Advice Needed Satellite signal strength and quality

8ighTK

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Hi - a newbie here...

Ever since some channels have been moved around recently, I've been getting no or low signals with channels breaking up such as CNN HD, BBC News HD, C4 HD etc. Other channels seem to be okay.

I live in a flat which is served by a communal satellite feed - in our flat, I think one feed goes to the sky+ HD box in the living room, but the other extends to my room upstairs.

Would something like this from ebay help me if I connected the output from the wall, plugged into this, then the cable to my TV upstairs? Will this be the right application?

Mix Digital Inline Satellite Amplifier 20db SAT AMP Signal Booster 5060267072269 | eBay

Thanks for any help.
 

william-1

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No unfortunately signal boosters do not work very well they only slightly boost the signal but they also boost the background noise so you end up in a worse situation with some parts of the Ku band being completely blocked out by the booster as I experienced several years ago,

Your current problem with low signal on some transponders may be due to some faulty connections or interference due to poor cable & connection screening.
 

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Call the landlord in to sort it out.
 

8ighTK

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Thanks for your replies.

I thought about landlord, but I think it may be internal (maybe too long cable - approx 10-15 metres?). The feed into the Sky box seems fine.

Maybe it's the satellite tuner in my TV?

Are there no other options I could try to diagnose internally?
 

Terryl

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What TV is having the low signal problems??? The one upstairs? The main one? Or both?

You say you have two TV sets, how is the satellite signal fed to both? Direct to both from the main communal satellite signal switch? Or from the sky box first then to both TV's?

If only one then it could be a cabling problem, or a problem with that TV's input, if both then the main feed to your apartment could be at fault.
 

8ighTK

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Sky downstairs seems fine, but the feed to upstairs has the problem.

The feeds are driectly from the outlet/switch on the wall.

It could be a weak tuner on the set upstairs, but I've only noticed the problem since they've re-jigged the channels around.

I'm not using freesat but just the free-to-air sat tuner on the TV.
 

jeallen01

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Thanks for your replies.

I thought about landlord, but I think it may be internal (maybe too long cable - approx 10-15 metres?). The feed into the Sky box seems fine.
Maybe it's the satellite tuner in my TV?
Are there no other options I could try to diagnose internally?
Why this issue happened recently after the channel changes has been already addressed as above, but 10-15m of cable shouldn't be a problem provided it is (a) decent sat cable that has not been bent sharply or otherwise damaged, & (b) the F-connectors on either end are properly fitted.

If they are screw-on connectors then I would carefully take them apart because they can easily become partially unscrewed from the cable and that may pull the centre conductor out of the centre of the F-socket on the sat box or tv (happened to me recently and took time to trace!). I usually screw the connectors fully onto the cables and then wrap the joint with the cable with self-amalgamating tape (even though it may not be in damp conditions) because that stops the problem of the connector "unscrewing" itself from the cable.
 

Terryl

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Sky downstairs seems fine, but the feed to upstairs has the problem.

The feeds are driectly from the outlet/switch on the wall.

It could be a weak tuner on the set upstairs, but I've only noticed the problem since they've re-jigged the channels around.

I'm not using freesat but just the free-to-air sat tuner on the TV.
Have you tried swapping the feeds at the outlet/switch at the wall?
 

8ighTK

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Thanks for the suggestion.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to access the socket - was the first thing that sprung to mind.

Having said that, C4, BBC News HD and a couple of other channels seemed OK yesterday apart from CNN HD?
 

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Swop the receivers around.
 

william-1

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Thanks for the suggestion.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to access the socket - was the first thing that sprung to mind.

Having said that, C4, BBC News HD and a couple of other channels seemed OK yesterday apart from CNN HD?

The parameters for CNN HD @ 28.2 east have changed this may be why you cannot receive it now,
11672 H
DVB-S2/8PSK
MPEG-4 23000 2/3 Sky UK w 2-2103 2G Europe

new SR 23000
new FEC 2/3
new mode DVB-S2

CNN International Europe HD w 2324 2325 Eng
2326 Eng 50290
MPEG-4/HD

 

8ighTK

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Hi

I am still experiencing intermittent problems with this.

It's been okay for most of the time, but there's been occasions where I thought the windy weather took part in dodgy reception and more recently I thought it may b#have been a loosely fitted feed into my upstairs TV (as sometimes moving the cable behind TV worked, may have been just luck?).

In the past few weeks, I've been able to move the TV out and checked / triple checked F connector at rear of TV, but have struggled getting BBC News HD, CNN/CNN HD and few other channels. I've also tried re-tuning and also selecting different satellite options.

I've also done factory resets on the TV in case it's the tuner.

I'm sure the cable from downstairs is fine as can receive 75-80% of the channels?

Does anyone have any ideas?
 

Channel Hopper

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Call the landlord.
 
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