Sat tuning - bad LNB?

chabsey

I have a satellite on a pole in the back garden, not an ideal set up as it's more prone to wobble that way but for two years it only went out of tuning once after a big storm.

Just before christmas the signal started getting pretty bad and eventually it died altogether. I assumed it just needed retuning and only got around to trying it recently. After an hour on a ladder with the sat finder whining repeatedly I managed to secure what I thought was an ok signal. Disconnected the finder, reconnected the sat wire. Nothing, no signal.

Back and forth with more and more attempts and still getting absolutely nothing. No increase in signal quality (constantly at 5% according to the Fortec star box) and signal intensity wavered between 0 - 30/40%.

So, after hours of frustration my query is this, is it possible my LNB is screwed? I would have thought that if it was then the sat finder would not have worked. This is the finder I'm using:




Am at a loss otherwise, as I know it's very precise in terms of locating a signal, but to not even get a vauge bit of a weak signal has never happened before.

THanks.

Apogee

Does the satellite finder appear to be reacting as you move the dish i.e. is the needle/tone increasing or decreasing as you move across the Sky? If yes, then the LNBF is probably OK and you may be aligned to the wrong satellite.

http://sites.google.com/site/freetoairinfo/home/how-to-align-a-satellite

chabsey

Yes the whine changes but In my scanning of
the sky it does not appear to pick up any other sats than
the one in vaguely the correct area for Astra 2. Obviously I could be picking
up the wrong sat but from looking online the direction I'm pointing the dish should correspond to the Astra sat. Are there other ones very close to Astra that I might be picking up?

Apogee

Yes, 19E or 13E as outlined in the link above. Are you using a FTA or Sky box?

chabsey

It's a FTA box, sorry hadn't looked at that link, it provides good tips, hopefully i can try again with more luck. I was growing frustrated thinking the LNB was on the blink and I was wasting my time, now though it sounds like it's ok if I'm picking up the whine.

tmcw

As said, could be that although you're getting a good high-pitched whine, that it's the wrong sat.

With a FTA box, you could try selecting another satellite (instead of 28E), and doing a scan, see what channels it pulls in. Will give you an idea which way the dish needs to go to correct it.