Sky signal help

ironman1

I posted in here once about a laptop and got some great help so here is another one!

I only really watch football on the Sky Sports channels so I got rid of them between late May - early August. I then phoned to get the channels put back on last week.

After a couple of days they still hadn't returned. So I called again and they asked me to go to settings and then signal. Turns out either Signal 1 or Signal 2 were completely empty.

I turned the box off and unscrewed the white leads at the back. After putting them back in both signals were back to being full.

A couple of times recently I've checked and either Signal 1 or 2 will be full and the other empty, untill I do the unscrew/re-screw process again.

Does anyone know what the problem could be? Its a pain because it means I hardly get a bit of 'ANYTIME TV' programmes come through. And I leave the box on standby overnight.

Thanks, not a major issue but an annoying one!

penrhyn

Could be moisture getting in to the downleads from the dish, or the LNB.
Sky will charge you £65 to fix whatever the problem is, or you could try the I'm leaving ploy and get them out for free.

teleaddict

reading your post I presume you've got sky+ by the fact you are mentioning 2 signal strengths. I haven't got sky + so I could be mistaken. Back in the good old analogue days I have a similar problem where I lost the signal from my LNB (the little box thing on the arm of your dish) and recieved no sat. tv. I had to replace the LNB and things worked fine again. It could be a problem with the LNB on the dish similar to what I had.

ironman1

Thanks for the replies. Yeah I have Sky HD, can't really do the leaving trick as i'm back in a new contract.

Can I just say I live on the second floor of a 3 floored block of new build flats, so it's a shared dish. Not sure if that makes a difference? As I said it's not a big problem but annoying when I get one or two Anytime programmes a day and used to get about 10.

I find it strange because if I have a play about with the white leads I'll then have Signal 1 and Signal 2 completely full.

penrhyn

If you are in contract with a new box then Sky should come out to fix it for free.

But and its a big one, they won't touch your communal dish/distribution system, you'll have to get on to the amangement company to sort that out.

Do any of your neighbours have similar problems?

It might be worth getting a couple of new cables to connect you box to your outlet sockets. Conceivably their is a problem with the earth/screen return and refitting the connector temporarily cures the problem.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Patch-Lead-Satellite-Extension-Cable/dp/B002VPQ5GK/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1281695690&sr=8-2-fkmr2

Kingsd316

Just so you know, if sky are not the people who installed the communal dish or have not taken it over from the original company they will not do anything as they are not allowed to touch other peoples dishes or cabling (as mentioned above), you would need to speak to the management company, but on the plus side there shouldn’t be a charge to repair it as it should be included in one of the hundreds of charges management companies bill you for each month!

ironman1

Thanks I'll look into it. It's only Anytime though, the picture and actual reception is fine. I've never even had the 'no Sky signal being received' message yet touch would!

I just used to like finding programmes on the Anytime option, they do actually have some good doc's n films on there sometimes

googler

The fact that normality is restored by unplugging and plugging suggests corrosion or oxidation in the mating surfaces of the plugs, and that you either need to renew cabling, plugs or both.

Your cables are probably coming from some kind of distribution amplifier that takes its feed from the dish, so sounds unlikely that moisture can be getting in at the LNBs and travelling as far as your Sky Box......

ironman1

I forgot to mention, on one of the signal leads, the small gold pin is a bit disjointed. I'm not sure if it affects it or not, because as I said it sometimes has a full bar. I thought maybe it was falling out of place over a period of time but its screwed into the box, so I can't see that being the case?

ironman1

Thanks for the help all. I tightened the nuts up with a spanner and both signals have been full up everytime i've checked since. Hopefully that's all it was