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If you find this information useful and want to thank me, why not buy one of my low-cost "eBooks" that you can download direct to your computer? My books can be read on-screen or printed out on paper. They are full of colour photos and illustrations. http://www.The-Cool-Book-Shop.co.uk
Freezing conditions can also affect the LNB connection because metals shrink a fraction and because springy metal becomes less springy. Connections that are slightly corroded are far more prone to faults like this than connections that have been properly coated with silicone grease and weatherproofed. TV aerial connections can also be affected. If you have to work on LNB connections in freezing weather, fix a hairdryer or paint stripper heat gun (set to low) so that it blows warm air at your hands and on the connections. This will make the cable (and your hands) more flexible and you'll do the job in a fraction of the time. If for any reason you are unable to watch Sky TV for a number of days, be sure to WRITE to Sky by email when the problem starts and WRITE again when it's fixed, referring to the date of your first message. Ask for a credit for the days that you were without a service. (Don't waste time and money on the 'phone.) Sky are usually very understanding and, if you ask nicely, will give you some form of compensation if you've been without service for a week or more. In case you need proof, it may help if you record your lack of viewing days on a forum, Facebook and anywhere else that records the date of posting. Low temperatures may cause the LNB oscillator frequency to move slightly so that it is almost "out of range". This will cause problems for the Digibox tuner in "locking on" to the signal. It's just possible that you can improve this but it requires a bit of fiddling! Press [services] 001 [select] [select] to access the LNB menu (new HD EPG only). You'll see Hi and Lo LNB frequencies listed as 9.75 and 10.60 GHz. By selecting each of these and pressing number buttons you can change change them to (say) 10.61 GHz. (You have to store each change.) If you are lucky, such a change may make it easier for the tuner to "lock on". However, my guess (backed by customer feedback) is that the Sky+HD boxes struggle with a slightly weak signal* and a larger dish (e.g. zone 2) may improve matters. Two customers have confirmed this cure so far. I admit that's statistically meaningless, which is why I offer it merely as a suggestion for those who want, and can afford, to try it. *Ignore your actual signal indication. Some transponders are stronger than others, as you can see if you access their parameters via the "manual tuning" menu. Unfortunately, I can't test these ideas here in Greece but I hope one or two of you can experiment and let everyone know the result. Re: Snow on dish/lnb If you live in an area relatively free of vandalism it's worth considering if your sky dish can be installed on a wall at ground level Our installer found a wall with sight of the satellite where the dish was 6feet off the ground. As a result things like clearing snow and ice and keeping the connections watertight are easy peasy taking just minutes of diy instead of expensive call outs Have a great Christmas, Martin. Hope you are settled and happy in your new home Rod Gray We live in Switzerland (about 40km south of Basel) and regularly have a problem with snow collecting on our 120cm prime focus dish in winter. Since the dish is on the roof of our house, it's not always possible to remove in a safe way. An internet search suggested that there are almost no "off the shelf" solutions available in Europe. However, in the US a heating system called an 'ICE Zapper' does exist, but only for 110V. As a scientist and keen DIYer I wondered if I could produce something similar by taping a thermostatically controlled under soil heating cable to the underside of the dish to melt the snow and ice. Of course this would only work with a metal dish. I bought a second-hand cable with thermostat from Ebay and will be fitting it over the Xmas holiday (hopefully with some help from my husband). I'll keep you posted, with some photos too if anyone is interested. Best wishes, Janet Dawson Want to make your own? A friend of mine has written an eBook:- http://www.sausages-sausages.com (Note: sometimes the return link doesn't work. If this happens to you, don't panic. Email him at his "advtiser.net" address and he'll send you the eBook via email.) Also see the store: http://www.sausages-sausages.com/store.html During my two decades in the business, I've heard from quite a few people who have had carpet- or window-fitters in and had cables damaged. In some cases the cables have been pressed down onto "carpet gripper nails", which have short-circuited the LNB power circuit and damaged the Digibox. In other cases, the cables have been ripped out, leaving the 'F' plugs still screwed to the receiver. If you are having carpets fitted, you should disconnect and remove all equipment from the room, together with anything breakable. It's just common sense. Remember to label all connections before disconnecting and make sure there are no short-circuits before reconnecting. If you can't do all of this yourself, for goodness sake find a friend or neighbour who can. Occasionally, we receive complaints that something we sold has arrived but isn't the same colour as on our web site - dishes in particular. Quite apart from the fact that their monitor is unlikely to have the same colour calibration as mine, it must also be realised that we don't actually stock many dishes. Normally we get one of several trade warehouses to ship