sky signal problem

[mjhtog]

I receive sky through a dish shared by 6 small blocks of flats. I can not receive some of the channels I am paying for - I get a screen saying no satellite signal is being received or the program freezes. I am not permitted a dish of my own as my building is grade II listed. I have an old Thompson sky digibox. Can anyone suggest a way of improving the signal. I had been told a more modern sky+ box would help but I am not sure of this, as I have read that I would need two cables and this is not possible.As a pensioner on a very limited income I need a cheap solution or I will have to stop paying £20 a month for Sky TV.

[PaulSky]

Get whoever runs the dish to check it's alignment. Odds are it has been installed badly. Does anyone else in your block of flats get the same issue? If it's just you then it could be many things including cabling from dish to you. Also what are your signal levels like?

[Kenedin]

Also, you could try to eliminate the box as the problem. If possible, ask a neighbour nicely if they would mind you hooking up your box to their cable. If you are still getting problems with the same channels, either your box is faulty, or as PaulSky said, there may be a problem elsewhere. As you mention it's an old Thomson, don't discount the possibility of capacitor failure.

[mjhtog]

signal level is poor. I am furthest from the dish - no chance of it being realigned. I can get channels during the day when no-one else seems to have their tv on.

[rudolph hucker]

try reconnecting all the cables..
humax freesat is the best box for holding a good signal

or try a pace 2600c1 box from e-bay...second best box for holding a good signal after the humax...these can be picked for 40 quid

[reddwarfcrew]

Neither boxes suggested will receive sky.

[rudolph hucker]

pace will. i have one here...using the white card no problems...it's a very good box in fact...only runs rgb so not good if you want a good picture

[rudolph hucker]

here one for 40 quid
Pace Sky Digital Digibox box receiver 2600C1 Inc Remote on eBay (end time 30-Apr-10 15:47:48 BST)

will be far better then an old thomson box
i would do as suggested above first..try one your neighbours boxes

[mjhtog]

Thanks to all for this. I will speak to a neighbour but I don't know any that pay for extra channels like me. Can I use a sky+ box without two cables? If so, is it plug and play or do I need an engineer to tune it in? I know you need two cables to record one prog and watch another.

[Kenedin]

Take your digibox and card to a neighbour ideally nearer the dish, and preferably at a time of day when you are having these problems. If there's only one feed at your neighbour's place, put it into Dish Input 1 at the back of the box. Then switch on at the mains, wait 3 minutes for the EPG listings to load, then run through the problem channels and see what happens. If the channels are OK, you may have a fault somewhere in the distribution system to your block or your particular cable within the block. If you still have problems with the channels at your neighbour's place, the chances are the box is faulty.