All posts by jb38
Below are all of jb38's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.Charan: Have you double checked that the coax that feeds the upstairs TV's has been connected into the Sky boxes RF2 and not RF1, as the magic eye will only work when on RF2.
If though it is in RF2 then carry out a check on the Sky box to make sure that the socket is still powered, press "services - 4" then "0 - 1 - select" and select RF outlets.
Of course you might find it easier to try plugging the magic eye directly into into the boxes RF2 and checking if it lights, if not then use the above procedure to switch it back on again.
By the way you don't require to connect anything into the magic eyes outlet for this test.
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P. Kieran Ward: The only reason that I mentioned / described the cable checking procedure was simply because that you had only referred to a visual check having been made, however if the cable has been checked by yourself as being OK and the box referred to "has" been verified (and important that is has) as being OK on both Ch39 and Ch52, especially Ch52 Saorview DVB-T but MPEG4, then your problem is suggestive of being associated with signal levels.
This of course where I do admit to being a bit puzzled as to why you can receive what you seemingly can do considering the wide range of transmitter power levels involved in relation to the stations received, because as far as the locals are involved Black Mountains (@ 4 miles) PSB muxes are only rated at 5 watts, whereas in contrast to this you have Divis's (2.5 mls) 100Kw PSB / 50 kw Com transmitters, although if the more distant Clermont Carn is involved this includes reception from 160Kw transmissions, and so all of those various channels just have to be coming in at vastly different levels.
Any receiving device (TV or box) located at only 2.5 miles from a 100Kw transmitter (Divis) will in most circumstances be suffering from signal overloading problems in the tuner, that is if reception is not completely blocked, but should it not be then the other commonly experienced problem in situations like this is that the exceptionally strong signal completely desensitizes the tuner thereby making it difficult to pick up weaker stations, although unlike the norm you can seemingly achieve this from Black Mountain's PSB only transmitters operating on 5 watts, albeit that the NIMM operates on 2 Kw.
In cases like this signal level comparison checks are extremely important as it gives an idea of what's happening, because although you would appear to have a good quality installation I suspect (maybe wrongly!) that there is an underlying problem and that why you are managing to receive what you do.
If its not too inconvenient I would be interested in the result of this particular test, and which involves testing the signal strength of either Ch39 or Ch52 on one of the four positions that these channels can be received at, then at the SLX end take the feed link for that position out of the booster and connect it directly onto the aerial downlead that would normally be connected into the booster, in other words by-passing the booster / splitter whereby the aerial is feeding directly into the test receiver.
Also, maybe you could give a brief description of your aerial set up, as this is an aspect that is unknown.
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mary rose lomas: In most cases (but not all) this is caused by the dish having been accidentally moved very sightly by for example being blown by a particularly strong wind or knocked against by a ball or similar.
Press "services - 4 - 6" and check what the indications are, as both should be about 60% plus, if both or one is under this then the dish is out of alignment.
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Charan: I think that you must have been a bit mystified by my reply regarding your problem, and which I apologise for as the content was accidentally posted under your heading by mistake.
Anyway, as far as the problem with your box is concerned, if there is genuinely a time factor involved such as you have described then that suggests that the internal power unit has developed a thermally related fault whereby a component (usually voltage regulator) is cutting out when it heats up.
This is being said on the assumption that you are referring to a Sky box? as you haven't actually mentioned what it is, but what you have reported is a common problem with Sky boxes and that is why this has been mentioned.
The only thing that I would add though is, that if indeed you are referring to a Sky box then this type of problem can sometimes be experienced if the box is enclosed in a cabinet that doesn't have sufficient ventilation, or alternatively if the box is sited near to a radiator and / or newspapers or similar has been left on top of the box blocking the ventilation slots, as the component referred to does have an overheat safety cut off point, the only problem there being that sometimes it does not automatically come back on again, which of course it should do!
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Charan: Thanks for the update, although the content of has now added another possibility into the equation, because the strength and quality levels should "both" be in excess of 50% as the absolute minimum (60% being safer), and if the strength is permanently indicated at less than this (or even fluctuates around 50%) then the quality can suddenly vanish along with the picture.
