Antenna issue revisited - what could possibly cause this ...

[jpmarto]

Thanks for past advice. My original post concerned my troubles aiming my 1000.2 antenna at my cabin, and inability to receive 129, which I fiinally got, although with a weak signal. This may or may not be because of of a tree close to the line of sight. I'm still unable to get my 1000.2 antenna to work properly, but the attached jpg leads me to believe I'm working with flaky hardware. Here's the current setup:

Receiver: Hopper. (Works flawlessly at my main residence 70 miles away with 1000.2 / duo node)
Duo Node
1000.2 wa antenna
From the LNBs, three sets of 3' RG-6 coax, blue barrel connectors, then 50' RG-6 coax to node. Cables are Monoprice factory-build.
110 and 119 very strong signals, 129 in low 30's, as opposed to 40-60 at main residence. The signal strength seems to fluctuate, unlike 110 or 119.

Looking at the attached picture, sometimes the 3rd sat input shows up with non-conn in 1st or 2nd position. Sometimes after a check switch it shows up correctly, but there's absolutely no signal to the receiver on any 129 transponder.

This is driving me bat-crazy! Could someone please recommend what I should replace first - the LNB, duo node, or cabling?

Thanks again

 

[satnewb]

Any way you could take a picture of your LOS from behind the dish?

Aside from that check all connections at the node to make sure nothing is loose. Also a short center conductor could cause intermittent signal loss as well.

 

[KKlare]

Try optimizing the 129 signal, ignoring the others to find the best you can get. It should be like your main house.
Then you know what you can get and you can play with the azimuth and elevation and even the skew to get all good.
-Ken

 

[jpmarto]

Thanks for the responses. I'm actually a decent troubleshooter with electronics and computers/networking, but I know nothing of how the integrated LNB switch and duo node work. If I had spare known-good hardware to swap out I'd be in my element. My confusion here is how can the #3 satellite input show a different satellite orientation? If #1 and #2 have 129 on the rightmost column, how can it show on the leftmost column on #3? Don't all three come out of the LNB? I'm guessing I have a bad LNB unit, but I'm waiting for more folks to weigh in. What also makes me suspect the LNB is that with a good indication on check switch (every 2nd or 3rd time), there's no signal on 129. So, the Hopper sees the LNB, but no signal. How does that happen?

On my last 2 day trip to the cabin, my Joey picked up #3 satellite tuner, so it was all but useless, and couldn't get signals on a majority of the channels. The Hopper had #1 and #2 inputs, and it worked just fine.

In conclusion, I get 129, but with a lower signal. I did optimize orientation for it. Either 129 is partially blocked by a tree (the tree is, or is close to being, in the way), or, 129 output of the LNB is low as well as intermittent. When the snow and ice melt, I can move it, but I'd like to see if it is a hardware, and not a LOS issue first.

 

[JSheridan]

AFAIK the node stacks the three tuners from about 950Mhz to 3Ghz. The wire has to be able to transport that whole spectrum reliably. Maybe a problem in one or the other?

 

[jpmarto]

Thanks JSheridan, the 50' cables were pulled through an underground (and wet) conduit, so maybe one of them got dirt/water in one end. Thanks to the advice on this forum, I now have proper RG-6 "F" connector tools, so I could always cut the cable back and replace all 6 connectors on the existing 50' underground connectors.

 

[navychop]

Compression, not crimp, right?

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[jpmarto]

Compression, not crimp, right?

Right. I only screwed up the first 2 or 3 until I figured out how to use the tool. You should have seen how many RJ-45's I obliterated to learn Ethernet cabling!

 

[satnewb]

Yeah Ethernet is an acquired skill.

 

[Miner]

Have you tried moving the node outside to the dish (where the barrel connectors currnently are)? That would free up one of the underground coax cables and you could also try temporary coax above ground directly to the Hopper input.

You could try swinging your dish tonthe west so that you are getting 129 on the 110 eye (and 138 147 on the others) to see if you get better signal and (run a check switch) see what you get. If it is good that would tell me perhaps a coax or LNB. If it is bad i think it would be line of sight.

Miner

 

[jpmarto]

Miner, I think you're on to something. After JSheridan reminded me that the cables carry three signals, it seems highly likely it is a cable problem rather than LNB or Node. I'll mount the node at the antenna and use the wires for tuner 1 & 2 for the run to the cabin. Once done I can troubleshoot the 129 low signal issue. Thanks!

 

[rjruby]

If I had spare known-good hardware to swap out I'd be in my element.

You can buy a spare LNB and Duo Node on eBay for a total of less than $55.

I always like to have my own tested spares, except for the Hoppers and Joey, so I can get service restored ASAP.

 

[Miner]

Looking at the picture you posted shows 129 and 110 are good on Tuner 3, and 119 is missing. That is confusing as you have stated. I am beginning to think that perhaps you have a problem with your node or the wiring from the node to the receiver. The node takes the 2 sets of coax and combines them to 1 coax, allowing 3 simultaneous tuners to be used. It seems logical that tuner 1 and tuner 2 would use the traditional DPP frequencies and tuner 3 would use the higher frequency the node allows. Perhaps it is having an issue outputting signal, or as (I theorize) the tuner 3 gets the higher band, the coax running from the node to the receiver is attenuating signal enough that you lose enough signal to cause a problem. Perhaps there is some corrosion in the coax that is the problem.

I still think a direct coax from the node to the receiver (and moving the node to the dish) would help isolate the problem. As you have the main setup at home, you have a spare, working node to borrow and use as a troubleshooting aid as well.

Miner

 

[jpmarto]

Thanks Miner.

I have a solo node & taps on order, so my next trip up, weather willing I'm going to relocate the dual node to the antenna, and feed 2 of the 3 existing underground cables to the hopper/joey. If that doesn't fix things (and I'm thinking it will), I'll run the solo node at the antenna and run one wire underground to the tap and then to the hopper/joey. I think with wiring, "less is more", and since I only have one hopper at the cabin I don't need the dual node.