Cloudy days (without rain) affect my sat, why?

[VirtuallyMore]

I need some advice.

Whenever it is a dark and cloudy day (like today, and the next few months in the uk.. ) I can no longer view any channels clearly, and some can't even lock on at all (no hd channels, no bbc 3, 4, itv etc..)

http://i47.tinypic.com/33nfdxd.jpg

http://i49.tinypic.com/2n7eemx.jpg

On a clear day I can see every channel perfectly fine, apart from "BBC HD" and "BBC1 HD" which are always fuzzy like the above pics, though all the other NON BBC HD channels appear fine (itv1 hd, ch4 hd etc..)

Usually when I scan for channels, it picks up over 530, I scanned today (cloudy day) it picked up about 120, almost none of which are watchable.

My dish is in my back garden mounted to the wall, only about a meter or two from the ground.

Obviously water affects signals due to distortion, but is there some way to decrease the impact that I am having?

Would re-positioning the disk on my roof help at all? because on a clear day it's absolutely fine, so I'm not sure.

Any suggestions are most appreciated.

[ramjet]

its either misaligned or being shaded by something like trees or whatever causing low signal and quality

if it has a clear line of sight then it works just as well on the ground as on a roof so lifting it wont make any difference UNLESS you have obstructions causing problems, like walls , trees , chimneys etc

clearly something is obstructing it, OR its not aligned to 28.2 correctly, or you have an lnb problem, which I doubt but they are cheap enough to change

and the bigger the dish, the better

nb:- I have assumed you are in the uk or eire for the above answers, not somewhere else

[peepo]

as above plus check all f connectors. spose the other problem could be crap/faulty tuner.

[VirtuallyMore]

thanks for your all your tips, but none of them explain why the signal is only affected on cloudy days, does it? or am i misunderstanding something?

as I said originally, on a clear day the picture is fine on all channels, it only dies when there is a cloudy day..

(and yes, I've checked all the cables and connections from my box to the dish)

[ramjet]

check the signal and quality levels , but clouds have little or no effect on satellite signals unless they were very black thunderclouds containing large quantities of water within them

its p****ing it down here now and my channels are unaffected even on a minidish, but if it got really bad I would get breakups and no signal on my sly box from my sly dish, which has happened a few times this year. but its been cloudy and raining here all day with no effect on any of my boxes at all

hence your cloud theory has little or no relevance 99% of the time for me (and as I said its only when its extremely heavy rain like a monsoon does it actually affect me)

if you are close to the threshold of a bad signal then anything will tip it over, and a bad tuner could be just as bad seeing as you have a clone

[cactikid]

could the dish be old and corroded?

[VirtuallyMore]

a bad tuner could be just as bad seeing as you have a clone

I'll compare on a troubling channel with my old trusty Starview box, to see if its a tuner issue.

Also I will remind you, on a normal rainy day (even with very heavy rain) I have no problems with the signal, but when its very thick clouds I lose almost all my channels, so I don't think water on my dish is the problem, because even when it had tried some hours later, it was still cloudy and still I could not view many channels which on a clear day, view fine.
But if you guys agree that cloudy weather (without rain) won't affect the signal.. well this confuses me even more.


could the dish be old and corroded?

I dunno, it looks ok to me, what do you guys think?

(the dark patches are wet patches, from the bit of rain, they dried up later but problem remained)

http://i48.tinypic.com/153upvr.jpg

http://i45.tinypic.com/25ym8.jpg

http://i49.tinypic.com/2saleac.jpg

thanks for all your comments it's very helpful, I fear I may need to hire a professional to come and sort this out, but if there is an inexpensive way I can do this myself please keep the tips coming and I'll try what I can, thanks :)

[jovie]

the reason you are getting a bad signal is because your dish
is not lined up properly regards jovie

[digicon]

The dish should be fine but it could be an alignment and slight adjustment needed, What is required here is a process of elimination and if you can spare a fiver on a pretty popular auction site should garnish you with a new Sly LNB with adaptor to fit your dish. This is probably your first port of call to see if that rectifies the situation.

