Astra 2 / Hotbird Satellite Receivers

cormacl

Folks,
some time back I purchased an Astra 2 / Hotbird dual-LNB satellite system complete with Strong 6355 receiver.

Ever since I got it installed.. it has shown some strange behaviour..

1) Occasional loss of signal in one or both LNBs, requiring a standby/power on to restore the lost signal. This usually happens when changing from an Astra station to Hotbird station or when flicking through stations on either satellite. The recovery is instant.. so its not a real loss of signal that happens here.

2) receiver would freeze every so often, requiring a full mains power-down to recover.

3) A favourites feature that has stopped working.. needed a full facory reset of the box to get it to work again.

I will point out that the signal strength and quality is always near maximum.. and that the dish was repositioned twice by the installer who did a very detailed job of positioning the dish.. there is no doubt in my mind that it is correctly positioned and that the issues being caused are either from a faulty LNB, receiver or combination of both.

.. I'm not try to flame the seller and will not disclose who they are.. but I am interested in knowing if others with dual Astra/Hotbird configurations ever experience these kind of symptoms.. is intermittent loss of signal on a dual-LNB system part of the normal experience?.. are normal (non-sky or cable) satellite receivers prone to erratic behaviour?

seano

1) Occasional loss of signal in one or both LNBs, requiring a standby/power on to restore the lost signal. This usually happens when changing from an Astra station to Hotbird station or when flicking through stations on either satellite. The recovery is instant.. so its not a real loss of signal that happens here.

go in your menu and see if you have the latest software,i am sure that you can tell the receiver to check for an update.

am interested in knowing if others with dual Astra/Hotbird configurations ever experience these kind of symptoms.. is intermittent loss of signal on a dual-LNB system part of the normal experience?.. are normal (non-sky or cable) satellite receivers prone to erratic behaviour?

When you switch satellites you should not notice it.!!!!!!!!!!!

It is possible that the strong receivers just cannot handle the switching.It is also a known problem with the new version Echostars.
Why not send an email to strong and ask them if they have a solution,
http://strongstb.com/strongsat/contact/

cormacl

Tried the OS update already.. nothing happened and the manual indicated that if nothing happened, no OTA update was available.

The website, strongsat.com also allows for manual download of updates.. none listed for the 6355.. it would appear that there are no updates available at present.

I'd be surprised to find the receiver cannot handle it.. it has a multiple LNB configurations.. its designed for DiSEq and motorised setups..

I'll try Strong support and see what they have to say

seano

I'd be surprised to find the receiver cannot handle it.. it has a multiple LNB configurations.. its designed for DiSEq and motorised setups..

I am surprised everyday with the things !!

Good luck with your email to strongsat.

Mike 1972

Do you live in a rural area ? Maybe variations in the ESB voltage are causing you problems

cormacl

Leixlip?.. but I have a stereo, computer, broadband router and other equipment in use and all work 24x7 without experiencing problems from supply.

There are pylons about half a mile away and the fella installing the dish got jolts off the cabling as he was wiring things up.. and that was without the cables being connected to the receiver!.. but thats a common induction issue experienced when near to high-voltage supplies... once earthed these issues go away.

Tony

I wonder if the induction is affecting the diseq switch?

Tony

cormacl

But once the cable is connected to the receiver and it to the mains, we are earthed.. so induction should pose no more problems.

Tony

Most modern receivers do not need/use earth so I would not assume that no induction is occurring however i've never heard an actaul case of induction causing problems so on reflection I'd say this is unlikely.

Tony

byte

I encountered similar problem with an FTA Strong receiver. It was just using Astra 1, though after periods of time, signal would drop out on most channels, and rebooting the receiver used to fix the problem until the next time. The dish and LNB tested fine so I swapped the receiver. I haven't heard any complaints since so I put it down to a fault in the receiver, or more likely, in the software therein.