Astra 1 & 2 on same dish

shortlegs

My problem is very simple - I have a 88cm dish with diseqc switch but can only receive one satellite at a time. I used to have 19 & 28 no problem last year but since last storm - no use. Have a new switch (in fact I've a stock of them because they keep blowing) but if get a signal for one then not the other. Also I notice when scanning receiver thinks its on 19 but downloads 28
Appreciate your advice. Thanks.

polyfusion

To get 19E and 28E, you need two LNBs and a DisEqC switch and appropriate adaptors to hold them to the dish LNB arm (or a motorised system with 1 LNB).

Are you confusing switches and LNBs?

If your switches (or LNBs) are blowing, then there is probably something seriously wrong with your receiver (or wiring).

If you're using LNBs and a DiSEqC switch correctly, are you correctly telling the receiver which LNB is connected to which switch port?

If your dish has one LNB, and is pointed at 28E, then you will only get 28E. You need to physically more the dish to get 19E. Using multiple LNBs with a DiSEqC switch and adaptors will allow you to get 2, 3 or even 4 satellites with one 88cm dish.

Also, 19E and 28E have some transponder frequencies in common, so this may be confusing to some when they are picking up German channels when they think they should be getting English channels (or vice versa).

shortlegs

Thanks for your reply Polyfusion.

Yes I know my switches from my lnb's (have this set-up six years- Toppy 3000 fta), and usually after a storm I'd lose one or both satellites which was not a problem ,have a good sat-finder; but this last year even though I pick up everything I need, I can't get the switch to support both at the same time.
Switch and lnb's are new.
When I'm using sat-finder, often it shuts down with "current overload" on screen - after I connect the second lnb.

polyfusion

Ok, apologies!

Is your setup well exposed to the elements? Any chance water getting into the connections and into the cabling? Any chance of trying the setup with a different length of cable?

If switch and LNB are new, it's either with the stb or cabling. Have you tried another box?

shortlegs

Even though I'm in an exposed location the house gable protects the dish etc from the prevailing winds - but of course it gets a lot of rain - de wescht:rolleyes:

Trying another stb is an idea - at the very least it would eliminate that as a cause.
It seems that "current overload" on the sat-finder is the same thing thats happening on the switch - no prizes for that I suppose - but the annoying thing is that when I had a go at getting 28 & 19 during the Summer I had them running (even though 19 didn't have half the usual complement of channels) for an hour or so, until suddenly I lost everything and had to go back to 28 on it's own, or there'd be no telly for the rest of the week!
Thanks for your help - the next few days will be fine so I'll have another go at it.

pelisor2000

payaso

I have installed a 80cm solid dish mounted with two LNB's to receive astra 1 & 2. when I connect the LNB's one at a time to the receiver I get perfect reception for that satelite.However when I connect them to a diseq switch & set the receiver for astra 2 port 1 & astra1 for port 2. I only get reception on one satelite, the other comes up as bad or no signal.
Am I missing something or is something faulty

tmcw

Check the cables running from the switch to the LNBs in the first instance, swap them, and see if the problem stays at the same LNB/port combination.

If it moves, likely issue with the cable. If the problem stays, likely problem with the switch.

This is assuming you have the receiver set up correctly, and using ports 1/2 and 2/2 with a two-port switch, or 1/4 and 2/4 with a four-port switch, and designations assigned appropriately.

payaso

All equipment new(dish,diseq switch, two LNB,s & new cables.)
As advised swapped cables but no improvement

Only the receiver is original its a DigitAll world SCI-5100.

any other advise appreciated

tmcw

If the problem didn't change, then you have to rule out the other pieces of equipment.

In order of least cost:

- If you can borrow another receiver, try swapping that. Still issue, and receiver known to be working on another DiSEqC setup, your switch is at fault.

- Borrow or buy another switch.

Another possibility is that the loss through the extra cable and switch is bringing the signal level below threshold levels for a stable reception. Have you checked all the channels from the LNB that goes bad? Are they all gone? What's the signal level?

payaso

I tried the equipment on a borrowed receiver, everything works A1 must be faulty old receiver

Many thanks for your advise tmcw

tmcw

No problem, it's good when you can see differences when swapping hardware.

If you're certain you had the switches set up correctly on the box, then it's probable that it's not delivering the correct signal to switch the switch.

If you have a 4-port DiSEqC, might be worth trying the other ports and setting the receiver appropriately, if you haven't already tried. For example, if it can't switch to port 2, maybe it can switch to port 3 or 4.