direct and they seldom tell us if the manufacturer has decided to change the shade of grey. In any case, I STRONGLY recommend that you paint the dish, LNB, metalwork and cable to protect it from the effects of UV radiation and water. It should last much longer and, with correct choice of colour, merge with the background. Make sure you use matt paint, not gloss. This reduces the amount of heat reflected onto the LNB. Colour doesn't usually matter but white may be a bad choice if you live somewhere that enjoys a lot of sunshine. Ordinary oil-based outdoor paint will be fine. Most customers understand that mistakes happen - especially near Christmas when we are swamped with orders. Unfortunately, a few become abusive and rude. Next time they try to buy from us, a little message pops up on our computer screen informing the warehouse that there is no stock available. Here's a real interchange with an irritated customer:- (10:20am) Just received delivery of the above order this morning but the order is incomplete as there are 2 090-3078 Threaded FF barrel Con Female missing. I am very dissatified as this will delay me hooking Sky up and that is why I requested special deilivery so I would receive it as soon as possible! Can you confirm that the missing items have not been despatched separately if so why were they not included in the special delivery I have paid for? A very unhappy customer!! (6:41pm) Can you please check the ends of both leads as sometimes the warehouse will fit the barrels on to the end of the leads for you to save using another bag. If they are missing I can only apologise and assure you that they will be sent immediately. We have plenty of stock, so I can only assume that if they are missing it is down to human error - these things sometimes happen - specially this time of year when the staff are stretched. Please let me know if I need to organise replacements - which we will of course send 'special delivery' for you. Kind Regards, Nicola (7:43pm) Thanks for replying so quickly*. I've checked the jiffy bag thoroughly and I've also checked the ends of the leads and the barrels are not attached and have not been sent which I stated in my previous e-mail. I assume now the barrels have not been sent today so I will not receive them tomorrow? Therefore when will I receive them? If it's Monday, this is not acceptable especially since I chose special delivery on YOUR recommendation so I would have the merchandise as soon as possible, therefore I will be without Sky TV which I am paying a subscription for and not able to receive due to your ineptitude and must say I am totally dissatisfied by my whole experience of shopping with your company. Mr. F. (*This was probably intended to be sarcastic, rather than complimentary. Friday is normally a quiet day but the girls were so busy, shipping last-minute orders, that the earliest opportunity Nicola had to reply was almost two hours after she should officially have gone home.) I located the Maplin store closest to him, and suggested the customer buy his connectors from there, as it was so urgent. I understand that he did so and we refunded him. I called an installer when Sky stopped working. He diagnosed a cable fault, which was odd as it wasn't all that old and was only a short run with no visible damage. After replacing the cable, with some encouragement, he set about finding why it had failed using a "binary chop" method. This involved cutting the old cable in half and finding which piece still failed a meter check, then cutting that in half, and so on. When there was 6 inches left he stripped it. This revealed that the dielectric plastic had melted internally where the cable had been near a balanced flue outlet. The outer sheath was not visibly affected, and the terrestrial aerial cable following the same route had no problem. Presumably Sky were skimping on cable costs! Robert Nixon I have now fitted the enhanced capacitor kit to my sky HD box without any apparent problems (so far). The signal and quality levels seem a little better than they were before. So thank you Satcure for your service and instuctions which I found fairly straight forward to follow. One suggestion to improve your instructions though. Once I had fitted all the capacitors I wanted to check that I had not inadvertantly reversed one of the caps before I refitted the PSU to the chassis. Unfortunely the cap itself covers up the polarity indication when it is fitted so you cannot check it afterward. Polarity indications on one of your instruction diagrams would resolve this. Just a thought. Brian Jones Thanks, Brian. I have updated the sketch to include capacitor orientation. Fantastic and easy to set up. eliminated our rain fade and poor reception. Although we live in Lincolnshire we now get 100% readings on signal and quality and never get any picture problems. Anyone with thoughts of buying one, DO IT. Simon Trotter Dear Satcure Used your Relkit and a Viper 53 on an 'dead' Amstrad DRX280 which I bought for £2 off Ebay. This didn't initially fix it but slept on it and realised that as the external fuse was blowing, there was a short on the high voltage side of the PSU. Put the diode tester on my meter on the bridge and lo and behold two of the brdge diodes had gone short circuit. More proof that it is worth whistling round with a meter to ensure all faults are found. Replaced all of these (1N4007's) and it sprang to life. Worried at first that the Hard Drive seemed to be constantly on but after doing the reset, software update etc, it seems to park when not in use. Thanks for the support and help Regards Jim At the beginning of October, I ordered, from MicroWarehouse web-site, an 'open