Sky box dead? Nope it was the LNB!

This was a bit of a weird one.

I have a Humax Foxsat HDR Freesat box, an old Sky non-plus box connected to an analogue DVD recorder, an FTA sat box in another room, and a Sky minidish with quad LNB. I'd put the quad LNB in myself 3-4 years ago.

Almost two weeks ago I wanted to record some red button sport off the BBC - the Humax won't record red button or non-freesat channels - and turned the Sky box on for the first time in ages. 'No satellite signal is being received' but the Humax and FTA box were perfect on all the usual channels, and the Sky box was showing normal signal strength & quality - but Network ID and Transport Stream were both showing 0000. Tried a forced software download - no change.

As the box is almost 8 years old, and hardly ever used anymore (although left plugged in - it feeds a TV upstairs through a Sky eye) I assumed the box was faulty and probably not fixable, decided I might pick up a cheap Sky box some time. I almost took the Sky box to a WEEE recycling collection last week...

Then last Friday I wanted to watch the BBC News channel, tuned it in on the Humax - nothing. All of the main BBC/ITV/Ch4 etc. were there and perfect, but some rarely watched channels were missing. The FTA box was exactly the same. Then I realised most of the radio channels were missing too. Started me thinking the Sky box wasn't faulty after all.

Found a web page http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/index.php/faqs/how-to/operating-a-pvr-with-one-input which pointed me in the right direction - all the channels I was missing were high band, horizontal polarization - so obviously an LNB fault.

Got a new LNB delivered today (ordered Sunday - thanks Tony ) and after some faffing around with realigning the dish, all channels are coming in great on all 3 boxes, there was nothing wrong with the Sky box!

It seems the Sky box needs the high band/horizontal to be working to be able to download its EPG. No EPG, no channels - even if most of the BBC, ITV, Ch4 etc. signals were actually there, after all the Humax and FTA box could tune them.

Things I learned:

1. Don't assume a receiver is faulty unless you've tested it with a known good dish/LNB/cable.

2. Don't assume an LNB is OK just because the channels you usually watch are working - try them all and all the radio channels.

3. A Sky box that can't receive the EPG can give you the impression the box is totally dead when it's not.

4. Don't assume the Sky guy aligned the dish perfectly. I got the channels which had always been weaker (Eurobird, Astra 2A, Astra 2B) to significantly improve by moving the dish a tiny bit East. The left/right adjustment had never been touched since the dish was put in. Astra 2D channels had been fine, but the others were sometimes blocky and got worse in wet weather.

5. Don't reconnect all the cables when you put a new LNB on and just assume the dish won't need re-aligning. I had to move the dish a good bit vertically because the new LNB was a lot lighter than the old. I had to disconnect all the cables to find the right one to connect the sat finder to.

6. Get a cheap sat finder for a few euro. I bought one ages ago but had never used it until now, I was really impressed by how easy it was to get the dish spot-on.

7. Leave the sat meter turned on while you re-tighten all the bolts, if the pitch of the sound drops then you've knocked the dish off a bit.

8. Don't have the dish more than 3m off the ground if you can avoid it - there's no way I'd have attempted this job if it was at roof height :eek: :pac: