Loss of Satellite Signall - Sky+

[Inneedofhelp]

Hi....can anyone help me please?

For some weeks now I have been getting the "loss of satellite signal" error message on certain channels only between about lunchtime & 5/6pm.
Having spoken with Sky customer services they tell me I need an Engineer & to pay £65. I have looked through the very helpful forum & got the tips of cooling the dish down with some water....it has worked...which is great but what I would like to know is....is there anything I can do to prevent this build up of heat being a problem? Also, is that really the problem or it likely to be something else?
Sorry for being a bit vague...but I would really like to sort this rather than paying for an Engineer.
Thanks very much

[BGonaSTICK]

Hi InNeed!

Watering your satellite dish is something you certainly don't want to be doing on a regular basis, right?

And there's a water shortage!!! :roflmao:

I don't blame you not wanting to lash out £65 either - what a con.

I would suggest that either your LNB is getting a bit tired, or your dish could do with some re-alignment, or both.

Both can be done yourself if you don't mind ladders. Replacement LNBs can be had (on eBay for example) for less than a tenner. You need a 'Quad' Sky LNB if you have Sky+.

They are a standard fit. Just unscrew the cable(s), pull out the plastic insert from the metal LNB arm and refit. Sounds easy, and it is, although pulling the old LNB off can be a little tricky sometimes. Use some self-amalgamating tape to re-seal the coax/F-connectors once everything is up and running again.

If that doesn't work, you can try adjusting the dish up/down/left/right by the tiniest amounts, but mark where it is now before you start! Also worth mentioning - you don't have any tress or shrubs growing like crazy into the line of sight of the dish do you?

Please let us know how you get on.

Hope this helps

STICK

[Inneedofhelp]

Thanks Stick...will give these a go...and will let you know !!!

There are some trees in the line of the dish but are about 20 metres away...will these effect it?

Thanks again

[BGonaSTICK]

Depends on how tall they are. How much higher than the dish do they stand?

[BGonaSTICK]

This is a good tool for calculating obstacle distances and heights etc.

http://www.ses-astra.com/consumer/si...tant/index.php

You can get your Lat and Long from streetmap.co.uk or Google Earth.

The satellite you need to look up is Astra2 @ 28.2E.

[Inneedofhelp]

Thanks for the added help. The website you mentioned is really good, I would never have found something like this myself.

Thanks again....I'll let you know how it all pans out.

Cheers

[Inneedofhelp]

Just thought I would let you know what has happened....my husband decided to give Sky once last go & would you believe it after a very short conversation they arranged an engineer free of charge......I couldn't believe he managed that...bearing in mind he said nothing different to me... Anyway 2 engineers came out & said that they would replace the whole dish, which they did & it has been fine since.

thanks so much for your help and advice....so anyone else trying to get an engineer free of charge keep trying, it can be done.

[BGonaSTICK]

Thanks for letting us know. Sky will usually capitulate if you persist, especially if you mention that you're considering cancelling your subscription!

This is also a good way of getting some very impressive discount deals. Just ring up with some moan about this or that and mention the unmentionable. Their policy is to hang onto you as a paying customer and they have a whole range of incentives, like three months free etc.

Glad you found our site useful. Drop by anytime with your satellite headaches

STICK

[johnwilliam]

in need of help,

i would guess you might need a new lnb, and those trees 20 mtrs away, they would have to be giant trees to cause you any problems. I use to have sky but i got out about 3 years ago. the call out charge is ridiculous.



regards john

[BGonaSTICK]

Hi John, and welcome to the forum

Yes, it's amazing what you can fix yourself with a little reading and some common sense isn't it

£65 call out? You can buy a decent receiver for that!

Still, as we've learnt - even Sky can be beaten into submission! :roflmao: