Have i set-up correctly?

teddy

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Hello, I hope you are all well.

A few months back my Humax Freesat box was just giving me the no signal display. The box is only a year old. I bought a new lnb and popped that on the dish. Still the 'signal is too weak or there is no signal' display.

I bought one of those wee £10 satellite finders as I figured the dish has been blown off alignment by high winds, hence the no signal. I have a fear of heights and the footpath that I have to put the ladder on to access the dish is on an incline so I was hoping it wouldn't be too much of a fiddley process realigning the dish.
I have never done this before but didn't wanna pay £100+ again for a guy to fix the dish. Long story short, I was up the ladder (crapping myself) for over an hour. The £10 sat finder was binned and I ordered a more expensive sat finder from amazon.

I ordered a vmade sat finder which I have to be honest was great. It was very accurate. It doesn't tell you the name of what satellite your locked onto but hey who cares. Sat 8 on the finder is the astra2 satellites.

As far as I can see my humax freesat box doesn't show me signal strength or satellite name. As far as I can remember when I aligned the dish I had 100% strength and 70-75% signal quality.

Anyway, I don't wanna go on forever but when I was trying to get a 100% signal quality by rotating the lnb skew I noticed changing the skew was making absolutely no difference in signal quality or strength. Is this normal??
My humax appears to be function great. I don't get the terrestrial HD channels but I cant remember if I got the hd channels before the dish was misaligned by high winds.

I am happy with the signal quality of the standard channels I am receiving.
My question is, before I go out to lather the coax cable connections in grease, would looking for a different satellite result in the freesat hd channels working? Should I do something different with lnb skew or should I leave it well alone?

One thing I should tell you. When aligning the satellite all I was looking at on the sat finder screen was strength and quality. All the other displays on the screen mean nothing to me. I don't know if the other info on the screen was that important.

I read before that there are issues with the bbc and itv hd channels in certain areas and that's why im not receiving them. Im in Aberdeen city centre, Scotland.

Cheers for your time and help. Much appreciated.
Teddy

20190317_164629.jpg20190317_164724.jpg20190317_164743.jpghumax.pngLNB.pngsatfinder.pngscreen.png
 

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Well that skew does not look at all correct, the lnb need rotating clockwise, I am unsure what benefits you are expecting from coating the cable in grease, but am even more confused as you show in your photograph a twin output lnb but an advert suggesting you bought a quad.
 

teddy

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To protect the cable from the elements you can put tape it or dip the coax connection in grease before putting it into the lnb.

Now that you mention it, I had ordered the lnb from amazon with the understanding that the lnb was faulty but on swapping it over it was obvious its the dish that is the problem and I couldnt be bothered changing it to original lnb again. Less im up the ladder the better.
In all honesty I thought the the original lnb was a quad also but its up in the loft somewhere. Hood spot though.

The skew might look dodgy but I can move it in a 180 with no visible change to signal quality or signal strength.
I move the lnb skew and there is not 1% change on the sat finder meter.
 

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Forget the dipping connection in grease, that's an old bit of information from Satcure website and it was petroleum jelly not general grease, most other grease will make the connection worse, you can coat the outside with silicone grease or self amalgamating tape, but as you have a connector guard on those LNBs you probably need nothing, just decent F connectors..

If you are you are receiving some channels, then you are on the correct satellite, but your skew should be further clockwise, around 7 o'clock as you are looking at the dish from behind the LNB.
 

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SkyQ LNB, non SkyQ receiver ?
 

teddy

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Forget the dipping connection in grease, that's an old bit of information from Satcure website and it was petroleum jelly not general grease, most other grease will make the connection worse, you can coat the outside with silicone grease or self amalgamating tape, but as you have a connector guard on those LNBs you probably need nothing, just decent F connectors..

If you are you are receiving some channels, then you are on the correct satellite, but your skew should be further clockwise, around 7 o'clock as you are looking at the dish from behind the LNB.

Thanks very much. Didnt fancy coating the cables in grease. Would make them so difficult to handle.
 

a33

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The skew might look dodgy but I can move it in a 180 with no visible change to signal quality or signal strength.
I move the lnb skew and there is not 1% change on the sat finder meter.

This would be very strange, because rotating the LNB 90 degrees would change Hor and Vert polarization from your channels.
As rolfw indicated, LNB skew should be about 10,5 degrees at 57.15N, 2.20W for 28.35east.

BTW Maximizing signal quality at 28.2E would give less quality at 28.5E, and vice versa.
I usually finetune to a compromise between 28.2 and 28.5 channels. (see Astra 2E / Astra 2F / Astra 2G (28.2°E) - Alle uitzendingen - Frequenties - KingOfSat )
What counts is signal quality; signal strength is not really relevant.

Greetz,
A33
 

teddy

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This would be very strange, because rotating the LNB 90 degrees would change Hor and Vert polarization from your channels.
As rolfw indicated, LNB skew should be about 10,5 degrees at 57.15N, 2.20W for 28.35east.

BTW Maximizing signal quality at 28.2E would give less quality at 28.5E, and vice versa.
I usually finetune to a compromise between 28.2 and 28.5 channels. (see Astra 2E / Astra 2F / Astra 2G (28.2°E) - Alle uitzendingen - Frequenties - KingOfSat )
What counts is signal quality; signal strength is not really relevant.

