sky+ signal

imalone

Anyone else seeing this? I seem to be having trouble picking up certain channels. Not really sure of the pattern, but looks like Astra 12285 V (Sky One, Atlantic and others). I can get sky sports 1 (12110.00H or possibly 12148.00H), sky sports 2 is patchy (not sure, 12148.00H or 12207.00V). Various others in similar ranges I can get, sky livingit (what is that?) at 12188.00H okay. Wondering if the box is on its way out (well, it is on its way out) or this is a general problem at the minute. Doesn't seem to be a subscription problem (other paid channels like gold are okay, well, okay from a technical POV).

johnnyurq

Not sure where you are at but it is all good here in the Highlands.

In the past when we have had that happen a cold boot of the box and a wipe of the card to remove static buildup sorts it, so says Sky techs, seems to work though.

mike_l

NO probs with the channels etc, but the planner/guide only seems to have 6-7 hours ahead, not the 7 days it had previously. Also anything series linked doesn't record. Also, the "Programme cannot be inserted into planner" comes up quite a lot.

Moltisanti

i've had that problem in the past, and it was the dish being out by a tiny amount.

Sky will come and fix it for you but it's expensive....i tried to do it myself (flat roof so no danger) and it was a pain....

imalone

johnnyurq said:

Not sure where you are at but it is all good here in the Highlands.

In the past when we have had that happen a cold boot of the box and a wipe of the card to remove static buildup sorts it, so says Sky techs, seems to work though.

Thanks, yes have been through all the various reset options. The planner is messed up too, which that usually fixes, but not this time, think it may be on its last legs.

Moltisanti said:

i've had that problem in the past, and it was the dish being out by a tiny amount.

Sky will come and fix it for you but it's expensive....i tried to do it myself (flat roof so no danger) and it was a pain....

Might give that another, ours is on a balcony, so easy access. Tried the vertical yesterday, improved some of the glitchier channels a bit, but not the unavailable ones, however didn't try horizontal and it seems there's a tiny E-W spread in the satellites. We have a convoluted arrangement where our subscription is through our landlord, might just see if he's willing to cancel it and we can get something else set up (or even subscribe ourselves and finally get a new box).

Halikus

We had similar issues last winter and were quoted a stupid £130 for a visit to sort it.  We politley said if we are charged to fix it we would cancel our subscription of 10 years.  They then proceeded to upgrade our sky package to include 3d at no charge and we had an engineer on the doorstep within 24 hours again at no charge.  

All depends who you get on the phone though, they have the power to sort you out but it depends on whether they're willing...

Grumpyrocker

Back when we had Sky we had a similar issue with a dish being slightly misaligned and Sky said they'd sort it for plenty of money.

Like you I said, don't bother, we'll just cancel our sub.

Within a week we had an engineer fit a new dish and give us the latest box, no money spent.

NervousJohn

You don't say where you are but was it raining heavily? It was a deluge last night here in Hampshire.

Rain can affect satellite telly a fair bit - the raindrops are about the same size as the signal wavelengths blocking the signal. If your antenna isn't perfectly aligned you can get screen freezes in the rain.

imalone

NervousJohn said:

You don't say where you are but was it raining heavily? It was a deluge last night here in Hampshire.

Rain can affect satellite telly a fair bit - the raindrops are about the same size as the signal wavelengths blocking the signal. If your antenna isn't perfectly aligned you can get screen freezes in the rain.

London, but it's been like this for a few days now. We did once have about an inch of snow stuck to the disc, must have been blowing onto it, that really did kill the signal till it was knocked off. Played with the alignment, but the signal for the channels from that satellite wont go any higher. Think it must be the box or LNB, they're at least six years old, probably more. Time to replace, or maybe just abandon ship altogether as I've just found my flatmate is moving out.

NervousJohn

imalone;333521" said:

Time to replace, or maybe just abandon ship altogether as I've just found my flatmate is moving out.

Like the thinking. Telly doesn't work, I'm off!

mike_l

I sorted my issues, by simply unplugging for a few minutes, and restarting the box.

NO more issues.

imalone

For anyone desperately needing closure, the box itself finally stopped altogether and for the moment I've picked up one second hand, which is working fine after pairing.
Not moving out quite yet...

lasermonkey

Our Sky+ box has had a few iffy reception days recently which seemed to coincide with heightened solar activity. 

joneve

We've been having issues recently - turns out it's due to a fat pigeon that camps on the LNB arm and semi-blocks the signal and because he's so fat, the dish alignment was slightly out. 

imalone

joneve said:

We've been having issues recently - turns out it's due to a fat pigeon that camps on the LNB arm and semi-blocks the signal and because he's so fat, the dish alignment was slightly out. 

Having adjusted our dish I can confidently say if it's shifting the alignment while tightened up then that is one very fat pigeon.
My parents did have one that used to eat all the honeysuckle by the front door until it reached the point it was unable to take off.

Rocker

imalone said:

Having adjusted our dish I can confidently say if it's shifting the alignment while tightened up then that is one very fat pigeon.  My parents did have one that used to eat all the honeysuckle by the front door until it reached the point it was unable to take off.

Honeysuckle flavoured pigeon.  Sounds great.  Shoot it and report back to us a.s.a.p.

RobDavies

Trying to watch Gogglebox on c4 tonight and the signal is breaking up badly. No rain around....

TheMarlin

My TV is wall mounted.  It sits on a bracket that can be moved.  I'm sure a lot of TV's are these days.

Sometimes the cable that runs into the back of the TV loosens, over time.  Check the cable in the back of the TV, make sure it's tightened properly.  If it's loose, then tighten it.

Worked for me.

Marlin