The next job could be replacing the cable completely just in case of some wear and tear and maybe a little Moisture damage to the cable itself.

[ramjet]

not seen one of those lnb,s in quite a while, so agree with digicon that you should change it asap

you can buy the new quads with legacy bracket for about ?6 delivered from ebay which are extremely good in themselves for any sly dish

I changed from a zone 1 42cm to a free 59cm zone 2 new sly dish and fitted an octo lnb on mine which was about ?12 delivered

I also recommend you check with the sv seeing as you have one and should have already done so as its one of the first comparison checks I would have done

you dont have to remind me or anyone else about your cloud theory, I discounted it the moment I saw it as I live in the north west where its almost permanently cloudy or raining and dont see problems like these on any of my dishes or boxes

but my lnb,s are all less than 2 years old and in some cases less than one, like my twin inverto ultrablack on my motorised triax dish

to sum up, you could buy a cheap zone 2 dish and lnb off ebay for little money and do the task yourself, but the bare minimum I would do is change that lnb for about ?6

you could also test using the starview sat box as a comparison test, cost is zero

it could be clouds ;)
it could be aliens bumping into the satellites over the equator ;
it could be next door moving the dish when you arent looking ;)

but it could be time to bin the crazy theories and do some work on finding the actual fault which I believe to be your old lnb

EDIT:- ps , I also agree with post #8

I compared your pictures with my dish and several on my street, and yours seems to be skewed in an anti-clockwise direction as is also your lnb

a sly dish is generally plumb and level with no skew, and then the lnb is skewed clockwise so that the bottom entry cable is at about 7 o`clock

the sly dishes tend to have a small spirit level to aid in this regard but a normal spirit level can easily do the job too

so comparing yours to half a dozen in my street, yours is skewed anti-clockwise so has not been fitted correctly in the first place

it looks in good condition so should be fine with a new lnb and when adjusted to how I detailed above

your sv can easily assist you in checking signal and quality levels by pressing info twice when checking each channel in turn
if its a combo, patch it with the I WAS BORED ONE DAY file to a spiderbox and then update it to march2012 spiderbox firmware, and add one of the latest channel lists so your transponders and channels are up to date. its then an excellent way of checking and adjusting the dish

[VirtuallyMore]

I just did a scan on my starview combo of an example channel with problems:

channel 4 -- 22000000
fec 5/6
horizontal
10714000
qpsk

It find the channels on that transponder but cannot view any of them, can't even lock on to it to try and display, at least my dreambox attempts to show it, although all pixelated and distorted, so I don't think it's a tuner issue.

And I don't know what you mean by it being "skewed", skewed in what way exactly? And you reference things like 7 o'clock but in relation to what being the point of 12 o'clock? and what part of the lnb are u refering to? sorry u completely lost me here on this part :(
(I will add that I have never aligned a dish before, and this was installed onto the property before I moved in)

It does have a spirit level on the dish, u can see in the first pic, but here is a closer look:

http://i48.tinypic.com/1zg88eu.jpg

It may only be around ?5 online but add VAT and delivery cost.. I think i'll just pop to the shops now and buy a ?12 one.

Total costs so far;
?35 for a compression tool (for re-doing ends of cables)
?12 for a new LNB

I hope the new LNB fixes the problem, otherwise I would have spent more trying to fix this thing than hiring a professional with all his tools to come and tell me (or fix) the issue himself..

[digicon]

No idea why you are buying a compression tool and connectors for ?35 just to do the ends, Just buy 2 Screw 'F' connectors with rubber 'O' sealant rings around 5 pence each i think. Personally the compression tool and connectors is a little over board for a 28.2? east install but each to there own

Also ?12 for an LNB bit pricey as i sais to repalce the official single version you have ?4.95


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIAX-SKY-SINGLE-LNB-OPTIMISED-MK3-FOR-SKY-HD-FREESAT-370540-/390497150849?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Satellite_LNBs&hash=item5aeb71a781

