Newbie seeks help

[toto]

An insattled system has not worked for a few years and i wish to sort things myself. There is no signal/picture at all. The receiver is a Digitalallworld Receiver SFT1000. From reading up a bit here it would seem that if there is no picture at all and no good signal that either the LNB is at fault or perhaps the cable. As there is no signal at all am i right to assume that fault must lie in LNB? I guess i am answering my own question by saying that is should buy cable and new LNB before going furher?

[Mship]

Hiya m8, :welc1: to Satellite help ,

I've moved this here as it's got more chance of getting answered in this section

The first thing I would do is check to see if the dish is aligned correctly. If it's been up a long time it could easily have been moved by the wind.

If you don't have a sat meter then you will probably need a mate to give you a hand. If you slowly move the dish left/right/up/down while someone watches the TV for any signs of life this might get you moving. But you have to move it slowly or you might miss the signal. Have a go and see if this is the problem.

If this doesn't sort it then I would check the cable with a multimeter to test for insulation between the outer and inner cores, and continuity to test for any breaks in the cable.

With the LNB it's either a case of trying your's on a known working set up or borrowing a known working LNB. Or, if you're feeling flush, you could always buy a new one anyway and try that

By the way, whereabouts are you based (roughly) and what size dish do you have if you don't mind me asking

Kev

[toto]

Thanks for your comments...nice to know someone is on the case. I went on roof (flat roof) earlier an dgot my son to watch for signs on TV but perhaps didn't do as you said and do it gradually enough. I'll try again when i can-it is raining now! He is out anyway. I just require French main channels really. I live in SW London area. Am not sure of dish size but it is made by Telstar and i would guess 80cm. The lead goes down the drainpipe and also he made a join near the dish and there is some brown lead that looks to me like TV aerial lead! My only fear is that i may have broken the receiver? I read on another post that a cheap digital receiver will do the job pointed at 5 degrees west for French TV.
I didn't realise how exacting you had to be when setting up the disk and whether it mattered on the 'up/'down' angle as opposed to the compass direction. I'll give it another try when i can. Thanks

[Mship]

Good luck m8, let us know how you get on

Kev

[wod]

Originally Posted by toto

The lead goes down the drainpipe and also he made a join near the dish and there is some brown lead that looks to me like TV aerial lead! My only fear is that i may have broken the receiver? I read on another post that a cheap digital receiver will do the job pointed at 5 degrees west for French TV.

that could be the problem a join in the cable and yes french main channels are on 5west

[toto]

Thanks wod..do i need a specific receiver or can i use the one I have? I am uncertain as to whether specific receivers work for specific sations or you can just configure them/tune them to work with any satellite? Sorry to sound so amateurish but am new to this...

[BGonaSTICK]

Both analogue and digital French channels are on 5W, and some others are on Hotbird 13E and Astra 1 19.2E. The dish alignment is absolutely critical unlike TV aerial alignment. It has to be spot-on.