Losing Sky signal strength/quality

[Emm]

Last month I 'self installed' Sky+ and to compensate for a 38m long run of CT100, I used a Triax Zone 2 Dish (I live in Norfolk). After the 'installer' aligned the dish, the services menu on the '+' box showed input 1 at 80% strength and quality, and input 2 at 100% strength and 90% quality.

Over the 4 weeks, above readings have gradually dropped to input 1 - 60% strength and quality, input 2 - 90% strength, 60% quality. In that time there has been the occasional freezing of picture and also momentary sound drop out. Does this indicate that the dish has slipped out of alignment? (I have a standard digibox on 'multiroom' which also indicates a quality/strength drop).

If alignment is the problem, is it worth the expense of getting my own alignment meter to achieve maximum quality? (I must admit, I dislike being reliant on someone else - that's why I did my own dish/LNB/cable).

Has anyone here had experience of either the Horizon HDSM or the Lacuna/Wolsey SAT2 alignment meters?

Also (as an aside), the Triax dish came with a sleeve fitting for mounting the LNB to the arm. The Skyware Quad was also supplied with an adapter. The offset/projection of the Skyware adapter was greater than the Triax one. I ended up choosing to the Skyware one - was this the correct one to use?

Apologies for the long first post. It's been a steep learning curve for me (I knew absolutely nothing on this subject 6 weeks ago...)

Thanks in advance.

 

[Lancelot]

Might be worth looking @ the first couple of feet of cable from the LNB
just in case it has managed to suck up any moisture, if not then a
good blob of silicone sealant round it will eliminate any worries @
that end. Could just be as you say that the wind has moved it around
a bit in the last few weeks or something locally has changed to affect
your line of sight.

If you find out what it is then let everyone know.
Information shared and all that....

Good Luck.

 

[rolfw]

Certainly sounds like an alignment problem, but also moisture in the cable is a possibility as Lancelot says.

Both of those meters are good, but perhaps overkill, a cheap swinging needle or beeper will probably do the job for £25 or so.

 

[Emm]

Thanks for the response Lancelot and Rolfw.


Line of sight wise, the dish is mounted near the apex of a gable end to ensure clear line of sight over surrounding obstacles.

As regards moisture ingress, I'd like to think that that's covered. I've used amalgamating tape on all three cable run connections (and even taped over the unused fourth on the LN. I also sealed each cable's dielectric(?) centre with carefully applied silicone grease (filling the cavities) prior to fitting the F conns.

When the 'installer' did the alignment, he was hardly up the ladder more than a minute, and a week later when checking his handywork, discovered that he hadn't tightened any of the u-bolts or adjustment screws....

Is it possible to achieve the strongest/best quality alignment with a cheap analogue meter/beeper? As I understand it these only indicate signal strength and not quality.

Also, any thoughts about the adapter sleeve I mentioned it the first post?

Thanks again.

 

[rolfw]

The sleeve adaptor should be correct for the LNB with which it is supplied. Not so sure about the silicone in the dialectric, pretty much overkill and not sure about its transparency to IF.

 

[Emm]

.....Not so sure about the silicone in the dialectric, pretty much overkill and not sure about its transparency to IF.

If there's more that a couple of millimeters 'depth' of grease at the end of each cable I'd be suprised - I made sure the centre cable core was free of grease too (I applied the stuff with a tiny flat blade screw driver). It was just a 'belt and braces' exercise in keeping moisture out. I thought preferable to go this route rather than use grease filled rubber boots which perish and crack...

As asked above can the strongest/best quality alignment be achieved with a basic analogue meter/beeper? Don't these only indicate signal strength and not quality?