Sky intermittent reception

[modeller]

I and my friend both have Sky and we live a few 100 meters from each other. I'm , so to speak at the top of the hill and he is at the bottom but vertically there is only about 10 meters difference.
However I rarely have reception problems whereas he has problems on a regular basis.
No signal being received or picture breaking up . This particularly happens in bad weather .
I would have thought that being served by a satellite his geographical positition compared to mine woud be irrelevant . Any suggestions ?

[Prudie]

Don't know but my Sky breaks up every time it rains heavily, I thought it was water getting into the bits on the dish.

[prpr19]

I have had the same problem, I fixed it by cleaning the dish and moved its direction a little bit at a time until the problem went away; all it takes is a slight movement in the dish to spoil the picture. Good Luck

[modeller]

Good suggestion but he has this trouble even when its not actually raining but heavily overcast.
At the same time I'm not affected. The only time I get trouble is when it is thundery and the message comes up ' No signal '. I had thought about him having the dish repositioned but I doubt that would make any difference . It's not like an ordinary aerial where obstacles like trees or building can block the signal.

[ABerrant]

"It's not like an ordinary aerial where obstacles like trees or building can block the signal."

Eh? Satellite reception is highly dependent on a clear line of sight. Obstacles such as trees, nearby buildings or atmospheric disturbance can severely reduce or even block the signal.

[modeller]

#Eh? Satellite reception is highly dependent on a clear line of sight. Obstacles such as trees, nearby buildings or atmospheric disturbance can severely reduce or even block the signal.#

That's why I'm confused , being as the dish is angled towards the sky and there's nothing in the way . Also why is it that it only happens in bad weather and my TV only a short distance away is OK.

[ABerrant]

Corroded connections/cabling
Misaligned dish
Age/type/model of digibox

Any number of factors can affect the signal. My first move would be to check the signal strength & quality reported in the System menu.

[modeller]

Everything is only about 6 months old . I will check signal / quality but I expect it will be bad in bad weather and good in good weather . If that is the case, dish position and or alighnment may be the last resort. Thanks for all contributions.

[fourteen85]

If its only about six months old then its all still under guarantee so get the engineers back to sort it out

[redcrx]

"It's not like an ordinary aerial where obstacles like trees or building can block the signal. "

er yes, it is. My dad had to cut various trees back before Sky could set his dish up.

[chas2008]

my was playing up for ages,even to the point i bought a sat finder to realign it myself, when i got up the ladder all it wanted was a couple of bolts tightening up, been 100% perfect (apart from a real heavy rain)
. Unlike the old analogue satellite systems the digital ones have to be spot on to get a signal a minimal amount of movement will cause problems.

[ABerrant]

I didn't mean check signal quality in different weather conditions.

The original question is in relation to a comparison with another digibox so it would make sense to compare the readings of the two boxes. If one has readings consistently lower than the other, and there is no obstacle in the line of sight to the satellite, I would tend to think the dish is misaligned.

[modeller]

My words # It's not like an ordinary aerial where obstacles like trees or building can block the signal. "# has rightly caused comment .
I know that obstacles between the dish and the signal will block it but there is a big difference between a dish and an ordinary aerial.
The signal being received by an ordinary aerial is being transmitted horizontally and that's why the term line of sight is used and why aerials need to be mounted as high as possible eg on the chimney.
In the case of the satellite signal, that is is coming down at an angle from the sky and therefore there is less of a problem with obstacles. Therefore dishes can be mounted quite low down .many in my area stand on the ground or on the side of buildings.
If however there are obstacles in front of the dish. like trees then obviously there would be a problem. I should have made that clear. Sorry !
In a few years time if there is only satellite transmissions , ordinary aerials will disappear from our skyline.

[modeller]

I did misunderstand you Ab . I did do a comparision when it was first installed and there was little difference between the two, but that was some months ago during good weather . So a recheck now would be a good idea.