box' Acer Aspire One at a good price of around £185. Over the following couple of days, I received several confirmation emails, and finally received an email with a PDF picking/dispatch/delivery note. The PDF picking/delivery note had my name and address, but a different order number and a Dell laptop (I did not want). The only way to report the error seemed to be to phone them up, so I phoned them, and they told me to reject the delivery and that they were unable to locate stock of the Acer laptop. I was told that I would get a refund when the Dell returned to stock. The next day, the delivery van arrived... I was not allowed to inspect the inside of the opaque bag (if I was going to reject it), but the box seemed to be the wrong size for an Acer, so I rejected it. By a week later, no refund, so I phoned and was passed to half-a-dozen people, but eventually I was told, my refund had been authorised, and should appear in my account in a few days. After a week and no refund, I contacted my credit card company, they required various pieces of paper (I did not have) to force a refund. It turns out that MicroWarehouse are part of DSG, I cannot remember a time I was completely happy with a purchase from any of the Dixons group, and I avoid them if I can. Robert. Martin, First of all thanks for the great service I have received from Satcure over the years - I have ordered several LNBs, dishes, Diseq switches etc from you and have always received a great service. I suppose I came to Satellite Tv with some prior knowledge having an Electronics degree, a ham radio licence (since 1969), project managed 2 way radio system installations and then designed laptops/software for IBm for 30 years however your FAQs have STILL been of great use to me as have your newsletters... Now's the time to put a little back and perhaps amuse? The first picture is of an installation method which came to me after having seen lots of dishes at peculiar angles after a week of gales. When I had to move my own installation I thought I would just try this out - after all the signals from the satellite don't 'know' the dish is upside-down - they still reflect off the dish at the same angles.... This picture is of a Zone 2 dish in West-Central Scotland giving perfect reception from Astra 2 sitting on 2 x bricks... This may be of use to someone who needs a low profile installation behind a south-facing parapet wall - although LNB waterproofing/mast-clamping may need a little ingenuity... The second picture is of the same dish installed 'normally' - signal levels were just the same! The third picture is a suggestion for those with a signal level 'bleeper' which gives a higher pitched tone the stronger the signal. My one works fine but the earphones supplied kept being pulled out of my ears - solution use a low-power VHF transmitter normally used for MP3 players and have a portable radio to listen to - much louder on a windy day! The fourth picture is my other installation - an 80cm dish with 2 x LNBs on Astra 1 and Hotbird - this dish + 1 x LNB + analogue receiver were freebies when analogue died.. the second LNB + bracket + switch came from you... This is another 'discreet' installation although I need to train any new postmen to make sure the gate gets closed - signals seem to disappear! The analogue receiver gets well used - Eurosport (for free!) from Astra 1 with English commentary. Regards, Neil Robertson Hi, Martin, from your brother in North Yorkshire. Hope you are feeling smug and warm on your Greek island! At least my dogs are enjoying the weather! Those people who contribute to this newsletter can have a sneaky look at my on-line "blog", if they ask me very nicely! If you have anything of interest to contribute, please contact me with details. What have you installed? What problems have you had? Have you been ripped off? Tell us all about it. (Make it interesting.) I promise not to make fun of your spelling or grammar. (I'll correct it.) None this month. Several "insurance" companies have jumped on the "HD" bandwagon and are phoning around with offers. Bear in mind that the equipment is guaranteed for a year by Sky (or, failing that, by the manufacturer). Thereafter the Sale of Goods Act allows you to claim for a "reasonable" amount of time - generally regarded as 6 years maximum; so in court you might get the value of the equipment, minus 1/6 for each year you've had use of it. Anything else is likely to be covered by your house contents insurance (please check this with your own insuror). In addition, Sky offer a call-out to replace everything necessary for around £65. Consequently, if you are offered inurance, do look carefully at the costs and advantages (if any). The only possible advantage I can think of is "same day emergency call-out, 7 days a week", but I haven't heard of any company that will commit to that in writing. You'll probably find that you have to wait for days before anyone turns up. Let me know what you think, or what experiences you've had! - a selection from this month's emails (If you are a new subscriber I'm afraid that you might find some of my replies a little blunt to the point of being rude. That's just the way I am after answering customers' questions for the last fourteen years. Please don't take offence. Sometimes I'm a little tired, ratty or impatient and it shows! Generally, if you ask for a free reply, you'll get what you pay for. If you DO have a question, PLEASE read the web site information and eBooks first. I get the same questions day after day because people can't be bothered to look.) I have just wired my house with Labgear euro modules :~ Each living room has a PSW241M quad for the downlink and a PSW113M single for the uplink and bedrooms a PSW241M Quad (Complete with 3 off double screened cables to each). I assumed that these will work with the Labgear units but ideally I would prefer the maximum flexibility that the Triax unit gives i.e. Quad lnb. and to have the option to use both FreeSat and a Sky+ box. I realise it is not the correct solution so perhaps the Labgear is the better option. But if it will work even without magix eye compatibility then the Triax seems the more flexible option. Many thanks. Phil S. I can only repeat what it states on the web site. We recommend using the plates listed in the respective "kit" as we can't guarantee correct operation with alternatives. However, if the function is identical, it ought to work. The Triax DDU is a special case because it uses a specific wall plate for the living room. As a minimum, I recommend you order this plate if you order a DDU-112. You can always send back unwanted items for a refund so all it should cost you is return postage. Don't worry about the "7 day limit" for returns. We are very flexible on this - especially after holidays. Best Wishes, Martin JOHN Well, we do warn everyone NOT to replace the fuse without first fixing the fault, so you are probably correct. You have added a primary-side fault to what was possibly only a secondary-side fault. Unfortunately, we don't have a kit for this model so I suggest you send your PSU to Michael: See http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/fconn.htm I have a Humax Freesat HDR (twin tuner), a sat dish and quad LNB and plenty of WF100 twin cable. I'm guessing I need F connectors (for the LNB and the TV or wall socket end), protective boots (do I need silicon grease), You mean silicone grease. (Here in Greece they call it "silly conny".) See http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/silicone.htm something to make the hole in an outside wall good. A masonry drill makes a real good hole. You should cover it after installing cable: http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page8.htm#tidy Would it be best (and probably neater) to get a wall plate for the lounge (twin sat outlets only needed). Best? Probably neater but probably not best for signal (although I use one and my signal is very weak to begin with). See http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/cable.htm Only drill I have lomg enough to get through the cavity wall is 16mm - is that too big for twin WF100 ? No, it should fit easily. See cable specs. http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/cablespecs.htm Hi I'm looking to upgrade my aerial. Whilst the existing one works OK most of the time I sometimes get glitches... In that case the first thing to do is replace the capacitors in the DHD4000 Power supply as these are notorious for causing such problems. http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/page12.htm#thomson ... I think due to interference and the old aerial is looking a bit ropey so would like to replace with new. I notice your log periodic aerials and have also noted that similar aerials get very good reviews. However, I also note that they have a gain of about 9dB whereas cheaper yagis might have a gain of 13 or 14dB. Generally, will a 9dB log P out perform a cheaper 13dB yagi? I'll probably need to fit a distribution amp as well as we now have more than one telly, will this affect the Log P/Yagi choice? Dave Your aerial is somewhat low at 2 metres. There's a hill between you and Rowridge so you need to get the aerial as high as possible. The signal path is literally touching the top of the hill, which could cause signal variations in wet weather, especially if there are trees up there. Ideally you need a "Group A" aerial. A 40-element Log-p should be fine but I suggest connecting a "Group A" filter to it, to minimise interference from other stations (e.g France). A masthead amplifier works fine for any type of aerial. You shouldn't need much gain so go for an adjustable gain type. Best Wishes, Martin I have the following system:- Questions:- There are two feeds from the current loft amplifier to the living room cabled with CT100 cable (installed by the builders). Having looked through your web site, can you please advise on the following:- Can I use the Triax 333112 DDU 8-way Loft Box with the current cables to provide a signal to the living room? Probably. Your wiring instructions talk about an uplink. I assume this is not needed with a freesat box, is this correct? No, all Loft Boxes require a return feed if you want the signal to reach bedrooms. I'm interested to know why our notes made you think otherwise, so that I can correct them? I would like to use a triplex wallplate with the existing cable. Would this be an option that would give me satellite feeds and aerial/FM to the living room? Probably but, unless you are certain that you have a direct equivalent, please use the wall plates recommended and read the technical notes about them. For the satellite dish and accessories, I will need to do a bit more reading on your site before purchasing these items. Excellent. Please take your time. The more research you do, the more likely you are to achieve the desired result at minimum cost and effort. I want to see if I am successful with the Triax and the wallplate before trying to install a satellite dish. I intend using your zone 2 mini dish, quad LNB and one of your easy install kits. Cable length to the Triax will be no more than 15 metres. This appears to be the simplest option, if I am completely off track please let me know. That should be OK. I'm not certain how the DDU will react to having no LNB feed but I think it should