HotBird weak signal

fadshen

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Dear All,

I have just installed a new digital system to receive Hotbird transmission. I am trying to get Arabic channels, some I am getting and some not (when I do search I get 702 channels in total Arabic & other .. I guess there are more)

For the ones which don't work I am getting signal strength around 27 and signal quality around 45 - 55. Some of these are:

Name Freq
2M -- 12476H
Al Aqariya -- 11747H
A3 -- 12539H
ESC1 -- 12654H
Infinity -- 11747H
Nile News -- 12539H

I wonder if any of these has a weak signal?

I am guessing that I might one of the following problems:

1. My dish is quite old (75x66cm) - parts of its body is peeling off, I am not sure but it seems that as if a layer of it is falling down. Please have a look at http://www.fad.esmartguy.com/ - by the way I have now moved the dish on the top of the fence for better view.

2. I have changed the LNB with a new Universal 0.6dB, but because it has a bigger diameter than the old one it fits in a higher position than the old one (about 1-2cm higher).

3. The cable is quite long about 100m, it is a Chinese made with the outer mesh silver colour rather than the normal copper colour .. does that have a bad quality or does the long cable affect .. I could cut it as I only need about 30m.

Would a signal booster solve the problem?
or could I revive the dish by painting it for example?

Many thanks,

Fady
 

Lancelot

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My Satellite Setup
SS1.
125cm Gibbi with Channelmaster feedhorn and Inverto C120 twin.
36v H to H 62E - 61.5W
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South central
Oh dear........:eek:


The dish has seen better days hasn't it ?.
That and a 100m cable run of not the best quality will not be helping you.

You have replaced the LNB, good. (though it probably isn't happy in the wrong mount) and almost certianly won't be working properly.

You need to get an 80cm dish (very cheap these days).
If you cannot shorten your cable run by a lot then you need to look at some better quality coax.
Sometimes in a cable run of this length then a line amp may help, but they are never a substitute for a large piece of metal on the end of a short cable run.

Look about and I'm sure that you will find some cheap replacements for what you have as they are a bit long in the tooth looking at them.

Hope this helps. :)


L
 

rolfw

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Technomate 5402 HD M2 Ci, DM7000s, Transparent 80cm Dish, Moteck SG2100 DiseqC motor, lots of legacy gear. Meters: Satlook Digital NIT, Promax HD Ranger+ spectrum analyser.
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OK, cut the cable to the length you require, any longer will only reduce your signal and is probably the major part of your problems. Then get a better dish as Lancelot suggests, not a big investment, but will make real improvements in your reception.
 

fadshen

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rolfw said:
OK, cut the cable to the length you require, any longer will only reduce your signal and is probably the major part of your problems. Then get a better dish as Lancelot suggests, not a big investment, but will make real improvements in your reception.

Rolfw,

Your advice worked .. cutting the cable to length I needed (about 25 m) got me all the channels I need .. I now get 982 channels when I do automatic search.

Many thanks,

Fady
 

Likvid

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Poor dish, it seems ready for the graveyard.
 
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