High Band not working on the receiver.

[tempuser]

Hello,

My satellite installation consists of:
- 1.2 m Al dish
- 1 Invacom QTH-031 LNB
- 1 Strong 6355 CI Satellite Receiver
- 1 Strong dm 2100 HH Motor (it moves from 28E to 30W)
- 40 m of RG6 cable.

My dish is pointing at Astra 19.2E. Last night I watched CNBC and left the receiver on that channel, when I switched it off. During the night there was a pretty powerful storm, with thunder and lightning. This morning, when I switched the receiver back on, there was no signal on CNBC. I've tried several channels and only 11509 V was getting any signal, from all the Astra 19.2E satellite. I tried to move the HH motor, but it didn't, tried to send it to 28.2E, but nothing, it didn't move. I tried to move it step by step, with no success. I went to the dish, and used the manual button on the HH motor. IT MOVED, from E-W, and back, works both directions. I've resetted it several times, and went back to the receiver to try and move it. Still nothing. I went back to the dish and I manually realigned it to Astra 19.2E. Still, only 11509V was working. Then I tried a new twin Universal LNB, used for Dolce. As with the Invacom, only 11509V was working. I then looked at the LNB menu on my receiver. There are 3 predefined types of LNB:

LNB Type 1 - oscillating frequency 9750 - 10600
LNB Type 2 - oscillating frequency 9750 - 10700
LNB Type 3 - oscillating frequency 9750 - 10750

and there is a custom type as well, where the oscillating frequency can be inputed. I have never messed around with these settings, because my satellite installation was working fine. The default setting is Type 1. If Type 1 is selected I can only get 11509V. If i select Type 2 I can get signal from 10700 -11700. Same is with Type 3, 10700 - 11700. The frequencies between 11700 - 12750 have no signal, regardless of the LNB Type I choose.

I took my receiver in the other room, and plugged it in to the small dish, pointed at Hellas. Same here. The frecquencies between 11700 - 12750 have no signal. I took the receiver to the neighbours dish, pointed at 19.2E as well. Same thing. The frecquencies between 11700 - 12750 have no signal, regardless of the LNB Type I choose. I then borrowed his fta receiver, and connected to my 1.2m dish. All frequencies are working, I especially tried those between 11700-12750, and they all worked. His receiver was quite old, and it didn't have an option to control an HH motor, so I couldn't check and see if the motor is still working. I presume, if the LED on the HH is green and I can manually move it using the button, then it's fine.

My question is my receiver high band "broken"? Did the somehow the storm (thunder) affected this particular part? Could an electrical engineer fix it? I look around for an HD receiver, I just need one for the FTA channels at 28.2E and to move my HH motor between 19.2E-30W. The lowest price is an Amiko (ELSTAR srl - Oradea - importator si distribuitor antene satelit & accesorii - SHOP ONLINE ).

I have no idea what else to test, or how to test. I've spoken with my neighbors and some home appliances were affected during the storm (electrical boilers, indoor wireless phones, tvs).
If that's the case, I could consider myself "lucky".

Thank you for your help.

 

[davemurgtroyd]

Switching between high and low frequency bands is by the receiver generating a 22kHz tone. From your tests it would appear that this part of the receiver's circuitry has been "blown" by the storm. Whether a local repairer can fix this is down to his skill and knowledge.

 

[ralphmagno]

hello,
the corect setting should be 9.750/10.600.
anything else is wrong and will not work.
unplug the receiver from the mains for about 2 minuets.
then try again.if it still doesn't work it is probably the 22 khz tone for the upper and lower band.

all receiver generate
14 v dc vert
18 v dc horz
14 v dc +22 khz upper band vert
18 v dc +22 khz upper band horz
as well as disec tones for multiple lnbs or to move the dish in some cases

ralph

 

[PaulR]

Have a look in the Setup, probably in the LNB section, to see if there's an option to switch the 22KHz signal off. The storm may have changed this.

I have to say that it's most likely damaged by the storm though. Sometimes it's very strange the way that lightning damages things. About a month ago a lightning strike nearby blew my ADSL modem (literally - there was a bang, flash of light and smoke) but left my satellite installation and everything else unaffected.

 

[Terryl]

I greatly suspect that the receiver is FUBAR.

My experience with equipment that has suffered an EMP or direct lightning hit is to go buy a new piece of equipment, as another problem can creep up and show it’s ugly head at a later date.

EMP (ElectroMagnetic Pulse) can affect one piece of equipment but not another piece hooked into the same circuit, my TV and FM broadcast towers use to get hit all the time, and every hit took out something different.

Ground blocks don’t protect equipment from EPM (or lightning) all they do is ground the coax shield, you need a gas discharge device inline to protect the equipment down stream. (from lightning)

One other entry point for the lightning (or power surge) is through the AC power lines, the cheap surge protectors sold in many electronic stores do nothing for EMP and little for lightning, I recommend a good UPS system, some of the good ones come with equipment insurance, anything hooked into them is covered (if you send in the registration) if your stuff gets fried. (by lightning, nothing protects from an EMP, but they don’t know that)

A good gas discharge device for satellite work can be found here, or something like it could be found on your side of the big pond.

hXXp://www.protectiongroup.com/Surge/RF-Lightning-Protection/Type/75-Ohm/Satellite-System-Protector

Sorry....I babble....Too much coffee in the morning..........My fault..

 

[Llew]

22kHz on/off line exits from pin 41 ot the STi5518 CPU (see Omega pdf)

Unfortunately the other end of the connection is unclear (at least to my eyes), but you can be sure the 22kHz tone going to be injected somewhere in the area of the LNB PWR circuitry (DVB pdf).

Check the components through from the LNB tuner pins, something has probably gone pop.

 

[tempuser]

the corect setting should be 9.750/10.600.
anything else is wrong and will not work.
unplug the receiver from the mains for about 2 minuets.
then try again.if it still doesn't work it is probably the 22 khz tone for the upper and lower band.

Yes, that was the original setting, but with 9.750/10.600 selected, I could only get one frequency.
I've unplugged the receiver for 24 hours, I've resetted it to Factory Settings and unploaded the firmware/patch/keys again. Still no result.

Have a look in the Setup, probably in the LNB section, to see if there's an option to switch the 22KHz signal off. The storm may have changed this.

The last line in the LNB menu has this, but It can't be selected, nor changed, it's more like an info than an option. It just says "0/22KHz".


Thanks for the .pdf files and info everybody, I'll study them and have a chat with the electrical engineer. Hope we'll get it to work again, and use it as a spare receiver. Meanwhile, I'll read some more about a Satellite System Protector, and work that into a budget somehow. Here, from May 'till late July, it's "thunder season", so my best protection so far has been to unplugged everything, even the LNB cable. As the storm was happening through that night, with thunder and lightning, I woke up and quickly unplugged everything, but it seems it was to late.
My priority now is to look for HD receiver (especially that Channel 4 HD is fta).

Again, thank you.
Cheers,
Andrei.