TD78 Now on Sky.

[Tony1A]

This is fascinating!

 

[Analoguesat]

I did have a big pile of ex analogue Cambridge single band ones for ages, but they went in the scrap metal bin up at the tip a while back. No good to anybody now

Theres 2 or 3 MTI Blue Lines, a C-band monster which is awaiting a fine day when Im in the mood for pulling the dish farm apart again to play with, and a couple of old Sky minidish lnb's

An old Amstrad blue cap went to a good home for someone to play with for a link he wanted to set up. I suspect it was for pirate radio but I didnt ask any questions!

 

[Captain Jack]

AS, can you see 11w? The Russian C band channels on there are super strong. I get 100% or 16.2db on my Uno and 1.2m dish. I bet you can get it on a 80cm one too... I could get 3e on my Penta 85 and that's only 11dB on the 1.2m

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 4

 

[Tony1A]

Can't think why the old Amstrad blue cap would be of use!

 

[Analoguesat]

AS, can you see 11w? The Russian C band channels on there are super strong. I get 100% or 16.2db on my Uno and 1.2m dish. I bet you can get it on a 80cm one too... I could get 3e on my Penta 85 and that's only 11dB on the 1.2m

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 4

Nope - 5E is as far as I can push things, may be one or two extra slots in the winter. No chance of 11W at all. I can get 30W in one specific place in the garden but its right in front of one of the OH's plastic greenhouse so it isnt permitted for more than a few days at a time!

 

[Analoguesat]

Can't think why the old Amstrad blue cap would be of use!

From what I understand they are used for remote links to the transmitter from the studio

 

[Tony1A]

I see what you mean AS

 

[Tony1A]

Well alright! I have changed the LNB on the TD78 to a dual output Smart and there does not seem to be a change of signal levels. Is it that my dish MAY be getting too much signal? But, logically, I would not have thought so. Alternatively, is the bigger dish being too selective and that is why I am losing out to Eurobird? I think the 60cm Triax has a much wider beamwidth. Here come the headache tablets.

 

[Analoguesat]

Its quite possible the dish is overloading the receiver tuning circuits, but its easy to reduce the signal without doing much else - stick a wet teatowel over the lnb and it'll reduce the incoming signal drastically!

See if the other signals improve.

 

[Tony1A]

It's mainly the ones from Eurobird like Vintage, Horror etc that seem low on quality. Tried a wet cloth.....lost Eurobird.

 

[Tony1A]

Considering going back to 60cm dish.

 

[Analoguesat]

It's mainly the ones from Eurobird like Vintage, Horror etc that seem low on quality. Tried a wet cloth.....lost Eurobird.

Oops! thats not what was supposed to happen

Try nudging the dish east a fraction to favour 28.5E - theres plenty of signal off the Astras!

 

[Tony1A]

Will have to try that!

 

[Tony1A]

I'm going to give that a go (Saturday). All I know is all was well on a 60cm dish, so if I can't get it to fall into place on the TD78, then I'll re-install the 60cm. Very strange why it's happening, but like they say on Star Trek: "It's life Jim, but not as we know it". LOL

 

[Tony1A]

This morning I have just checked the signal status on the Sky box in the bedroom which is on a separate Triax TD64 and on Vintage it is getting 90% strength, 80% quality. So why on earth am I only getting 50% quality on a bigger dish?????? BARMY!

 

[Analoguesat]

Sky boxes normally only give you the signal strength of the default tp. Try changing the receivers over and seeing what the TM says on the Sky receiver feed.

Signal strength meters are guides only, they arent comparable between receiver makes or even models.

 

[Tony1A]

HI Analoguesat! Well, I have moved the dish like you said and things did improve. I now have 100% strength and 90% quality on Vintage TV. The Africa Channel has bottomed out at 0% quality (!) and BEN is not too far behind but as I don't watch them anyway it's no great loss. I think it's as good as it's going to be. Sunday will be a test as it going rain heavy so that will test it's resolve.

 

[Tony1A]

OK. It's been a very frustrating afternoon. I tried my best with the TD78, but after hours of fiddling to try and get things right I decided to put the TD64 back up. It seems to cope better probably due to larger beam width (not so picky with alignment). I have not given up on the TD78, I just think it needs an installer with a professional meter to get the job done right. What a day! Still, I suppose everyone has days like this.

 

[timo_w2s]

Something is not right. I wouldn't think the differences in beam width between a 64cm and a 78cm dish would be that different that it could distinguish a satellite 0.3 degrees apart. It's usually only a problem with large dishes in fringe areas where the signals are already weak.

If you can install a TD64 then there is no reason why an installer would be needed for a TD78. Did you test the same LNB and cable on both dishes? Could the TD78 be damaged in some way? Those dishes can be a pain to setup accurately with the clamping mechanism but it shouldn't make much difference for strong birds like those at 28.2E in the UK.

 

[Tony1A]

When I adjusted the 78, it made a huge difference but there were some channels that went to 0% quality and bottomed out. I skewed the LNB round and got some of these channels back but with low quality. The dish is OK, not damaged, bent or whatever so I just don't know and the cable is OK. What a pain. Can't think of what to try next! Was it something that I did maybe?