Can't get RAI no more, no more

[blueralph]

Hello,
I live and work in Albany WA. Customer of mine has 2.3m dish Zinwell LNB 20 meters of cable going to house Strong SRT4922B+ going to Samsung TV via HDMI cable. All worked well until we had some violent storms in March this year. I did factory reset of Strong and retuned picked up everything coming out of that satellite except all the channels under 3760, possibly 5 or 6 but one of them is RAI and for an Italian household very neccessary. I have changed LNB, cable and decoder and the result is always exactly the same, the channels on 3760 boom through but no RAI. have taked decoder to another dish set up works perfectly ok. can't exactly remember sat meter readings but far stronger and more quality than the other dish that worked.
just about pulling my hair out on this one, can dishes go faulty ?? Any help or similar problem resolutions would be greatly appreciated, and keep some hair on my head.

[mtv]

All worked well until we had some violent storms in March this year.

There's the clue.

If the decoder works fine on another dish, assuming it's the same size and you've replaced the cable, ensured there are no opens or shorts on the cable/connectors, there are only a few possibilities left.

The dish is out of alignment (moved in the storms) and/or the LNB skew is not adjusted correctly.

Something (tree branches etc) may have also moved and partially blocked the signal path.

You haven't mentioned anything about re-aligning the dish, so I can only presume you haven't done that yet.

[David071]

Hello blueralph,

RAI has been on channel tp 3700 V SR 30000 for some months now. They changed transponder frequency sometime ago. Retune your decoder.

RAI comes through very well here in Perth.

[joezep]

Do a blind scan on Asiasat 5, the Strong SRT4922B+ has it.

[mtv]

Considering the OP said it works (tunes) OK when on a different dish, it sounds like he has the correct transponder/tuning in his decoder, but worth checking.

[blueralph]

Many thanks for the replies.
basically yes to all suggestions.
Retuned and peaked dish replaced LNB tuned skew for peak Dbuv and c/n db.
have reset decoder to factory , blind scan / manual scan just about grabs RAI but still 97% sig 30 % qual, where the next channel up 3760 is 97% 85% quality.
As I said all was well until violent storms.
Also have at one point replaced LNB , Cable and decoder same results. Tried on another dish with lower sig and quality worked like a charm.
many thanks for your help.

[mtv]

What's the pre-viterbi BER and MER readings?

A different LNB may have a slightly different LO, so the tuning frequency may be off, but a blindscan should have allowed for that.

Another possibility is the dish is distorted from the storm. It may not appear to the eye to be damaged, but it may have twisted a bit.

[Thala Dan]

I'm quite a ways out of my depth here......so I will submit the following information with the disclaimer that I have no idea whether it means anything or not.

There are currently four FTA channels on 3700V - Service 3, KAHZAK TV, Yemen TV, and Rai Italia.

Two of these channels are MPEG-2 (Khazak and Yemen), and two are H.264 (Service 3 and Rai).

There is currently no Audio/video on Service 3, so Rai is the only H.264 channel on 3700V. The transponder is DVB-S2.

If I understand correctly (?), the OP is receiving all channels on 3700V except for Rai - the only channel on that transponder that is H.264.

The next transponder to which he refers, 3760H is DVB-S.....all the channels on that transponder are MPEG-2....and are apparently all being received OK.

So, it would seem that the only channel that cannot be received is the only operational H.264 channel on 3700V.........does this mean anything........dunno!

@blueralph...when you say you adjusted the LNB skew, did you adjust whilst tuned to 3700V, and more particularly, were you able to view the Rai signal on-screen whilst adjusting?

MTV....is an H.264 signal likely to be more skittish to tune than a MPEG-2?

That's all I can find that distinguishes Rai from the other stuff that appears to be coming in OK.

PS: 3700V here in NE Vic is:

Pwr: 79dBuV

CN: 10.5-11.6 dB

MER: 11.7-12.5 dB

[mtv]

MTV....is an H.264 signal likely to be more skittish to tune than a MPEG-2?

Yes, from experience marginal signals are more 'fussy' with LNB skew, generally speaking.

You raise a valid point, however, the OP has said when he connects his decoder to another dish (and presumably another LNB) his decoder works fine, so it's obviously tuning OK on a correctly-functioning dish set-up.

Also, given the OP said the loss of reception only occurred as a result of some violent storms, physical/electrical damage to any exposed components (Dish. LNBF, Cable, Connectors, etc) or the dish was moved out of alignment. (or a combination of those things)

If the OP has in fact accurately aligned the dish and LNB, checked all cables and connectors electrically as well as physically and there is nothing obstructing the signal path, there must still be something causing the problem.

If all the above has been performed accurately, this is what suggests to me the dish may have become physically distorted in the storms.

It doesn't take much to twist some of these dishes in strong winds.

It's still possible it's an alignment issue, as we don't know how accurate the OP's signal-measuring instrumentation is.

[irdeto2engineer]

[B52]

Many thanks for the replies.
basically yes to all suggestions.
Retuned and peaked dish replaced LNB tuned skew for peak Dbuv and c/n db.
have reset decoder to factory , blind scan / manual scan just about grabs RAI but still 97% sig 30 % qual, where the next channel up 3760 is 97% 85% quality.
As I said all was well until violent storms.
Also have at one point replaced LNB , Cable and decoder same results. Tried on another dish with lower sig and quality worked like a charm.
many thanks for your help.

1. Is there a 2nd receiver hooked up to the dish ? if yes disconnect it from mains power.. If no go, try this... Rotate the LNB skew 90° then on the receiver change RAI (3700) to Horizontal ... see how you go..

2. It maybe that the storm has warped the dish.. Check the asthmatics of the outer dish ring that it is all on same plane. You can also place a string line crossing from the dish outer ring.. The string line should just touch at the centre crossing ... any gap at the crossing means the dish is warped.

3. Check for any obstetrical like trees which may have grown overnight and block part of the window to the satellite.

4. Last possibility is that a 3700MHz microwave link has been turned on nearby.. Using spectrum analyser slightly move the dish of the satellite.. If you still see a spike at 3700MHz it means you have Terrestrial Inference effecting this frequency.