Multichoice Reception Breaking Up

[Cromarty]

Is anyone having problems with certain channels on multichoice breaking up? I first thought it was sun spots, but it seems to be going on for a long time. It is mostly affecting SS1, BBC Entertainment and BBC lifestyle. I'm beginning to think that my dish may be slightly out of alignment, although the signal quality looks ok.

[lopburi3]

Sun spots effect HF communications. Suspect you are talking you/sat/sun in direct alignment so noise of sun over rides the sat signal for a few minutes each day until the sun moves enough to not line up. This can take several weeks twice a year. Of course if your signal is already weak with poor alignment it could be worse for you than for others. As for signal quality looking good - it should either be in or out using digital transmissions. No 'snow' as we have with direct TV transmission in the VHF band.

[Retired2]

We just went through all of this. For us, it was a VERY simple solution.

Make SURE that all your co-ax connections are good and tight.

We had a weak one and that was the cause of all our problems with

the signal breaking up.

[Cromarty]

lopburi3, by signal quality I meant signal strength. It looks fine which leads me to think it's the sun.

I didn't know sun spots only affected HF. I don't know the duration of the effected time, whether minutes or hours but I'm getting break up for several hours.

I will double check that retired2, I really hope it is something that simple

[Retired2]

Add to that - Just because a connection "looks" fine doesn't mean that it is.

Our bad connection was up on the dish - and it looked good. It was not.

I think the repair part was 35 Baht, and that solved the break-up in signal.

[lopburi3]

It should not be lasting that long if just sun alignment. So check connectors and if that is no help have someone align the dish as it may have blown out of good alignment to the sat you are using. You can not align exactly as the sat is moving in a figure 8 so changing all the time and you want to be near the center of that "8".

Sun spots effect the ionosphere which HF signals use to curve back to earth and can cause serious disruptions. Your signal is line of sight and does not use the reflective functions of the ionosphere.

[Cromarty]

thanks guys.

I've checked the receiver end and also swapped receivers and nothing has worked, so I've got a satellite company coming to check the dish and cable. It's on the roof and very big so I thought I better call the pros!

I'll post their findings as it may help others in the future.

[Cromarty]

to tie this post up, the technicians came and found is was due to a poor quality LNB that had been installed by the previous contractor jsat. The technicians were from a Thai company, ufosatellite, they replaced the LNB and everything is crystal clear again. All for the princely sum of 1200baht. I can guarantee jsat would have been a he11 of a lot more than that!!