FreeSat Dead

Edg3 · 17-02-2013 4:21pm #1

Hey guys.

I hope I'm in the right place if not please let me know.

As of this morning our FreeSat box isnt picking up channels. We've scanned several times, the first time we got all the channels but black screen & no sound. Since then there has been zero signal and signal quality (obviously). The dish hasnt been moved, but after more poking we decided to go up on the roof and try the sat finder, its not lighting up or making any noise, no matter how much we twiddle and tweak.

Last night we re-tuned it (auto satellite tune) after loosing the BBCs and a couple other stations. It worked but we were missing several, (5Star & Film4) which we had before. But it was working and the picture seemed good. We never had more then 50% on signal but it always worked, we set it up back before the big switch and it was grand.

Ive no idea whats causing it and its driving me insane, not that I cant watch tv (i dont) but that I cant figure it out. The sat finder (its an analogue one) worked before but now its not lighting up at all, like its not getting any power, we've tried a different, brand new cable, and nothing. I honestly cant figure it out and for me thats the worst part of the whole thing. Would the sat finder light up if the LMB (think thats what it called) was bust? Or does it only require power going in to function but wouldnt give a signal?

The terrestrial is still working fine but thats a different thing altogether, comes through the same box but on the aerial so its unaffected.

Can anyone suggest anything or did I miss something?

The Cush · 17-02-2013 4:45pm

Edg3 wrote: »

Would the sat finder light up if the LMB (think thats what it called) was bust? Or does it only require power going in to function but wouldnt give a signal?

The dish could be slightly out of alignment.

How many outputs does the LNB have, if more than one check the signal on one of the other outputs.

What type of meter are you using, I use a basic Digisat pro meter and that requires power from the satellite receiver?

Can you test out the satellite receiver on another dish to rule out a problem there?

Edg3 · 17-02-2013 5:09pm

We cant tell if its out of alignment because the satfinders not finding anything at all, its not even picking up.

LNB has 3 outputs, we tested in all 3 and still nothing. Was working this morning then I tried tuning in 5Star (it was missing after the auto retune last night) I couldnt find it so turned off the box, my dad came in switched it on and then nothing, at all.

Sat Finder is just a needle and gauge, no name or anything but my uncle and I have used it several times setting up boxes and its been 100% every time, not bad for 8euro in the market.

We dont have another box unfortunately, we've only the one.

I think the sat finder needs power coming from the receiver but its not glowing (has an old orangy glow) and we'd used it before to tune in, but now nothing. I'll ask and see if we could get a box maybe to test, even if the dish was out of alignment we should get some sort of signal to the finder for tuning but since its not even lighting up I cant understand it. I already tried the fresh install thing, no use, 0 on the signal input.

jjf1974 · 17-02-2013 5:36pm

If you plug the sat finder directly at back of the box does it light up .If it doesnt then it could be your box.What make is your box?

Edg3 · 17-02-2013 6:29pm

Its a Walker 645TS-HD.

I did what you recommended, plugging it right into the back, lit up so I I plugged in the satellite, still lit, started it up (its been reset so I went through the set-up) and just as I got to the satellite/transponder selection page, it went out. And I wasnt able to get it to come back on again, turned it off, reset it, put the sat finder on the back again, nothing.

Thanks for the suggestion though, it actually helped alot, makes me think its not the dish or LMB but the box itself. Maybe a short.

I decided to test and see if when I turned on the tv was the hdmi cable drawing power from the input, suddenly with the sat finder plugged in to the sat cable we got connection, signal and power, so popped off the sat finder, plugged in the cable and it set off scanning, but its VERY slow and finding very few channels, so I'm guessing the connection is banjaxed as my dad would say. We got it in Powercity and we're gunna bring it back tomorrow, we got a page or so of channels but while its still scanning now not sure if its gunna pick up anymore stations or even give us picture when its done. Signal was 75% strength so it should (in theory) have picture.

Edg3 · 17-02-2013 8:53pm

Got it up and running but we're down to 100 TV channels from whatever we had before.
Off the top of my head I see we're missing Film4 and 5Star (i think thats the name) and when I try manually tuning it in nothing happens, just comes up empty. My dad watches it when hes over and he noticed over the last week or two that we'd lost a good few channels, several he would watch. When I try manual tuning I get nothing. Very odd to be down to 100 channels and an arse and a half load of radio we didnt have, I'm guessing maybe with the bad weather the last week that I might be off slightly. Least its semi up and running for now but thinking of bringing the box back tomorrow as I'm 99% sure theres a loose connection.

Ronnie Raygun · 18-02-2013 1:50am

Did you fit the f-connectors on the cable between dish & receiver yourself? Are you sure these connections are properly made?

Edg3 · 18-02-2013 7:13pm

Was a professional cable, came pre-packaged.

We got it sorted, brought it back to the guy in Power City, he ran the scan on his set up and it tuned in all the stations perfectly, brought it home, hooked it up and it worked fine oddly enough, thinking maybe the box just had a bad day, though still missing 5Star and Film4 which wont manually tune in either, crap since they're the only 2 I watch

St Senan · 18-02-2013 7:33pm

The problem is either
The Dish is not 100% aligned up correctly.
The LNB on the dish has a Fault
The Tuner in the box has a Fault.
A signal finder wont give any signal readings or % of signal like V high, V low,
H high and H low.
Op you should consider hiring a professional day to day Installer to have a look at your set-up.

lucernarian · 18-02-2013 8:52pm

I'm thinking that there's a fault somewhere with the cable, like water getting inside it somewhere or some other kind of short circuit. It did work fine on another installation.

Edg3 · 19-02-2013 5:42am

Navarre wrote: »

The problem is either
The Dish is not 100% aligned up correctly.
The LNB on the dish has a Fault
The Tuner in the box has a Fault.
A signal finder wont give any signal readings or % of signal like V high, V low,
H high and H low.
Op you should consider hiring a professional day to day Installer to have a look at your set-up.

I think you might be on the ball about the dish being off. Since we have coverage now after the guy in the shop tuning it I'm guessing that was it, but the fact that we were getting no power to the finder is what confused me. We had a professional install it and I'll be damned if we're paying them to come out again. Since its up and running now I can only assume the dish was effected by the winds recently.

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

I'm thinking that there's a fault somewhere with the cable, like water getting inside it somewhere or some other kind of short circuit. It did work fine on another installation.

We tried another cable and had the same issue, thats what made me think it was the box. The cables not split anywhere, its a direct connection so we were able to trace it back. I thought maybe a mouse/rat had eaten through it but it seemed fine, we tested another cable but had the exact same issue.

The entire thing is fine now but if I notice it going we'll realign the dish again but since its working I really dont want to touch it.
Thanks everyone for your help, my dad loves it and I hated leaving him without it, but he missed Top Gear last night and was not pleased.

St Senan · 19-02-2013 12:19pm

Edg3 wrote: »

We had a professional install it and I'll be damned if we're paying them to come out again. Since its up and running now I can only assume the dish was effected b

If you paid a Guy to Install the dish and it failed then its up to that guy to come back FOC and realign this dish under warranty.

The most common cause for a mesh Zone 2 dish going out of line or losing signal is that the bolts are not tightened up enough (the bolts are highlighted in picture below with black arrows.) A long barreled 10mm socket will do the job. These dishes are massed produced and cheaply made the back bracket on the dish will widen out when the bolts start tightening to compensate this before the dish is mounted a tap of a hammer on the top and bottom of the the bracket (marked with a red line ) resting it on a block will prevent it from widening out. Most decent Installers would know to do this.

FreeSat Dead

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