poor/broken diseqc switch?

kierank01

Hi,

I have a vu+duo, and an trying to get rtl on 19.2, and as I am putting up a dish, 13e (haven't got around to putting up the dish yet...)

What I would like to be able to do is, have 2 disecq switches, with 28.2 plugged into both, and 19.2 in one, and 13 on the other.

I am currently testing the diseqc switches, but am having trouble.

initially, it seemed to work ok, but after a couple of days, bbc/itv etc started to get blocky/jumpy, and I just went back to no diseqc switches, just 28.2 in each tuner (which is fine by the way).

I have setup the vu+, in various different ways, but now keep getting tune failed when I try to watch bbc.

I have disabled one tuner, and plugged 28.2 into each of the ports on one of the diseqc switches, and set that tiner in the vu+ to:

config mode: simple
mode: diseqc A/B
port a: 28.2
port b: 28.2
set voltage and 22khz: yes
send diseqc only on sat change: no

but still cannot view anything.

could I have a faulty disecq or have i got something wrong with my setup?

the diseqc that I have are technomate TM-2S 2x1.

snaps

not 100% sure what your trying to do? Are you trying to get 3 sats with a 2 input diseqc switch? If so you need a 4*1 switch.

Perhaps i need to read your post again?

kierank01

snaps wrote: »

not 100% sure what your trying to do? Are you trying to get 3 sats with a 2 input diseqc switch? If so you need a 4*1 switch.

Perhaps i need to read your post again?

Hi, no there are 2 sat tuners in the vu+duo, so I am trying to have 28.2+19.2 on one, and 28.2+13e on the other, using 2*2x1 diseqc switches.

Ronnie Raygun

kierank01 wrote: »

Hi,

I have a vu+duo, and an trying to get rtl on 19.2, and as I am putting up a dish, 13e (haven't got around to putting up the dish yet...)

What I would like to be able to do is, have 2 disecq switches, with 28.2 plugged into both, and 19.2 in one, and 13 on the other ...


... could I have a faulty disecq or have i got something wrong with my setup?

What's the point in testing switches? Why don't you just wait until the other dish is up?

There's no reason why your plan to have 28E available to both tuners & 19 & 13 available to one of each separately shouldn't work.

kierank01

Ronnie Raygun wrote: »

What's the point in testing switches? Why don't you just wait until the other dish is up?

I see what you mean, I will have to put up the dish anyway...

Ronnie Raygun wrote: »

There's no reason why your plan to have 28E available to both tuners & 19 & 13 available to one of each separately shouldn't work.

There is at least one reason, which is faulty diseqc switches

Ronnie Raygun

What's your signal like without the switches? Maybe the insertion loss is too much for it.

What size dish are you using for 28E?

kierank01

Ronnie Raygun wrote: »

What's your signal like without the switches? Maybe the insertion loss is too much for it.

What size dish are you using for 28E?

not really sure, will check after the irish match.

it is a sky mini dish (can't change it, because it is shared with another apartment)

snaps

kierank01 wrote: »

not really sure, will check after the irish match.

it is a sky mini dish (can't change it, because it is shared with another apartment)

Is it a communal dish? Or is it a dish shared between 2 households? Has it been properly earthed if its feeding 2 different apartments?

kierank01

Ronnie Raygun wrote: »

What's your signal like without the switches? Maybe the insertion loss is too much for it.

What size dish are you using for 28E?

not really sure how to check, but when I zap to bbc hd, the osd says that the SNR is 99%, and the BER is zero

snaps wrote: »

Is it a communal dish? Or is it a dish shared between 2 households? Has it been properly earthed if its feeding 2 different apartments?

shared between 2 apartments, I don't see any special grounding on the dish.

Peter Rhea

kierank01 wrote: »

not really sure how to check, but when I zap to bbc hd, the osd says that the SNR is 99%, and the BER is zero

Do you have reliable reception in all weathers? That's a good indicator of signal quality.

kierank01

Peter Rhea wrote: »

Do you have reliable reception in all weathers? That's a good indicator of signal quality.

The only time I have had a reception issue, was when there was really bad hail and thunder.

I am going to borrow a sky box, and see what that says.

snaps

kierank01 wrote: »

The only time I have had a reception issue, was when there was really bad hail and thunder.

I am going to borrow a sky box, and see what that says.

A sky box doesn't support diseqc, so make sure you take that out of the equation (switch that is)

Ronnie Raygun

OP, are you sure it's diseqc switches you have?

It's unlikely you have a low enough signal level to be affected by the switch, unless there's a really long downlead from the lnb. Signal quality shouldn't really be affected.

kierank01

Ronnie Raygun wrote: »

OP, are you sure it's diseqc switches you have?

It's unlikely you have a low enough signal level to be affected by the switch, unless there's a really long downlead from the lnb. Signal quality shouldn't really be affected.

yes

kierank01

So I checked the signal quality with the sky box.

when I checked, it said that one cable had bery poor signal, and the other was almost perfect.
I switched off the box, and switched the cables, and checked again, and the poor signal had not changed.

When I check the signal where I got the skybox, both cables are reporting full signal.



All the cables that I am using are the cables that were there before I got here, and on proper inspection, they are steel core, with copper coating.

going to order some copper core cable, and see how that goes.

iba

Guys,

Can someone recommend the best diseqc swicth - I seem to keep blowing the ports on mine (and I have 3)?

and

does anyone know a way to test a diseqc swicth to see which ports are zapped?

Thanks

iba

Apogee

How did you manage to do that? It suggests something is not right.

I like Spaun switches in terms of sensitivity, but they are a lot more expensive than other brands.

http://www.spaun.de/?lang=en&modul=home

snaps

yes, certainly sounds something is wrong somewhere allright. ive had 1 diseqc switch for over 10 years on one setup!!! Ive found spiders play havock with them. Heaven knows how they get inside them. Ive only ever used cheap ones.

iba

Hi Apogee and Snaps,

I think I broke them by plugging and unplugging cables into them without turning off the power on my stb - well thats my guess anyway, but if I could learn someway to test them then Id know for sure.

Of the 3 that I have, 2 ports work on 2 of them and 3 ports work on the 3rd.

As for spiders, I get earwigs everywhere

Regards

Iba