Michael Chare mUNDERSCOREnews@chareDOTorgDOTuk writes:

On 22/09/2013 02:36, Windmill wrote:
Michael Chare mUNDERSCOREnews@chareDOTorgDOTuk writes:

On 20/09/2013 04:56, Windmill wrote:
In gusty winds, TV signals disappear and can only be restored by
powering the receiver off and on again. Or at least that's the only way
I've discovered so far to restore normal operation.

Has anyone had similar experiences?

Not me!

My bet is that the problem lies with the cabling, you could connect the
receiver direct to the LNB to see what happens when the wind blows.

If this was something I did regularly I suppose I'd need to buy a
battery-powered satellite receiver. Otherwise it's difficult to get
mains and a receiver up to the roof (I have only an ex-wife so
can't get her to call up to me!), so I'm trying to avoid that approach
if possible.

If you have a meter you can check the voltage that the receiver is
supplying to the motor/LNB.

I've been thinking about that. To properly measure voltage, current,
etc., I'd need a low pass filter to separate the DC from the UHF or SHF
(I suppose it might be called). Maybe a tiny one-turn coil and a 10,000
pF. capacitor, or two of them to measure current (with another 1000pF
cap to bypass the TV signals).


The www.digitalspy.co.uk satellite/technical forum can be quite helpful.

Thank you for that link. I'll give it a try.


The next time you have a problem, before you power off, try switching to
a channel of the opposite polarity. The change in DC voltage might just
help.

Doesn't seem to. In fact the behaviour is becoming more random all the
time. It has worked steadily for about 30 hours now.

Some satellite receivers don't really supply enough current. This can be
a problem if you have multiple items connected, such as switches, motors
or even cheap meters.

That could well be a part of the problem, but when I can next negotiate
with the upstairs neighbour I've decided to replace at least the LNB to
motor and the motor to multiplexer cables with real copper 125 cable
instead of the aluminium braid wire on the so-called RG6. Yuck!

--
Windmill, Use t m i l l
J.R.R. Tolkien:- @ S c o t s h o m e . c o m
All that is gold does not glister / Not all who wander are lost