Get Sky just for the dish installation?

p15574

I've had a Freesat system running fine with an octo LNB for the last 12 years or so. A couple of months ago the signal started going and within a few weeks it was gone. This coincided with a rainy period and sudden growth spurt in everything green. I figured it was the tree beside us blocking the signal - it had suddenly filled up with leaves. We're in suburbia, an end house and this is a tree on the public road which has grown a lot in the last few years - the trees now exceed house height by about 3 metres.

I decide to move the dish, which is is on the upper rear wall. I moved it across and up a bit so it would avoid this tree, but I can't get it tuned it again. I figure it's now blocked by the next tree down. A neighbour has called the council to ask them to cut back the trees near their house, which are threatening to come in their windows, but apparently the council said they don't do that, they only cut back at low levels if they impede pedestrians. At the moment we're waiting until autumn when the leaves fall to see if we can get the signal back. I'm also tempted to climb the tree then and do a DIY radical pruning of it - anyone know the legalities of that? The only other option would be to try to fix the dish to the chimney but from a health and safety angle I'm not comfortable with that.

Anyway, to (finally!) get to my question: I've also been considering biting the bullet and getting Sky installed - mainly for the dish installation. I figure that after a year I can cancel and keep the dish - is that still the case like I seem to remember it used to be? However, I'm not 100% sure Sky still uses dishes - do they use fibre for the signal nowadays? Or should I just try and find someone to move my own dish? Would need a lot of coax extensions, and will be ugly with cables coming down the roof.

Gerry Wicklow

AFAIK Sky don't do chimney installs anymore for the dreaded H&S reasons.

Atlantic Dawn

Have a look at this website and choose 28.2E, it will show you how your dish should be alligned in relation to your address, might help to guide the positioning. It's not easy to hit the correct allignment, there's about 5mm window or so where you hit it correctly.

https://www.dishpointer.com/

I'd suggest writing to the council regarding the tree and express your concern of it falling on your home as it's now over the height of it.

With Sky now as far as I know they only instal Sky Q, with this instal they will own the receiver and will look for it to be returned if you cancel so you will need to connect your own freesat/FTA receiver should you cancel. Where a problem exists is the standard LNB for Sky Q uses a wideband LNB and this does not work with a standard FTA receiver, you would need to get them to instal a hybrid LNB which has 2 connections for Sky Q and 4 connections for standard FTA box, the dish positioning is fine for both. They may instal the hybrid LNB free if you request it or the installer may ask for a fee to add it. Hybrid LNB is circa €35-€50. Another option is the official Freesat boxes now work with either wideband or standard LNB so you could buy one of them and it will work with Sky Q LNB from the start.

https://www.freetv.ie/sky-q-hybrid-lnb/

swoofer

If you could post a pic of the dish in situ we might spot a solution. I take it you just moved dish while attached to bracket ie all in one piece. The other problem could be the lnb it may have packed in, a coincidence I know but it can happen. I would try the council myself and ask if they wont top the tree can you get your own tree surgeon. A lot cheaper than getting sky etc. Can you say size of dish and did you use all the 8 outputs?

There is an online fix my street and that may be worth a look. Also if more than one complain to council you tend to get noticed.

look here

https://fixmystreet.ie/

p15574

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117924444#Comment_117924444

I used Dishpointer alright, that's the main reason I'm pretty sure it's the tree - the line of sight it shows goes right through the tree - and the line after I moved it goes through the other one. I thought the 2nd location would skim the top of the tree. If I'd got Sky, I was hoping to just swap in my current LNB after the year (and give back the box). I was planning on giving the alignment another go with my current dish alright before biting the bullet anyway. I'll try the council myself regarding the tree.

p15574

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117924685#Comment_117924685

Here's a picture of the dish in its old location, and the X marks the spot of the new one. I was hoping an LNB fault wouldn't be the cause. If it had packed in, would it have done anything? When I was tuning it I was able to align to something, but no picture. I was getting something like 80% signal and 0% quality which I believe is just the wrong satellite - but does this mean the LNB is ok? I'm trying to remember the size of the dish - the picture might give a clue. Probably 60cm. It has an octo LNB to which I had 6 cables connected, not all in actual use. We definitely used 2 in one room, and 1 each less frequently in another two rooms.

As I said above, I'll try the council myself, and had forgotten about that fixmystreet site - I'll give that a go.

swoofer

It looks small but good, did you have to extend cables as well? Try the council, where the x is looks like an alarm. You can get brackets that will peek over the roof so you could use existing location. And you could do it yourself. I'll find a pic to show what I mean. Basically a long pole with t&k brackets but its a great fix.

here is a pic, this is at rear of house and its a motorised set up. This uses a scaffolding pole and you wont need that.

TallMotorOnPole.jpg

pic

https://www.freetv.ie/galvanised-aerial-mast-180cm-x-32mm/

these are the brackets

TallMotorOnPole.jpg

https://www.freetv.ie/18-wall-brackets-tk-set/

Make sure the bracket sticks out far enough to clear the gutter, the idea is you can raise pole to offset the tree growth, within reason. And you can twist pole to align dish.

p15574

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925052#Comment_117925052

I would be extending the cables but haven't done so yet as I can't get a signal. I had a single separate cable connected while I was trying to do the alignment. Yes, that's an alarm box, I've placed it beside it - see picture, taken from the side. Raising it on a pole is a good option, but one that may run into the same 'tree' issues so I'd like to try other avenues first. Thanks for the pictures and links.

SatDish2.png

Gerry Wicklow

Just to throw in my 2 cents, that dish seems very close to the eaves which may be blocking / reducing an already weak signal.

swoofer

Gerry is right, if you look at first pic dish is much lower and clears the eaves. The pole is the best option and cables wont need to be extended. The pic of dish in new location, check bracket from wall make sure its dead level. The lnb has to be skewed correctly as well. I don't know what box you have but your best way of getting a fix on 28east is to use say sky news with volume up or a helper. Once you get a picture you know your on 28east.Did you install first dish yourself? Your eaves look quite deep so you will need a big offset. Have you a spare lnb?

And you could just get an installer to do dish, a lot cheaper than sky for 12 months.

I don't know if your dish is on back of house so aesthetics comes into it. To extend cables you will need 8 joiners, 16 f connectors, plus cable plus an awful lot of hassle and it may not work. say what box you have and you may be able to use unicable with splitters.

Gerry Wicklow

You may also need self amalgamating tape or heat shrink to weatherproof any joins. Joins can also weaken a signal.

swoofer

duplicate

p15574

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117929678#Comment_117929678

I might move the dish back to the first location...I see what you mean about the eaves. The top of the dish is about 20cm below them - see picture from the other side below. if I get a signal when the leaves go I'll know 100% that the tree was the issue. I'll look into putting it on a pole. Yes, I installed it the first time myself. I have (and used) amalgamating tape then too so would definitely have been using it for any joins. Thanks for the Sky News tip, I'll try that. I was also using a Philex satfinder (as this was finding a signal, does this mean the LNB was ok?) I have various different boxes - a Humax Foxsat HDR and an LG TV/tuner being the main ones. When I was going to extend I already had or bought the cable, connectors & joiners.