The SatCure Blog # 145   IN THIS ISSUE: News Monthly Whinge Readers' Contributions New Products Questions Happy Customers Free eBooks! October 1st, 2010   http://www.satcure.co.uk See Newsletter Archive

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News   September 18, 2010 Nicola gave birth today! Here's Nicola and sister, Sophie, with baby, Beatrice. These are the girls who run the Sales office. Nicola was forced to return to work immediately after the birth because another staff member, Sylvia, was off sick. However, she will now take a fortnight's leave to rest and to be with her baby. Apologies for any mistakes or delays caused by Nicola's temporary absence. Please do us a huge favour. If you want to wish her well, DON'T email - leave a message for Nicola here in the forum: http://notonyourtelly.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=11500 Please DON'T use email because, if you swamp the Sales Office with emails, you'll delay some orders, which would be unfair to customers. September 30, 2010 It is officially winter on our Greek island! Today we had our first little rain shower on the island for nearly six months. The farmers are looking very pleased. October 1st, 2010 "Kalo meena" (on the first day of the month, we all greet each other with "happy new month" or, literally, "good month". It always raises a smile when a "foreigner" like me uses this greeting. I'm flying back to the UK, in a few days time, to visit friends and family. I have a computer there so normal service will be interrupted only while I'm travelling. Does your Samsung Sky HD Digibox refuse to wake up? If so, click HERE. Sky rolls out Anytime-plus Sky Anytime+ is available at no extra cost to your existing Sky TV subscription. To access Sky Anytime+, you'll need a Sky+HD box and a Sky Broadband subscription in a Sky network area. Then, simply connect your box and router together by choosing the connectivity option that best suits you (set-up fees may apply). For the latest news, click HERE. Do you use DropBox? Many people cause problems for their friends by sending photos and other large files via email. You shouldn't do this because it slows down email for evryone and it can overload the "in-basket" of the recipient. It also makes your message more likely to be flagged as "spam". I use DropBox to transfer files between my computer in the UK (which records TV programmes then compresses them) and my computer here. My wife uses DropBox to send photos to her friends instead of using email. DropBox is free software which runs on MacOSX, Linux and windows. You can get it by clicking my referral link HERE. (By using this link you should get 2.25GB of free space instead of 2.0GB. Every little helps!) Christmas Approaches In December we usually get swamped with orders for last-minute Christmas Presents. We do our best to get orders shipped but still receive some complaints that the goods arrive late. Please think about what you want to buy your friends and family now and order as early as possible. (I use Amazon. I think that Amazon "wish lists" are brilliant!)   Monthly Whinge I still get people sending me cryptic messages like "i acnt sent u a email plz let me i no i cant right wel becos i had no edercayshun but u shudnt descrimernate joe". Our email spam filter was introduced years ago and it's extremely effective at minimising junk mail. There's no way I'm going to turn it off, because messages from serious customers will once again be swamped beneath a flood of junk mail and messages from idiots. However, please note that the spam filter hates words that relate to medical conditions, health, or certain parts of the body. This means that well-meaning readers trying to write to me about my (now perfect, thanks) eyesight (or to Nicola about her baby) might have their messages rejected. Sorry about that but the answer is simple (and I explain it every month under "Readers Contributions"): Post your message on the FORUM. You can do so anonymously if you wish, simply by chosing a username like "Joe90". Guards guards! I see that you can now buy special guards to "protect your child from your Hi-Fi equipment". Here's an example, picked at random: http://tinyurl.com/37bkt3l Doesn't it make you yearn for the days before "Child Protection" when parents and teachers were allowed (even encouraged) to help their children protect themselves? If I had touched any of my dad's precious equipment, he would have stroked my backside with his leather belt. Maybe that's a bit extreme, but my dad certainly didn't waste money on guards. When my own children were young, we didn't punish them like that but we used "time out" procedures, which were equally, if not more, effective (and didn't leave bruises). We certainly didn't spend money on guards. Children are so well protected these days