level 78% quality 64% but no picture!

S

seamusgallen

Member
My Satellite Setup
ELAP kit 85cm dish + analogue + digital tuner + 3 LNBs for Atlantic Bird, Hotbird and Astra 1
My Location
SW France
I live in south west France, and bought a kit a few years ago, dish + 3 LNBs + 1 analog box + 1 digital box + disecq. One LNB connects directly to the analog box and picks up the six French stations. The other two pick up Hotbird 13 and Astra 19.2 and link to the disecq which links to the digital box. This gives hundreds of stations of which only about 4 are watchable.
Recently, I decided to try for Astra 28.2, so I rotated the dish towards the east, pointed the (ELAP) digital box at BBC1, and watched the quality measurement. It started at 0% and, as I moved the dish, rose and peaked at 64%. But, I got no picture. Many of the stations on Astra 19.2 have good reception with quality at 35%, so why no picture for BBC with level at 78% and quality at 64%?? What am I missing!
 
It's possible you weren't aligned/locked onto the correct satellite.

So from your description, you have a dish, LNb offset bracket and 3 x LNb's.?

Did you configure the receiver for DiSEqC 1.0 / mini DiSEqC switching?
 
Hi and welcome to the forum,

It is possible that you are using a transponder for BBC1 which is also used by Astra at 23.5°E. 10803V is used by both satellites so you may not have moved the dish far enough or your 13°E LNB is pointing at 23.5°E and picking up the other transponder which carries encrypted channels. Perhaps you could disable two of the three LNB's and align using just one? Try using 10773H, 10788V or 10818V which carry the regional BBC variants but aren't reproduced by Astra at 23.5°. Obviously you will have to peak the dish by lowering the elevation slightly as you've moved it further East.

(Damn, not quick enough)
 
Thanks guys for those replies. I'll try some of the suggestions. On the DiSEqc question, I originally configured it so that the receiver can run through the full range of channels from 1 on Hotbird to 999 (or whatever!) on Astra 19.2 without selecting a satellite, but I haven't changed it now. It's the same receiver, DiSEqc and LNBs, just the dish is pointing more to the east.
 
Elap receivers don't work correctly, they don't meet specification and shouldn't be on the market.
 
Well, it was workin on 19E, so it should work on 28E. Like the others Ithink you are most probably on the wrong satellite. That can be confirmed by scanning a different satellite, say 23.5E, and seeing what channels you can watch.
 
You'd like to think so wouldn't you, but if Elap units can't receive Noddy in Toyland at these signal levels then you've really got no hope trying to set up on 28E horizontals. To be fair though, the units I tested did receive verticals - and this problem may not be applicable to older units - though I have noted that Elap are making designated receivers for the UK market (at an elevated price) - so it might just be a firmware con (even though the unreceivable transponders are listed in the default transponder lists on the malfunctioning units).
 

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Hello Sonnetpete, I have been using 10773H, so maybe I'm pointing at Astra 28.2 and there's some other problem. I have tried substituting a Digibox for the ELAP, and it just says "no signal"!!
 
What is exactly that you are receiving....What I mean to say is, are you receiving Astra 19.2 and HotBird with the other two LNB's placed on the same Bracket whilst having the Dish pointed specifically at Astra 28
 
I'm guessing that the prime focus LNB is Hotbird. Why not try connecting directly between this LNB and the digibox? This would eliminate any possible problems as to which LNB is pointing where. Did you try using the ELAP box to scan for channels on 23.5°? If you carried out a transponder scan of 12168V, which is one of the strongest on 23.5° and you find the music channel Ocko, you are definitely pointing at the wrong satellite. I assume if the ELAP box has a problem with horizontals you should concentrate on trying to align with a vertical transponder.

I think this is a probable misalignment, and possibly compounded by a problem with the ELAP. Good luck, hope your weather is more suitable for moving dishes than ours at present!!
 
I think you need to take a fresh look at this, take the DiSEqC switch out of the equation and connect directly to the Western most LNB (the one which would have been pointing at Astra 19.2 originally), then try aligning the dish whilst connected to the Sky digibox.

Might be helpful if you were to upload some pictures of your dish setup.
 
I'd suggest trying to align the dish with the digibox, this will eliminate any incompatibility issues with the Elap.

Once it's aligned by all means try the Elap, you never know - you might have a correctly functioning unit.
 
Here's an attempt to upload a photo. The LNB on the right, as you look at it, is cabled directly to an analog receiver (also ELAP) and picks up the six main French stations from Atlantic Bird. The two LNBs on the left are cabled into the DiSEQC box behind the dish, which is cabled to the ELAP digital receiver and picks up Hotbird 13 and Astra 19.2, both satisfactorily.
 

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OK, have uploaded your photo, it was way too big dimension wise and too large a file, needs to be less than 1280 pixels at the widest and less than 500KB file size.)

You need to connect the far left LNB direct to the downlead, or make sure it is on port A of the DiSEqC switch, then connect to the digibox to align.
 
I'll try that in the morning, provided the rain stays away. Thanks, Rolfw.
 
Between some serious showers I tried the following. I connected the left-most LNB (which had been picking up Astra 19.2) directly to the Digibox. I set the Digibox to "Signal Test". Then, I loosened the bolts on the dish and moved it a little at a time towards the east, checking the screen after each move. No signal at all was reported. I'm convinced that, at some stage, it was pointing at Astra 28.2, but i don't have a meter or a compass. When the rin got heavy, I put it back as before, and retired, defeated! Eventually the analog stations will disappear (soon?), so I won't need the Atlantic Bird satellite. The French stations will be available in digital on Astra 19.2, but a TNT box is required to view them; maybe they're encrypted. But, I had half hoped that I could get 28.2 as well as 19.2, and get the BBC etc. Maybe I'll get another dish. It must be possible for a Digibox to pick up Astra 28.2 in this region.
 
seamusgallen said:
Here's an attempt to upload a photo. The LNB on the right, as you look at it, is cabled directly to an analog receiver (also ELAP) and picks up the six main French stations from Atlantic Bird. The two LNBs on the left are cabled into the DiSEQC box behind the dish, which is cabled to the ELAP digital receiver and picks up Hotbird 13 and Astra 19.2, both satisfactorily.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but the photo of the dish seems to be different to your written description. If the dish faces South, then the photo was taken facing North. Wouldn't it follow then that West should be to the left of the photo? And the single LNB for 5°W should be on the left of the LNB arm and the monoblock on the right?
 
Left bounces right and right bounces left.
 
Fair enough, but both the monoblock and the 5°W LNB should be pointed towards the dish centre.

@ seamusgallen: In your first post you said you got channels from 19.2° "with 35% quality" You should be seeing something stronger than this. It looks like that LNB support arm is mounted back to front. As you look at the dish, the 5°W LNB should be on the left and the monoblock on the right. The way it's set up, you're only getting a signal from half of the dish for each LNB. There shouldn't be any bouncing across the dish. The three satellites you are receiving are three of the strongest up there. Living in SW France and hoping to get Astra2, I'd guess you would need a minimum of a 60cm dish. Right now you're trying to get Astra2 on half a dish. I'd be interested to see what the others think
 
Well it may be an optical illusion but it appears to me that the building is in the way of the signals for 23.5 and 28.2 as per the diagram, we really need more photgraphs to know what is happening here
 

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