Loose wire on dish

[AJ900]

Hi

I couldn't find a tech/install forum so I hope someone knowledgeable here can perhps help? Mods please feel free to move it if there is a more appropriate place after all, sorry and thanks.

I've just noticed a cable disconnecred and hanging loose off the LNB,  see photo. 

Sky appears to be working fine plus I haven't noticed any recent problems or glitches, but I am querying this as a precaution. 

I have no idea how long it has been like that.

We did have multiroom a long while ago now but later got rid of it because it was almost never used ... wondering if it could have been from then, just disconnected so we could not take advantge of a useful (?) connection.

We also switched to Q not too long back and there needed to be something done at the dish as a result, and maybe that included a new LNB or connection that maybe has worked loose, or maybe a new LNB didn't need all the previous connections made?

So then ...

1 - should all cables present in an initial installation continue to be connected-up through changes thereafter? 

Or 2 - is it maybe reasonable to think that the hanging cable was to do with previous multiroom but not removed when we stopped that?

Or 3 - is this in fact something that shouldn't be present? If so, need to be checked over by Sky? It would only take a few mins up a ladder however for me to reconnect it and see if service/reception is in some way improved despite already appearing to be fine.

I'm veering toward the logic of having dropped multiroom being behind it and the cable not cleared away, though that was min 7 years ago and I would have expected to notice the drooping cable way before today!

Any thoughts/assumptions would be welcome, thanks!

[bob1234]

@AJ900Unless you asked for a hybrid LNB as you wanted to keep an existing freesat box working then they will have provided a Q LNB and disconnected any other leads as the Q LNB only has 2 outputs which the Sky main box needs.

[nigea99 · Accepted solution]

hi @AJ900 I think the cable is from your older & no longer used multiroom. 

I am not an expert regarding the hybrid LNBs but I think they have fitted one so if that was connected then the other end could be connected to a freesat box or TV  but for freesat you wouldn't necessairly need both cables 

(Standard SKY Q LNBs are not as large and do not have outlets for other connections that yours appears to have)

Unlike with SKY Q, Two cables are not needed by SKY HD & freesat to work to watch all channels - you only need two to be able to watch (or record) one channel and record another at the same time.

SKY Q requires both cables the ones nearest the dish - one to carry the Horizontally polarised channels and the other for vertical     - they look in place for you.

It should not have come loose but I don't think it is likely to cause you any problems - but personally I would either tape it up or get it connected to the output it has come adrift from - leaving it exposed to the elements could allow it to corrode and thus never be useful again 

[nigea99]

hi again @AJ900 it does look like a hybrid LNB as kindly posted by @Godfrey in this discussion :

https://community.sky.com/t5/Sky-Q/What-is-a-hybrid-LNB-in-reality/m-p/3651548

Bare in mind the covers in the images are up  & thus showing the F connectors,  whereas the cover on yours is down to protect the connections. 

[bob1234]

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@nigea99 wrote:

hi again @AJ900 it does look like a hybrid LNB as kindly posted by @Godfrey in this discussion :

https://community.sky.com/t5/Sky-Q/What-is-a-hybrid-LNB-in-reality/m-p/3651548

Bare in mind the covers in the images are up  & thus showing the F connectors,  whereas the cover on yours is down to protect the connections. 

---

If it is a hybrid there is no reason why the installer did not connect the other leads although it depends on the type of LNB as over the years they have used ones with a number of different outputs. Even the very rare one which will allow you to connect either Q or freesat to any outlet.

[nigea99]

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@bob1234 wrote:

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@nigea99 wrote:

hi again @AJ900 it does look like a hybrid LNB as kindly posted by @Godfrey in this discussion :

https://community.sky.com/t5/Sky-Q/What-is-a-hybrid-LNB-in-reality/m-p/3651548

Bare in mind the covers in the images are up  & thus showing the F connectors,  whereas the cover on yours is down to protect the connections. 

---

If it is a hybrid there is no reason why the installer did not connect the other leads although it depends on the type of LNB as over the years they have used ones with a number of different outputs. Even the very rare one which will allow you to connect either Q or freesat to any outlet.

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Looking at it I suspect  it was possibly just loosly connected & has just worked loose over time with winds etc 

[Godfrey]

@AJ900 

Your photograph appears to show one of the coaxial cables that were originally connected to one of the 'LEGACY' outputs of a Hybrid LNB, which has detatched itself from the F type connector that was previously being used to connect it to that Hybrid LNB.

Sky Q uses the two Wideband (WB) LNB output ports that are closest to the surface of the dish.

Godfrey.

[AJ900]

Thank you Bob1234, Nigea99 and Godfrey for such useful responses ... and so quickly!

I was confusing to me to see a loose connection but not have any apparent viewing difficuilties or problems, and your explanations of differences and reasons helps my understanding of what talks to what and why. 

I'm pretty confident that the Q-installing Engineer fitted a new LNB because for a short time I was telling the admin-folks at Sky that they could just deliver the box for self-installation as had been the case in the past.

Their reply however was that an Engineer would have to be involved as Q required a differfent "dish signal box". I would suppose therefore that the Engineer changed that to suit and then made necessary connections but left what wasn't needed, which appears most likely to be for the old multiroom setup.

Thank you for helping to clear that up, and as long as I am not unknowingly receiving a diminished service I think that I will just either reconnect or cap-off the unwanted cable for protective reasons as advised.

Much appreciated, and if I can't *Accepted Answer* all of you,  know that it is shared, okay?! 🙂