that they are at risk of being unable to fend for themselves in later life. We are in danger of turning into a nation of wimps. Readers' Contributions If you have problems with our email form "spam filter", please post your contribution in the public forum. If you want a mention in this monthly newsletter, just ask. I will then decide whether your message is suitable for inclusion or whether I should simply include a link to it here. No contributions this month so here's one from me:- My neighbour asked if anyone could repair his Ferguson LCD TV. He had snapped the TV aerial socket off and his attempts to glue and solder it had not been a total success. I volunteered, although the last time I mended a TV set was so long ago that I burnt my arm on the EHT valve! Thankfully, the tuner is part of a small input module which is held by only two screws and unplugs in a jiffy. This is an old LCD TV, built when "reliability" and "ease of repair" still meant something. Having removed all the screening metalwork and traces of DIY glue, I was able to solder the socket back in place. Inside I repaired the coils, which had been detached by someone poking around with a screwdriver, then soldered a single strand of wire between the broken centre pin and the PCB. It's not very neat but my eyesight isn't quite as good as it once was! Having reassembled the input module and fitted it back in place, I made a small "fly-lead" and plugged it into the aerial socket. It is held to the white cable clip on the rear panel with a blue cable tie. Now the owner doesn't need to touch the somewhat fragile aerial socket. He can connect his aerial cable to the end of the "fly-lead" instead, with a simple adapter. I strongly recommend the use of a fly-lead. Fix it to the TV or mounting bracket so that, if somebody trips over the main aerial cable, it won't break the socket in the TV set.   Batteries not Included Here on our Greek island, the mains electricity gets switched off fairly often while workers replace ancient cables along the roadside and also during storms in winter. My laptop battery lasts only a couple of hours so a power cut lasting several hours can affect my business. I bought two 6 volt 200AH deep-cycle batteries and installed them, temporarily, in my office. They drive a 12v DC -> 115v AC sine-wave inverter (from America), which keeps my computers and monitors running for up to eleven hours. The smaller 12v "leisure" battery has been there for a few months, keeping my wireless router going. To charge the batteries, I ordered an "intelligent" charger from Amazon. This manages to supply up to 15 Amps. I was surprised by the lightness of this charger so I dismantled it. Inside is a simple-looking switch-mode power unit. When I can afford it, I'll install photovoltaic panels on the roof to charge the batteries. 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.)   New Products  None this month. (top) Questions - 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.) My location is: bh22 Equipment made by: Pace Sky Model number on label or rear panel: none We got a new Sky digibox 4 years ago. From the very beginning we got faulty channels, then when we were given a new Sky card & we lost some channels and got the channels we hadnt had before. Then we continually lost signal and channels and the box froze. So we replaced it with our Pace, which is some 8 years old but hasn't been used that much. Phoned Sky & they updated the box and for the first time we got every single channel we should have. This lasted for 6 weeks. Now we are back to continually finding we have NO signal whatsoever. There's no problem with weather, trees or local transmitters, etc. I phone Sky and they tell me to get an engineer for £60. I tell them that as a pensioner I don't have this sort of cash to give away. It is my belief that we accidentally left the Sky box plugged into the telephone for too long and Sky has downloaded a problem to make us pay for an engineer. What do you think? Does Sky operate this sort of "make them pay for an engineer"? It does seem that perhaps we should cancel Sky and get Freeview. Jo You appear to be suffering from paranoia. BskyB have better things to do than create problems for themselves. The telephone line is able to receive information from your Digibox (about programmes you've watched) but it can't do anything else. BTW Sky employ technicians or "installers", not "engineers". None of them has an engineering degree (and I have - so I'm touchy about this!) I'm afraid that Sky is really a service for the well-off and, if you can't afford the occasional visit of a technician, Freeview might be a better option. However, bear in mind that ALL modern electronic receiving equipment is "built to a price" and reliability is generally not good. Also please note that I