Graham. wrote:
wrote in message
...
I recently moved to a new house that already had a satellite dish
installed, so I bought a refurbished set top box to pick up the free
channels.
When I set it up, the set top box reported no satellite signal.

Is there a way of testing whether the connection to the dish from the
wall socket is OK using a multimeter?
I know that the dish may need to be adjusted to point in the right
direction, but first of all I just want to know if the dish / co-axial
connections are all OK.

Many thanks,
Rick

Yes indeed, a ploy I have used in the past, all it proves is there is
something “electronic”
at the other end of the cable, and there is an unbroken connection to it

What you need is a multimeter with a “diode test” range, usually a symbol
like this
--|--
connect the leads to the inner and outer of the co-ax, then reverse the
leads and
measure again. The two readings will be completely different if there is an
LNB
at the other end.
You can’t do this with a *digital* meter if it only has resistance ranges,
however
you can do it with a traditional moving coil (analogue) meter on resistance
because they supply sufficient voltage and current to forward-bias a silicon
junction.


Make sure that you are getting a DC voltage on the cable coming from the
set top box , this is used to power the LNB and switch polarities etc.
It can be switched on/off in the box and I believe will switch off on
overload.
Go to installer menu ie Services - System test then 0 1,select ( you
will not get anything until after you have pressed the select -this gets
you to hidden installers menu)
LNB setup - Power ON