Re: Poor Sky reception yesterday / last night

["Tim Hawes" <timsyahoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Nigel - it's nice to know that I'm not alone, and our
situations sound quite similar :-)

I'm also near London (~ Guildford), have the larger of the two
standard dish sizes and have to shoot through trees to get my signal.

I think your installer-friend is bang-on about the heat issue - it's
the only conclusion I have left. I've tried different LNBs, different
cables, different boxes and nothing in my set-up appears to be at
fault.

I once covered my LNB with a black bin liner, just as additional
weather protection and within a relatively short time I suffered
picture drop-outs. When I went back up the ladder to remove the bag
the LNB was noticably warm to the touch and it wasn't a particularly
sunny day... The reception improved fairly rapidly after removing the
bag.

My dish (no photos I'm afraid as both my cameras are broken :-(  ) is
on a south-west facing wall tucked-up underneath the soffit. Apart
from being a bit of a sun-trap I also think the soffit/gutter/facia is
masking some of the dish area which doesn't help either.

The only option I have to relocate the dish is to move it above the
gutter line but it will still point at the same trees. This might buy
me some extra time but eventually the trees will grow again etc. I
have concrete roof tiles so I would need to raise it above those to
avoid heat impact also.

I wonder if its worth experimenting with some heat shields for the
LNB? I also have some spare 1-wire temp sensors so I may lash-up
something to sense LNB temp and compare it to the wall, or some sort
of ambient temp. I'll let you know the results :-)

I also wonder if some irrigation hose would cool the LNB on really hot
days? I bet it wouldn't take much flow and something like a car washer
bottle pump drawing from the cold water tank in the attic might be
just the thing. I nearly got the hose out lasty night, maybe I
should've?

Thanks again, its' good to bounce some ideas about.

Tim.


On 6/10/06, Nigel Giddings <nigel@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Tim,
>
> I have been experiencing similar symptoms.
>
> I do have a problem with Trees, One of my dishes with a quad LNB is
80cm =
and I am located in London. I have a small gap between some trees which
att=
enuates the signal. The larger dish compensates for this but I still have
i=
ssues in Heavy Rain.
>
> However, like you I have experienced signal problems on Sunny days as
wel=
l, typically late afternoon onwards=85
>
> The second dish is a standard small sky dish (38cm?) on a chimney in a
di=
fferent part of the garden. It does suffer attenuation during the summer
wh=
en trees come into leaf but again this has been worse recently late
afterno=
on on Sunny days.
>
> Speaking to a friend who installs these he thinks the LNBs are
suffering =
from heat, I have a slate roof and the dish is in an exposed position=85
Th=
is would follow how the LNB would heat during the day, I bet it gets
pretty=
hot=85
>
> The problem shows up as break ups on an ordinary sky box connected to
TiV=
o. The 80cm dish is connected to Sky+ which becomes unusable causing
pictur=
e freezing and reboots !
> HYPERLINK "http://photos.corbenic.co.uk/photos/photo144.html"http://photo=
s.corbenic.co.uk/photos/photo144.html
>
>
>
> Nigel
>
>   _____
>
> From: Tim Hawes
>
> Anyone else experience this? It was unwatchable due to picture breakup
> in the afternoon and the picture was still pretty jittery by the end
> of the Poland game.
>
> Signal strength was 55-60% (a little lower normal for me)
> Signal quality was 20%-0% (much lower than normal)
>
> All was fine on Thursday so I'm discounting trees etc. and skies were
> clear blue so no clouds/rain near me at all.
>
> I'm wondering if it was some general atmospheric effect, or a problem
> with my box / LNB etc.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tim.