be OK. Can I connect the satellite dish with WF100 cable to the Triax unit? Yes. will I see a loss of signal by having a mix of cables? No. The only other room I need cabled is the main bedroom. Is it possible to get freesat to this room by using a quad LNB and a Humax freesat box, will the triax unit be able to feed the Humax? The DDU supports the connection of up to two bedroom feeds from the LNB. Please refer to the diagram. Sorry of these questions appear stupid, but I would appreciate your input before purchasing the 'pieces' from you. I've been in the business for twenty years and you haven't so questions are inevitable. I try to minimise them by providing the best possible information on the web site, which is continually "fine-tuned" by feedback from customers. :-) Best regards and best wishes for Christmas and the New year. Bernard Thanks, Bernard. is this complicated. I have a dual LNB and said ( s.a) receiver and want to get German sat tv . I would like to purchase a working sat dish and 30m cable and some little titbits from you. Which of the ones on offer would suit my needs? thank you for your time alexander All the dishes we offer will be suitable for receiving signals from the Astra-1 satellite cluster - assuming that's the one you want. You'll find notes here: http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/german.htm Unfortunately, I haven't updated them in ages so please ignore the channel lists and the references to "analogue". (Anyone feeling bored - looking for something to do?) This refers to a proposed Sky HD installation. The house (new to me, just moved in) presently has Freeview aerial with a masthead amp and a Fringe P1235 amp. I am trying to avoid a Sky "standard installation" by wiring up my bungalow first, before ordering. I have purchased 3 MK wallplates (MK3565 for the lounge and 2 bedrooms that will be wired for TV. These wall plates have a Triplexed UHF/DAB/VHF/SAT feed, a second SAT2 feed, RJ45 and BT connections. I am happy to run cables under-floor for these wallplates and bring them all to an "A-V corner" of the hall cupboard. My intention is to have Multiroom (i.e. 4 feeds from the LNB, 2 to lounge and 2 in parallel to Bedroom 1 AND Bedroom 2, since the second box could be in either room. The UHF/VHF/DAB parts will also be split in the study and kitchen - not interested in SAT here. Any TV will be using Freeview. Problem: - all Loft Amps/combiners appear to re-route SAT2 as if an "Eye" was in use - i.e. not Multiroom. Question: Please can you offer a wiring diagram that uses the least number of signal combiners and do you think that I am on the right track?? Also, what do I do with the P1235 which will now be in the wrong room? Many thanks Graham B. 2. Taking your last question first: The P1235 is a power supply for the masthead amplifier. It can be positioned anywhere that has a direct connection to the amplifier. Make sure there is a good DC path and any TV plug connectors are soldered. If you use a Loft Box, you should be able to eliminate the masthead amplifier and its PSU. 1. The Triax DDU-112 "Loft Box" has provision for a "multiroom" LNB connection. See http://www.satcure.com/tech/lofthelp.htm If that's not sufficient, you'll have to run one or more separate LNB cables. Make sure your wall plates are fully screened. Connecting the cables is tricky so make sure you have plenty of space in the back box and plenty of slack in the cable. See http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/wall_plates.htm#modular Best Wishes, Martin I asked recently about not being able to print from AppleWorks. Well, it's not just AppleWorks. I also can't print from Word or Excel either, and people have sent me documents I need to print. ?-P just sends the cursor into a spinning beach ball state, and I have to force-quit the app. The usual advice applies. 1. Reboot and try again. 2. Download and install "Applejack". Reboot and run it. Try again. 3. Create another User Account and try from there. If it works, the problem lies only with your main User Account files (which eliminates the possibility of corrupted system fonts, for example). If it doesn't work, the problem is system-wide and not local. It could simply be a corrupted printer driver file but don't ask me what to do about it! The capacitors in the kit do not all match the pico farad and voltage ratings of the existing fitments. Thus I have not changed those that do not match. I have not retested the unit. Where do I go from here ? Cheers dave Before you even open your Digibox, you should click on all the Product Information links in your "Keep-me" email. Tom Sorry, I have amended the wording for both to:- "A shallow wall box might suffice, provided that the cables come straight through the wall without bends. Otherwise requires a DEEP wall box. (35mm recommended). May require a right-angle F adaptor (see page 7). Suitable for carrying all signals 0 - 2015 MHz. Click on each image to enlarge." And I've put some photos here: Had a power cut and will not start up now or swich on ? Can you recommend the parts I nead to repair. Thanks Brian Thorpe That's an extremely old receiver. See our analogue satellite site:- http://www.your-book.co.uk/prd.htm Thanks & Regards, Neil Unfortunately, your information is too vague. If your dish system is working OK then it should continue to do so. If it's not working then you'll have to trace the faulty part and replace it. If it has only one connection and you need two, then you may have to replace the LNB with a quad-output version and add another cable. All the information you need is on our web site and/or in our eBooks. Will the fixing brackets fit to a 2inch/50mm mast