How To I Increase My DStv Signal Strength

Poor DStv Signal strength causes your decoder to lose signal. As a result, your TV may show either pixelating or freezing pictures. In extreme cases, you can even have a no picture situation in which case your decoder will display an E48-32 no signal error message.

So, how do you increase the signal strength? In short, you can improve your DStv signal strength by making sure that the satellite dish and LNB are both aligned correctly. Also, don’t forget to check if your cables are connected properly at the back of your decoder.

In this post, I will show you simple steps that you can follow to improve your DStv signal strength and quality.

What Is Signal Strength?

Signal strength shows how good your satellite dish alignment is with the satellite orbiting in space. It shows you the strength of the signal that the satellite dish is receiving from the transmitter. It is a value between 0 and 100 where 100 signifies the best signal. If the signal strength is 0 or -1 then you will be having no signal at all.

What Is Signal Quality?

Signal quality is a measurement of the amount of interference between your decoder and the satellite. Interferences that affect all signals are known as noise. Examples are reflections and weather elements such as clouds and rain. So, the lower the noise, the better the signal quality you will have. The best signal quality of shown by having a value of 100%. On the other hand, poor quality is shown by having a value of less than 50%.

How To Check Quality And Strength On Your Decoder?

1•First press the HELP button on the remote.

2•Then select General Information.

3•Select Tuner Status.

At this point, you should be able to see the signal and quality values. These values should be above 50%. For services such as DStv CatchUp, ShowMax, and BoxOffice the strength and quality should be above 75%.

If your signal strength and quality values are below 50% then you may start missing certain DStv channels.

What Causes Low Signal Strength And Quality?

As with all signals, the DStv signal strength and quality is affected by obstructions and weather elements. For instance, obstructions such as trees, roof overspills, buildings and clouds which are in the direct path of the signal and the satellite dish can cause problems. In fact, incorrect LNB and dish alignments are also a major culprit for causing poor signal strength issues.

Connecting F-type connectors on the coaxial cable incorrectly can seriously reduce your signal strength. Watch the video below to see how you can connect F-type connectors on your DStv coaxial cable.

How to connect an F-type connector on a DStv coaxial cable

However, faulty LNBs cause low DStv signal strength. If your dish is rusty, then you can also experience problems. This is because shiny and smooth surfaces on a satellite dish reflect the signal better than rusty surfaces.

How To Fix Signal Strength On DStv?

If you are experiencing a no signal found error on DStv, then here are a few simple things you can do to fix your DStv signal strength. However, these solutions apply to residential satellite dish installations.

•Check F-type connectorsCheck for incorrectly connected F-type connectors on the LNB and at the back of the decoder.

•Correct the LNB alignmentAlign your LNB correctly at a skew angle in relation to the polarity of the signal, your local position, and the selected satellite.

•Adjust satellite dish alignmentAlign your satellite dish properly by adjusting the horizontal and elevation angle.

•Replace a faulty LNB

• Move your satellite dishIf your satellite dish is mounted where are obstructions of the signal such as trees and buildings, then move it to a better place.

•Cut down or prune trees that may obstruct the signal