100 percent signal strength

On Christmas Eve Pepe, from across the road, very kindly helped me by repairing our connection to the LNB on the satellite dish.

I knew that the original loss of signal was caused by corrosion of the outer copper braid. The installer had just wrapped PVC tape around the connection which obviously didn't provide a long term seal. Just cutting back the wire and using a new connector would work for a time.

What I wanted though was something that would last long term so I ordered a rubber boot, silicon grease and self amalgamating tape. On its own the rubber boot would stop water getting onto the connector. The addition of silicon grease would seal the connection totally.

The advice I had was to unscrew the connector and smear grease on both the copper core and the braid. The theory is that when you tighten the connection back up the copper bites through the grease which of course is a great electrical insulator. WRONG. In my case the grease killed the connection dead.

I had to carefully clean off all the grease and start again. This time I applied the grease just to the outside and then replaced the rubber boot. I'm now back to 100% signal strength and hope that it will stay that way for a good few years.

So if you have a satellite dish, a mesh aerial or a normal TV aerial that is not giving a good signal; it could well be that, like me you have a poor connection. The advice I am passing on is to re-make the connection and coat it with silicon grease; cover it with a rubber boot or, failing that, seal it with self amalgamating tape and enjoy good reception once more.

PS there are lots of other uses for silicon grease and self amalgamating tape. They're the kind of things that lurk in your toolbox for ages just waiting to solve an emergency!