs.

Any ideas? I suspected the cable or LNB, so swapped them both out, which led to problem number 2.....
​

Problem 2: When trying to lock on to satellite, signal strength shown but never fluctuates even if cable unplugged

So after swapping out the LNB and cable and trying to re-align the dish, it's now constantly showing me 20% signal strength and never fluctuates. No signal quality pops up even though the dish is pointed in the right general area (I think?).

This happens with two seperate dishes and three boxes;

Sky digibox: Signal strength alternates between "locked" and "unlocked" every few seconds but no transport ID and this happens even if I point it the dish at a wall.

Elap FTA box: Signal strength at around 20% no matter where it's pointed. When I re-did the F-connectors and plugged in, it now sits at 6% even if not connected to LNB. When connected to LNB it jumped up to 70% but stayed there no matter where it was pointed.

Any tips on how to sort this out so I can try and tune the dish better? I have an excellent landmark (neighbour's chimney) to point at which is how I locked it in previously, but when I did it a few years ago the signal strength meter was very responsive and easy to find the satellite. This time it seems like nothing I do affects the signal strength.
​

Grateful for any tips...

 

[rolfw]

Problem one was unlikely to be a dish/LNB problem, a bad signal will manifest itself with pixellation or total picture breakup, was more likely to be an earth problem, a receiver issue, or perhaps interference from another piece of equipment.

If you realign using the Sky digibox, you need to look out for the network ID number 0002, then a quality reading should appear as you fine tune the dish. If you get signal strength alone, you are not on the correct satellite.

 

[dbx]

Problem one was unlikely to be a dish/LNB problem, a bad signal will manifest itself with pixellation or total picture breakup, was more likely to be an earth problem, a receiver issue, or perhaps interference from another piece of equipment.

Thanks for the response. I thought it might be an earth issue as well, but I couldn't understand why it was only coming in through the coax cable. (As in, when the coax was unplugged, the receiver was showing a clean picture with no buzz.) Can you recommend what I should look for?

If you realign using the Sky digibox, you need to look out for the network ID number 0002, then a quality reading should appear as you fine tune the dish. If you get signal strength alone, you are not on the correct satellite.

I can't seem to get the Sky digibox to stop swapping between "locked" and "unlocked" even if the dish is pointed at a wall. It just cycles every 15 seconds or so and the quality/signal strength don't fluctuate at all.

Hmm - could this be tied into a potential earth issue, even though I swapped all 25 meters of the coax cable for new?
Do you know why it might be switching between 'locked' and 'unlocked' (with no network ID) even if the dish is pointed at al

 

[dbx]

^ oops - disregard last sentence please - inadvertent paste

 

[rolfw]

Is the Sky digibox a known working one?

 

[ralphmagno]

the buzzing in the audio and lines on vedio sounds line power supply problems or a cap is not filtering out.
a line on the vedio traveling vert and 50 hz buzzing there is a filter cap for sure not working.
also bad ground could do it .
try inverting the mains plug.
if its still there try to se if it does the same at a friend's house.
keep us informed
ralph

 

[Channel Hopper]

So after swapping out the LNB and cable and trying to re-align the dish, it's now constantly showing me 20% signal strength and never fluctuates. No signal quality pops up even though the dish is pointed in the right general area (I think?).

This happens with two seperate dishes and three boxes;
[/INDENT]

What LNB have you installed ?

 

[dbx]

Is the Sky digibox a known working one?

Yep, tested at a neighbours place and it works.

the buzzing in the audio and lines on vedio sounds line power supply problems or a cap is not filtering out.
a line on the vedio traveling vert and 50 hz buzzing there is a filter cap for sure not working.
also bad ground could do it .
try inverting the mains plug.
if its still there try to se if it does the same at a friend's house.
keep us informed
ralph

Noob question, but where/what would I test for a bad ground? And when you say filter cap, do you mean capacitor inside the box?

We'll see what happens when I get the dish locked in - if inverting the mains plug doesn't do it I'll see what it's like at a neighbour's house.

What LNB have you installed ?

It's a Kyostar 0,3dB unit. The dish is 80cm. It's next to a new 60cm Kyostar dish with the same LNB which I'll be pointing at 19.2 tomorrow.

 

[rolfw]

Upload a picture of the LNB, some of them have odd preset skew angles.

 

[dbx]

Upload a picture of the LNB, some of them have odd preset skew angles.

Ok, photo attached... It's got little lines at the top which I set for -12.4 (looking from behind the dish) as per dishpointer.com.

I tried again this morning and it's still giving me no joy... On the Sky digibox it's showing signal quality & strength even when pointed at a wall, and on the FTA box the same thing with signal strength.

 

[Low Profile]

Looks like your dish is looking at the wrong satellite from the transport stream ID.

 

[dbx]

Looks like your dish is looking at the wrong satellite from the transport stream ID.

It shows signal strength & quality even if the dish is pointed back at the wall... Confusing.

 

[sonnetpete]

I suspect you are pointing at 23.5°E, it carries the same transponder that a S.k.y digibox defaults to, 11778V. It can't be 19.2°E otherwise you would see 0001 on the set up screen. I would say the box has locked up and is showing the reading it had when it did so. There's no way you will get a quality reading when it's pointing to the wall. Hence you need to reboot the digibox. Out of preference I'd use the fta box to try and align your dish, but you would be better off trying a cheap sat meter with a needle scale and tone.

 

[ralphmagno]

hello,
you are probally eather picking up a signal from another sat or something reflecting or noise from the lnb.
if your on the proper satellite 28 for sky you would get good quality . 80% strenth and 50% or more quality.
and sig lock would say ok as well as transport stream.

the buzzing if the box is old could be caused by a bad filter capasator or some ground problem.

can you test the box at a friend's house who has sky uk?

if you are using a scart plug to connect the box to the tv there should be no lines on the picture and no buzzing on the sound.

if you are using rf in then buzzing could come from the tv being on pal b/g and the box sends the signal on pal i uk standard.
if you are looking at other satellite systems in france they are on french telecom on 5 west and your dish needs to go 28 east or standing behind the dish about 10 inches to the left.

lnb scew the lnb must be twisted in the holder.
usualy the standard lnb the part that screws the cable on is straight down.
or at the 6 on the clock.
at 28 degrees that will be at the 7 on the clock.
looking at the other receiver desplay you will get the strength and lock .

keep us informed
ralph