Channel freeze up now and again (Astra 19.2)

willg

Hi All,
I hope you might be able to help me I set-up an 80 cm Triax dish at the house for Astra 19.2 yesterday (Mar 1st). Have a Skymaster DXL 9400 STB. Notice that sometimes the picture freezes up for a second. Doesn't happen often just now and again. Checked signal intensity and strength. Both are around 75% and constant. Tried to do a firmware update over the satellite but it didn't update for some reason. Made sure when setting up that all connections were perfect etc. Any ideas what might be up? Think it may be software related. Would welcome any suggestions or guidance.

Thanks in advance
Will,

byte

Is there any specific channel(s) it freezes on?

Or, does it freeze only if it's raining or windy?

willg

I noticed it seemed to affect Sat.1 but I'll need to observe it a bit more. (My partner is the one who is German so I've asked her to keep and eye on which channel she sees it affecting ) The momentary freezing didn't seem to be affected by wind/rain because it happened when dry and sunny outside. It was windy and very wet this morning and it was perfect. I checked the signal intensity/quality for the channel this morning and also when it happened and it was signal intensity 76 % and signal quality 74% respectively. Both readings were staying nice and steady dropping or increasing by about 1/2 % now and again but remaining around 75% for both.

willg

Hi all,

With an 80cm dish what signal intensity/quality could I expect to get with a clear line of sight to Astra 19.2E? I'm just outside Shrule in South Mayo? Currently I'm getting 77% signal intensity / 75% signal quality on the default transponder. I wrote to the receiver manufacturer (Skymaster) and this is what they wrote back "As your named values (I said I was getting 77% signal intensity/75% signal quality) for signal it shows a lack of quality. You need a signal quality of at least the value of the signal intensity which must reach 75% for minimum."

Cheers William,

bari1971

Hi,if you have any DECT phone or simular devices try turning them off then check signal,sometimes that could be problem

willg

Thanks bari1971, I've tried turning off DECT phones, Wifi etc. but not joy. Emailed the receiver manufacturer and they reckon the dish is not properly aligned which I don't think is the case. They say for a Skymaster receiver 75% is the min strength that is required with quality in excess of that but my readings are both coming in around 78%. I'm tempted to change the receiver for something a little more sensitive like a Technomate 1500. Spoke to a guy in Maplins the last day and he said 78% quality and strength was about right for a 78cm Triax receiving Astra 19.2E here in the west of Ireland. I tried an inline amp but it actually dropped the signal strength to around 56% and quality 73% so going to bring it back. Think my cable run is too short ... it's only about 20m. Would be good to hear anyone else's experiences. Apologies for the slow reply bari1971.

watty

Strength is not relevent.

Quality needed depends on FEC of station, but over 50% is usually workable and over 70% copes with rain.

The set box sensitivity is irrelevant.

A cable amp is only for VERY long cables if strength gets less than 30%.

You may have an intermittent fault on LNB, Set-box or interference. If a Tecnomate makes ANY difference the receiver is faulty.

willg

Watty thanks for the advice.

bari1971

Technomate receiver is good idea,but I would check dish first,than cable,if you have problem on sat 1 deutchland(12545,h,22000,5/6) which is high frequency,you need some good cable,then try to turn lnb clockwise and opposite that could bring better signal as well