Old Dish and Lnb and Signal Quality

phrozenice

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Hi, my first post :). I'm a newbie to satellite tv and I seem to be having a problem with my signal quality. I've got a plain old (6 yrs old & very rusty) 6 ft dish and multichoice dsd 660 reciever.
My signal quality is around 58% and has never gone beyond that, only around 4 channels on dstv are watchable, the rest are choppy, you know, like a scratched dvd. I was advsied to buy a new LNB, but I'm not sure if it's my LNB, or the position of the dish that could be causing the problem?

My lnb IS old, but I assume that if it was the LNB, then no channel would be watchable, right?

Any advice anyone can give would really be helpful.
Thanks in advance. :)
John
 

4dbennett

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phrozenice said:
Hi, my first post :). I'm a newbie to satellite tv and I seem to be having a problem with my signal quality. I've got a plain old (6 yrs old & very rusty) 6 ft dish and multichoice dsd 660 reciever.
My signal quality is around 58% and has never gone beyond that, only around 4 channels on dstv are watchable, the rest are choppy, you know, like a scratched dvd. I was advsied to buy a new LNB, but I'm not sure if it's my LNB, or the position of the dish that could be causing the problem?

My lnb IS old, but I assume that if it was the LNB, then no channel would be watchable, right?

Any advice anyone can give would really be helpful.
Thanks in advance. :)
John

The rust on the dish is not going to help and will defo affect quality, if you have good signal strength try altering your elevation slightly, don,t forget to mark your dish position first before altering, mark it with waterproof marker pen.

deep joy dave:) :) :)
 

phrozenice

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4dbennett said:
The rust on the dish is not going to help and will defo affect quality, if you have good signal strength try altering your elevation slightly, don,t forget to mark your dish position first before altering, mark it with waterproof marker pen.

deep joy dave:) :) :)

Thanks for the advice. For the rust I think I'll just get a spray paint can and do the necessary. And it's really that bad, just that the paint has worn off and its now brown, not flaky like really bad rust.
My signal strength is around 75%. When you say, "alter my elevation", I assume you mean, the upward tilt of the dish?. Will try that tomorrow morning, and report back.

Thanks a lot. :-worship
kamau
 

4dbennett

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phrozenice said:
Thanks for the advice. For the rust I think I'll just get a spray paint can and do the necessary. And it's really that bad, just that the paint has worn off and its now brown, not flaky like really bad rust.
My signal strength is around 75%. When you say, "alter my elevation", I assume you mean, the upward tilt of the dish?. Will try that tomorrow morning, and report back.

Thanks a lot. :-worship

kamau

U GOT IT M8, don,t move it too much, (1/2 inch tilt at LNB end) at a time,
the rust doesn,t sound too bad however the signal reflects better off a nice shiny/smooth surface,

best of luck dave
 

phrozenice

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4dbennett said:
U GOT IT M8, don,t move it too much, (1/2 inch tilt at LNB end) at a time

Well, I did as you'd suggested, marked the current location and titled the whole dish up & down between 1cm and 5mm. On either direction, at 5mm, no change, but at 1cm, the signal quality dropped down to around 30%.
However, I've just logged on and read your latest post and I see you've mentioned "tilt at LNB end", does this mean, I should have tilted only the LNB, and not the whole dish, or is there no difference?

Thanks
John :toke:
 

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phrozenice said:
Well, I did as you'd suggested, marked the current location and titled the whole dish up & down between 1cm and 5mm. On either direction, at 5mm, no change, but at 1cm, the signal quality dropped down to around 30%.
However, I've just logged on and read your latest post and I see you've mentioned "tilt at LNB end", does this mean, I should have tilted only the LNB, and not the whole dish, or is there no difference?

Thanks
John :toke:

He meant the whole dish as the LNB is at the optimal focal position for an offset dish (which means, the LNB's in the right place to "see" the signal on that type of dish)... :)
 

4dbennett

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phrozenice said:
Well, I did as you'd suggested, marked the current location and titled the whole dish up & down between 1cm and 5mm. On either direction, at 5mm, no change, but at 1cm, the signal quality dropped down to around 30%.
However, I've just logged on and read your latest post and I see you've mentioned "tilt at LNB end", does this mean, I should have tilted only the LNB, and not the whole dish, or is there no difference?

Thanks
John :toke:

2cvbloke is right "the whole dish" from what you say moving it,s elevation is not making any difference, i think that the dish condition (rust) is having more effect than we think, its difficult to suggest anything more, from what you say in your first post it seems that position is your problem, but the condition of your dish is an unusual anomaly, ok i suggest taking dish down give it a good rub down with fine emery cloth and a drop of WD40 then clean it with some white spirit or some other degreasant, spray it and try it ?????
keep us in touch with your progress.

deep joy dave
 

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Do not get confused here guys iron oxide will reflect a signal just as good at solid iron.
The important factor is alignment, it is one of those life experiences once you have done it you think how could I have failed previously. I can only advice I can give is this, remember that digital signals take a couple of seconds to fill the fifo buffers before outputting to your TV so it is not like the analogue days when you could see the effects of approaching a satellite.............. with digital it either is there or it is not no middle ground
 

phrozenice

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Firstly let me say thanks to everyone for the suggestions, sorry for the late reply but yesterday I had to help my girlfriend out after she'd been mugged, but she's ok now. I talked to a friend of mine and he says that LNB's have a guaranteed life of around 4-5 yrs, that true? If so, then I'd have to buy a new one.

remember that digital signals take a couple of seconds to fill the fifo buffers before outputting to your TV so it is not like the analogue days when you could see the effects of approaching a satellite

The dish is way up on the roof, it takes me like 2-3 minutes to get back to see the effect on my tv, so I don't think the buffers could be an issue.

I think I'll try all suggestions, I'll re-spray dish and if that doesn't work then buy a new LNB.

Thanks everyone.
John
 
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