More on line and telephone scams

[barney]

I tend to take the pee and ask them if they couldn’t find a better job than trying to scam people.
They always hang up but it makes me laugh.
I had two this evening asking about my recent accident.
I entertained myself for five minutes before the football. Gills not Ingerland.

[Onelife]

I tend to take the pee and ask them if they couldn’t find a better job than trying to scam people.
They always hang up but it makes me laugh.
I had two this evening asking about my recent accident.
I entertained myself for five minutes before the football. Gills not Ingerland.

The last one I had was from an Indian lady scammer…I asked her what colour knickers she was wearing...no I'm not joking.

[Stephen]

I tend to take the pee and ask them if they couldn’t find a better job than trying to scam people.
They always hang up but it makes me laugh.
I had two this evening asking about my recent accident.
I entertained myself for five minutes before the football. Gills not Ingerland.

The last one I had was from an Indian lady scammer…I asked her what colour knickers she was wearing...no I'm not joking.

Perv.

What colour were they

[Manoverboard]

Some might say that OL's question was tantamount to racist abuse

[Stephen]

Some might say that OL's question was tantamount to racist abuse

I’ll second that. I’d ban him

[Bensham33]

Why do scammers always hang up. They never say good-bye. So rude.

[Onelife]

Some might say that OL's question was tantamount to racist abuse

Just being inquisitive while she was wasting my time Mob…I prefer white to black but don’t care where they come from.

[Ranchi]

Not scams but pressure sales. In the early 2000s we still had ( much to our children’s embarrassment) the Sony telly that we had bought with our wedding present £ twenty years earlier. It didn’t have a remote control and only had one input- a co-axial aerial socket. The telephone irritant of the time was Sky other TV subscription companies trying to sell you their product. A quick ‘do you need a Scart socket?’ was usually enough to see them off.

[Stephen]

The old scart cable, I remember them well.

[Manoverboard]

Remember them ... I'm still ready to go on a SVHS if needs be

[towny44]

The old scart cable, I remember them well.

I do find it a bit strange that your Sky signal into your property uses the old fashioned coaxial cable, you might think they would have brought in some sort of up to date fibre cable, maybe the old coax is still the best for outdoor use.

[Mervyn and Trish]

The old scart cable, I remember them well.

I do find it a bit strange that your Sky signal into your property uses the old fashioned coaxial cable, you might think they would have brought in some sort of up to date fibre cable, maybe the old coax is still the best for outdoor use.

It's because the receiver at the focus of the dish (the LNB) needs power and that is fed up the same copper cable the signal comes down. Wouldn't go up a fibre optic.

[Manoverboard]

One can have more than one, in fact one needs two if one hopes to record a programme and watch another one ( other than a recorded one of course which resides on the SKY Box with all the other ones )

[Mervyn and Trish]

One can have more than one, in fact one needs two if one hopes to record a programme and watch another one ( other than a recorded one of course which resides on the SKY Box with all the other ones )

And that is because, unlike a TV aerial which can receive all the frequencies at the same time, an LNB can't

[towny44]

One can have more than one, in fact one needs two if one hopes to record a programme and watch another one ( other than a recorded one of course which resides on the SKY Box with all the other ones )

And that is because, unlike a TV aerial which can receive all the frequencies at the same time, an LNB can't

But the coax cable only has one central copper cable, so presumably all the signals come down this, and it must be some sort of electronic gubbings that unscrambles them to enable you to record several at the same time.
However back to Mervs comment about power, how does the LNB obtain this, does the Sky Box provide this, similar to how a USB socket can take power from a pc or laptop?

[Kendhni]

One can have more than one, in fact one needs two if one hopes to record a programme and watch another one ( other than a recorded one of course which resides on the SKY Box with all the other ones )

And that is because, unlike a TV aerial which can receive all the frequencies at the same time, an LNB can't

However back to Mervs comment about power, how does the LNB obtain this, does the Sky Box provide this, similar to how a USB socket can take power from a pc or laptop?

Yes, that is correct, the power comes from the box it is plugged into

[Mervyn and Trish]

One can have more than one, in fact one needs two if one hopes to record a programme and watch another one ( other than a recorded one of course which resides on the SKY Box with all the other ones )

And that is because, unlike a TV aerial which can receive all the frequencies at the same time, an LNB can't

But the coax cable only has one central copper cable, so presumably all the signals come down this, and it must be some sort of electronic gubbings that unscrambles them to enable you to record several at the same time.
However back to Mervs comment about power, how does the LNB obtain this, does the Sky Box provide this, similar to how a USB socket can take power from a pc or laptop?