Greetz,
A33

Im very sorry for reanimating a dead post. Because im doing a few things at once I just glimpsed over the posts. In all reality when your speaking about finetuning between 28.2 and 28.5 I haven't a scooby. When I went to the link you provided I felt overwhelmed.
I can see the table with the different satellites but im unsure what to make of this and how to decipher and use this information.
Is there an idiots guide. Well, actually. Is there a complete morons guide for people that cant get to grips with technical information?

I also just spotted that channel hopper stated "SkyQ LNB, non SkyQ receiver ". Although I cant be arsed (ive been renovating my home for the last year and am no nearer the end) I do have the original lnb which, in hindsight, was not faulty. I could reinstate this lnb. It was an actual lnb from sky.
Im not sure if this would be any better?

Thanks for your time and feeback.

Cheers,
Teddy
 

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A lot of satellites are co-located, in certain areas, so at about 28 East there are 3 satellites, Astra 2E, Astra 2F and Astra 2G:
Code:
https://www.lyngsat.com/europe.html
Generally, this doesn't matter, instead you look at the satellite beams, and satellite footprints, to see what size dish, is required, and if you can get the channels, mainly due to providers switching to spot beams, focussed on one area, like the UK spot beams.
Code:
http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/footprints/Astra-2E-UK.html
If possible check your receiver on a neighbours, friends, or relatives, dish, to rule that out as the problem, then check your connections, and cable, as these are most prone to damage, followed by your LNB and dish, to see if there is an obvious problem.
I'm not sure why you had a problem with the £10 satellite meter, as these are very basic, and easy to use, but the more expensive meter should check your dish/LNB setup.
 

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Im very sorry for reanimating a dead post. Because im doing a few things at once I just glimpsed over the posts. In all reality when your speaking about finetuning between 28.2 and 28.5 I haven't a scooby. When I went to the link you provided I felt overwhelmed.
I can see the table with the different satellites but im unsure what to make of this and how to decipher and use this information.
Is there an idiots guide. Well, actually. Is there a complete morons guide for people that cant get to grips with technical information?

I also just spotted that channel hopper stated "SkyQ LNB, non SkyQ receiver ". Although I cant be arsed (ive been renovating my home for the last year and am no nearer the end) I do have the original lnb which, in hindsight, was not faulty. I could reinstate this lnb. It was an actual lnb from sky.
Im not sure if this would be any better?

Thanks for your time and feeback.

Cheers,
Teddy

If you can get to the dish without falling off and injuring yourself then what harm can it do ?

 

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I use what is call "Dielectric Grease" inside the connections on all outdoor coax fittings.(just a little dab)

And be careful on what you use, as some greases will actuality affect the coax insulation and you will have bigger problems.

This is what I use.....https://www.amazon.com/Stuf-STUF-Dielectric-Dielectric-Waterproofing-Grease/dp/B00SS1J4JG
 

a33

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In all reality when your speaking about finetuning between 28.2 and 28.5 I haven't a scooby. When I went to the link you provided I felt overwhelmed.
I can see the table with the different satellites but im unsure what to make of this and how to decipher and use this information.

Well, the KingOfSat table has much information but as with many tables, you just have to look at what you can use.
At the top of the page you see there are 3 satellites hanging at "28.2E": 2 at longitude about 28.2E, and 1 at longitude about 28.5E.
They are Astra 2F, 2G and 2E.
If you have less quality on some channels, you can look them up in the table, and see from what Astra2 the signals come from.
If you have less quality on the 28.5 channels but more on 28.2 channels, chances are that you should aim a bit more to 28.5 to get a better compromise for 28.2 and 28.5 channels.

That is how I use these tables.
You'll learn more and more over time, I guess, as I did.

But if you changed LNB skew and it didn't affect reception at all, I'm still wondering what exactly you've done? Were you really on satellite reception?

Greetz,
A33
 

teddy

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I use what is call "Dielectric Grease" inside the connections on all outdoor coax fittings.(just a little dab)

And be careful on what you use, as some greases will actuality affect the coax insulation and you will have bigger problems.

This is what I use.....https://www.amazon.com/Stuf-STUF-Dielectric-Dielectric-Waterproofing-Grease/dp/B00SS1J4JG

I think what I bought was maintenance grease. Only cost me £3 but haven't used it yet.
 

teddy

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Well, the KingOfSat table has much information but as with many tables, you just have to look at what you can use.
At the top of the page you see there are 3 satellites hanging at "28.2E": 2 at longitude about 28.2E, and 1 at longitude about 28.5E.
They are Astra 2F, 2G and 2E.
If you have less quality on some channels, you can look them up in the table, and see from what Astra2 the signals come from.
If you have less quality on the 28.5 channels but more on 28.2 channels, chances are that you should aim a bit more to 28.5 to get a better compromise for 28.2 and 28.5 channels.

That is how I use these tables.
You'll learn more and more over time, I guess, as I did.

But if you changed LNB skew and it didn't affect reception at all, I'm still wondering what exactly you've done? Were you really on satellite reception?

Greetz,
A33

Thank you for that. Makes sense to me know. The table was useless to me before as im a bit thick. The humax freesat in the bedroom is the one that I have been testing and checking it uses an hdmi lead . I remembered that in the livingroom the freesat is still scart lead as we don't really watch tv in the livingroom.
I turned the freesat in the livingroom on and it picks up all channels. Signal and quality both 100% so im figuring the problems with hd channels in the bedroom is just our homes location.

Im just finishing off a lot of diy,homes a bit of a mess but I might get the ladders out 2morow night, plug the sat finder and write down the settings. All I was looking at before was strength and quality.
 
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