Monoblock confusion!

linsladeboy

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2006
Messages
86
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402HD
Gibertini 85cm aluminium dish
5 LNBS - 28E/23E/19/E/13E/9E
My Location
Bedfordshire
I swapped my single Hotbird Lnb for an Astra/Hotbird monoblock a coulple weeks ago and since then I am constantly keep losing D+ and other mainly Spanish channels in bad weather and EVERY EVENING for some reason)(-red
All channels on Hotbird give me a constant 80+ % reading on and also such channels as Premiere on Astra but I can't for the life fathom out why some channels are breaking up whilst other are so strong:-Nooo
I have tried tweaking lnb on numerous occasions but still get a drop of signal on mentioned channels 'O'-red
I only have an 80 cms dish, is that reason or not:-cry1
 

linsladeboy

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2006
Messages
86
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402HD
Gibertini 85cm aluminium dish
5 LNBS - 28E/23E/19/E/13E/9E
My Location
Bedfordshire
Sorry, thread should read " monoblock confusion":-doh!
 

Topper

Amo Amas Amant Admin
Staff member
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Messages
23,991
Reaction score
4,014
Points
113
Age
69
My Satellite Setup
Has gone to a good home elsewhere
My Location
Blackburn, Lancashire
You have to remember that at 19.2 degrees there are 6 satellites co located thus any slight deviation from a well tuned set up will mean that you start dropping channels that are slightly weaker because the footprint is slightly different from satellite to satellite and transponder to transponder. Don't forget you are using a monoblock and as such whilst it may have 6 degrees separation the satellites are actually 6.2 degrees apart and so you still have to fine tune the dish to give you the best overall result, both satellites output strong signals so I suspect that your solution does indeed lie in fine tuning.
 

rolfw

Believe it when I see it Admin.
Staff member
Joined
May 1, 1999
Messages
38,292
Reaction score
1,615
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
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.
My Location
Berkshire
Also try skewing the LNB slightly, with the Astra side being higher, this may solve your signal problem.
 

linsladeboy

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2006
Messages
86
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402HD
Gibertini 85cm aluminium dish
5 LNBS - 28E/23E/19/E/13E/9E
My Location
Bedfordshire
Thanks for prompt feedback everyone!
Rolfw, I have skewed and moved LNB forward and back from holder on numerous occasions but still no good, that's why I have written inO-no

My dish is easily accessible as it's on side of house above my garage flat roof which means I have been able to ring on mobile to my son downstairs who's checking signal. I checked receiver this morning and can report that signal on D+ is about 20% and BBC World about 60% and obviously both not coming through'O' Premiere still fine on 80% and also Rai and TPS on Hotbird.
Do you think I should tweak with Azimuth and elevation as well ?

I was under the impression from lots of threads I have read that fitting a monoblock would be a piece of cake as my dish was already aligned to Hotbird and was only a matter of fitting monoblock and tweaking skew on it.
 

rolfw

Believe it when I see it Admin.
Staff member
Joined
May 1, 1999
Messages
38,292
Reaction score
1,615
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
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.
My Location
Berkshire
Strange that you have certain good channels, I don't suppose that there is a tree slightkly obscuring the dish on the 19.2 E satellite?

May be worth trying to align Astra as the prime satellite on the main LNB and see if you have the same problem, also check that you don't have a problme with interference from a DECT phone. :)
 

linsladeboy

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2006
Messages
86
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402HD
Gibertini 85cm aluminium dish
5 LNBS - 28E/23E/19/E/13E/9E
My Location
Bedfordshire
Thanks for advice:-worship
I'll have another go later on and also do some research on bandwiths for dect phones:confused
There's definitely no trees in the way. the only possible problem alignment wise would be next door's roofline, but it's about 8 metres away and about 1 to 1.5 metres higher from centre of dish and according to all my calculations angle of signal coming from satellite should easily clear it(or should it?)
 