or is the max 1.5 inch diameter mast? thanks louise w. Hi, Louise. If you click on the "more info" link it will take you here: http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/triax2.htm As you can see, it comes with a wall mount that's about 1.25" diameter. You can fit up to 1.5" diameter with suitable U bolts. Of course few things are impossible and you could get a flat square plate, drilled with 8 holes, that would bolt onto the dish bracket and take large U bolts for a 2" pole. A local engineering shop could do that. Or you could fit a short length of 1.25" tube to your 2" mast. Since 24 hours and following no specific changes or other "event" this unit now simply makes a faint (but clear) regular ticking noise (about 2 - 3 times per second) and four lights (one green, one red, one amber, on the front panel flash faintly in time with that noise. That's all that happens whether or not any connection in from lnb or out to t.v. Andrew T. See http://www.satcure.co.uk/gds200.htm I received the capacitor today to see that, although I ordered a 100uf 400v capacitor, which is also written on the plastic bag, the capacitor is in fact a 150uf capacitor. It is to replace the large capacitor in a Thompson high definition box into which I installed one of your power supply kits about 2 years ago. That big capacitor is bulging slightly and the box behaves strangely at times. I also get a shock if I touch the top capacitor casing. Can I still use the 150uf cap anyway. Thanks. Brian. Yes, this is the correct (upgrade) replacement. It's perfectly normal to get a shock if you touch a component carrying 350 volts. However, I wouldn't recommend doing it! Hi, I live in Fleet Hampshire. London and Hannington about the same quality analogue but Hannington stronger. Hannington not poss DTT as their aerials don't point East (problem with co-channel Guildford I believe). I have DAT45 looking at Crystal Palace into SLX6 &endash; never had a good analogue signal always get cross mod from Hannington (We used to watch Hannington but since DTT have now turned aerial towards London). n.b. Hannington is stronger signal but multi-path so needed careful alignment and was never the best picture. We have several Digital TVs including a 42 in Philips 7000 series plus set top boxes and Tesco own Tekinka LCD in the Kitchen. All digital sets are marginal with momentary break up about 1 or 2 per half hour. All report low signal and varying low quality. I have just bought a Toshiba RDXV59DTKB which was unwatchable. External cable was triax TX100, just replaced internal cable to main TV point with TX100 &endash; no improvement. Next I disconnected dist amp SLX6 and put aerial straight to Tosh &endash; low signal but perfect picture with quality now 60-70%. Put in directional splitter 3db power on one leg and fed Tosh direct and dist amp on the other. Very low signal now and just on the edge, other TVs now break up more often. Put power up to MRD (with the thought of passive splitter) nothing worked. Put ICOM PCR1500 (I am a radio amateur and used to be radio comms engineer) onto aerial as poor man's spectrum analyser with MRD powered band looks like organ pipes with lots of cross mod and spurs. Turned off power to DAT45 and put SLX6 back and looked at output of SLX6 I think its limiting with Hannington off the back of DAT45. Though still very low DTT signal down in all the muck. n.b. my neighbour is my Father-in-law they have same height aerial (but 150m south same postcode) with DAT45 and MRD no dist amp 4 way directional split they have no trouble with MRD overload. I have checked MRD with swap for their aerialno problem. I'm thinking of removing MRD and replacing with original passive element, putting group A filter FR170 in front of new distribution amp. Can you recommend a good dist amp that has a good dynamic range and cross mod performance? I think I might then replace aerial with DAT 75 aimed at London no MRD, front to back ratio is a bit better but should raise London by 3db, the reason for DAT75 (rather than group A) is I can turn it round to Hannington when they fit DTT aerials for East in 2012. So thanks for help sorry about ramblings. Even local "professional" installers didn't know about Hannington DTT aerials pointing W but fit London. Once I hear from you I will order the filter and amp you recommend as I would like to get this sorted before Christmas. Many thanks for your help. Robin Hi, Robin. Your predicted signal level of 35dBuV/m for Crystal Palace is exactly the same as mine for Winter Hill and I'm using a very ordinary CD aerial and 6dB amplifier. I think a lot of your problems stem from the fact that you are using an aerial optimised for higher frequencies (like Hannington and Guildford) to pick up signals from Crystal Palace. In my opinion, a better bet would be to use a V10-040 log-periodic with a "group A" filter to pick off the CP signals. The log-p has a decent f-b ratio and much smaller side-lobes than any Yagi aerial. Definitely worth a try. Obviously, it should work fine without the filter for Hannington. Or you could use a diplexer to separate CP and Hannington signals. I would not use a distribution amplifier. Use a variable-gain masthead amplifier instead. See http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/best_aerial.htm TICKET reference #298136. Thanks for your reply date/timed Mon 11/30/09 5:14 PM. I am referring to the goods which your supplier was supposed to be despatching me last week!! Items WF100 twin cable + F-plugs. These are still not be delivered and this is getting bit boring subject to me - to be honest. Speaking to the http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ they have made note of my complaints and also tracked your company via VAT registration number. I give your firm 2 working days (Wednesday & Thursday) to get my remaining items delivered to me. Failing that please cancel the order and refund the monies. I will follow that up with http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ so that other customers in the future do not have to suffer the same pain and waste of time dealing with your firm. Thank You. This customer initially ordered 50m of CAT5E cable from us, despite the note on our web page that states "40 metres max." That caused delays to begin with, which he moaned about via email*. Then our cable supplier failed to send the reel of coaxial cable that was also on the order so this customer opened a support ticket. We chased it but, for reasons unknown, the cable still failed to arrive so he opened this (another separate) support ticket, which you can read above. Whilst we freely admit that we do make mistakes, in this case we didn't make any, and we were doing our best to chase the delivery, which should have arrived 8 days ago, but the customer is reporting us to an official body anyway. Unbelievably, he placed another order with us today! His details have been noted and he won't receive anything from us ever again. Nor will he get free advice. Nor will his cable arrive - we'll simply issue a refund, which will greatly reduce our workload. The profit margin on a reel of cable is so tiny that we really only offer it "as a favour" anyway. I'd much rather sell a 2 metre length with plugs fitted! *There is a sensible limit for re-reeling cable. Unfortunately, due to problems with handing long, heavy lengths (we don't have the necessary equipment) we can't offer lengths beyond a specific maximum. Hello Satcure Just wanted to say thankyou for a great kit to repair my Thompson HD Box. Regards Eric Beauchamp Hi all, Just a quick note to say thank you for the prompt and speedy service. My Thomson HD box is now going like a treat, and the wife and kids are well happy. Also appreciate your "no nonsense" approach, no glossy bullshit, just quick, prompt service. Many thanks and wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Kind regards. Bryan Re: Thomson Sky+HD power supply unit. I only made my order with you on Tuesday 1 Dec afternoon and it arrived safely and in good working order before 1 pm yesterday Thursday 3 Dec. Fantastic service and Thank you very much. Alan M Thanks for such fast & efficient service. The invaluable help on your website combined with a product that has cured my problems is highly commended. I had a Thomson Sky HD box that was temperamental with frequent loss of LNB2, slow response to commands and loss of the interactive functions from other TV's (via a loftbox & RF2) but all seem to be cured. Thanks! Bryan Taylor Please can you cancel this order. I placed it in good time to go out yesterday and tried to contact you to confirm that it would. I then received a ticket to say that I would recieve it today when I think it meant Friday? Please advise. Thanks. Martin C (May I point out for everyone reading this that we can not make promises for delivery by a specific date. This is covered by our Terms & Conditions which state "Time/date of delivery shall not be of the essence of the contract". We'll do our best but it's really up to you to order in plenty of time.) Hello! Just a quick note to say thanks for the great service and product I received from you. I have just completed the capacitor upgrade to my Thomson Sky HD box and it works a treat! I was having issues with certain channels being garbled and mysterious reboots but it seems to be fine now. I'm not the most confident with soldering but your excellent instructions and web links helped no end (only one minor burn sustained!) Your attention to detail with the reliability kit is second to none (fishing line, heat shield and even a cross head bit!) and the on-line documentation is clear and thorough. Thanks for going that bit further and for supplying a great product. James Howells Bsc(HONS) Just a quick thankyou for all the useful information on your site which enabled me to upgrade my old analogue satellite dish to digital. The twin cable works a treat and the sat finder I bought from you some years ago worked equally well with the new setup. Thanks also for all email updates over the years. Good work! Barry Pittuck Will Cavanagh - Maidenhead I can thoroughly recommend Will's service. I used his same day service and my Sky HD now works perfectly again. Friendly and very reasonable cost. Many Thanks Will. Alan Parrott Many thanks for a complete and well thought out kit, along with clear instructions on all aspects of what to do. It was such a relief to finally get my HD box sorted out after getting absolutely no help from Sky; both their so-called ?technical help line? and the ?engineer? that they sent out were utterly useless. It was a surprise to find the problems that I was experiencing were so well documented on the internet and that I could get a kit to sort it out. It also gave me enormous satisfaction to do the work myself, as I wasn?t that confident about my soldering ability ? but it all works great! I also took the opportunity while I had the box apart to upgrade my hard disk to 1TB (since you also mentioned that on your website and supplied links to Copy+, etc.). The box seems to be running much cooler now and the HD picture is fantastic. Thanks again! Randal Hockey Many thanks for this superb web site. I spent about 2 hrs looking for a remote code on other rubbish sites. Yours is the most technically thorough one I've seen. Many thanks and a Merry