For a free quote call:
0800 121 8611
For a free quote call:
0800 121 8611
If you reside in Great Britain you already know that the weather isn’t often particularly ’Great’!
What might surprise you though is just how much of an influence the weather can have on your Sky TV equipment, so we’ve put together the Top 5 ways the weather can dump a storm cloud over your entire Sky TV viewing schedule!
One thing that people often underestimate is the amount their Sky picture can be affected by rain itself.
This is due to the cloud/rain drops literally absorbing the microwave radio frequency (RF) from the satellite
itself and decreasing the signal strength.
Different size drops even have a different impact on the signal power!
However, if you find you often lose signal in light or normal rain showers, either something is holding water, or being affected by it (such as a tree sagging, hedge thickening as it soaks in water) in the dishes line of sight, or water is getting into the cable or LNB.
The LNB is an arm like device that sits facing the dish and can become loose, covered with Snow or quite easily knocked out of alignment.
The LNB must be fitted so that it sits at the exact focal point; a couple of millimetres either way will reduce the amount of signal and increase the amount of interference. The LNB “skew” (rotational position) must also be correct, otherwise signals of opposing polarisation will interfere with each other.
Many problems can be solved over the phone by our technical team, but unfortunately a damaged or incorrectly aligned LNB is not one of them and you will need to book an engineer to attend and fix it in person.
The cables that run from your Sky dish into the box are called the coaxial cables – damage to these
cables is likely to disrupt your viewing and cause problems with your signal.
For example, in strong winds the cables might become loose and fall away from the dish, or heavy rain could allow water to get into the cabling. This will usually result intermittent signal loss or even a total loss of signal.
In cases where the external cabling has been damaged, professional help is usually required. Sometimes it’s as simple as reconnecting a loose connection, but in some cases a whole new cable run may be required. For example, if water has breached the cable sheathing and caused them to rust.
The F Connectors connect your coaxial cable to your Sky box and LNB. Adverse weather can cause them to
come loose or even fall away from the box or LNB, resulting in intermittent signal loss or total loss of
signal.
On Sky Plus and Sky Plus HD boxes, there are two connectors and a loose F Connector on input 2 may result in failed or poor quality recordings.
To check that the F Connector at the box end isn’t loose, simply turn the bolt clockwise with your hand until it feels secure. Then check your signal using the settings on your Sky box. If you don’t notice any improvement, there may be a more complicated problem with your equipment requiring an engineer.
If you notice your Sky TV picture scrambles, pixelates, receive a blue screen or your recordings fail then
this could be down your satellite dish being knocked out of alignment by wind.
Your Sky dish needs to point in a specific direction to align with the Satellite. In fact, if you take a look up and down your street you will see all the dishes are pointing in the same direction. This is because Sky dishes are aligned with at a specific satellite called Astra 2D at 28.2 degrees East of South.
There are some products on the market that will help you find the Astra 2D satellite, but due to the complexity of the task we strongly advise giving us a call on 0800 121 8611.
Generally speaking, if it’s bad weather causing interference with your equipment, the best thing to do is to turn off your sky box and wait until the bad weather passes. If you still receive interference, no signal or any other issue the problem may require an engineer. If you are a Sat Insure customer please call us on 0800 121 8611.
Don’t forget to check our Technical Support Area for more useful information, tips and tricks to keep your Sky TV running smoothly, whatever the weather!