All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Dave: According to DUK's trade predictor yes! but it only applies to the three commercial muxes as the BBC / BBC HD / ITV1 are already on high power, the commercials changing from 15Kw up to 50Kw.
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michael sugden: Yes! thats correct for the time being anyway, as next March BBC1 changes from Ch61 to Ch49 the other five muxes remaining as they are.
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Fiona: Not quite sure what is meant by "switched around connections", but you should temporarily try the Sky box in question in the Sky+ boxes position using one (any one) of the two feeds used by the Sky+ box, as that's the only way of verifying if the standard Sky box is OK or not.
If by the way, your Sky+ box is an HD type and uses an HDMI connection into the TV, then temporarily use a scart lead between the TV and the standard Sky box.
Further advice dependant on the outcome of the test.
Of course, all that's been said is on the assumption that when you press "services" on the Sky boxes remote control you can see the menu on the TV that its coupled into? as what you have reported could suggest that the BBC is being received on the actual TV and NOT the Sky box.
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Frustrated: With regards to the cable you ran from the Octo block to the TV, is this a Freesat TV that you are referring to? and the same TV that the Sky+HD box is coupled into? because if it is then although you might not have obtained a picture on the set when using the temporary lead, but was anything seen indicated on the signal strength bars? or indeed if the same test was carried out on the Sky+ HD box? as although there might not be any picture on the screen there is usually always some level of signal being indicated using the under mentioned procedure to carry out a signal check. (Only given in case you are unaware of procedure)
1:- Press "Services" on your Sky remote control and you will see the main menu with "Options" highlighted.
2:- Highlight the Settings menu using the right arrow button and press "select".
3:- Use the left / right arrows scroll to "Signal" and press select.
4:- The grey bars displayed will show you the strength of the signal to your box.
The strength / quality indicated "has" to be around 60% or more to produce a stable picture, if under then it points to the dish being slightly (very!) out of alignment, this usually being in the horizontal plane and with a slight nudge to the left or right usually correcting the problem, albeit of course rather crudely! as its best to "slightly" slacken the clamp bolt before nudging it either way.
I have to say though, that everything you have said points to the downstairs feeds having been damaged, and so even although you have already said that they seemed to be fine when checked out, but did you carefully check them inch for inch for any signs of physical damage like for example from a knife or similar "if" the route taken by the cables made them vulnerable in any way?
Further advice dependant on reply.
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Fiona: Have you anything connected into the Sky boxes second scart connector? or do you just have one scart cable connected into it?
And just to verify something, when you seen the BBC news (or just BBC) whilst viewing it unscrew the dish feed that goes into the box and check if it vanishes or not?
Do NOT switch the box to standby while carrying out that check.
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Frustrated: Well I really do feel that this problem has to be caused by something that simple that its being overlooked, and I will agree with you that the dish alignment is most likely to be OK.
I suppose that the real test to find out where the problem originates from is to temporarily install the upstairs Sky+ box in the down stairs position and check if anything is being received, if not, then (at the dish end) swap the two "F" connectors used to feed the downstairs box over onto the ports used to feed upstairs, in other words the upstairs box is now downstairs, and the two (known to be OK) LNB ports used for the upstairs box are now being used to feed downstairs, (i.e.: the box and LNB ports are still matched) because if there is still no reception then it just "has" to be the cable at fault.
Also note though that its only LNB1 (or dish 1) input that's used for viewing, LNB2 (or dish 2) is the main port used for recording, and so its only really necessary to use LNB1 for carrying out tests.
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Fiona: Could you confirm whether or not that when you press "services" on the Sky box that you can see the Sky boxes selection menu? and that when you say there no signal you are meaning when viewed on the signal checking screen?
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alik: Regarding the latter its very unlikely! and regarding the problem, are you on a communal aerial system or is the aerial yours? because if its the former then it could be a distribution amplifier problem.
Referring to the TV, can you access its menu system?
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Fiona: Just to add to my last request, now that the standard Sky box has been verified as being OK by you having tried it on the Sky+ boxes position, try reversing the situation by trying the Sky+ box in the other location used by the standard box, connecting the single "F" connector used by the standard box into the Sky+ boxes LNB1 input, do not use LNB2.
If it doesn't work, then I suspect that a strand of the coax cables braiding wire has accidentally got caught around the middle core whilst the "F" connector plug was being screwed onto the coax, this being very easily done with some types of coax.
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Sunday 21 October 2012 5:19PM
Nbh: On the assumption that you are actually meaning a "Freesat" set top box and NOT Freeview which uses a normal aerial, then if you are getting a "no signal" indication the problem could be caused by the spare port you have used on the LNB being defective, so try the "F" connector on the other spare output as they are all independent of each other, should though this not make any difference then the other possibility is that when you were screwing the "F" connector onto the coax a single strand of the braiding has caught around the middle core and is causing a short circuit.
However, if none of these measures cure the problem then try the "Freesat" box on one of the two inputs used by your Sky+ box box, as the box could be faulty.