Christmas. Thanks again, Jon. As usual your kit worked fine and was easy (relatively) to fit. Thanks Ian Ruston Just wanted to say thank-you for your page regarding sky remote control codes that don't work. We just bought a new Sanyo LCD HD TV and Sky listed 8 different codes. all of which did not work. Luckily I typed my problem into Google and found your webpage regarding this very same issue. I can't thank you enough as the 999 reset code you gave actually works my TV with the Sky remote. So, after hours of trying Sky's own method, I found your method to work perfectly! thanks again, you're a legend! Melanie Reddick Hiya After months of trying to get TV (Wharfdale) codes for the Sky handset I found your reference. Minutes later all working perfectly. Many thanks for your emails throughout the year and your sharing of expertise. Best wishes for the season to you and yours. Thanks again. Regards Phil I'll add my thanks to all those who have taken the time to tell us which codes worked for their particular combination of Sky remote version and TV model. Martin Just to say thank you for your list of recommended repairers and particularly for the inclusion of Steve Middleton of Prestwood, UK (steve.middleton@hotmail.co.uk). I have been following your site for some time so was well informed on power supply issues with the Thomson HD box. I initially called Sky and their repairer changed the LNB which initially seemed to help, but not for long. The box finally failed, showing "no satellite signal being received". Consulting your list of repairers, I found Steve Middleton was the nearest to me. I delivered the box to him at 1700 on a Friday and collected it with a repaired PSU the next morning, Saturday, at 0900. He had also, at my request, fitted a 1TB HDD. It's nice to know there are still people around who give very good service at a reasonable price. regards Duncan Thomas I spoke to David in Trench who fixed my Sky Box PSU on xmas eve. A big thank you. Gary. A BIG "thank you" to all those who took the trouble to write to us! That's it for another month, folks! have a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. Latest SatCure eBook updates None. Meet other Satellite TV enthusiasts and put your questions or points of view here Need to buy wholesale stock to sell on eBay or on your web site? Thinking of starting your own business? Click on banner above. All kinds of video tapes transferred to DVD, UK's lowest prices and top quality. Experienced engineer and a personal service. Most tapes just £10 for 2:30 hours or less in quantity. I can't recommend this forum for Expats too highly. It's run and moderated by Kay who puts in a lot of hours to make sure everything runs smoothly. If you are outside the UK or thinking of emigrating then you need to look in here! Looking for a TV or VCR remote control? Look no further. only £18.80 inclusive from SatCure! Your advert could be here! Contact us for details. Electronic kits and gadgets. Start a new hobby! Ideal Presents. News
Re: Removing snow or ice from a satellite dish.
Seasonal Sausages
New Carpets?
Paint the Dish
Monthly Whinge
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60cm minidish
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Readers' Contributions
New Products
Beware the Scam!
Questions
My finger is currently hovering over the 'goto checkout' for a TR84K Triax DDU-SERIES but now re-reading the wiring diagram I may need the labgear. Just wanted to check compatibility.
I have a faulty PSU on an Amstrad DRX550 Sky STB. When I replaced the fuse in the plug there came a bright blue flash from the said unit so I would estimate that the Primary of the PSU is faulty.
Just need a shopping list of connectors to fit a sat TV system.
Request for information before purchase.
Hi,
Dear fellow Mac user!,
Apple Mac printing problem - OS10.5
I have just purchased a satcure RELKIT42 kit (my receiver was showing;'no satellite signal is being received' - but it is! )
Hi, on http://www.satcure.com/accs/page15.htm the descriptions for the 100-00107 "F" connector wall plate and the 4F wall plate state that they both have threaded "F" connectors that go all the way through, but the 100-00107 has a deep wall box recommended and the 4F has a shallow wall-box recommended. Is this correct, or can shallow wall boxes be fitted to both, assuming that the cable comes straight out of the wall.
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/wall_plates.htm#modular
Pace PRD800
Hello, I want to use a Sky satellite dish for Freesat. I am going to purchase a Freesat HD television, what do I need to buy to do this? The dish has not been used for HD before. Do I need special cable, the run will be about 15 mtrs, all connectors required from dish to TV etc?
DISKY2QUAD with quad-output LNB-
Equipment made by: Grundig Sky
Model number on label or rear panel: GDS200
Equipment made by: Thomson
Model number on label or rear panel: DS18215
Happy Customers
THANK YOU
All the symptoms have been cured....
Pixilation on many channels especially BBC HD.
No Signal on many of the HD channels.
The picture does also appear to be better although that may be wishful thinking/hoping
Still, once again thanks for a very speedy delivery and a first class product.
Perhaps you should supply them to Sky to be fitted in the first place.
It would save them a fortune on call outs and refurbished boxes being given out in error.
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URGENT ORDER CHANGE OR CANCELLATION
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Thomson PSU Repair service
THANK YOU - RELKIT33js Capacitor kit mkII for Thomson SkyHD
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