Problems watching hd channels on dstv explora, but only at night???

[Jaco90]

Hi, I really hope someone can help, as I am at my wits end. I had a explora installed in Feb, brand new installation. After 2 weeks I noticed that all the HD channels are unwatchable, as if there is very bad weather, but the strange thing was that it only happens at night. The installer came and couldn't find any fault, after replacing all the cables, because he came during day time. I went to MC and swopped out the explora for a new one, still the same. I convinced the installer to swop out the lnb, problem solved, or so I thought.

The same thing started happening about a month ago, but only at night, roughly from 7 or 8 pm to about 8am. There are no obstructions whatsoever, and surely I can't be expected to replace my lnb every 3 months.

It is a single point installation.

Any thoughts or advice will greatly be appreciated.

 

[Arthur]

Is it a mini-dish?

My first thought is that your dish is slightly misaligned.

The fact that the deterioration happens at night suggests it's related to small changes in the ionosphere - its altitude and shape changes slightly when the atmosphere cools at night. This effect varies seasonally (summer and winter).

Even though the DStv-broadcasting sat is in geostationary orbit, the rising and lowering ionosphere riding at the top of earth's atmosphere affects the electromagnetic signal.

Your dish is probably at an angle sufficient to get just enough for HD in daytime when the ionosphere is higher. As the atmosphere cools the ionosphere drops, changing the angle of incidence of the satellite signal and refracting it at a slightly different angle. In your case, because the dish is not exactly face-on, the changed angle of the incoming signal at night time drops to just below the threshold needed for HD.

Solution: Align your dish properly. Or get a bigger dish.

 

[Segg]

Have the same problem, need to re-align the dish at some point

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

There's a whole thread about this somewhere...

Consensus is that the lnb gets cold.

 

[Arthur]

There's a whole thread about this somewhere...

Consensus is that the lnb gets cold.

Also a possibility. However, on the whole LNBs seem to work OK in places where is gets really really cold on winter nights, like the Freestate Highlands.

 

[mercurial]

There's a whole thread about this somewhere...

Consensus is that the lnb gets cold.

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=824179

 

[sellomap]

Hello guys,

I hope you can help me. I recently moved to Alberton in complex. I have an DStv Explora. I have connected it to the provided wall points (two) via the latest DStv Switch. I do get a signal BUT, not all channels, especially HD, are showing. They complain about weak signal. I have observed that indeed the signal is weak. Also, Catch-up content has not yet been downloaded to my Explora (this is not a new Explora. It was working 100% with a SLNB when i was in Eastern Cape). I tried changing signal frequencies and at one point i received all the channel BUT in SD.

Is there something that needs to be done to the dish? i am not aware of any complaints form my neighbours. I share the same dish setup with three other people and i am not sure if they have an Explora or are experiencing similar issues. Any advise?

thanks

 

[WAslayer]

are you certain that both wall points are for dstv..? one point may very well be for standard free to air television like sabc/etv and the other one for dstv.. i would start there.. after that, i had a similar issue with my explora and hd channels.. i had to buy the new slnb to get my issue resolved.. the previous model with 4 ports was faulty while the new model with 3 ports is more stable..