Intermittent satellite reception

[johnb5177]

Hi guys,

I thought I would put this to the hive mind of the forum......if you don't ask you don't get.....

For the last 2ish months I have had poor/non existent/intermittent reception on my humax freesat system. No problems previously....except when it rains, and I know that stuffs the microwave signal from the satellite (I believe its the average diameter of rain drops and frequency/harmonics etc...)

Anyway, replaced LNB, realigned dish at least 4 times correct every time with good signal. 100% signal 80 - 100% quality on screen......then it fades away after about 1/2 hour.

Today is a small miracle, been on nearly all day...!

My sat engineer has never come across such intermittent service, and as a last resort is moving the dish and maybe replacing the cables.

His thought is, that as the dish is currently mounted on the same pole as our overhead 3 phase (it's France) supply to the house, there may be some interference. Moving the dish off the pole to say perhaps the chimney stack, may resolve this....

Now.......EDF/Enerdis are busy trying to convince/bully everyone to have a 'Linky' smart meter, and these use RF to Tx/Rx data. I know some, but not that much about this system, but does this signal get carried on the 3 phase system, and could it possibly be the source of the problem ?

Gentlemen/ Ladies.........any thoughts will be gratefully received, given serious consideration and if necessary acted upon........I'm missing Dr Who big time, and as a newsfiend missing whats happening in the world (well not that much).

Thank you all in advance.....

[jims-terrano]

For a start I don't think it's good practice to have something like an antenna on the same pole as high ac voltage though I'm guessing it'll be quite common place. I like good separation between mains and anything else.
Would the disruption coincide with the local trees gaining their summer leaves by any chance?

The smart meters probably work on UHF part of the spectrum around 433mhz, certainly we have a transponder on the water meter on there and also a smart electric usage meter we have had for several years on the same frequency. Satellite is in the microwave part of the spectrum so you shouldn't get interference.

Check local factors that could effect the antenna, the dish should have a clear line of sight as such with the satellites which usually aren't straight up.

Has a neighbour built an extension or garden building, even a fence.

I would suggest moving it and replacing the feeder will make a difference.

[solarman216]

Originally Posted by johnb5177

Hi guys,



Anyway, replaced LNB, realigned dish at least 4 times correct every time with good signal. 100% signal 80 - 100% quality on screen......then it fades away after about 1/2 hour.



Thank you all in advance.....

This sounds to me more like the receiver is suffering an overheat of some kind, have you another box you can try? Rick

[panelbeater]

i go with rick on this

[Lazy-Ferret]

When it comes back, what do you do to get it back? E.G, does it just come back on it's own, or do you pull plugs and jiggle things around?

If it comes back after you move things around, I would check the cables and replace the plugs. The LNB needs power, which is passed down the cable, but the plugs are just a screw fix, so can make dodgy joints that have high resistance.

Other than that, as Rick says, over heating of the box would be my first guess.

[macabethiel]

I had a similar problem with my Freesat Box the picture would go into black & white or just no picture. Some days it was ok others it was NFG.

I spent some time replacing plugs and cables but did not have anything to measure the actual signal strength.

As my Freesat box was a cheap basic one I wondered if it was that so before I did that tried the TV out of our lounge and still no fix so looked at the Freesat box.

I took the cover off the Freesat Box and checked the voltage on the power supply and found it changed quite a bit depending on how long it was on. Went on e-bay and bought a replacement power supply upgrading slightly on the current output specification.

Result ! Its been fine ever since that was about 18 months ago. The Box was a Goodmans about 4 years old used very little - only when wife is ironing in the front room.

[Banshee]

I blame the Russians

[johnb5177]

Guys,
Thank you all for your input, firstly, there is no new growth of trees etc., in the way, but we will move the dish off the leccy pole Jim.....
The box overheating is a very interesting point, and I have asked the engineer to bring a new box to try out. When we move the dish, I will ensure that he checks and seals all the new joints/plugs/sockets.
Thank you for the explanations of the 'linky' RF signal system, all understood.

I wait with bated breath for Monday morning when we tackle the situation......

If it is the Russians, they could at least share some decent vodka.......

[briggie]

blame brexit