Poor quality picture on some Satellite channels

fifeken

I've got Freesat from Sky and picture quality is generally good. Just recently I've been trying to watch Five USA and the picture (and sound) is breaking up really badly. I've just tried looking at a few other channels I don't normally watch and some of them are poor as well eg Sky 3, Fiver.

After reading around here I have looked at whether it might be either Horizontal or Vertical ones that are poor but that doesn't seem to be the case, I've switched the box off at the wall and back on with no difference and on the set up screen I have signal strength at about 100% and signal quality about 50% or just under.

Any suggestions as to what might be causing this and how to fix it?

spike7451

Your Signal quality is too low,it should be around 75%,the strength's not all that important.
If you're loosing picture on the chanels you say,it's more likely a transponder on the LNB is faulty.
You can get new ones here-
http://www.thedigiboxshop.com/sky-lnbs-minidishes--and-satellite-signal-meters-sky-lnb.html

fifeken

Would that affect just some of the channels as I've described? If yes, is there a way to check which ones are linked to confirm this is the cause?

spike7451

Yes,I cant remember all of the ones but they are Sky3/ITV2,3 &4/Fiver & some of the shopping channels. QVC?
Unless you have a Sat meter you cant check the polarization properly.
(Been 3 years since I worked for Sky,memory's going....)

LeeSouthEast

I had an engineer out for this exact reason. Faulty batch of LNB's. Replaced FOC.

fifeken

spike7451 wrote: »

Yes,I cant remember all of the ones but they are Sky3/ITV2,3 &4/Fiver & some of the shopping channels. QVC?
Unless you have a Sat meter you cant check the polarization properly.
(Been 3 years since I worked for Sky,memory's going....)

ITV 2/3/4 are all OK but Sky 3 and Fiver are no good. QVC and JML are also no good but then Ideal World is fine. Does that help?

My comment about the polarization was becasue I'd read in another thread that a fault in the Sky box could cause it to lose the ability to switch between the two and this would give problems with one polarity. I don't have a meter to check this but don't think it's the problem as I've got good channels on both polarities.

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

I had an engineer out for this exact reason. Faulty batch of LNB's. Replaced FOC.

I don't think I'd get a replacement FOC (old installation and not by Sky) but good to know it's been seen before. I don't suppose you would know a type/batch number for the faulty batch?

spike7451

It was'nt just a faulty batch,I've seen it on numerous service calls & on all types of LNB.The square,boxy one in the above link's the best one to get.
They're easy enough to change,pop the pin out that hols the LNB on (best bet,cut off the top head & push the pin thru the LNB/Arm.)Slide out the LNB & fit the new pin.seal the F connector with S/E Tape or PTFE Tape

LeeSouthEast

fifeken wrote: »

I don't suppose you would know a type/batch number for the faulty batch?

I'm not even sure which garden the engineer threw it in before he left. Sorry.

fifeken

Just some feedback. I got the LNB as in the above link. £9.75 delivered. Fitted it today and it seems to have done the trick. JML is still dodgy but I'll get by without that! Thanks again.