install / upgrade help needed!!!

[Lee904]

hi all,

sorry if this is a bit long winded

my current setup is a basic sky digi box with a single cable running to a single lnb on a mini dish.

i recently purchased 50m of wf100 shotgun cable from http://www.mediachannels.co.uk/

& an octo lnb from http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=280145172021&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=018

i intend to have sky hd in the living room & sky+ in 3 bedrooms so i have run cable from living room (original box) & three bedrooms. i took my time running the cable & there are no sharp bends or kinks in any of the runs.

i am using f-connectors which were supplied with the cable & are a good fit.

i changed the lnb this morning after pinching up all fixing bolts on the dish to make sure of no movement. i then connected all 8 cables to the lnb. when i conected the box in the living room i got the message no satellite signal being recieved on either cable. i then took the box to 1 of the bedrooms & instantly got a signal on both cables.

i then disconnected all cables from the lnb & put just the living room cables into no 1 & 2 connectors. no signal on either. i tried this on 3-4, 5-6, & 7-8 connectors. all no signal

i then put my original single lnb back on the dish & connected 1 of the new living room cables to it. no signal. i then put the original cable in & got a signal.

i then put the octo lnb back on & connected the original cable to no1 connector. no signal. same on no2, but got a signal on no3.

this is where i have had to leave it at the mo as i have a bad back & being up & down a ladder all day has taken its toll

so, have i got a dodgy lnb? some dodgy cable? or is this normal because i only have 1 signal coming from sky into an octo lnb? will this right itself once i have upgraded my subs or should i get a single signal from either of the 8 outputs on the lnb?

my head is hurting

lee.

 

[Lee904]

anyone?

 

[Lee904]

someone throw me a bone

could someone advise of a quick/simple way to test my cable (wf100) runs, so atleast i can be sure they are ok?


mods, could you move this if it is more likely to get a response elsewhere

 

[Jim Grim Reaper]

Hi Matey,
Almost certainly a dodgy cable in my view.... I had a similar problem. Moving the box to another room cannot make a difference apart from the cable being in a different position so that it is connecting/disconnecting as move it.

To prove this, try setting up in the main room, and wiggle the cable (with the signal strenght screen showing on the TV). My guess is that you will get a signal some of the time, even if only sporadically, which will indicate a dodgy cable.

Hope that helps

James

 

[Lee904]

hi jim,

i gave it another bash today & used the original lnb & kept swaping the cables & moving the box around the house. still nothing, so i ended up removing all 4 new cable runs so i had them all on the floor in the living room. i reconected the original cable & put a double male joiner into the end by the box. i then tested this with 2 extension cables i already had. 1 a 1m monster cable the other an old one i made up when i had ntl. both of these worked. i then went through all the new cables & couldnt get a signal on any of them.

so i got on the phone to mediachannels who i got the cable from & after a 15 min conversation the bloke was adamant that there couldnt be a fault with the cable, though he could not come up with a reason for it not working. he said to send back one of the lengths for them to test.

could someone advise how i can also test the cable?

thought this was going to be easy

 

[ted26]

You could do a simple test to make sure you have no short on the cable with an ohm meter by putting your meter on the centre core in the f connector and the outer ring!

you should get a highest reading from your meter proving there is no short!

then you can short out the centre core with the outer ring and test at the other end of the cable from outer ring to core and you should get a low ohm or buzzing on some meters

this proves the 2 cores are continuos!

I would also be very suprised if it was the cable but it has been known

 

[Lee904]

cheers ted,

im gona pop in to maplins tomorow to buy a meter. found this on there site, will it do the job for me?
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=218640&doy=2m9


thanks again,

lee

 

[Ailegs]

Yeah that would do it (new to me) but what was meant, was to use a multimeter.

Just out of curiosity, roughly how long are the lengths to each room? I remeber reading that shotgun cable is not very good over 20m and if the Living room is located further than that, then that would be the problem. (I am assuming mind)

 

[Lee904]

longest run (living room) 14m