As Ken says the answer to question 2 is yes.

The answer to question 1 is complicated with different answers dependent on the system.

Sky Q and Sky Plus operate differently. But you will often see an LNB, the bit at the focus of the satellite dish, with anything up to 4 connections and cables. Essentially satellite signals are polarised horizontally or vertically and a single cable with a single LNB can only do one or the other at a time. It can do more than one channel if they're polarised the same way. For more in depth details I'd recommend Mr Google and your favourite headache remedy!

[Quizzical Bob]

I do find it a bit strange that your Sky signal into your property uses the old fashioned coaxial cable, you might think they would have brought in some sort of up to date fibre cable, maybe the old coax is still the best for outdoor use.

It's fibre optic up to the cabinet and coaxial from there to the house. The cost of the equipment to decode the fibre optic signals is too prohibitive.

[Quizzical Bob]

And that is because, unlike a TV aerial which can receive all the frequencies at the same time, an LNB can't

The LNB receives all the frequencies that the satellite is transmitting. Satellites use C-Band which is 3.40 to 4.2 GHz. The letters used for the designations of the frequency bands were set randomly during the Second World War as a security measure.

Unlike terrestrial television which is linearly polarised satellite signals are circularly polarised. The choice of which polarisation to use is determined by the DC voltage that is fed up the cable to the LNB amd is either 13V or 18V. This is chosen automatically by the set-top box.

An LNB with more than one cable is known as a dual LNB or quad LNB and the extra cable are used to feed other set-top boxes.

[Quizzical Bob]

But the coax cable only has one central copper cable, so presumably all the signals come down this, and it must be some sort of electronic gubbings that unscrambles them to enable you to record several at the same time.
However back to Mervs comment about power, how does the LNB obtain this, does the Sky Box provide this, similar to how a USB socket can take power from a pc or laptop?

There are actually two conductors, the central core and the outside screen. The RF signal travels down the gap between the two which is why low-loss cables have an air-cored insulator. Signal strength is easily lost. I have heard stories about down cables being twisted around those metal loops that you sometimes see at the corners of roof gables whcih makes an excellent series inductor and effectively a low-pass filter. Another common fault is to clamp the cables too tightly to the walls or roof rafters. This can squash the cable and reduce the gap between the two conductors.

[Ray B]

Now there's a man who looks like he knows what he's talking about. Nice lesson QB.

[Stephen]

The old scart cable, I remember them well.

I do find it a bit strange that your Sky signal into your property uses the old fashioned coaxial cable, you might think they would have brought in some sort of up to date fibre cable, maybe the old coax is still the best for outdoor use.

I haven’t got Sky

[Quizzical Bob]

Now there's a man who looks like he knows what he's talking about. Nice lesson QB.

Thanks Ray.

In an earlier life I used to be in television research at the Independent Broadcasting Authority and we were involved in satellite television broadcasting. Satellite orbital positions and frequencies were established in the WARC-77 where each country got five slots, even the Vatican. Well, they do have friends in high places

I went self-employed in 1982 in order to design and build a signal encoder and encrypter for a Canadian company but that was old analogue technology. It’s all digital these days.

https://www.globalspec.com/reference/25 ... for-europe

Back to phone scams, I have recently started to get some of my mobile. The latest was from a synthesised male American voice threatening legal action if I didn’t give them a call. What gave it away for me was when he said that they’d take me to the local county courthouse. They have county courthouses in America. We have County Courts.

My wife got a text on her phone ostensibly from Vodafone saying that she owed them money and giving a link to follow. She’s on PAYG so there’s no way that she can owe them money.

Domestically we have BT Call Minder which has completely eliminated the spam calls. Previously we got a dozen or so a week.

[Stephen]

If I had my way these scammers would be put up against a wall and shot. For all the ones that get blocked or recognised there is some poor vulnerable individual who falls foul of them.

[Onelife]

If I had my way these scammers would be put up against a wall and shot. For all the ones that get blocked or recognised there is some poor vulnerable individual who falls foul of them.

You should all try the “what underwear you wearing” it kind of throws them off their spiel.