Uniden SQ560 receiver shutting down

[Ken19]

Hi, I am new to this site. I have a complete 10 ft C band satellite system with a Uniden Sq560 receiver that has not been used for at least 20 years. I bought it new in late 1996 and used it until analog C band was discontinued in the early 2000's. I unplugged the receiver from the wall outlet back then and left everything hooked up. I now want to use it for FTA reception however when I plug it in, the clock on the display lights up but the receiver keeps turning itself off after a few seconds and the display goes completely blank when it does. I have to unplug and replug the receiver to get it to come on again. The receiver's on screen display does not show on my tv regardless which button I press on the remote or the receiver itself during the few seconds that it is on, just black and white snow appears. Any suggestions as to what could be wrong?

 

[waylew]

First guess would be one or more bad electrolytic capacitors,pull the cover and look for caps with bulged tops.
If it has the VCII box still in it,remove and trash it,100% useless and can cause damage if the battery leaks.
Once/if you do get it working,the only thing it will be good for is moving the dish,there are no analog channels left for it to receive,you will need a modern digital receiver to get anything.
Disconnect everything from the back that goes out to the dish,may have developed short circuits after all these years.

 

[FTA4PA]

Welcome to Satellite Guys Ken19! Time to upgrade your receiver to something modern since you know that encoding formats have changed and everything is digital now. Check out what is available here.

FTA Receivers

FTA Receivers for your C or Ku Band system

hypermegasat.com

 

[mikekohl]

Hi, I am new to this site. I have a complete 10 ft C band satellite system with a Uniden Sq560 receiver that has not been used for at least 20 years. I bought it new in late 1996 and used it until analog C band was discontinued in the early 2000's. I unplugged the receiver from the wall outlet back then and left everything hooked up. I now want to use it for FTA reception however when I plug it in, the clock on the display lights up but the receiver keeps turning itself off after a few seconds and the display goes completely blank when it does. I have to unplug and replug the receiver to get it to come on again. The receiver's on screen display does not show on my tv regardless which button I press on the remote or the receiver itself during the few seconds that it is on, just black and white snow appears. Any suggestions as to what could be wrong?

Disconnect the Satellite input coax cable from the receiver, and then try turning the power on again.
Sometimes over time things will happen to cables that causes them to short out (ground to center conductor). If this is the case, your receiver was trying to protect itself from that shorting situation by powering down.
If it works after this test, bring it out to the dish, with a short RG-6 jumper cable connected to the LNB, and a TV set to monitor response, and power it up again. If it fails, you probably have a shorted LNB and may need to replace after further troubleshooting. At this point it would be a good idea to use an ohmmeter to see if the coax beween indoors and the dish is shorted. If you have a coax that is pushing more than 25 years old, it's probably a good idea to replace anyway, even as a backup cable. IF none of the above steps result in getting your receiver to light up when powered on, you are probably going to have to repair the receiver's power supply. In your remote location, check locally and see if anyone has a working C-band receiver that could be used to move your dish. Then go shopping for a good MPEG-4 Free To Air receiver and a new C-band LNBF to replace old LNB and feed system, to get into the digital age. We have sponsors on the Satellite Guys website that will be happy to provide advice and product. Casey at Hypermegasat, Michael at Michael Electronics, and Brian at Titanium are all good people to contact. Good luck!

 

[Ken19]

Disconnect the Satellite input coax cable from the receiver, and then try turning the power on again.
Sometimes over time things will happen to cables that causes them to short out (ground to center conductor). If this is the case, your receiver was trying to protect itself from that shorting situation by powering down.
If it works after this test, bring it out to the dish, with a short RG-6 jumper cable connected to the LNB, and a TV set to monitor response, and power it up again. If it fails, you probably have a shorted LNB and may need to replace after further troubleshooting. At this point it would be a good idea to use an ohmmeter to see if the coax beween indoors and the dish is shorted. If you have a coax that is pushing more than 25 years old, it's probably a good idea to replace anyway, even as a backup cable. IF none of the above steps result in getting your receiver to light up when powered on, you are probably going to have to repair the receiver's power supply. In your remote location, check locally and see if anyone has a working C-band receiver that could be used to move your dish. Then go shopping for a good MPEG-4 Free To Air receiver and a new C-band LNBF to replace old LNB and feed system, to get into the digital age. We have sponsors on the Satellite Guys website that will be happy to provide advice and product. Casey at Hypermegasat, Michael at Michael Electronics, and Brian at Titanium are all good people to contact. Good luck!

 

[Ken19]

Hi Everyone and thanks for your replies! When I opened the glass door of the cabinet of the tv stand to pull the receiver out, I was greeted with the aroma of electrolytic capacitor fluid. I opened the receiver and the power supply board was coated with the stuff. The 2200uf 50v main filter was the culprit. I removed the capacitor, washed the board with warm water and dried it with compressed air at low pressure and installed a new capacitor. The receiver now works perfectly. I proceeded to turn the dish and was greeted with an actuator error. I removed the actuator, completely disassembled it, removed all the rust, relubricated it, put it back together and it works perfectly now. As for a receiver, A while ago I was given a complete kit of 3ft dish, installation kit, ku lnb, and a Geosatpro HDVR3500 receiver with some channels preprogrammed. For now I removed the C lnb and placed the ku lnb in its place with a sock wrapped around it to fill in the gap and hold it in place. It and the new receiver immediately worked! I will do something better for a permanent installation. I do have one problem with the new receiver. One of the preprogrammed channels has moved and even with the owner's manual I am unable to reprogram the new frequency, etc. Should I start a new thread with this topic?