Signal issues??

supa213

Newbie
Hi all,

Looking for some advice if possible. I have VM cable broadband. There is a 3 way splitter outside connecting the main feed to my modem and 2 mutant boxes downstairs. Each mutant box has both tuners A and B connected via a short cable.

Until around 7 weeks ago, everything was working really well. I then noticed that some movie channels were failing to tune in both rooms with a tune failed message.

I tried replacing the splitter with a technetix one. This improved matters on 1 box whilst removing all but a handful of channels from the other.

I left the technetix in place and then replaced the rg6 cable going to my 2nd room with some Smedz wf100 after looking for recommendations on here.

This has made things even worse and now the 2nd room gets nothing at all. The main room receives the majority of channels but it varies from day to day. Sometimes bbc1 won't tune, other days that is fine and BT sports 2hd is gone.

Admittedly, the ends on the wf100 are the cheap f type scrrw connectors but i would have thought I would at least get something in the 2nd room.

Anyone have any ideas of things to try? I was thinking of trying a hdu but I'm not sure if the hdu 200 can cover the 3 way split I have?

I would have posted some signal stats from my equipment but I'm not sure what the optimum ranges are? Modem is in modem mode right now so I will check the levels once I know what I should be looking for on that and the mutant.

Any help much appreciated. I strongly suspect virmin have turned signal levels down to my house but it would be good to see what they are before doing anything further.

Thanks
 
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Hi all,

Looking for some advice if possible. I have VM cable broadband. There is a 3 way splitter outside connecting the main feed to my modem and 2 mutant boxes downstairs. Each mutant box has both tuners A and B connected via a short cable.

Until around 7 weeks ago, everything was working really well. I then noticed that some movie channels were failing to tune in both rooms with a tune failed message.

I tried replacing the splitter with a technetix one. This improved matters on 1 box whilst removing all but a handful of channels from the other.

I left the technetix in place and then replaced the rg6 cable going to my 2nd room with some Smedz wf100 after looking for recommendations on here.

This has made things even worse and now the 2nd room gets nothing at all. The main room receives the majority of channels but it varies from day to day. Sometimes bbc1 won't tune, other days that is fine and By sports 2hd is gone.

Admittedly, the ends on the wf100 are the cheap f type scrrw connectors but i would have thought I would at least get something in the 2nd room.

Anyone have any ideas of things to try? I was thinking of trying a hdu but I'm not sure if the hdu 200 can cover the 3 way split I have?

I would have posted some signal stats from my equipment but I'm not sure what the optimum ranges are? Modem is in modem mode right now so I will check the levels once I know what I should be looking for on that and the mutant.

Any help much appreciated. I strongly suspect virmin have turned signal levels down to my house but it would be good to see what they are before doing anything further.

Thanks

Excellent first post, congrats, plenty of relevant information and straight to the point, makes a pleasant change from the countless 'Help me - I'm missing Emmerdale Farm!' (with no further information) type posts which we see every day.
What's the signal levels like on the modem/router? - I would be looking there before checking anything else.
The levels are fairly easy to check, the snr should be close to 38 or preferably higher, the dbmv levels should be between -6 and +10....
you can copy and paste the data here, there's no identifying information involved, if push comes to shove, you can ring VM and tell them to sort the equipment out once you know the problem is at their end, which it looks like it is
 
Hi pabloescaban,

Thanks for your reply. I don't think I can check levels whilst in modem mode so I'll wait until tonight to do that. I'll check the working mutant however for the current levels on tuner A and B and come back. Thanks again.
 
You can check your levels in modem mode.
Type in 191.168.100.1.
Then on the first screen you will see the option to check router status.
 
Hi pabloescaban,

Thanks for your reply. I don't think I can check levels whilst in modem mode so I'll wait until tonight to do that. I'll check the working mutant however for the current levels on tuner A and B and come back. Thanks again.

you can check the levels by following this simple guide:

on the side or bottom of the router there should be a 'settings password'

type 192.168.0.1 into a web browser and click enter, use that password to log into the router

advanced settings
tools>network status> click on downstream tab
copy and paste the snr and dbmv data here
 
He’s in modem mode Pablo.