Should this be applying then there is a chance of rectifying the problem by giving the dish a slight nudge on either its right or left hand edge, as in most cases if a dish is knocked against it upsets its alignment in the horizontal plane rather than vertical.
Should the TV be able to be seen from wherever the dish is mounted, then if the signal check screen is left running on the TV / box and the dish is pressed slightly on the left or right whilst observing the screen then its almost guaranteed that the quality will be seen to jump up when the correct side is found, if this happens then the clamp bolt should be loosened and the dish nudged slightly as described.
I realise that the above mentioned procedure may not be possible at your place of residence, but thought it worth mentioning just in case it was.
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Charan: Well you are certainly running out of options! although its a pity that you cant try your box out on someone else's dish as that would confirm one way or the other if the fault is with the box or the satellite dish, although if you see a signal level of around 70% then that is very much inclined to indicate that the problem is with the box. That said, although I do realise that in an earlier posting you already mentioned having reset the dish (LNB) but was it using the under mentioned procedure? although if it was then there really isn't any point in repeating the exercise as the result is liable to be the same, plus it cant be forgotten that the time factor aspect you refer to "is" a symptom of a defective power supply. By the way replacing the scart connector would not have any effect on a "no signal" plus zero quality type of problem. LNB checking procedure: 1:- Press Sky followed by: "Services - 4" (opens with picture settings highlighted) 2:- Then press: "0 - 1 - select" (opens with LNB set up highlighted) press on this. 3:- A list of the various settings will appear, and although they may match up with what's indicated below still press on the red "reset all settings" button (at bottom left hand side under the menu list) 4:- Use the up/down arrows to highlight "Save New Settings" and press select. 5:- Press select to confirm that the settings have been reset. The correct settings for the LNB are / Low frequency - 9.75 High Frequency - 10.60 The LNB power supply should always be set to on. The 22KHz Command should always be set to on.
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Tony: Really pleased to hear your good news!! because through sheer comprehensive experience over the time I can say with a reasonable level of confidence that if anyone was unable to get satisfactory reception of digital transmissions using the combination of equipment such as you are using yourself, then they really are residing in a Freesat zone.
The problem with Log aerials is purely peoples perception of them, as most mistakenly equate large pieces of metalwork as being somehow superior.
Many thanks for the update.
Regards / JB
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Sam: Provided that you checked the reception conditions before (or within 30 minutes) of carrying out your test with the TV in the loft, this mentioned just in case Waltham was magically OK on that day (unlikely though!), then your test was perfectly valid and is inclined to indicate that there is a problem with your installation.
As you will probably already know, your test was in effect a superior way of checking the picture quality / signal level with not only the booster being by-passed but also the cabling, the problem now is that by eliminating the booster and cabling at the same time its doesn't reveal where the deficiency is, and so admittedly an inconvenience, but you should still try either by-passing the booster whilst the reception is poor, or alternatively just try switching the SLX's mains supply off to note if anything changes, which of course it should by the picture breaking up worse than it was before if not vanishing altogether, although in the interests of accuracy the TV should be left on its signal check screen whilst conducting these type of tests as variations in levels are much easier to see, plus of course a digital picture does not change quality in sympathy to signal level changes, unless the said changes cause the level to be hovering near to the cut off threshold then a variety of problems is liable be experienced.
This is a link for a Konig brand 8 way variable booster, as I would not advise you to use anything other than a powered booster unless a person resides in a really strong signal area, although even at that I still have reservations.
8 Way TV Aerial Booster Amplifier Digital Freeview | eBay
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Charan: Yes! please do, giving an update on results, but leave the box running for say 10 minutes or so to allow it to heat up, as it may well appear as being OK if allowed to get stone cold.
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Saturday 1 December 2012 5:58PM
Peterborough
T.King / Chris: These two postcodes are too close together to make any difference as far as a test is concerned, try another retune but use a test code of PE6 7XZ and which I have just tested on a Humax FOXSAT-HDR as being OK.