Bizarre Satellite Wiring Problem

For months I have had problems on a couple of channels with my Sky
installation. All the others worked fine but these two would break up
immediately.

I live in a block of flats with a communal aerial. The company that
maintains it came around and fitted an amplifier in to the circuit but
the problem persisted.

Trying the box in other rooms showed the channels worked fine there. It
was eventually tracked down to the electronics in the back of the wall
plate.

All the other plates around the flat were plastic fronted. I don't know
whether that made a difference. The problematic one was the only metal
wall plate.

Removing the electronics from the plate and connecting directly to the
cable in the wall gave a perfect picture.

The company tried telling me that there was no point replacing the wall
plate with a new one but I think they were just trying to get out of
fixing it properly.

Any ideas what had happened and whether a replacement wall pate should
work?

On Fri, 02 Mar 2007 22:11:49 +0000, Mike Edwards
mused:

For months I have had problems on a couple of channels with my Sky
installation. All the others worked fine but these two would break up
immediately.

I live in a block of flats with a communal aerial. The company that
maintains it came around and fitted an amplifier in to the circuit but
the problem persisted.

Satellite or aerial?

Trying the box in other rooms showed the channels worked fine there. It
was eventually tracked down to the electronics in the back of the wall
plate.

All the other plates around the flat were plastic fronted. I don't know
whether that made a difference. The problematic one was the only metal
wall plate.

Removing the electronics from the plate and connecting directly to the
cable in the wall gave a perfect picture.

This could be highly dangerous.

The company tried telling me that there was no point replacing the wall
plate with a new one but I think they were just trying to get out of
fixing it properly.

Any ideas what had happened and whether a replacement wall pate should
work?

If it doesn't work with it, ad does without it then it points towards
it being that. If the property and system is maintained by the
landlord then it is usually the landlords responsibility to
replace\repair as neccesary.
--
Regards,
Stuart.

"Mike Edwards" wrote in message
...
For months I have had problems on a couple of channels with my Sky
installation. All the others worked fine but these two would break up
immediately.

I live in a block of flats with a communal aerial. The company that
maintains it came around and fitted an amplifier in to the circuit but
the problem persisted.

Trying the box in other rooms showed the channels worked fine there. It
was eventually tracked down to the electronics in the back of the wall
plate.

All the other plates around the flat were plastic fronted. I don't know
whether that made a difference. The problematic one was the only metal
wall plate.

Removing the electronics from the plate and connecting directly to the
cable in the wall gave a perfect picture.

The company tried telling me that there was no point replacing the wall
plate with a new one but I think they were just trying to get out of
fixing it properly.

Any ideas what had happened and whether a replacement wall pate should
work?

I've seen this several times. I think the plates have a fault that causes
them to act as a notch filter. Something is there is forming a little
resonant circuit that's across the feed. They still pass DC and 22kHz OK
though. With the plate in place the analyser shows that throughloss is
generally around 6 or 10dB (2dB is normal) but there will be one or two
muxes with really deep notches in them. Of course, change polarity/band and
the notch remains in the same place. The excessive throughloss doesn't
matter but the 50dB notch does. A new plate provides a complete cure.

If the plate is 'special finish' it might have been fabricated specially for
the job using a standard tripexer. This is when it could have been damaged.

Bill

Lurch wrote:
On Fri, 02 Mar 2007 22:11:49 +0000, Mike Edwards
mused:

For months I have had problems on a couple of channels with my Sky
installation. All the others worked fine but these two would break up
immediately.

I live in a block of flats with a communal aerial. The company that
maintains it came around and fitted an amplifier in to the circuit
but the problem persisted.

Satellite or aerial?

He said 'Sky installation' what do you think?

On Sat, 3 Mar 2007 09:20:03 -0000, "Adrian A"
mused:

Lurch wrote:
On Fri, 02 Mar 2007 22:11:49 +0000, Mike Edwards
mused:

For months I have had problems on a couple of channels with my Sky
installation. All the others worked fine but these two would break up
immediately.

I live in a block of flats with a communal aerial. The company that
maintains it came around and fitted an amplifier in to the circuit
but the problem persisted.

Satellite or aerial?

He said 'Sky installation' what do you think?

