Is someone stealing my SKY satellite service?

InsanelyOne

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Oct 21, 2008
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I went up to the roof today and found that the cable coming from my SKY satellite dish has been spliced. A splitter was put on and the second wire is going to my neighbors condo.

SKY wouldn't do that, would they? Each customer has their own dish?

Anyway, I disconnected the second cable. Guess I'll see what happens next.
 

InsanelyOne

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Oct 21, 2008
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The possibilities I can think of:

1) SKY did share your dish with another client. I have no idea if they do that.

When I first moved here, there were 2 SKY dishes on the roof and then when one of the neighbors moved, the dish was gone. I'd be surprised if they were using the dish for more than one customer.

2) Another person is sharing your dish without SKY knowing about, but they need their own subscription and SKY satellite receiver to get SKY legally or they are getting Free to Air signals by using a different type of receiver.

3) I suppose it is possible that they are getting SKY's channels illegally, but I don't know of any satellite receivers set up to do that.

I was under the impression that the LNB on the dish can only work with a single receiver (unless you had a dual-LNB). Maybe someone else here can offer up some clarification.
 

donluis99

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Jul 12, 2004
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When I first moved here, there were 2 SKY dishes on the roof and then when one of the neighbors moved, the dish was gone. I'd be surprised if they were using the dish for more than one customer.



I was under the impression that the LNB on the dish can only work with a single receiver (unless you had a dual-LNB). Maybe someone else here can offer up some clarification.

An lnb can work with as many recievers as you can connect to it.

You must have one lnb per sat, unless you have a motor to reaim evrey time you change to a channel on a different sat.

Yes, it would not be a surpriser to have two or three on the same dish, especially if it is a contracter he got paid for the connection as if he installed the whole unit, a bit of tigerosu???

Might even be encourged, I do not know, as the Dish belongs to sky, right, the only way to verify is to call them and ask.
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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What you called a "splitter" may have been a switch which allows a second receiver (or more receivers depending upon the number of outputs on the switch) to share the single LNB. Such signal distribution systems are done frequently.
If the LNB is not a dual output LNB, then just putting in a splitter from a single output won?t work to the best of my knowledge. It will only cause problems.

The LNB can only be in one of two states, 13v or 18v, so using 2 receivers on the single output, would cause channels to disappear on one of the receivers if they were tuned to channels that used different left/right (Odd/Even) transponders.

Switches that allow multiple receivers normally require dual output LNB?s so that one can be on the 13v and the other on the 18v power. Thus getting either the Left or Right polarity (Odd/Even).

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SantiagoDR
 
Feb 7, 2007
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When I first moved here, there were 2 SKY dishes on the roof and then when one of the neighbors moved, the dish was gone. I'd be surprised if they were using the dish for more than one customer.



I was under the impression that the LNB on the dish can only work with a single receiver (unless you had a dual-LNB). Maybe someone else here can offer up some clarification.

Yes a single legacy LNB can work with 1 coax cable. To run two receivers you need dual LNB which has two coax outputs. A "splitter" would not work.

For more than two receivers you need to use multiswitch, with dual LNB, one coax getting the signal and the other one sending power to LNB.

Anyway, SKY wouldn't do that. What most likely happened, your neighbor wanted to "hook up" on to your signal and most probably does no even have a receiver for SKY signal. Most likely, ignorantly running the cable directly to a TV. Where, obviously, he found out he was getting no signal. And he just didn't remove the connection back to the splitter afterwards.
 
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InsanelyOne

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Oct 21, 2008
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Well... something is up. So I turned on the TV and had no signal. I went up to the roof and someone had disconnected me from the splitter and reconnected the other cable.

I'm going to contact SKY today and see what they think.
 

Acira

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Sep 20, 2009
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www.blazingfuries.com
Well... something is up. So I turned on the TV and had no signal. I went up to the roof and someone had disconnected me from the splitter and reconnected the other cable.

I'm going to contact SKY today and see what they think.

Somebody is reading this thread with great interest apparently :bunny:
 

aarhus

Long live King Frederik X
Jun 10, 2008
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I got rid of SKY now where my contract ran out. I originally only wanted one years service but with small print it said two years. Even though the sales person clearly said one year to me. I dont like the programs they have. I am back with Claro Codetel now. I like having CNN, ABC, NBC, BBC etc......
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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Well... something is up. So I turned on the TV and had no signal. I went up to the roof and someone had disconnected me from the splitter and reconnected the other cable.