linsladeboy

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2006
Messages
86
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402HD
Gibertini 85cm aluminium dish
5 LNBS - 28E/23E/19/E/13E/9E
My Location
Bedfordshire
Thanks for your attachment Rolfw, although I would be amazed if that's problem:eek:
I'll let you know how I get on sometime(weather is pretty bad today)
Do you think tweaking of elevation/azimuth is worth doing or not if all else fails?
 

linsladeboy

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2006
Messages
86
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402HD
Gibertini 85cm aluminium dish
5 LNBS - 28E/23E/19/E/13E/9E
My Location
Bedfordshire
Hi Rolfw,
Well I unplugged and took batteries out of Dect phone at dinnertime and made no difference whatsoeverO-no

Once again ( and this happens all the time!) signal has come up and is strong on all transponders including troublesome ones - 80-82% on Hotbird and Astra( and it's raining) with clear channels all round, but I can more or less guarantee that I will lose signal later in the evening and it's always weak first thing in the morning'O'-red
 

rolfw

Believe it when I see it Admin.
Staff member
Joined
May 1, 1999
Messages
38,292
Reaction score
1,615
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
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.
My Location
Berkshire
Strange, that would perhaps indicate an outside influence, perhaps a Radio Amateur or CBer.

I can check for this type of interference on the Spectrum analyser, but it is difficult to trace using just the receiver.
 

rolfw

Believe it when I see it Admin.
Staff member
Joined
May 1, 1999
Messages
38,292
Reaction score
1,615
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
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.
My Location
Berkshire
PS. I would certainly try aligning the dish to 19E using the default side of the LNB and leave it over night, as it could still be an LNB fault.
 

linsladeboy

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2006
Messages
86
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402HD
Gibertini 85cm aluminium dish
5 LNBS - 28E/23E/19/E/13E/9E
My Location
Bedfordshire
Hi Rolfw,
I thought I would post back latest findings as you've been more than helpful and patient putting up with my ignorance:-worship

Well I 've just had a quick foray upstairs( it's not raining for a change!) making contact with my lad on mobile and still can't really pinpoint problem:-Nooo
Elevation and azimuth are fine, skewed the LNB, moved it forward and backward and signal fluctuated with movement as it should too. I also covered each lnb with foil and signal disappeared at it should as well.
Weather is calm at present( I'm in SouthBedfordshire by the way) and these are a selection of signal strengths I'm getting.
HOTBIRD 79-82% on all channels as always

ASTRA 1

BBC WORLD 75%
D+CHANNELS 69&
PREMIERE 82% as always
ZDF 79&
EUROSPORT 82&
SKY NEWS 72%
TEQUILLA 66% and already breaking up , and like I said will getting worse as the evening wears on'O'-red
I am beginning to think that either lnb or dish isn't up to itO-no
 

rolfw

Believe it when I see it Admin.
Staff member
Joined
May 1, 1999
Messages
38,292
Reaction score
1,615
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
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.
My Location
Berkshire
Strange, perhaps it's a faulty monobloc then.
 

linsladeboy

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2006
Messages
86
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402HD
Gibertini 85cm aluminium dish
5 LNBS - 28E/23E/19/E/13E/9E
My Location
Bedfordshire
Hi Rolfw,=:), just thought I let you know a change of LNB (LEMON) seems to have done the trick;)
I am now now getting around 80% on most channels on both satellites at all times , signal was even steady in yesterday's downpour so I still don't quite know what the problem was with other LNB:-doh2
Having said that I am only constantly getting about 72% on BBC World( although signal did not drop during rain) on Astra compared to 79% on Hotbird. Is this normal or do you think all is still not well and I am still going to have issues later on:confused
 

rolfw

Believe it when I see it Admin.
Staff member
Joined
May 1, 1999
Messages
38,292
Reaction score
1,615
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
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.
My Location
Berkshire
Don't be too worried about relative signal strengths, if the signal holds in bad weather, then you have enough. :)
 

linsladeboy

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2006
Messages
86
Reaction score
4
Points
8
My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402HD
Gibertini 85cm aluminium dish
5 LNBS - 28E/23E/19/E/13E/9E
My Location
Bedfordshire
Thanks for reassurance and your help and advice with problem.
You're a star:-worship
 
Top