Problems with SKY Signal ... Please Help

[nickp8]

Since last week the SKY has been going on and off. Picture kept going off and was getting no satellite signal message. Now a few channels display that message permanently.

Attached are photos I have just taken of the signal strength on the SKY+ box in the living room and the SKY box in the spare room. There is no signal strengthbar shown anymore, there used to be one. Also it changes frequently to not locked.

I have tried turning off the power to the boxes and leaving them for a while and then back on. Makes no difference.

We had the dish installed by an independant on the chimeny stack and the wiring run internally when the house was refurbished a few months ago. So when the SKY engineer came to install all he had to do was plug in the two boxes.

Will SKY still send an engineer to re-align the dish or will I have to get an independant to do it? The company who installed the dish cant come till March. Another independant quoted £75+ vat just to re-align the dish!

Could this be a faulty LNB or is more likely an alignment problem?

Thanks.
Nickp.

[Damo121]

Have got exactly the same problem as you with my Sky.

An engineer was due to come out for a pm visit today, but turned up at 10.30 when no one was at home, so is re-booked for Friday.

Will keep you posted if no one else has a solution.

Damo

[SamRadford]

As your Digiboxes are OK, the fault must lie with the dish, LNB, cable or connections.

Sky will not send an "engineer" - just an installer. Unless you've asked for the "special heights team" he will not go on the roof. Normal Sky charge is £65. Not sure whether they charge extra for special heights.

Independents tend to charge around £25 - £35 an hour plus another £50 to go on a roof, because of the trouble it takes to put on safety harnesses, secure the ladders etc.

A few cowboys will risk their lives and do it cheaper without the proper safety equipment. You have to ask yourself whether the cost savings are worth the possible hassle of cleaning blood and brains from your driveway.

[nickp8]

Thanks for the replies.

It is all sorted now. An engineer came round today. Signal strength bar is back and all the channels are ok now.

The sky dish is on the bottom of the aerial pole and the aerial pole had become lose and was tilting away from the chimney stack like / instead of straight |.

He said the person who installed the aerial had not done a very good job. It was a new high gain aerial installed in 2004.

I did use a proper company who charged £45 + vat and come same day. I was watching very nervously as he went on the roof. He had no harness etc. Just put a ladder up, and up he climbed.

The company I used was: http://www.aerial-satellites.co.uk/

Nickp.