Newbie Here Weird problem with new setup

[Schotelman]

Dear all,

I'm having a problem with polarisation. I have set up a 65 cm dish pointing at Astra 28.2E with clear line of sight. I'm well within the main spotbeam on the West coast of Holland. All equipment and cabling is new, except the Humax boxes which I bought refurbished directly from Humax.

I found 28.2E, no problem, with the help of the app Satellite Director, optimised the signal with a cheap sat-finder and I had full strength and quality on both my Humax boxes. So far, so good.

However, I was only receiving the vertical polarised channels. I tried everything I could think of to find the horizontal channels. The skew was correct at -9.7° but I still tried rotating the LNB the whole blooming way round anyway, but I got zero signal, also on the sat-finder. I tried a factory made cable with moulded on f-plugs which is part of my cable TV set-up, no difference.

I have the same issue with both STBs and I have checked them with a multimeter to check the voltage is switching properly (13V and 18V) - no problems there. I took one of my STBs to a neighbour with a working Astra set-up and it worked instantly - all channels working.

I phoned the shop where I bought all the kit and they said that the LNB must be faulty so they gave me a replacement.

Today put the replacement LNB in the dish and, guess what, I got all the horizontal channels, but no vertical channels - zero signal. Exactly the opposite story. I guessed that it must be down to me so I tried to realign the dish on a vertical channel, but I could not find any signal at all anywhere in the right direction. I switched back to vertical channel and finding the satellites again was a cinch.

Am I doing something stupidly wrong or do I have incredibly bad luck and got another duff LNB, coincidentally with exactly the opposite fault?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Lazarus]

What LNB is it?

I have this mad idea it might be supposed to be a Quad, but it' s actually a Quattro.

 

[Captain Jack]

Can you check the voltages by the dish end? Could be some odd attenuation - kinks in cables can cause all sorts of weird issues.

 

[Schotelman]

@Lazarus: I thought that too when I started reading up about LNBs! It is a Megasat Multifeed LNB Quad. It definitely says quad on the label. I also tested all four outputs and they all give the same signal.

@Captain Jack: I did check the voltages at the dish end - they were 14V and 18V. As I mentioned above, I also tried a 1.5 metre known good cable and saw the same issue with only one polarisation. I've also tried a factory reset on the STB which didn't help. I thought that maybe it was remembering only one polarisation.

 

[Lazarus]

Well unless we've missed something, the common-mode failure lies with the LNB.

Do you have anyoldlnb lying around in the spares box that you can try on a single feed?

 

[Analoguesat]

Yup change the lnb before you do anything else - you sometimes find certain receivers are "allergic" to certain combinations of lnbs. Ive had some major oddities with Cambridge Blue Lines before noe with one receiver...

 

[Schotelman]

Thanks for your help, guys.
I'm new to this game so unfortunately I don't have a spare LNB hanging around to test with. I'm now looking at who I could borrow one from or buy locally second hand for a couple of Euros.

 

[timo_w2s]

Yeah, it does sound like an LNB incompatibility issue with the receiver. I've also had problems in the past with certain LNB/receiver combinations. Try a different make/model of LNB and I bet it'll work, just like it did at your neighbour's place.

 

[Analoguesat]

Thanks for your help, guys.
I'm new to this game so unfortunately I don't have a spare LNB hanging around to test with. I'm now looking at who I could borrow one from or buy locally second hand for a couple of Euros.

Buy one for a few Euros - its always useful to have a spare in the spares box - I'll bet many of the extreme hobbyists here on the forum have a dozen or more stashed away

 

[Lazarus]

Even us non-extreme hobbyists have a fair few .........

 

[Schotelman]

I'll do my best to try an alternative LNB.
I must admit that I'm not looking forward to trying to swap the suspect LNB again as I got a pretty grumpy response at the shop the first time...

The shop has the following models. Which one (if any) would you recommend? I looked on line for recommended LNBs but info is very scarce. I'd rather not spend too much extra on one when I get good signal strength.

AB 01 MQuad Multifeed LNB - €19.95
Alps LNB Quad - €49.95
Invacom TWF-031 Quad LNB - €69.95
Inverto Multiconnect Quad LNB - €39.95
Inverto Silvertech Quad L-Shape - €39.95
Inverto Ultra Quad LNB - €49.95
Megasat Multifeed LNB Quad - €24.95 (current one)
Smart Titanium Quad Universal TQS LNB - €29.95

 

[mariust5]

Buy from ebay , 10 euros max including delivery .

 

[Archive4]

Would your neighbour have a spare lnb to try, or would he possibly have a spare decoder you could borrow for an hour?
If his decoder works ok points to compatibility issue, if it gets the same result it points to faulty lnb.

 

[timo_w2s]

I do have a few spare quads lying around in Finland but as @mariust5 has pointed out you'd probably get a brand new one off the internet cheaper than I can send you a used one from Finland.

 

[Schotelman]

Okay, I've managed to buy an old Alps BSTE 8 Universal Single LNB for €3. All channels are now working perfectly and I get full signal and full quality on both polarisations. Hallelujah!

Thanks all so much for your advice. I was getting so incredibly frustrated and thought that I was doing something wrong.I can't believe what a headache this has been. It's really weird and frustrating that STBs and LNBs can be incompatible in this day and age.

Am I okay if I choose for the Smart Titanium Quad Universal TQS LNB?

Last question: my Humax HDR-1100S is only recognising one cable even though they individually work if I swap them. I assume that this is related to the internal connection between the two tuners for if you only have one cable. Once I have a good working quad LNB, do I need to do a factory reset to get it to recognise both cables again? Will I lose my recordings if I do a factory reset?

 

[PaulR]

If the HDR is new to you but second hand then it may have been used in a household with just a single feed. It won't recognise a second feed of its own accord, you need to do a factory reset (which involves putting your postcode in) in order for it to recognise the second feed. If it isn't new then has it ever recognised a second feed?

 

[Lazarus]

Phew!

So glad it's basically working ....... Will the place you got the iffy one(s) from let you swop for a different brand?

 

[Schotelman]

I've decided to sack the shop where I bought it, selling the incompatible one on eBay and bought a Inverto Black Ultra Quad from another (cheaper) shop as these seem to get the best reviews.

I'll try a factory reset when I get the new quad LNB.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Archive4]

I've decided to sack the shop where I bought it, selling the incompatible one on eBay and bought a Inverto Black Ultra Quad from another (cheaper) shop as these seem to get the best reviews.

I'll try a factory reset when I get the new quad LNB.

Thanks again everyone!

Wish I had been online to reply before you purchased the IBU Quad. They are ok in good signal areas, so you should be OK with that choice. Us in " fringe lands " prefer other LNB´s , for example Goobay, GI ( Galaxy Innovations, from Russia ) or the Best, or Smart, from what I have experienced.

I have had to perform a factory reset twice this week on Humax stb´s to resolve problems, on neither occasion did it wipe the hard drive, so any recordings should be safe.

 

[Schotelman]

Thanks Milamber. Yeah, I might be on the continent but I'm not on the fringes of the spotbeam here. My neighbour has a Sky minidish with no problems.