Signal Dropout and Pixelation

[fodey]

Hi Guys,

I've Just had a technomate tm500 with 80cm motorised dish installed. I'm really happy with it, (here comes the but!)

but i've found that I'm experiencing signal loss (freezing) when viewing channels on 28E. Any ideas what could be the cause of the problem? I'm sure it is not the LNB because I can view channels with little dropout on 19.2E.

My SNR= 88-90% and AGC=83-88%

Any comments or suggest are greatly appreciated.

 

[satelliteman]

Welcome to the forum.

Moved your post to the relevant section.

You mention pixelation on channels received from the Astra2 satellite only. Is this all channels or any in particular?

 

[fodey]

On a bad day, the majority of channels on 28E will dropout (sometimes for >1/2 minute). I'm wondering if the satelite is misaligned?

 

[satelliteman]

Astra2 is a strong bird and in any case if reception on other sats are OK then it's unlikely the dish is misaligned, but...still possible.

 

[kerrywez]

Hi mate sorry to have to tell you, but who ever did your dish has not done a very good job by what you say. In bad weather all channels are bad, that has got to be the dish not set up right. You might try altering your longitude a wee bit and see if that helps, but you will need to get that dish look at.

Regards Wez

 

[fodey]

I've noticed that the dish bracket is not square, could this be causing the fault i.e inaccurate polarisation?

 

[satelliteman]

Can you upload a few pictures so we can see.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Hi mate sorry to have to tell you, but who ever did your dish has not done a very good job by what you say. In bad weather all channels are bad, that has got to be the dish not set up right. You might try altering your longitude a wee bit and see if that helps, but you will need to get that dish look at.

The install may be perfect but two factors could influence signal loss in poor weather on one satellite.

1) Part of the dish may blocked from viewing 28.2 East, by something in the distance.
2) There may be a sloping roof under the dish which when wet, is allowing a secondary signal onto the reflector, and cuts down the useful signal.

Dont blame the installer just yet, it may be the location limiting a clear line of sight.

 

[fodey]

Hiya Guys, here is a photo of the sat attached to the wall. Sorry for the bad quality! Is it me or does the Dish look on the skew? Would this affect the Hor and Ver references?

View attachment 27875

 

[satelliteman]

The dish gets skewed as it moves round the arc.

 

[fodey]

So do you think it would be a good idea to remount the dish?

 

[ralphmagno]

hello
the dish may be over skewed.
its hard to say by looking at the pisture.
although the strength may look good on the signal that is the strongest it will brake up on the weeker one.
if you are sure that the dish is 100% aligned when it moves back to the 28 east slot for sky uk.
take the lnb and looking at the front of the dish rotate it counter clock wise 1 cm. the check and see if this correct the problem.
the picture shows it could be just a tad off.
let us know
ralph

 

[ralphmagno]

hello again
what i was trying to say is it may be a tad overskewed

hope this helps
ralph

 

[sonnetpete]

I'm sure it is not the LNB because I can view channels with little dropout on 19.2E.

Hi,

I've looked at your photo and re read your original post. Do I take it that you do experience some dropout on 19.2°E? Is the dish pointing at 28E when you took the photo? It would help if you could post another couple of photos, one with the dish on your due south satellite and a close up of the mount and dish bracket. I think that with that size of dish, even if the LNB is slightly overskewed you shouldn't experience dropout of either 28E or 19E.

Just another thought, what satellites do you receive? Because if the picture shows the dish set on 28E I reckon it might be hitting the wall before it gets to due south. I wonder if your installer set it up on say 19E and then didn't (or couldn't) check each end of the arc. Your location in the UK would help us determine what your due south sat should be.

Pete

 

[satelliteman]

So do you think it would be a good idea to remount the dish?

Not the best of positions but may not be needed. Possible misalignment/set up issue.