Signal lost after storm

[S Whittle]

Hi there.

In July we moved to a house where the previous owners were using freesat. They left the dish etc there so we bought a Humax freesat box, hooked it up and were watching tv quickly. All channels were receiving a signal and we could watch them all.

About a month ago, some of the kids channels starting having too poor a signal to watch. Other channels were fine. Then, about 2 weeks ago, we had bad storms up here on the west coast of Scotland, and after the storms we had no signal at all for anything. We have just hooked up a Fringe Electronics Tv and Sat finder to the LNB and cable and there is absolute no pick up of any signal showing on the sat finder at all. We've never had satellite before and are complete novices. We have no idea what to try next.

Any help would be very gratefully received.

 

[Mickha]

It sounds like your dish has moved, or the mounting come loose. If you have easy access to it you can follow the dishpointer guides and get your signal back, but it is a lot easier using a basic satellite meter.
It is also possible that your LNB has filed, and needs replacing, the cable has come loose, from the F Connector, or water has gained access, to the LNB, or cable.
Unfortunately there are no easy fixes, with this type of problem just physically checking each element.
One easy test is to try your receiver, on another dish, friens, or relatives, to ensure that the receiver is working perfectly.

 

[S Whittle]

Thanks so much for your reply. Luckily, our dish is within easy reach. The mountings seem very secure so I don't think it's moved. Using a satallite meter we get absolutely no signal, so I'm guessing we need to check each physical element - receiver, LNB, cables. How can I check the LNB and cables are ok - if a friend has one that is within easy reach like ours, is it possible to disconnect theirs and plug it in to our system to see if theirs works or plug our LNB into theirs to check? Or is that a risky process?

Many thanks again.

 

[Mickha]

If you have a satellite meter, with a back light, and the light works then the LNB, and cables, should be OK.
You can get a satellite signal, on a meter, without the dish pointing at a satellite, you just increase the sensitivity, by turning the knob, if it's a cheap meter, so that it reads 5, about half way, then gently move the dish, East/West, Up/Down, until it reads 10, decrease the sensitivity, by turning the knob to the right, until it once again reads 5, adjust the dish, until you get 10, and keep doing this until you have the strongest signal possible.
Is your Meter similar to this?

 

[battenfan]

Is it this one? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fringe-Electronics-Pro-Satellite-Finder/dp/B00LGWN87S
Try removing the batteries and let the receiver power it. If that works then the receiver and the cable up to the lnb is probably ok, as Mickha said.

 

[S Whittle]

A friend just came round to have a look for us. Despite the dish feeling very secure, it seems the massive gust of wind that blew down our fence and blew part of our dormer window cladding off had moved the dish. He helped us adjust it and we are back to strong signal strength. Phew! All working again.

 

[Analoguesat]

Thats good to hear - mark the dish mount / bolts up with indelible ink / tippex etc so if it moves again you can tell & easily reset. You may want to think about nipping the bolts up a little as well - once its moved once and the mount has scored the pole its easier for it to move again.