Freesat troubles ..

another_casualty

Hello I hope that someone can help with the above . This may be complicated ..
I have posted pics on the gardening forum .

The story so far ; heavy downpours and wind this weekend . No freesat at all since Friday .
Fair enough . 
I have masses of overgrown buddleia going sky high so to speak ( excuse the pun ) 
The managing agents have been informed and to cut long story short , I knocked on one of the directors doors and managed to show him the monstrosity which I want removed . 

So, I believe the ' gardeners ' will attend and hopefully pull their green fingers out and hopefully signal is restored

However , if I still have no signal would it be costly to get an engineer to fix ? I detest sky , but maybe it would be cheaper to get an introductory offer then go back to freesat ASAP. 

One other thing ; a few months ago a sky engineer attached a connection to one of the flats above on my dish . Is that allowed ?
Maybe it's that that is affecting the signal ? I live in Dorset . Whether that means anything I don't know .
There is no ordinary aerial in my flat . 

I was thinking perhaps freeview instead ? I don't watch much tv tbh 
please advise 

Thanks in advance 

Neil_Jones

As a general rule a heavy downpour should not knock out a satellite signal on its own, unless you get to either monsoon level or there is a thunderstorm moving overhead.  If (in clear line of sight) you lose the signal every time it rains regardless of strength of the downpour that implies the dish is slightly out and the signal wasn't strong enough to deal with the rain-fade (rain-fade is normal for satellite reception).

The plant is more likely to be the culprit, as the signal is pretty much already weak to non-existent after travelling 22k miles from satellite to dish, so it cannot penetrate leaves, bushes and trees.  If the issue is fine until it rains, that suggests wet leaves (where available) causing a diffraction effect, which affects some signals more than others.

Having seen your picture in the other thread it would appear that it is the plant causing your problem.  However if the gardeners do not remove it completely (they'll probably just chop it back a bit) the problem will repeat itself when the plant grows again.  So the long term solution is either prune the plant regularly or get the dish shifted.

debitcardmayhem

 One other thing ; a few months ago a sky engineer attached a connection to one of the flats above on my dish . Is that allowed ?
Maybe it's that that is affecting the signal ? I live in Dorset . Whether that means anything I don't know .

Is it your dish ? or is it communal. if it is yours then no disconnect it, however the cause of loss of signal is likely the Plant. Ask the tenant/owner of the flat if they have similar problems and if it is your dish ask them  to pay to have it rectified. Just guessing of course

coffeehound

If the signal stopped suddenly, and has stayed off, it would point to the dish having moved or perhaps the LNB getting water ingress

another_casualty

Thanks all for your igreat help and insights . 

As you've probably guessed ( and I may not have explained fully ) ,I would say that it is a communal dish. Not 100% on this of course, as I am on ground floor . These Victorian conversions are a pita at times..

I'm reluctant unfortunately to get involved with the tenants in the other 2 flats.
I am the owner of my flat . The other 2 tenanted and after being neighbourly to one couple They are druggies and had random drug parties last year meaning I had to complain to all and sundry. The other tenants are new. So I'm keeping out of sight at all times if I can help it 

When I movred in here  4+ years ago, a new lmb was put in ( I got ripped off ) 

So I think the best / only way forward is to wait until 'gardeners ' have been. Then I'll make sure I'm ontop of the monstrosity once and for all.
If it's still not giving out a signal is where I would need help in terms of the cheapest  option to rectify ..
please could someone advise the way forward  
Thanks again ..

pamsdish

I got a new dish very cheap a few years ago, saw a sky engineer working locally, had a chat, paid cash.

another_casualty

pamsdish said:

I got a new dish very cheap a few years ago, saw a sky engineer working locally, had a chat, paid cash.

That would be a godsend if that happened to me . Glad you got a result 

another_casualty

Okaaaay.,an update ...
The gardeners ( 4 of them ) have cut more or less everything down .
( more info on this in my other post in garden section)
This was at 9am this morning . 
Long story short ; No signal ! 

I was going to go onto the next door website and enquire there, but if someone has any pointers please advise asap

Thanks

Le_Kirk

If it is a communal dish, presumably you don't pay for a full Sky subscription.  If you do pay a full sub, it is presumably your sole account.  In which case, call Sky and get them to come and disconnect the upstairs flat that they connected to without your permission and, at the same time, correct the misalignment of your dish.

another_casualty

Le_Kirk said:

If it is a communal dish, presumably you don't pay for a full Sky subscription.  If you do pay a full sub, it is presumably your sole account.  In which case, call Sky and get them to come and disconnect the upstairs flat that they connected to without your permission and, at the same time, correct the misalignment of your dish.

Thanks for this ;
just to recap ..I don't have sky . 

I've just looked at the dish again . Is the lmb the box that the 2 cables go into?
If so, it seems that mine are the only cables there now. 

One of the new neighbours  upstairs had sky, but wasn't here for very long . Approx 6 months. Nice family there . Maybe sky engineer was careless in disconnecting it..

another_casualty

This mornings pics