Oh ok, to the OP: once you've logged into the modem using the password mentioned above, click 'Modem Mode' then click 'Disable Modem mode' and the hub will revert back to Router mode, then copy and paste the data here
 
I was having similar problems splitting VM fibre and to my box. What solved it was to get a powered splitter Technetix HDU-200. You can get different ones depending on how many times you want to split.
 
Hi guys,

This is really a fantastic community. Thanks for all your replies.

So it looks like the super hub 2 that I have won't let me see stats unless I exit modem mode. The device connection status page is greyed out. I'll come back with those stats.

As for the mutant in room 1, right now bbc 1 is coming on fine. SNR is 89% AGC is 78%

BT sport 2 and 3hd are down right now, picture appears but unwatchable and the snr is going from 0% to 80 every second. AGC doing the same and going from 0 to 70%. Signal is also going from unlocked to locked and back again every second too.

Predictably, in room 2, there is nothing, 0% and tune failed on all channels. ABM runs fine, channels are found but everything just says tune failed.

I'll come back with the stats from the super hub.
 
Are any of these cables those that you made up yourself? If so I would also suggest double checking all those f connectors to make sure you don’t have a short or dodgy earth. I would then try elimating various bits of kit, swapping the outputs of the splitter to different tuners, to see if the problem then problem moves with the mutant, or stays on the splitter output.
 
Hi Gav,

Yes all are cables I've pretty much made up myself. The main room one is a good quality PF100 cable with a very good quality screw on F connector at each end. The Smedz WF100 to the 2nd room has 2 cheapo F connectors at each end, but I was able to use these fine with the original RG6 that was there. All ends are cut using a cable stripper to ensure there is around 3mm of exposed wire protruding above the top of each F connector. I will maybe try and buy some better F connectors and try them. Which ones would everyone recommend?
 
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Here are the stats from my superhub:

Downstream Channels
Lock Status Channel ID Frequency Modulation Rx Power RxMER Pre RS Errors Post RS Errors
Locked 1 139000000 Hz 256 QAM -6.5 dBmV 31.5 dB 234576 125878
Locked 2 147000000 Hz 256 QAM -6.8 dBmV 32.4 dB 180942 29119
Locked 3 155000000 Hz 256 QAM -6.7 dBmV 34.3 dB 49221 16547
Locked 4 163000000 Hz 256 QAM -6.9 dBmV 35.6 dB 137624 36005
Locked 5 171000000 Hz 256 QAM -7.4 dBmV 36.8 dB 116742 4661
Locked 6 179000000 Hz 256 QAM -7.8 dBmV 35.6 dB 221028 48667
Locked 7 187000000 Hz 256 QAM -8.4 dBmV 36.2 dB 148095 11584
Locked 8 195000000 Hz 256 QAM -8.9 dBmV 32.8 dB 117787 11215
To reset the Pre and Post RS error counts please use the Downstream screen under the router status screen available from the login page.

Upstream Channels
Lock Status Channel ID Frequency Modulation Tx Power Mode Channel Bandwidth Symbol Rate
Locked 14 39400000 Hz ATDMA 54.7 dBmV 16QAM 6400000 Hz 5120 Ksym/sec
NotLocked 0 0 Hz 0 dBmV 0 Ksym/sec
NotLocked 0 0 Hz 0 dBmV 0 Ksym/sec
Locked 16 25800000 Hz ATDMA 53.0 dBmV 16QAM 6400000 Hz 5120 Ksym/sec
 
Hi Gav,

Yes all are cables I've pretty much made up myself. The main room one is a good quality PF100 cable with a very good quality screw on F connector at each end. The PF100 has 2 cheapo F connectors at each end, but I was able to use these fine with the original RG6 that was there. All ends are cut using a cable stripper to ensure there is around 3mm of exposed wire protruding above the top of each F connector. I will maybe try and buy some better F connectors and try them. Which ones would everyone recommend?