F Cons


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-x-Weatherproof-F-Connectors-Twist-On-with-Rubber-O-Ring-Seal-/200851136320?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Other&hash=item2ec3a91f40

[ramjet]

the bubble should be in the middle but they arent that accurate, so look at the dish head on , and the arm should be in the 6 o`clock position as if you were looking at an analogue clock face, with the arm coming straight out and the dish should look symmetrical when viewing it in relation to the mortar lines and brickwork behind (like looking at a dartboard too)

as for lnb skew, its where its turned clockwise or anti-clockwise in relation to the dish, so should be turned slightly clockwise so the lnb cable doesnt hang straight down but is coming from the 7 o`clock position on an analogue clock face as viewed from the front of the dish

a sky lnb has an adjustable skew range to achieve this

its also worth noting the sky lnb,s are bespoke and as such use special brackets so a standard lnb is unlikely to fit the bracket no matter how much you spend

that was why I said buy one with a legacy bracket as that is what its for and all designed that way (bespoke)
they usually cost around ?6 including vat , with free delivery from e bay, including the legacy bracket , for a sky quad lnb which is modern , universal and with the legacy bracket will fit ANY sky dish

buying elsewhere will only add to your problems

and no you dont need a crimping tool or crimps, just buy standard screw on f connectors and seal with tape and vaseline outside, cheap and cheerful and does the job, or if you are being pedantic use self amalgamating tape like a professional would (and pull the rain hood protector down after connection too)

checked c4 for you and its working fine here, leading me to believe its still the old lnb (very old if you ask me)

[VirtuallyMore]

I didn't buy the LNB yet, I just put my shoes on to go out and buy some, decided to do one final test again...

Now, I know you are all going to call me crazy but..
When I tested this on the starview on just this frequency range, the channels wouldn't show, as I said, so I did a full scan on all frequencies just to see what channels WOULD show, it picked up channel 4 again in the list, as expected, but now it shows it back working again.. so I thought.. wtf?

So I put the cable back in my dreambox again, lo and behold channel 4 works perfectly.. I checked every other HD channel (they stopped working some days ago when it became cloudy) and.. EVERYThING WORKS! BBC HD, BBC1 HD, ITV HD, Channel4 HD, everything, every channel.. perfectly..

So I just took a peek outside.. the clouds have gone, its clear blue skies... co-insodence?

can anybody make any sense of this? I am baffled!

EDIT: ah and oh yes digicon, I completely forgot about those type of connectors, I had lots of these compression ones left over from my last sat purchase some years ago, oh well

EDIT2: ok, everything other than B4u movies, showcase, smartlive etc.. on the 11259v 2/3 27500 range, but I don't really watch these channels ever so I'm not so bothered about this

[mdt]

id get myself a brand new mk4 zone1(or zone2 dependant on location) kit off e*** which will have dish,lnb,cable,f-cons,clips ect(make sure you get enough cable) and treat yourself to a new dish that will last many years and bin the old one,regards mdt

[mast]

Hi

You were prepared to spend around ?47 so I would do as what mdt has advised and get a new sat kit.

If you feel cable is fine then kit will cost about ?20 which is within what you were prepared to spend initially.

Personally I think the main issue here is the lnb.

Regards

[ramjet]

if you look carefully on your current lnb it may have the word noah on it and another identical one in your home will have ark on it, that is its approximate age and how it was transported into londinium (two by two) ;)

or to put it another way, your old lnb is fracked !

the brand new single output sky dish lnb posted by digicon will do the trick for a fiver, or this quad if you want to add the starview into the system using another cable item 120733878983 for a few quid more, and a couple of screw on f connectors and maybe a rubber boot too

change the lnb , then talk further if you get any problems as there is no doubt in my mind it is the culprit here, and I have said this all along

[VirtuallyMore]

ok will do, it's gone back to normal now and I have full service again (i think due to clouds but it's just an observation without logic), when the channels screw up again I'll replace the LNB, and if that has no joy I'll buy a new dish and check youtube for some how-to guides on alignment as I'm clueless on this kind of thing.

thanks for all the comments and helpful suggestions :)