I'm hoping someone on here can help me.

I've had my Humax Foxsat HDR for almost 1 month now and yesterday the picture strated breaking up. Today half of the channels are showing 'no or bad signal' and some of my scheduled recordings have failed.

If I look at my diagnostics, the signal on both tuners are the same at 80% and the strength 100%.

I can receive the HD channels but 101-107 aren't working and a few other more random channels ie iTV2+1 and iTV4+1 don't work either?

I can also record one channel and watch another (of the channels that work)

Has anyone any ideas as to why this is happening?

Many thanks in advance for any help.

As a start you chould check and note the signal quality for horizontal and vertical, high and low frequency transponders on Astra2 and Eurobird. This should give you an indication of what is going wrong.

The Lyngsat or Kingofsat web sites show transponder details

If you have Excel (or Open Office) then download this from here

http://humaxgoodies.weebly.com/downl...xcel-list.html

If not download the htm file and open in your browser.

http://humaxgoodies.weebly.com/frees...ansponder.html

The list is sorted by transponder and indicates the source satellite and the transponder polarisation Horizontal or Vertical.

Pick one channel from each transponder and check signal strength/quality (the latter is more important).

You are looking for a common factor.

eg All problem channels are from EB1 and Horizontal.

If you post your findings it will help in suggesting what's wrong.

Thanks very much for reply. I've tested every channel thoroughly. I'm not sure what the last column in the table means ie; HBH, HBV etc, but these have a common factor with my problems.

HBH - all ok (signal 80-85, quality 70-90)
HBV - all ok (signal 80-85, quality 60-90)
LBH - None working at all (signal 0, quality 0)
LBV - all ok (signal 80, quality 100)

I did notice an error on the list that might have thrown me had I not checked each frequency. BBC1 Yorks is listed as 10788 V (LBV) where as it's actually on 10802 H (LBH) which is probably why this isn't working too.

I hope this info can help you suggest what is wrong.

Thanks again.

Looks like either one of the LNBs has failed, or there is some problem with the connection to the dish.

Is it your own dish, or do you have a communal one (like in flats) ?

It's all the same equipment that sky fitted when I previously had sky+. Never had a problem with using sky+. Do I need a new lnb fitting or can I use one of the other 2 spare sockets?

sorry, I didn't answer your question really did I. Yes it's my own dish on a house.

You should check which satellite the signals are coming from. If the dish is misaligned it is possible for it to favour either Eurobird or Astra 2. - Though that may not be your problem!

If you still have a Sky box you could try that.

HBH is High Band Horizontal , HBV - High Band Vertical , LBV Low Band Vertical and LBH Low Band Horizontal. These are the 4 modes a universal lnb is switched into by the tuner. As posted it looks very like the lnb is stuffed. Check the cables as well for signs of water ingress especially at the lnb end. Quad lnb's for Sky Minidishes are as cheap as chips on fleabay.

Thanks for the heads up as to the error.

Thanks for the help guys.

My next issue is I don't know which type of sky dish was installed as to which lnb I need to buy. I can tell you that before I had Sky+ and had standard sky the lnb they removed from the dish was a 'Skyware 1019/S' before fitting the current quad lnb. From this info can anyone tell me what type of sky dish I have - mk1, mk2 or mk3? The original dish was installed before I moved in.

Also if the cable is at fault which is the best cable to use with the screw on f connectors?

Thanks

For cable I use PF100 which is a foam filed cable and a little stiffer than CT100.

The main risk is water damage. The LNB end of the cable should be covered with self amalgamating tape or a boot with silicon grease. See www.satcure.co.uk

I've had a look today and the existing lnb I have is a 'SX719QS/S' I tried using the 2 unused ports on this and I get the onscreen error 'lnb short' while using the original ports I still can't receive any Low Band Horizontal frequencies. Does this sound like I need a new lnb then?

Do I have a mk1 dish, and if so is it better to get a new dish or can I get a new lnb to fit?

On another note, when I was fitting my Triax Tri Link I noticed the screw on f connectors I bought from screwfix are a little loose on the cable? I obviously don't want this problem outside at the lnb end.

Thanks again for all the info.

Screwfix sell two sizes of f connector, one for the larger diameter PF100 cable they sell and a smaller one.

Deffo sound like the lnb has had it. Whats the end of the arm on the dish like.


Most lnb's for Sky dishes have the adaptors to fit all but the original Mk1 design.

Ah ha. I bought these - http://www.screwfix.com/p/philex-coa...ck-of-10/17061 which are loose on the new cable I bought for use with the triax tri link. The existing cable outdoors is the thicker cable presumably that is PF100 cable which should be a tighter fit.

Heres a pic of my dish - http://postimage.org/image/1uwwsrlxg/
The arm is hollow so that the lnb fits inside. Does it look like a mk1 dish?

I was thinking of getting either this, if it will fit - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sky-Quad-L...item3f0c88c656

Or will I have to get a new dish like this - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Satellite-...item53e81fd207

Do you also get this error message if the cable is disconnected from the LNB but connected to the receiver?

(And not touching/shorting anything else.)

I would inspect the F Plugs at each end just to make certain that there are no little wires from the screening causing a short circuit. - And no other obvious damage to the cable.



Unfortunately you need smaller F Plugs. The size may not be obvious when you buy them!

The MK1 has a 10mm small spigot, your photo looks as if the lnb arm is larger so if so it's not a Mk1.

Hundreds on fleabay

Example

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sky-Quad-L...item3f0c88c656

I didn't check what the onscreen message was while unplugging from the lnb. The cable looks fine to me, certainly nothing stands out as a problem.

I've just measured the spigot of the previous single lnb that was removed before I had sky+ (used on the same dish) this is 10mm x 23mm.

This - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sky-Quad-L...item3f0c88c656 listing says it 'fits any sky dish' but I've read bits here and there noting nothing fits the mk1 dish properly?