It’s a long shot, but if you have a circuit tester I would check to ensure you don’t have a short circuit on the cable. There could be a strand of cable shielding shorting out the inner core, or insufficient cable shielding providing a good earth to the F connector.
 
you'll need a visit from Virgin to sort the signal, as @ASHHBI says, the downstream levels are low, minimum is -6 and most of yours are -7 to -8
also your SNR (RxMER) are mostly too low, minimum is 34 and some of yours are 31 and 32, ideally they should all be 38 or above
 
Hi guys,

Thanks for the info. I'll get them to come round. I'm only supposed to have bb. Could this be because I've split the signal too much? Is it worth checking again without a split?
 
all the splits won't be helping matters and you may need to buy a powered splitter, but the signal is very poor to start with
 
I have similar problem but only one box all cables and and splitter are done by vm all except the connector between cable and t/c tuner. lots of glitching and drops signal completely at times . might have to dig out vm box see how that works on it.



Downstream Channels
Lock Status Channel ID Frequency Modulation Rx Power RxMER Pre RS Errors Post RS Errors
Locked 17 266750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.4 dBmV 35.2 dB 24961 13456
Locked 18 274750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.4 dBmV 35.4 dB 18613 6871
Locked 19 282750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.4 dBmV 35.4 dB 18444 7058
Locked 20 290750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.4 dBmV 35.4 dB 18091 6868
Locked 21 298750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.5 dBmV 36.0 dB 31318 7499
Locked 22 306750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.6 dBmV 36.0 dB 28343 18168
Locked 23 314750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.7 dBmV 35.8 dB 29635 17253
Locked 24 322750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.9 dBmV 35.4 dB 17948 7666
To reset the Pre and Post RS error counts please use the Downstream screen under the router status screen available from the login page.

Upstream Channels
Lock Status Channel ID Frequency Modulation Tx Power Mode Channel Bandwidth Symbol Rate
NotLocked 0 0 Hz 0 dBmV 0 Ksym/sec
Locked 90 39400000 Hz ATDMA 52.3 dBmV 16QAM 6400000 Hz 5120 Ksym/sec
Locked 89 46200000 Hz ATDMA 52.5 dBmV 16QAM 6400000 Hz 5120 Ksym/sec
NotLocked 0 0 Hz 0 dBmV 0 Ksym/sec
 
I have similar problem but only one box all cables and and splitter are done by vm all except the connector between cable and t/c tuner. lots of glitching and drops signal completely at times . might have to dig out vm box see how that works on it.



Downstream Channels
Lock Status Channel ID Frequency Modulation Rx Power RxMER Pre RS Errors Post RS Errors
Locked 17 266750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.4 dBmV 35.2 dB 24961 13456
Locked 18 274750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.4 dBmV 35.4 dB 18613 6871
Locked 19 282750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.4 dBmV 35.4 dB 18444 7058
Locked 20 290750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.4 dBmV 35.4 dB 18091 6868
Locked 21 298750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.5 dBmV 36.0 dB 31318 7499
Locked 22 306750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.6 dBmV 36.0 dB 28343 18168
Locked 23 314750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.7 dBmV 35.8 dB 29635 17253
Locked 24 322750000 Hz 256 QAM -0.9 dBmV 35.4 dB 17948 7666
To reset the Pre and Post RS error counts please use the Downstream screen under the router status screen available from the login page.

Upstream Channels
Lock Status Channel ID Frequency Modulation Tx Power Mode Channel Bandwidth Symbol Rate
NotLocked 0 0 Hz 0 dBmV 0 Ksym/sec
Locked 90 39400000 Hz ATDMA 52.3 dBmV 16QAM 6400000 Hz 5120 Ksym/sec
Locked 89 46200000 Hz ATDMA 52.5 dBmV 16QAM 6400000 Hz 5120 Ksym/sec
NotLocked 0 0 Hz 0 dBmV 0 Ksym/sec

There's nothing wrong with those figures but you say the connection to T/C tuner isn't good?
maybe get a new cable with compression fitted ends on to try as this could be the problem
 
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