I'm going to contact SKY today and see what they think.
Do like EdeNorte does:

...... disconnect the other cable, then remove the other cable!

(This of course could lead to a conflict with the other people)

t9d26v.gif

SantiagoDR
 

amparocorp

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Aug 11, 2002
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if you really want to have some fun, and i would do this only if your neighbor was 100% stealing, make sure the perp isn't home and away from the property, run an extension cord up to the roof and send 110 volts down his illegal line for a couple of seconds, then hook him back up to the splice, listen for loud popping noises, watch the smoke come out of his windows. keep in mind this may cause violence. or, find a spot where the cable is a bit out of sight, like where it bends over the roof line and a few inches down, somewhere the cable is less visible, then with a sharp razor blade make a cut all the way around the cable just deep enough to sever the braided line that is just under the outer layer of black plastic insulation. if you're careful it should be close to impossible to detect this cut. so now when the thief goes back to the roof he'll see that he's connected. this will make him nuts for sure....
 

InsanelyOne

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Oct 21, 2008
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Contacted SKY today and told them I thought someone was tapping into my satellite signal. The representative claimed that it could very well be the other person was a valid subscriber and that the SKY technician hooked them up this way. The best part is that they told me to track the person down that I thought was stealing the service and have them show me proof that they are a SKY customer. They won't come out to see what's up.

I'm still skeptical it's a valid installation. Based on what I understand there is no way a single LNB can support 2 receivers. Here's the satellite. You can see there is only a single cable coming from it:
img3108am.jpg


And here is were it was spliced:
img3109y.jpg


The other weird thing is that if I disconnect the second cable from the splitter, my tv goes out. And yes, I'm certain I'm not unplugging the wrong one.

Ahhh.... the joys of living in a developing country.
 

InsanelyOne

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Oct 21, 2008
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Have you tried actually talking with your neighbor???

Yes I did... but wasn't able to locate him until yesterday. It seems he has a valid contract with SKY and has multiple receivers in his place. He gave me the account number and the name it's under in case I wanted to verify on my own. So it seems the SKY technician is the one that did the splicing. When I got the service, I was under the impression the dish was mine, not SKY's, so I was surprised to see someone else getting service from it.

I'm still confused how the single LNB is supporting multiple receivers. And I'm also confused as to why my signal would go away when I disconnected his cable.

Anyway... no harm no foul.... guess I didn't need to be suspicious.
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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I will like to know the reason one single OUTPUT LNB can provide service to multiple receivers without problems.

As the LNB has normally 2 states to it, (1) 13V Power or (2) 18V Power.

The voltage switches the LNB form Even/Odd ((Left/Right) transponders.
So how could multiple receivers possibly work if the channels they are on are on opposite transponders?

That hook up you show goes against all I learned about the operation of LNB?s.

The ONLY possible explanation I can think of is that SKY?s satellite channels use either ALL Even/Left or ALL Odd/Right transponders.

I will try on look up that information on the Satellite Description site.

From the SKY satellites I saw in the listings, they use both type transponders Odd/Even.
(Also known as Left/Right and H/V) So that really leaves me puzzled.

Well, if you are watching a channel and it disappears, you will know why !

t9d26v.gif

SantiagoDR
 
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SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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Bingo! Just thought of another possible way.

Sky may be using Sp?cial LNB?s designed for their system and not the normal LNB?s the rest of the World uses ;) lol

A normal LNB has the 13v/18v switching mechanism built into them.

Perhaps SKY uses a Special LNB that outputs both sets of Transponders and their receivers are designed for this option.

So, that would explain how they can use "Ordinary Splitters" to service multiple receivers.
I like that approach, makes life a heck of a lot easier to use multiple receivers.....

I think the MYSTERY is now solved!

Thanks InsanelyOne, I learned something new today!!!!


I will try too research this situation more with SKY receivers and Sky LNB?s

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SantiagoDR
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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It took a little bit of research to find the following, which is not the normal method of satellite signal distribution.

The following is a possible method how SKY could use a single output LNB to power multiple receivers with only one feed line from the LNB.

Are there any SKY technicians here on DR1 to help solve this mystery?

Single Output Unicable LNB

Connect up to 4 receivers and only use 1 cable from the dish into the house.

Please note that these LNBs only work if the satellite receiver has a Unicable option in it's menu.

All receivers work on all channels Just as if used with a quad LNB and 4 cables, but only one cable is needed.

t9d26v.gif

SantiagoDR