help setting dish

[mickyd123]

I used to get 90% signal strength and 75% quality of the standard mini dish, I have just moved it and bout the bigger 76x48 dish but set it up with my sat finder but still carnt get it over the 75% signal quality, one bbc ect its around the 84% but every channel apart from channel 5 hd works, ive tried lnb skew and every thing but quality over the 75% alludes me, but on channel 5 hd it only gets around the 5-85 signal strengthany1 got any ideas ? oh the box am using is a skybox f5 thanks

[Benzade]

Micky I've found signal/quality strength readings can vary from receiver to receiver, for example on my Technomate 5400 I get 97% signal strength and 97% quality strength on Astra 28e if i disconnect that receiver and couple a bog standard Sky box to the dish I then get 97% signal strength but the quality strength drops to about 75% yet I haven't altered the dish arrangement in anyway!

Channel 5 HD normally needs a Freesat from Sky viewing card to open are you saying your getting no signal/quality strength on that channel or that it just won't open?

[digicon]

Take no notice of the quality readings from the F5 as i believe they have a tuner driver issue in the firmware which does not give a true reading as do most other satellite receivers

[mickyd123]

yeah only 6-7 singal strength on channel 5 hd, it used to work on my skyboxf5 b4 I moved it so might just be slighty out either dish or lnb to get it back on again, well after the info about a better box giving more think I will have to invest in either a tecnomate or maybe a vu+ but don't know which out of the two is best ,cheers lads

[Benzade]

Micky have you tried tweaking the transponder frequency numbers in the satellite setup menu? I own a Spiderbox 5000SD and on 13e the transonder 10719 V 27500 5/6 will not show or be very low on signal/quality but if I go into the "Add Transponder" menu and put in 10720 V 27500 5/6 it shows up full power. You may need to try different numbers going up in 2s or down in 2s but no more than adding 10 or subtracting 10 from the original frequency number for Ch5 HD.

Please don't go buying a Technomate 5400 on the strength of my last post in this thread as it is now old technology and an SD receiver only. I was just using that as an example as to how signal/quality strengths can vary between different makes of receivers.
I can't comment on the newer HD generations of Technomate as for now my Technomate 5400 is fullfilling my footie needs over on 39e but like anything else in this hobby nothing lasts forever.

Regarding your problem there is probably nothing wrong with the receiver apart from the known issue mentioned above you just need to be bang on with your dish alignment. A way round this would be to align the dish using a receiver that you know gives a good signal/quality reading fix the dish in place and then swap the receivers over.

Or as a more permanent cheap remedy and to allow for a slight margin of error when aligning the dish/signal fade on certain transponders in bad weather my last piece of advice would be to get yourself one of the old round black type mesh Sky dishes and swap the LNB over onto it from your existing oval dish. This will increase your reception (bigger = better) and will be a lot cheaper than buying a new receiver.

Try freecycle groups or ask at a small independent TV/Satellite installers you'll be suprised how many of these end up in skips and I'm sure someone will let you have one for the price of a few beer tokens if you ask nicely enough!

[mickyd123]

ive been tweeking again today got channel 5 hd on now but and getting 78 quality on every thing else, no not just for signal to upgrade more features like built in hdd tfping ect

[Benzade]

Just out of curiosity why did you move/swap the dish in the first place? Was you not happy with signal/quality strengths where it originally was?

Where abouts are you in the UK? I live in the North West of England not for from Manchester and like I said in previous posts I get 97% on both signal and quality strengths but I am using an old pre digital Sky dish as opposed to the new mini style dishes even with one of those though Ch5 HD comes booming through.

[mickyd123]

north east mate, well durham , I moved it as neighbour was going to plant a hedge so moved it b4 it would grow to big to block signal, been through all transponders max 86 on fta and 76-77 on non-fta got it back on just a little tweak but thinking of upgrading cable from whats on to either wf100 or hd100 as the cable run is around 35-40 meters and also take the boosters out as the cable shouldn't need them ive read by using that cable when it arrives

[Benzade]

Well the longer your cable run then the more the signal will degrade for sure.

That said the bigger the dish the better the signal. Sky killed two birds with one stone by creating the mini dish. 1. They made it look sleek and more attractive than the 60cm round style dishes and 2. They made the dish unreliable for anything other than 28e.

You should have no problem picking up 28e in the UK if you have a clear line of sight even with a Zone1 or Zone2 dish as it's a powerful bird but I'd be tempted to try an old 60cm Sky dish to improve your signal rather than splashing out on cable.

[mickyd123]

it is the zone 2 dish mate that I have got and in pointing in plain sight that's why im looking at upgrading the cable or even cable and invercom lnb, if I do change did again the dish a gain I would get a 80cm solid round dish or even a 1m one, still new to all this so messing around with it is good so I know the in's and outs of my set up, so see what things I change do to quality ect might go motorised at some point

[ramjet]

there is no substitute for size, as they rightly say , so an 80cm or 110cm would give you a much greater signal (and you could motorize it too), and the 60cm zone 2 sly dish is correct for the north of england and scotland, if you are going to change the lnb, the inverto ultra black would be the one to go for (rather than an invacom)

also bear in mind you need the lnb skewed on a sly fixed dish, slightly clockwise so the cable entry is about 7pm looking from the front

[mickyd123]

yeah it skew is set to around 7pm, will upgrade my cable to wf100 then will get my self a solid 80cm round satellite dishand upgraded lnb inverto ultra black as u recommend it