No signal quality

kralc

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I have replaced an old sky dish, which I had installed about 15 years ago, with a Ross System 22300KIT-RO which I purchased from B&Q. The old Sky dish worked perfectly but has not been used for several years. I have put the Ross dish in the same place and aligned it as close to the geometry of the old Sky dish I can but although signal strength is 50% I am getting no reading on signal quality no matter how much i move the dish. My garden is steeply terraced so the end of my garden is higher than the house there is a tree in a neighbours garden about 75 metres away which the dish is facing, although the dish is just below the gutter the tree is quite a bit higher. Could this be causing the loss of signal quality?

Any advice much appreciated.
Dave.
 

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Welcome to the forum.

Moved your thread to an appropriate section.

You need be more accurate in aligning the dish. For example, 10mm movement relates to a hit or miss of the satelllite in outer orbit. Get yourself a little in line meter and align/ peak the dish to near spot on.
 

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And do not be misled by the 50% Signal Strength reading ............. this is a quiescent indication that tells you nothing more than that you have an LNB connected.

When you get close to a sniff of a signal, this reading will change and then you should also get a marked change in whatever the quiescent Quality reading is, too.




Upon re-reading your Post, you say the old Sky dish worked perfectly then immediately say it hasn't been used for a number of years.

Are you saying that you tried it just before removing it, or are you relying upon history?

If the latter, then the word "old" may be significant": Was it used for Sky Analogue, or for Sky Digital? If the first, then it would have been aligned to 19.2E not 28.2/28.5E.

Not enough info, really.
 

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No I didn't try the old dish first as the Lnb had broken off some time ago.
It was originally fitted with an old pace Sky Digibox from Dixon's, that was changed about ten years ago with one made by Sony, shortly after this I went over to cable. I have uploaded a photo of the trees in front of the dish, see attachment. I purchased an alignment meter from Maplins yesterday but haven't had a chance to use it due to weather.

Thanks for your quick reply any help much appreciated.
Dave.
 

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If 10 years ago then Tivu was correct and the old dish was receiving analogue transmissions from 19.2 E and now sky and freesat come from 28.2/5 E you need to realign the dish -www.dishpointer.com will assist you in this
 

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You have no skew on the LNB, it needs to be rotated anticlockwise in the picture to get the best signal. The trees shouldn't be a problem, they look far too low. Dish is looking up 25 degrees ish.
 

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Thanks for all the replies. I have connected the meter and turned meter dial to 5 on the scale which is 1 to 10 as per instructions, it started to whistle, slowly moved dish to best reading which is 7.5. Still no signal quality reading when connected to TV. Very frustrating. All help gratefully received.

Ps. I noticed a red and green light on the meter red on all the time green only flashed a couple of times and went off could this be of significance?
 

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kralc

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Sorry will check scew and see if that makes a difference.
 

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The small amount of skew correction won't stop the receiver from locking onto a signal. Use dishpointer and a compass to get yourself close enough for now, then attach the meter and adjust for a signal. Once happy, tweak the LNb skew to maximise. You can then set the receiver to a service scan to see where you are, go from there.
 

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satelliteman said:
The small amount of skew correction won't stop the receiver from locking onto a signal. Use dishpointer and a compass to get yourself close enough for now, then attach the meter and adjust for a signal. Once happy, tweak the LNb skew to maximise. You can then set the receiver to a service scan to see where you are, go from there.

Thanks for that Satelliteman I will try that tomorrow and let you know.
Meanwhile is it Astra 1 or 2 or which is best for English programmes.
 

kralc

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Oh one more thing what is the degree of elevation For Guildford area.
Cheers
 

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Try starting at around 25.

But don't forget the LNB arm is offset by roughly the same amount, so the rule of thumb is "dish face a tiny bit above vertical"
 

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kralc said:
Thanks for that Satelliteman I will try that tomorrow and let you know.
Meanwhile is it Astra 1 or 2 or which is best for English programmes.

That'll be Astra2.

In addition, as above; I wouldn't rely too much on the dish EL markings. I've not seen the Ross dish kit but doubt very much their degree markings will be accurate enough.
 

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To avoid any confusion the signal comes in as per the picture so no problem there and the dish should be almost vertical when viewed from the side
 

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kralc

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satelliteman said:
That'll be Astra2.

In addition, as above; I wouldn't rely too much on the dish EL markings. I've not seen the Ross dish kit but doubt very much their degree markings will be accurate enough.

I am looking out of my window next to the dish and I can see a very bright star with a dimmer star to the left, could the bright star be the satellite?
 

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No, afraid not :)
 
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