I don't know,hence why I asked.

He also metioned he had an aerial, and that he wandered round the
place plugging the box into various wall outlets. Just wanted to
clarify.

Doesn't matter, I don't want to know anymore.
--
Regards,
Stuart.

Lurch wrote:
For months I have had problems on a couple of channels with my Sky
installation. All the others worked fine but these two would break
up immediately.

I live in a block of flats with a communal aerial. The company that
maintains it came around and fitted an amplifier in to the circuit
but the problem persisted.

Satellite or aerial?

He said 'Sky installation' what do you think?

I don't know,hence why I asked.

The thread was titled 'Bizarre Satellite Wiring Problem' another clue if you
bothered to read.

For months I have had problems on a couple of channels with my Sky
installation. All the others worked fine but these two would break up
immediately.

I live in a block of flats with a communal aerial. The company that
maintains it came around and fitted an amplifier in to the circuit but
the problem persisted.

Trying the box in other rooms showed the channels worked fine there. It
was eventually tracked down to the electronics in the back of the wall
plate.

All the other plates around the flat were plastic fronted. I don't know
whether that made a difference. The problematic one was the only metal
wall plate.

Removing the electronics from the plate and connecting directly to the
cable in the wall gave a perfect picture.

The company tried telling me that there was no point replacing the wall
plate with a new one but I think they were just trying to get out of
fixing it properly.

Any ideas what had happened and whether a replacement wall pate should
work?

I've seen this several times. I think the plates have a fault that causes
them to act as a notch filter. Something is there is forming a little
resonant circuit that's across the feed. They still pass DC and 22kHz OK
though. With the plate in place the analyser shows that throughloss is
generally around 6 or 10dB (2dB is normal) but there will be one or two
muxes with really deep notches in them. Of course, change polarity/band and
the notch remains in the same place. The excessive throughloss doesn't
matter but the 50dB notch does. A new plate provides a complete cure.

If the plate is 'special finish' it might have been fabricated specially for
the job using a standard tripexer. This is when it could have been damaged.

Bill

Mmm, the plate was a matt silver finish. I have no idea about the
production process. I will chase them to replace it with another.
Hopefully the internals will work correctly on this one.

"Mike Edwards" wrote in message
...
If the plate is 'special finish' it might have been fabricated specially
for
the job using a standard tripexer. This is when it could have been
damaged.

Bill

Mmm, the plate was a matt silver finish. I have no idea about the
production process. I will chase them to replace it with another.
Hopefully the internals will work correctly on this one.

I did once encounter an entire boxful of outlets that all had the same
fault. We had fitted about twenty before we found out.

Bill

Bill Wright wrote:
"Mike Edwards" wrote in message
...
If the plate is 'special finish' it might have been fabricated
specially for
the job using a standard tripexer. This is when it could have been
damaged.

Bill

Mmm, the plate was a matt silver finish. I have no idea about the
production process. I will chase them to replace it with another.
Hopefully the internals will work correctly on this one.

I did once encounter an entire boxful of outlets that all had the same
fault. We had fitted about twenty before we found out.

Bill

I expect you were slightly annoyed at that.

On Sat, 3 Mar 2007 00:48:47 -0000, "Bill Wright"
wrote:



|! Any ideas what had happened and whether a replacement wall pate should
|! work?
|!
|!I've seen this several times. I think the plates have a fault that causes
|!them to act as a notch filter. Something is there is forming a little
|!resonant circuit that's across the feed. They still pass DC and 22kHz OK
|!though. With the plate in place the analyser shows that throughloss is
|!generally around 6 or 10dB (2dB is normal) but there will be one or two
|!muxes with really deep notches in them. Of course, change polarity/band and
|!the notch remains in the same place. The excessive throughloss doesn't
|!matter but the 50dB notch does. A new plate provides a complete cure.
|!
|!If the plate is 'special finish' it might have been fabricated specially for
|!the job using a standard tripexer. This is when it could have been damaged.

Surface finish does make a difference to RF. When I was an Engineer there
was a transformer which radiated RF which messed up other electronic bits.
I had it painted with expensive *silver* paint, earthed and cured the
problem.
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Compare and contrast
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