jiffthejiffmanjaffa

iTrader: (10)

Hi guys,

I bought a second hand sky plus box the other day with a brand new dish.

I've got to set it up today and come up against a problem.

The dish is mounted at the same elevation and pretty much the same pitch as my next door nieghbours so I would have thought I'd recieve some signal no matter how small.

However, I get nothing. No signal or strengh and not locked.

I beleive the box is fine as it was shown to me working, and its turns on fine.

So I can only think its something to do with my set up. Spefically the fact I'm using only one cable rather than two.

I know its a Sky plus box, but as I'd have to pay to use the record faciality I thought I'd give that a miss, and assumed that the system would work with just one wire.

Is that not the case, do I have have to have two wire?

Or if it can be done with one wire, it is possibly my connection? Ie there four output on the dish and two inputs in the box (8 combinations) and I might be using the wrong ones.

Can anyone help me? I don't want to pay £60 for someone to come over and do a two minture job when its something I can do.

CCCChhhheeeerrrrssss guys.

The Zohan

No expert but i believe they have to have two cables, usually they fit a quad LNB, the same type you need for HD and run two cables to the sky+ box or four if you have sky+HD

JDM_Stig

iTrader: (3)

as the OP says you only need 2 wires to use the sky Plus feature,
In setup is there any signal in the strength menu? sounds like you havent locked onto a satalite, even 3 or 4 mm out is miles by the time its traveled to the sat.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

errr... you can get a free HD box and installation currently

bigsinky

Sky plus box need 2 inputs to work i think. doesnt matter which two feeds from the LNB you use.

jiffthejiffmanjaffa

iTrader: (10)

Yeah, I thought about this. But THe box and dish were free and once installed I get all the free digital channels free with no monthly subscription. So I don't want to go this route cheers.

jiffthejiffmanjaffa

iTrader: (10)

Is this the case even if you're not going to use the record feature?

bigsinky

get a cheap sat meter as well. dish has to be pretty much spot on to get a signal lock

jiffthejiffmanjaffa

iTrader: (10)

Is this the case even if you're not going to use the Sky + record features? I just want to use it to get the free digital channels.

bigsinky

i believe so yes. with the two feeds in the sky+ feature will not work anyway. you need a sky sub.

jiffthejiffmanjaffa

iTrader: (10)

Yeah I thought about this, but I can't find one cheaper than £50, and as I'm only going to do this once or twice I didn't think there was much point.

As I said I've got the dish at the same elevation and pretty much the same pitch as my neightbours, I took note of the degree setting on they sat, so in theory it should at least receive small signal.

Or so I thought.

andys

Is the viewing card paired to the box?

dave247

Buy a meter, use it then take it back haha

jiffthejiffmanjaffa

iTrader: (10)

I presume so, as it was the card that was working in it when I saw it working.

jiffthejiffmanjaffa

iTrader: (10)

Haha, good plan. Thing is, I think that would only work in a main stream shop and none of my local ones sell them. HHhmmmm got me thinking though

Leslie

They sell them for caravanners to set up their dishes, not too expensive.

I bought one to set my dish up and it works very well. As someone said, it is a very narrow signal beam and when you have found it the adjustment for best signal is extremely fine. Just a gentle press on the dish makes a big difference even if you can hardly see it move. I think the heading for the dish is about 143 degrees depending where you live with the dish pointing just above the horizon. Worth spending time to get the max signal strength.

Les

boxst

From £8.99 ....

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?...ator&source=15

jiffthejiffmanjaffa

iTrader: (10)

Cheers, it sounds like a need to get one of the signal finders. I've seen this
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

On ebay and thought this might be a good inbetween purchase. Just hope it does the job.

bigsinky

sky digital is 28.5 degrees east of south. lots of birds up there make sure you get the right one, thought the sky digital signal is so strong you could pick it up with a saucer.

stiscooby

I can confirm you DO NOT need two cables from the dish. Until recently, when I moved house and got free Sky HD Setup, I was previously using a second hand Sky + box with only one cable from the dish (not using the Sky + features as you WILL need two cables and a Sky + subscription for that).

Regarding your problem, the dish might not be aligned correctly as already mentioned....... one question - did you do the cable yourself? If so, I take it you folded the inner copper braided wires back over the outta cable so when you put the F-Connector on it makes contact? (it needs to be otherwise it will not work) if my poor description doesn't make sense see here - http://www.satcure.com/tech/fconn.htm

Sorry if I state the obvious, but I didn't know this the very first time I done it (but im thick lol ).

-shane-

iTrader: (40)

Right Sky + HD needs 2 feeds, Sky + only needs the 2 feeds if u wish to use the recording feature, If you don't just the one feed is fine, i would take a guess its ur dish as sound above even a few ml out and it wont get perfect signal