Discussion:
Signal Strength
(too old to reply)
OldMan
2009-03-23 00:09:51 UTC
Permalink
Input1
Strength 50%
Quality 90%

Input 2
Strength 33%
Quality 90%

Is this a cause for concern, & if so what needs doing?
(SE London suburb, no line of sight issues, recently installed sky+ HD)
Bill Wright
2009-03-23 01:48:10 UTC
Permalink
Post by OldMan
Input1
Strength 50%
Quality 90%
Input 2
Strength 33%
Quality 90%
Is this a cause for concern, & if so what needs doing?
(SE London suburb, no line of sight issues, recently installed sky+ HD)
Swap 'em round as they go into the box, see if it's the box. Mind you, it
doesn't mean a lot. Incidentally I recently saw
Strength 0%
Quality 80%.
Levels were 20dB down at 1GHz, 30dB down at 2GHz, as resident had extended
feeder under carpet and into bedroom using miniature coax. Skybox was
largely unconcerned, but pixellated occasionally on a few channels. The way
the guy had connected the miniature coax into the 'f' plugs was a
masterpiece of ingenuity.

Bill
Ato_Zee
2009-03-23 12:14:58 UTC
Permalink
Post by OldMan
Post by OldMan
Input1
Strength 50%
Quality 90%
Input 2
Strength 33%
Quality 90%
Is this a cause for concern,
Quality looks OK which is the more important
figure as it reflects the error rate.
Strength a bit low, see what it like in a real
downpour.
If it's a DIY install recheck the alignment and
skew. I take it the coax is a reasonable length,
decent quality and not waterlogged?
Post by OldMan
& if so what needs doing?
Think bigger dish, either a slightly bigger northern
one, or an 80cm one.
Lidl from time to time do 80cm dishes, and
dish + brackets + 40mm LNB + meter should
still leave a bit of change from 20 quid.
Also think patio mount if the location is
suitable, less windage, and no frigging about
up a ladder in the pouring rain.
Charles Ellson
2009-03-23 16:38:50 UTC
Permalink
Post by Ato_Zee
Post by OldMan
Post by OldMan
Input1
Strength 50%
Quality 90%
Input 2
Strength 33%
Quality 90%
Is this a cause for concern,
Quality looks OK which is the more important
figure as it reflects the error rate.
Strength a bit low, see what it like in a real
downpour.
If it's a DIY install recheck the alignment and
skew. I take it the coax is a reasonable length,
decent quality and not waterlogged?
The quality/strength will be just for the default channel so it could
conceal some fairly dodgy readings on other channels if the dish is
e.g. off aim or bent. With 0.3deg between the Astra and HotBird
positions the aim could be adequate for one position and bad for the
other if the aim is to one side of the pair rather than between them.
If the dish is in SE London then I would harbour a suspicion of that
occurring with those readings if swapping the leads is not conclusive.
Borrowing a receiver with an on-screen signal display (most recent
non-$ky receivers including FreeSat ?) would make the determination
easier.
Post by Ato_Zee
Post by OldMan
& if so what needs doing?
Think bigger dish, either a slightly bigger northern
one, or an 80cm one.
Lidl from time to time do 80cm dishes, and
dish + brackets + 40mm LNB + meter should
still leave a bit of change from 20 quid.
Also think patio mount if the location is
suitable, less windage, and no frigging about
up a ladder in the pouring rain.
OldMan
2009-03-23 20:11:08 UTC
Permalink
It was a replacement for a sky std box, plus a quad LNB, dish not moved.
All cabling connectors are new, as is cable (its a straight run)
I'll buy a dish alignment thingy and check
T/Y
Post by Charles Ellson
Post by Ato_Zee
Post by OldMan
Post by OldMan
Input1
Strength 50%
Quality 90%
Input 2
Strength 33%
Quality 90%
Is this a cause for concern,
Quality looks OK which is the more important
figure as it reflects the error rate.
Strength a bit low, see what it like in a real
downpour.
If it's a DIY install recheck the alignment and
skew. I take it the coax is a reasonable length,
decent quality and not waterlogged?
The quality/strength will be just for the default channel so it could
conceal some fairly dodgy readings on other channels if the dish is
e.g. off aim or bent. With 0.3deg between the Astra and HotBird
positions the aim could be adequate for one position and bad for the
other if the aim is to one side of the pair rather than between them.
If the dish is in SE London then I would harbour a suspicion of that
occurring with those readings if swapping the leads is not conclusive.
Borrowing a receiver with an on-screen signal display (most recent
non-$ky receivers including FreeSat ?) would make the determination
easier.
Post by Ato_Zee
Post by OldMan
& if so what needs doing?
Think bigger dish, either a slightly bigger northern
one, or an 80cm one.
Lidl from time to time do 80cm dishes, and
dish + brackets + 40mm LNB + meter should
still leave a bit of change from 20 quid.
Also think patio mount if the location is
suitable, less windage, and no frigging about
up a ladder in the pouring rain.
Bill Wright
2009-03-24 01:05:12 UTC
Permalink
Post by Ato_Zee
Post by OldMan
Post by OldMan
Input1
Strength 50%
Quality 90%
Input 2
Strength 33%
Quality 90%
Is this a cause for concern,
Quality looks OK which is the more important
figure as it reflects the error rate.
Strength a bit low, see what it like in a real
downpour.
If it's a DIY install recheck the alignment and
skew. I take it the coax is a reasonable length,
decent quality and not waterlogged?
Post by OldMan
& if so what needs doing?
Think bigger dish, either a slightly bigger northern
one, or an 80cm one.
This fellow doesn't want to be putting an 80cm dish up just to get Sky!
Everyone else manages with a 50cm minidish for domestic use. Find the fault
and fix it, don't just put up an unneccessarily large dish. The dish size
wouldn't alter the strength figure significantly anyway.

