Signal quality drops off at night

[Sat A Light]

I can't find an answer in any search and I'm trying to tread carefully, so apologies if I'm being stupid.

On some channels, on 28e, my signal quality is fine during the day but drops off to 2% in the evening. The thing is that similar channels in the same package are ok to watch though their quality is down a bit. FTA channels are fine.

Also, 13E appears to be gone altogether.

Can anyone shed any light on the possible cause of this.

[echelon]

I can't find an answer in any search and I'm trying to tread carefully, so apologies if I'm being stupid.

On some channels, on 28e, my signal quality is fine during the day but drops off to 2% in the evening. The thing is that similar channels in the same package are ok to watch though their quality is down a bit. FTA channels are fine.

Also, 13E appears to be gone altogether.

Can anyone shed any light on the possible cause of this.

you havent mentioned any of the following

1) location

2) size of dish used ?

3) if a motor has been used is the usals ok ?

4) if a motor is used , do you get fta channels ok on all the satellites ? (is the dish and motor aligned correctly ?)

[Sat A Light]

you havent mentioned any of the following

1) location

2) size of dish used ?

3) if a motor has been used is the usals ok ?

4) if a motor is used , do you get fta channels ok on all the satellites ? (is the dish and motor aligned correctly ?)

Thanks for the reply. I have a 1.1m dish with motor. Located in Ireland. This is where it gets embarrassing. I keep reading about usals, but I haven't a clue what that's about. In the motor set up menu, my motor type is 'DISEqC 1.2'.

I get FTA on some (28E, 10E) but not others it seems (16E).

[echelon]

16e is well known as being on its last legs due to 3 very old satellites being used

but had you studied the forum more closely you would know a new w3c satellite has just been launched which should fix those issues

https://www.satpimps.co.uk/showthread.php?151787-Eutelsat-W3C-launch-on-7th-October-2011

in ireland you should get strong signals on the following , 30w , 5w , 13e , 19e , 28e , 42e , possibly some others

you can use diseqc v1.2 and manually locate and fine tune the position of each satellite , assuming your motor and dish are aligned correctly

you should not get problems on 28e as it covers the uk and ireland and your dish size is more than adequate for it , same for 13e and 19e

my thoughts are that it isnt setup correctly ( aligned correctly ) , so suggest you check it from 45w through 0.8w to 42 east , making sure the arc is tracked correctly

note :- you did not answer the second part of question 4 , is the dish and motor aligned correctly ?

make sure you have located the strongest signal on each satellite and stored the position , seeing as its using diseqc v1.2 and not usals

as for not knowing something , why havent you used google and read items like the wiki on usals

or this thread posted here some time ago ? https://www.satpimps.co.uk/showthread.php?150966-Glossary-etc

not reading the forum and not doing enough research is one of the main reasons you are held back , we can put all the info here we like but if you do not read it that is your problem , not ours !!

not sure why you posted this thread in the spiderbox section as its clearly a dish alignment issue

moved the thread to the dish forum

[TonyO]

You have a pigeon or an owl roosting on your feedarm m8 at night, cover the whole dish in nylon pond mesh. (unless it is motorised)

I had this prob with a mates system 10 years ago. as soon as my net went in the signal stayed good.

Also a spider can get in to a cracked lnb cap and due to its position cut one polarity, Ive had that happen.

[satwyn]

or could be a leprechaun sleeping on the lnb

[Sat A Light]

Firstly, apologies for posting in the wrong section.

I knew this would happen, so I guess I asked for it. I have googled these terms like usals but i'm not sure how I check them. What I was hoping for was to be pointed in the direction of the most likely cause, the physical position of the dish or the settings on the box.

I know a lot of effort goes into posting info here and I'm aware I look like a lazy git but as I say, I was looking for a starting place to try to find a solution.

I managed to rule out the leprechaun possibility all by myself though.

Thanks for taking the time to reply guys and apologies for wasting anyone's time.

[echelon]

its not a total waste of time as you have a problem and require a solution

you also have still not answered the question as to IF your dish and motor are correctly lined up on all satellites

assuming they are , and assuming your motor can use usals , the following applies

you input your usals coordinates in the motor settings of your box ( its in green for spiderbox ) , and this tells your motor where you are on the planet

as it knows your location ( like a satnav does when you set your home address ) , it knows where the fixed satellites are , and so moves to them in turn as you select them

so on a correctly aligned system usals uses your coordinates to locate each satellite precisely

on a badly aligned system this will obviously fail , perhaps totally , or partially


now if using diseqc v1.2 instead , like you are ( the old method ) , the box and motor have no idea where these satellites are , or where YOU are either

so you locate and store each position yourself , which means you have to do all the work yourself , and again the dish and motor must be correctly aligned

so if it is correctly aligned you do the following

1) locate and store each satellite yourself ( if using diseqc v1.2 )

OR

2) input your coordinates and use USALS


mine has been setup using both methods , so I can choose either of the 2 options , but I tend to leave mine on usals



if both of the above fail , then you have a problem , and need to find out what it is

it could be the lnb as pointed out earlier , so you could change it and see if it fixes the problem

it could be totally misaligned , in which case line it up properly

it could be you havent stored the diseqc positions for each satellite , in which case find them and store them properly

[Sat A Light]

Thanks for that Echelon. This gives me somewhere to start. As regards the motor and dish being lined up properly, all I can say in my ignorance is that I assume they are as everything was fine until a few days ago (dons tin hat).

[echelon]

Thanks for that Echelon. This gives me somewhere to start. As regards the motor and dish being lined up properly, all I can say in my ignorance is that I assume they are as everything was fine until a few days ago (dons tin hat).

in that case maybe your lnb is faulty , and maybe you havent found and stored each satellite position manually , or both

[Sat A Light]

Ok, thanks. I'll have a look into that when I get home. Really appreciate the advice.

[echelon]

its also worth reiterating that some satellites will drop off at night when they are on batteries , or when you are on the fringe like you are ( 5e and 16e for instance ) but I dont see a problem with you getting others 24/7 as the UK and IRELAND tend to be in the strongest sections of the footprint , so these are :-

30w , 5w , 13e , 19e , 28e , 42e

start with those and ensure they are all good signals and good quality on your stored positions on fta channels

then test the following ( with varied results )

22w , 15w , 12.5w , 8w , 5e , 7e , 9e , 10e , 16e , 23.5e , 25.5e , 36e , 39e

if you manage to hit all the above satellites and get fta channels , and especially strong on the first batch , then you are good to go

then check at different times of the day and evening , especially on the strongest birds

also bear in mind when W3C comes online in a few weeks we are expecting a much more powerful signal , so better reception in the uk and in ireland too

[Sat A Light]

Had a bit of a mess around with the motor settings and tweaked the existing settings for the main satellites you mentioned using the drive step option while in diseqc. This seems to have solved the problem as I'm getting much higher strength/quality readings.

Many thanks again for taking the time to respond so positively echelon.