get lots of emails from people in your area who use the Rowridge transmitter and get problems with foreign interference. Maybe your best course of action would be to cancel your Sky subscription (so you can save some money). Then call out a local installer to fix you up with a reliable system. In the meantime, your Sky Digibox with cancelled card should continue to provide all the free channels (BBC, ITV, CH4, Five, Sky News etc.) You might also consider swapping your Sky box for a Freesat box. However, it will only work reliably if your dish system is OK. And it sounds to me as if it might not be. Grainy RF picture on 37" TV Hi, I have a Global 8 Way Loft box, which is wired as it should be with the return sat feed, etc. The loft box is only piping the Sat feed at the moment and pipes out to 5 Rooms (4 bedrooms and lounge) The bedrooms are linked by Magic eyes. All cabling is Profigold 7.0mm 110dB Triple Shielded cable. All bedrooms are connected by Profigold 24k Oxgen free antenna cables.  All works fine, until I upgraded my 15" TV to a 37" LCD in one of the bedrooms. The picture isnt dreadful, just a bit grainy. I have read through the your website and understand the restrictions on the RF feed. But is there anyway I can improve my signal into the LCD TV? Is there a high grade wall plate that I can install? As I am connected via a standard (cheap) wall plate and I imagine there is some signal loss there? Or can I bypass the loft box just for that one room? I have a single feed from the Sky dish, 2 sky boxes (1 in use, the other is spare). Could I split the Sat signal before the loft box and connect a direct cable into my 2nd sky box? Or should I change the loft box to a different one? Or any other suggestions would be really helpful? Many thanks in advance for your help. Best Regards, James W.   Hi, James. Unfortunately, I have little to add to the information on our web site. The Sky Digibox RF Output is obviously designed to feed a bedroom TV with a maximum screen size of 28". I wouldn't expect to expand the picture to 37" without visible degradation. Of course "graininess" is subjective so it may be possible to make a small improvement that might make it more acceptable. Place your TV near your Sky Digibox and connect a double-screened cable from RF1 or RF2, on the Digibox, to the aerial input on your TV. That will give you a comparison to aim for since that's the best picture you'll get from the Digibox RF outputs. Now move your TV as close to the Loft Box as you can get it and connect the "Return feed" cable, from the living room, to your 37" TV set. Now you are seeing what the Loft Box is seeing. If the cable is poor or too long, the picture will be worse. Replace the cable or try a 6dB amplifier at the RF2 Digibox outlet. If the picture is not worse, then you'll know that the Loft Box is receiving a good signal (or as good as it gets). A Loft Box amplifies the signal slightly and should not degrade it. So connect a cable from one of the Loft Box outputs and plug it into the TV. Now you are seeing the Loft Box signal. It should be as good as the input. These simple tests will enable you to trace the fault, if there is one. BTW, you might like to compare the price of our own WF100 leads with the "Profigold" leads (so-called because they make maximum profit for the companies selling them!) http://www.satcure.com/accs/page7.htm#rfleads I am considering "ground" mounting a satellite dish on a parapet wall on the roof of my house which has 350mm width copings. My intention is to double up the coping where the sat dish is installed allowing a strong fixing through both thicknesses of coping stone.  The question is: are any of your ground mounts suitable for this purpose, if so which? Also, is the width of coping stone wide enough and would the fixing be sufficiently strong to cope with the mast flexing in high wind in an exposed position on top of the roof? Thanks in anticipation for your assistance. Bill   Hi, Bill. Unfortunately, I'm not a structural engineer and I think that's what you need. Happy Customers  THANK YOU Just to say that I was impressed with your speed and efficiency. The replacement supply arrived very quickly indeed and seems to have rectified all the faults my Sky box had. Well done and thanks again. Barry S. THANK YOU Thanks so much. The order arrived the following day and was just as expected. Fantastic Service. Dave David B THANK YOU Kit ordered Friday, arrived and fitted by Saturday afternoon. Superb service and now I've got a better picture than I've ever had! Thanks again. Steve P. THANK YOU I would like to say I am extremely impressed with your sales and support departments in dealing with my order and my subsequent problem with a wrongly installed capacitor. I am particularly impressed with your ordering service which lets you