no signal....no matter what! Wassup??

[jumpin jimmy]

Hi out there! I've just purchased an Elap Thallis II digital receiver to put on my house in France with 80cm dish. I've actually installed my own satellite dish systems before so I thought this would be easy, but no matter what I do, I can't get any sort of signal. I was hoping to pick up the FTA channels on Astra 28.2 but can't seem to get anything on any satellite. The cable has a long stretch at just about 27 meters and I had to splice an extra 2 meters of cable on with a connector as the 25 meter roll didn't quite make it. If I touch the F connector at the dish while holding on to the ladder, I can feel a little electric shock. Is that normal? To me, this indicates at least that it is getting current through the cable.
The Thallis II box has a bar graph to show signal strength and quality and all satellites seems to read the same at 33% strength and 10% quality. I've used the helpful site at www.hansa-electronic.com to load in my longitude and latitude to find the azimuth and elevation readings. I wonder what the problem is???
Any ideas are appreciated.

[BGonaSTICK]

Hello JJ

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that your dish wasn't aligned correctly ops:

If not, then a defective LNB or tuner? Have you ever had either working before, or is this a brand spanking new install?

Where abouts are you in France? An 80cm dish should get you something off 28.2E, but depending on where you are, maybe only a little. Have you tried a number of different transponders on different beams?

Not sure if the earthing standards where you are in France are anything like they are here in the UK, but if so, then the tingle is not a problem. The earth potential of the receiver is allowed to 'float', and when you bridge that potential to an earth at a different potential (your ladder) you'll feel a noticeable jolt. That's probably OK.

The 25m + 2m cable should be alright, as long as your F connections are good. If you could test the cable to make sure that there's no short between the inner signal core and the braid/shield it would pretty much rule out a cable defect. Is it good quality double shielded digital cable?

STICK

[Jimdefruit]

Hi jumpin Jimmy, welcome.

How did you get the elevation? If its an offset dish, the elevation is not easy to find. Have you got a motorised dish or a fixed dish?

If its fixed I suggest you find the 28.2 true position ( not the magnetic position) and then tilt the dish gradually up and down to find the best signal.

Good luck

[jumpin jimmy]

Thanks for your replies. I have been using the magnetic position with a good quality boat compass, held away from the dish as not to get false readings. It's a fixed position dish, 80cm diameter and I live near Limoges. I recently changed house (few kilometers away) and had success with a 60cm dish, but I sold the dish and receiver witht the house. I have tried to get other satellites such as 5W and even 30W which supposedly has a strong signal but no luck.
It is a new installation...all new equipment. Elevation degree markings are on the side of the dish mounting so I start with the suggestion from the hansa-electronic website. A true reading as opposed to magnetic is only .5 difference in our area and I'm rotating the dish slowly to find a satellite so I'm not sure if that's the problem. I'm starting to think that I'm simply not finding the satellite or there's a problem with the unit. I've never had such a problem before and starting to get frustrated being up on the ladder with no luck!! I'm sure you can understand!

[jumpin jimmy]

Is there a way of testing an LNB?

[jumpin jimmy]

Also, please could you tell me if a signal is "horizontal" or "vertical"...does that mean that I should be rotating the LNB to compensate or is the tweaking of the LNB just for fine tuning the signal. I'm a bit lost on the terminology here. What are the TP's?

thanks for you help.

[Jimdefruit]

The receiver does the horizontal and vertical switching so no need to move he lnb round. check that it is fitted straight when pointing due south.

Is your dish an offset type or prime focus?

With the prime focus, the dish points directly at the satellite elevation. With an offset dish, the dish points a good bit lower than the satellite elevation. The markings on the mount may have been intended for a different type of dish.

Other than that, can you beg borrow or steal another lnb to try out. If there is no variation in signal strength whatsoever then it sound to me like a duff lnb.

[BGonaSTICK]

It sounds like you have some idea what you're doing with the alignment, and it's strange that you can't get anything from those three satellites. All provide a nice strong signal if you pick the right transponder.

Your azimuth setting should be fairly reliable based on your decent compass and minimal magnetic variation, so it might be worth trying a different source for your elevation setting. Try the Swedish Microwave tool here:

http://www.satellitehelp.co.uk/forum...php?topic=34.0

It's small, simple to use, and gives you all the info you need. It even tells you what skew (or twist) you need on the LNB. This will vary a lot based on the range of satellites you're trying to get (28.2E to 30W).

It's beginning to sound more like an LNB problem. Any chance you can exchange it? There's no easy way to test it if you can't get any type of signal.

Could you test the cable for shorts?

'TP' just means transponder - basically one of the broadcast frequencies of the satellite.

Have a look at www.lyngsat.com for a list of transponders and polarisations available on each satellite. H is horizontal, V is vertical.

STICK

[jumpin jimmy]

Thanks to you all. I tried a different LNB and that did the trick!! I picked up the satellites right away.

Cheers,
Steve