18 inch round with twin lnb losing transponder 18 only when wet.

[dan.satman]

Have 18" with twin lnb feeding stacked 3x4 switches, anyone hear possible reasons for lost only transponder 18?
Weather is currently unfavorable to play with ladder to check lnb for water infiltration or replacement.
Problem is on all receivers on system. I've been a tech. for years; have never seen only one transponder affected this way.
Any ideas/ experience with this oddball issue?

 

[Mr Tony]

interesting. 101 TP18 is a spotbeam TP so is it possible you are on the edge of the beam?

 

[dan.satman]

middle of beam, works great when dry. Water has to be in something somewhere.

 

[Joe Diamond]

middle of beam, works great when dry. Water has to be in something somewhere.

Here is a list from EZ to hard:
IF the multiswitch is outdoors......it should be installed with the ports horizontal (keeps the rain from flowing into the fittings). Regardless, open each fitting one at a time and look for burned center wire. Reconnect each fitting, one at a time.......add electrolytic grease to the fitting threads to waterproof them.

IF there is a groundblock............service it the same way as the multiswitch.

At the LNB.........remove the LNB by removing the attachment screw near it on the end og the arm..........pull the LNB out and examine the fittings. Then Examine the white end of the LNB for cracks....sunlight cooks this thin plastic.........reassemble.

Finally............any chance of a tree in the line of sight(LOS)? A wet limb might droop to temporarily block the dish (rare.)
.............any barrel connectors that are exposed to rain? .........Service fittings.
.............on a dry day try squirting a hose on the dish to reproduce the problem..............then repeat on the ground block and or multiswitch. Those are the two places where water could get in.

The single transponder out is rare.......do you loose any programming when it goes away?

Pretty strange!.....report what it turns out to be.

Joe

 

[e1f123]

could it possibly be the beam??

 

[Joe Diamond]

could it possibly be the beam??

Above my pay grade!

Iceberg did the homework to discover transponder 18 is a spot beam. My understanding is that it therefore does not have a CONUS footprint. The possibility is that dan.satman is on the edge of the area it covers......... But I have never discovered this...........There are some Directv insiders on this site but not me.
My experience with spot beams is that they cover specific market areas with adequate overlap that allows the receivers to be manipulated by zip code per FCC regulations by Directv. For example, customers on the MD border get Baltimore local channels and DE customers on the other side of the street get Philly locals.
If the problem only comes when it rains there is a loose fitting or component somewhere. For a single transponder / beam to blink would be a much larger atmospheric blip, I think, because rain is a local aspect of a larger formation or event.
This is a new one to me.

Joe

 

[dan.satman]

Above my pay grade!

Iceberg did the homework to discover transponder 18 is a spot beam. My understanding is that it therefore does not have a CONUS footprint. The possibility is that dan.satman is on the edge of the area it covers......... But I have never discovered this...........There are some Directv insiders on this site but not me.
My experience with spot beams is that they cover specific market areas with adequate overlap that allows the receivers to be manipulated by zip code per FCC regulations by Directv. For example, customers on the MD border get Baltimore local channels and DE customers on the other side of the street get Philly locals.
If the problem only comes when it rains there is a loose fitting or component somewhere. For a single transponder / beam to blink would be a much larger atmospheric blip, I think, because rain is a local aspect of a larger formation or event.
This is a new one to me.

Joe

Update so far.... Replaced stacked 3x4 switches with 6x8 zinwell, no change. Followed wires back to each receiver no visible damage, dish is 30 up on a power service pole, too soggy for ladder so far. Have replacement lnb believe that is source of issue. Strange that only one transponder has the issue, has 100 signal strength when dry. So far only one channel that I've noticed using this spot beam, one local out of five. Sun out for day and half, will try ladder soon.

 

[texasbrit]

What's your zip code?

 

[Joe Diamond]

Update so far.... Replaced stacked 3x4 switches with 6x8 zinwell, no change. Followed wires back to each receiver no visible damage, dish is 30 up on a power service pole, too soggy for ladder so far. Have replacement lnb believe that is source of issue. Strange that only one transponder has the issue, has 100 signal strength when dry. So far only one channel that I've noticed using this spot beam, one local out of five. Sun out for day and half, will try ladder soon.

Sounds like you are going in the right direction.........the stacked 3x4s got my attention but I have done that when no 6 x 8 were available. You fixed that. It has been awhile but I remember there being a transponder that was always zero and one that was always 100......on the 101 sat.......never knew why but noticed they moved around as the space jockeys worked the sats & transponders over the years.

Joe