know where your item is every step of its journey, I wish other companies would use this service. Thanks again. Paul M. THANK YOU First rate delivery. First rate goods. Even more important was the quick and extremely fast response to an email request about(for me) a puzzling problem. The fact that this was sent late Friday evening and was a good pointer to help me sort it out makes the service even more remarkable. What more can I say? Oh Yes - THANKS. George T. THANK YOU Having never realised that our problems of missed recordings and slow remote response could be caused by such a problem with the power supply, I only discovered your website once we lost signal on both receivers and I searched for a solution. The box still powered up OK so I was confident we only needed the capacitor kit. I couldn't wait to receive the RELKIT33JS and attempt the repair myself, ordered late Friday. You despatched on the Monday and it arrived with me on Tuesday, so very pleasantly surprised with speed of service. Once received I set to following the instructions provided and all went well, once completed plugged back in and switched on; moment of truth, will it work or have I done something wrong which will make it go bang? Sigh of relief; all was quiet and the standby light came on, so a good sign. Still anxious waiting for the box to boot up but no need to worry as box came on. The only problem was on subscribed channels it was now telling me that I had the wrong box for the card, which couldn't be as it was the same box and card. Anyway a quick call to Sky, card reset and channels reactivated, and all is working well again. Sky couldn't explain but it may have been my fault as, whilst the box was out of action, I did insert the card into my old Sky box, which of course didn't work as it said it was the wrong card for the box! Anyway, VERY SATISFYING FIXING YOUR OWN BOX FOR SUCH A REASONABLE PRICE. Thanks again. Keep up the good work. John P. Rochdale THANK YOU Thanks for the prompt service. You kept me well informed as to when the order would be fulfilled and when it was posted out to me. The adapter was well packaged to minimise damage. I will have no problems in recommendig you to anyone who requires assistance in resolving Satellite receiver problems. Thanks again. Mick H. THANK YOU Just wanted to say thanks for the very prompt dispatch and despite not having soldered for many years now, I'm happy to report that my Sky HD box is now running fine with the new capacitors! Regards, Jonathan U. I am about to install a system using your DDU112 loft box. I have three living area's in my property, so might locate the SkyHD box in any one of them, so when I carry out the wiring I intend to take two wires to each of the three locations. Looking at your wiring diagram I would normally use a 304115 in one location and two PSW132 in the two other locations. Is it possible for me to use 304115 in all three locations, so that when the system is installed I could use sky+ boxes connected to any of the 304115 wall plates rather than using the PSW132 wall plates? I realize I will have to adjust the connections at the DDU112 dependent on which of the living areas the SkyHD box was located. Kind regards M S. The 304115 contains a SAT1 + Radio + TV triplexer, the same as the PSW132, so it ought to be fine. Let us know how you get on! A BIG "thank you" to all those who took the trouble to write to us!   That's it for another month, folks! (top)   Latest SatCure eBook updates None. All eBooks have been moved to a more reliable secure server which requires a username and password. If you can't access it, please contact us (wherever you bought it - SatCure or The Cool Book Shop) with your proof of purchase and ask for the new download information, stating exactly which eBook(s) you purchased and the EBK number(s). (top)

The SatCure Forum 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.   Expat Forum 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!   REMOTES Looking for a TV or VCR remote control? Look no further. Same Day Remote   Sky+ Remotes only £18.80 inclusive from SatCure! Your advert could be here! Contact us for details. http://www.tnt-audio.com is an audio enthusiasts' website, run purely for the fun of it. No money involved at all! Take a look. Sky Freesat 20 things you need to know How to fit extra TV points DIY door alarm guide The Freeview bible Installing Sky Digital and Freesat Learn Electronics by building Guide to Magic Eyes Sky Digibox Manual How to use a multimeter Time for a new TV? Piping TV around your house Sky Remote control guide Sky remote codes book Troubleshooting Sky Repairing Sky receivers Repairing receiver PSUs Double your earnings Television magazine articles Electronic kits and gadgets. Start a new hobby! Ideal Presents. www.Electrokits.co.uk