Main thing is, does it drop out? If not, forget it.

It's probably the box that just needs a reboot anyway.

Bill
OldMan
2009-03-24 18:41:57 UTC
Permalink
No it doesnt drop out, box has been rebooted several times, when we had to
move tv/stuff about
Post by Bill Wright
Post by Ato_Zee
Post by OldMan
Post by OldMan
Input1
Strength 50%
Quality 90%
Input 2
Strength 33%
Quality 90%
Is this a cause for concern,
Quality looks OK which is the more important
figure as it reflects the error rate.
Strength a bit low, see what it like in a real
downpour.
If it's a DIY install recheck the alignment and
skew. I take it the coax is a reasonable length,
decent quality and not waterlogged?
Post by OldMan
& if so what needs doing?
Think bigger dish, either a slightly bigger northern
one, or an 80cm one.
This fellow doesn't want to be putting an 80cm dish up just to get Sky!
Everyone else manages with a 50cm minidish for domestic use. Find the
fault and fix it, don't just put up an unneccessarily large dish. The dish
size wouldn't alter the strength figure significantly anyway.
Main thing is, does it drop out? If not, forget it.
It's probably the box that just needs a reboot anyway.
Bill
Bill Wright
2009-03-25 02:15:08 UTC
Permalink
Post by OldMan
No it doesnt drop out, box has been rebooted several times, when we had to
move tv/stuff about
If it ain't bust don't fix it. There's enough to fix that needs it.

Bill
OldMan
2009-03-25 20:04:34 UTC
Permalink
ok
Post by Bill Wright
Post by OldMan
No it doesnt drop out, box has been rebooted several times, when we had
to move tv/stuff about
If it ain't bust don't fix it. There's enough to fix that needs it.
Bill
Paul
2009-03-23 17:49:28 UTC
Permalink
I would do a reboot of the box (remove power for 30 seconds) before you go
investigating this because I have seen this sort of thing before and suspect
that software problems can also result in strange levels being displayed, if
they remain the same afterwards then follow investigate further.
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