Sky dish

[sthecabbie]

How long is a dish good for. I am in a block of flats and we have 1 dish that serves the whole building and it lokks like it has been up there since building was built which is 20 years. We often lose picture on TV the pixcels get scrabbled and its impossible to watch TV not good as we in tier 4 and isolating. I am aware bad weather can mess the signal up but at present we only have light rain. I was wondering if it was time for a new dish and maybe I should have a wjord with the manager of building, cannot have virgin as it appears sky have the monoply here.

[Mark39]

I don't think the dish itself has a finite life. My dish was replaced after 20 years when I upgraded to Sly Q, but was still perfectly serviceable.

The LNB on the arm of the dish does, however deteriorate over time, typically after 5 years or so,  as can the cabling to the dish, after perhaps a longer period. Both can lead to loss or reduction in the signal level, to a point where it becomes marginal in less than good weather conditions, causing pixelation.

[TimmyBGood]

@sthecabbie 

Probably worth the building management having the system maintainer (which won't be Sky) check signal strength and alignment before moving on to potential hardware replacement if required.

[nigea99]

hi @sthecabbie as the others have said, if you are experiencing problems it is worth getting your building management to get the system checked out.

It is quite likely that the dish itself is not a problem - often the larger dishes are made from aluminium - I used to have pre-astra 1.2m dish (so it dated back to 1988) which was still in great condition when I switched it over a few years ago. The mounts however were showing their age - although these are only likely to be a problem when any realignement is needd etc than causing a signal problem.

As mentioned the LNB support arms may be a problem - again it depends on what they made from (mine were again aluminium)

LNB technolgy has changed a lot over years but does not iteslf mean that they would fail - it all depends on how well waterproofed they  and the connections are. I changed my LNBs every few years but that was not due to failure.