Rick's Notes
January 2005

2005/01/11

2005/01/14

...now. 9:04pm (CET). I had been intending to watch "The Out-of-Towners" on ITV3. But exactly to the moment that the film started (and I mean as the Paramount logo is animating), the reception died. Totally. Weird? I think so. I hope to watch "Scary Movie 2", but what worries me is the Digibox isn't receiving a damn thing right now. Not even a brief 20 second snippet of a signal. I tried unplugging it, and reconnecting it - ten minutes later - but this has not helped. There is, right now, not the faintest whisper of a signal.

I'm afraid this is how the box 'died' in the past. Why on earth does it do this now? In fact, why does it do it at all? I know from the past that it is not a 'thermal' issue as the box stays dead (when it does so) for rather longer than a cool-down period. Couple this with the long time spend at 19.2°E, this Digibox has, surely, been marching along for some three months, has it not?

If it is any help in diagnosing the problem, usually the signal strength is empty, as is (obviously) the signal quality.

Plenty of potential theories can arise. A good one could be water ingress into the cabling. It is possible, but - you know - this is Brittany, it isn't like we don't have our fair share of wind.

My pet theories are:

• Condensation in the LNB.
  Tonight is like last night, and with a cold east wind (that only began yesterday). Chance occurrence of two things that make the LNB damp inside, mucking up the reception.
   
  
• Dampness in the cabling affecting the signal.
  Again, entirely plausible, but it isn't as if the setup hasn't had rain before.
   
  
• Broken receiver
  Good behaviour for three months than suddenly 'wham-o!'? Longer lasting than a typical thermal problem would be? I don't like the fault pattern - it doesn't make sense.
   
  
• Murdoch conspiracy
  Let's not forget that almost every Digibox was once a Sky subscriber. Somewhere there will be a list of boxes and what sort of subscription they are connected to - Sky, FreeView, porn, etc etc.
  It is extremely unlikely, but the technology does exist which would allow Sky to 'kill' unregistered boxes at random intervals. It'd work just like the card matching sequence, only it'd write a 'duration' into the NVRAM - perhaps telling it to work only after ten cold-starts, or something.
  Okay, this is patently the most unlikely reason for a box fault, but it isn't entirely unplausible, just extremely extremely unlikely - in the extreme...

1:30am (CET). Couldn't watch "Scary Movie 2". No signal lock whatsoever. Still no lock. I'll leave the box off overnight and see how it is tomorrow.

2005/01/15

2005/01/16

So at three in the afternoon (and it is 4°C, brrr) I decided to make some changes. I cut out the splice with garden shears (!) and respliced the cable. Perhaps dampness had gotten into the join? I then pushed my dish over and, tediously, realigned it so I knew I was getting the strongest possible signal.

This led to the interesting situation where the box told me there was a signal (manually tuning into the BBC South transponder - 10.818 V), led to the interesting condition of a signal strength that was pretty damn strong, but no lock.

• The box had not previously been glitching. The previous loss of signal was the night before, most likely weather related.
• The critical loss happened at the exact moment that the EPG changed for the movie I was watching on ITV3.
• And, unlike previous signal losses where the box does occasionally re-lock, this time it denied there was anything to receive. I had it unplugged for a day, same result, so this was unlikely to be a thermal problem.

The picture below is BBC South, again, as it should appear...

2005/01/21

2005/01/22

The theory, at the moment, is along the lines of:

Something like condensation is in the LNB. This is why the thing seems to be affected by rapid temperature changes, and mostly between 8pm and 2am (i.e. when all of the good stuff is on!). I still have might doubts about the box as analogue worked flawlessly while the box refused to lock. Certainly, it seems strange to me that the box's signal meter is so jumpy. Either there's a (partial) signal or there isn't. There isn't a strong signal (but no lock) one moment and sweet fa the next. I'll believe it when the sat-finder responds like that!
Thus, possibly two interacting problems. A less than optimal setup with a Digibox containing a less than optimal tuner. By definition, both parts have to be on their best behaviour for the thing to work. If anything starts to feel like I feel in the morning, whammo:

I've just turned on the TV (about ten minutes later) and the channels list has finally been loaded (so I guess it can lock once in a while). Switching to channel 954 responds with my favourite message. And trying manual tuning on the transponder shows a very weak signal. Mmmm...

So this, I'm afraid, will have to go in as another complaint of the Digibox. An analogue signal 'fades out' as reception worsens. Well, I'd actually like a signal strength meter that 'fades out' in the same manner. Half a bar one second and nothing the next doesn't tell me an awful lot. In fact, I have had quarter of a bar of signal when testing the setup outside last year - and the dish was pointing at the ground!

Analysis? I'm going to have to shut up and put up until I get some money in. Then it'll be a brand new LNB, out of a pack on it's own and not a 30 euro kit with receiver, and brand new wiring. It'd be nice to have a minidish, but as you can imagine these things are really rare over here! Metronic make an interesting see-through dish. I might look to getting one of those, though I like the wind resistance of the mesh dish. It doesn't move even in strong wind. My solid dish used to end up in fields and alsorts!

It is 12:23 CET. No signal. Going out now so I'll leave it and see how it is later on. Bye for now.

Later... 17:30 CET. Everything appears to be working just fine - for now. The difference? The temperature (inside and out) has only changed by one degree, it is now 10°C outside, it was 11°C. Oh, and it has clouded over and begun to rain. Previously the sky was clear (but the Sky wasn't, ha ha boom (or something)).

2005/01/26

Return to Rick's Notes index

Return to Digibox index