No signal astra 2g in scotland

LostCol

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My TV aerial blew down so I had no TV in the living room. I live in a flat and don't have long enough ladders to attempt a repair, phoning local installers was just going to voicemail, so out of desperation I connected old Sky dish cable in bedroom into terrestrial cable. The outdoor terrestrial cable connects bedroom and living room, to my surprise when I plugged old sky box into living room TV cable I got a good number of channels crystal clear.

I know Terrestrial TV cable is bad quality for satellite signals and it's adding about 10 metres to satellite run. Initially I wasn't getting E4 and Film4 using this setup so I cut off the TV aerial lead coming from the roof and now those channels are working. I assume TV aerial was picking up signals, such as freeview or mobile and causing interference.

I'm fairly happy with this temporary setup, I'm getting 90% of the channels I want to watch but Astra 2g is for the most part getting no signal. I can get a signal in bedroom so problem would appear to be the repurposed and old TV cable.

I don't know much about cables so forgive the poor explanation, it appears to be single shielded and has PVC/Air separation in it.

Would a signal booster be any help?
 

william-1

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A signal booster is not good for satellite TV signals all it does is boost the background noise from the Universe & in my experience you also loose some transponders,
A dish for 28.2 east does not need to be set high up it can be at ground level providing you have line of sight of the satellite.
 

LostCol

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Thanks, online reviews of sat boosters weren't convincing either, I suspect main problem is cable. Just curious why Astra 2G is suffering the most, I guess signals were already marginal.
 

william-1

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LostCol

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Everything on 2E and 2F is working fine.

2G is mostly not working, TP 57 to 64 are working ok. TP 65 to 71 are flaky some work some don't. Above that No Signal.

I can just about reach satellite dish from bedroom window but I see it has an Octo LNB on it. 2 coming into my flat, 2 upstairs and the other 4 going off somewhere else. Dish was there when I moved in years ago.

I'm hesitant to touch dish in case I mess up neighbours TV.
 

Terryl

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I would check with your neighbors to see if they have problems with that satellite first.

If they do then it's a re-alignment problem with the dish.

If not then somethings wrong at your end.

Here is an active footprint map for those satellites... Satbeams - World Of Satellites at your fingertips
You can zoom into your location and click on it, this will give you info on the signals at your location for that satellite.

As you can see Astra 2G's footprint is a bit further South then the others, it may be the dish, but only if the others tied into it have problems also.
 

LostCol

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Quick question I had the idea of reducing the length of cable, I suspect I've connected it back wrong. Signal comes and goes every few seconds. A few seconds Lock Indicator says OK, then back to Not Locked for a few seconds.

It is a bit windy now but I assume it's the cable?

UPDATE: Moved Sky Box back to bedroom and tried old SD box as well on both LNB cables. Same thing: Locked, Not Locked every few seconds. I'm guessing problem is the Dish.
 
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Mickha

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It could be the connection. Check that the F connectors are connected tightly, to both the LNB, and receiver, and to any other devices, motor, or diseqc switch, if using anything else.
Also ensure that the connections are made correctly. I had a similar problem, years ago, when the F connector was too tight, and when I forced it onto the cable it cut off most off the braid.
fit a F connector.jpg
 
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