Polarisation problem?

[folkie]

Can anyone help? I have a Sky polarisation problem.

I am attempting to set up a fixed sky dish in a fairly wooded area. I have a good signal, and good quality, but no Channel 5, as I am only receiving Vertical polarisation.

I checked the coax voltage when searching and had 13v for V, 18v for H OK. I next loosened the screws on the block and physically rotated it through 90 deg. A search now found horizontal channels, - really vertical in disguise, and no vertical. So the receiver and LNB must be working fine.

I have borrowed another dish to try, but still a request to search for horizontal channels draws a "no signal". I also tried moving the dish about, although I would have thought if you could see the satellite and had a good signal, you should get both polarisations at equal strength.
Anyone else had similar problems who can offer any suggestions? As I’m rapidly running out of ideas.

folkie

 

[rolfw]

Sounds like the LNB is knackered.

 

[satelliteman]

You mentioned you borrowed another dish to try. Did that come with it's own LNb?

 

[folkie]

Thsnk you for your replies. The LNB is fine, I proved that by rotating it physically through 90 deg. The other set had it's own dish and LNB as well.

Since my last post.

To recap: I had two boxes, one a standard Sky box, and the other a Freeview box belonging to a friend.

Both boxes would not receive Channel Five,

My friends freeview box was only getting the Vertical polarisation.
I made the wrong assumption that both boxes therefore did not get horizontal. (I must have wasted hours over that)

I since found that his freeview box had an antenna setup option to select V, H, or V/H and had been set to Vertical only. Switching to V/H and a retune and it all works fine.

Back to the Skybox, the problem is now easier. I temporarilly added Channel 5 using the “add channels” facility, and it gets it OK.
I would like to know:

1) How to force a retune to get Channel Five. 105 is missing on the EPG.
2) How to force it to get the Anglia region instead of Central without a card fitted?

folkie

 

[Vipersan]

1) How to force a retune to get Channel Five. 105 is missing on the EPG.
2) How to force it to get the Anglia region instead of Central without a card fitted?

folkie

Hi m8 ...
I don't think you can ..
I noticed this problem recently with a box I had in for repair..
After fixing the power supply ..I connected it up to test it ..and noticed that Channel 5 was indeed missing from the channel list ..
After trying everything I could think of ..
I asked my customer why there was no card in the slot ..
They said they cad removed it for safe keeping ..so I asked that they might bring it in to check the box's functionality.
Within minutes of plugging the card in ..Channel 5 was back in the EPG.
So it looks as though there _has_ to be a valid card in the slot ..even if its only a freesat card.
rgds

 

[satelliteman]

Thank you for your replies. The LNB is fine, I proved that by rotating it physically through 90 deg.

Your just turning the LNb to receive the opposite polar.

 

[Lazarus]

Five cannot be added to 105 on the EPG without a valid Card.

You cannot force a different ITV region onto 103.

 

[folkie]

Thank you Vipersan and Tivù,

I thought as much, although my last skybox had the “yellow house” card removed to stop the nag messages that the card needed to be upgraded, and was still getting 105 without the card.

Anyway I’m happy that I’ve gone as far as I can. I can get Channel five on “other channels” just not at 105 on the epg, so I’ll leave it at that.

folkie

 

[folkie]

You mentioned you borrowed another dish to try. Did that come with it's own LNb?

Sorry satelliteman,

I just saw your earlier query.

Yes both satellite sets had their own dishes and LNB's, which was why I was misled into thnking it was a polarisation issue. It was only when I found that my friends unit had the horizontal polarisation disabled in the antenna setup menu that the penny dropped.

folkie