Can't Get Signal on Satellite 119, Transponder 7 or 10

[MrCodeDude]

Preliminary Information:
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA (Zip Code: 93405)
Equipment: 3-LNB 1000.2 (110W, 119W & 129W)
Receivers: 722 & 622

Dish On-Screen Suggested Coordinates: Elevation: 46 ; Azimuth: 152; Skew: 81
DishPointer Suggested Coordinates: Elevation: 49 ; Azimuth: 163.5 ; Skew: 87.6
Dish Print-Out Suggested Coordinates: Elevation: 49; Azimuth: 162; Skew: 81

We had some strong wind gusts a couple weeks back and I guess we never checked our local HD channels because we are no longer receiving them.

For our local HD channels, we get the message

Sorry for the interruption. There is no need to call us. We are working to have this channel back as soon as possible.

Doing some research, this means that we're not getting signal on Transponder 7 for Satellite 119. Sure enough, go into the Point Dish Menu and the reception for sat 119 transponder 7 is 3.

I called up Dish Network and they want $100 to come and fix it. I figure, hell, $100 to move the Dish around? I can't possibly screw it up more than it already is, so I might as well have a go before blowing $100.

My roommate goes on the roof, I tell him the position coordinates and listen for the beeps from the screen. For the life of us, we can't get any signal on 119.7. I read somewhere that spotbeams depend more on skew than anything else, so, keeping the Azimuth constant @ ~160° and Elevation @ ~50°, I had him rotate the dish's skew from 60° to 110°.

At ~104° skew, we get a signal strength of 16 for satellite 119 transponder 7. Check the local HD channels -- reception. Success.

He gets off the roof and I think I've just saved myself $100.

Nope, now we have no signal for the 110 and 129 satellites.

Back on the roof again, we try the coordinates again and now we have all three satellites working but still no signal for satellite 119 transponder 7.

Keeping the skew constant at ~88° and the Elevation @ ~50°, we try adjusting the azimuth. Best signal strength we got for this off the satellite 119 transponder 7 was 12, which still results in getting the error message for our local HD channels.

It seems we can very easily adjust the satellite to get very good reception for most transponders on all three satellites (110, 119 and 129), but transponder 7 (and, now, apparently transponder 10 too) we strike out.

Is there some sort of trick for getting decent reception on transponders 7 & 10 of satellite 119? Or will I have to shell out the $95/hr labor fee to get a professional to do this for me?

 

[sca]

the error message may be valid.
when it says we are working on this problem...that may be a true statement.
at any rate, if dish is charging you $100, they may have misunderstood you. that is the charge for 'changing' your instalation. (i.e. moving receivers, moving dish due to asthetics)...charge for signal loss should be $30 with insurance, $50 without, and free if you really complain. you just have to know how to speak to them.
of course, since the message stated 'there is no reason to call us' and you did, they may have noted it as an 'unnesesary' service call.
sorry i cant help you with the particular transponders or spotbeams that should be hitting your area, but as for the skew - if you input your zip code on the point dish screen, it will give you the skew.

another note
there is no 119.7
you either mean 119, or 118.7

 

[MrCodeDude]

the error message may be valid.
when it says we are working on this problem...that may be a true statement.

Our neighbors are receiving the channels fine and when we adjusted the satellite where we received a poor, albeit usable signal for transponder 7 on satellite 119, we were too, able to receive them.

at any rate, if dish is charging you $100, they may have misunderstood you. that is the charge for 'changing' your instalation. (i.e. moving receivers, moving dish due to asthetics)...charge for signal loss should be $30 with insurance, $50 without, and free if you really complain. you just have to know how to speak to them.

$50 isn't half bad, but I was hoping on figuring this out for the Final Four on Saturday. No way in hell they'll have an appointment for me in my time-frame. In all honesty, it probably isn't worth fighting for because I'll probably end up switching to D* for Sunday Ticket, Extra Innings and English speaking CSRs.

but as for the skew - if you input your zip code on the point dish screen, it will give you the skew.

Yeah, it gave us a skew of 82°. We tried 82° and got no signal.

another note
there is no 119.7
you either mean 119, or 118.7

My apologies, I was abbreviating satellite 119 transponder 7 as 119.7, apparently this isn't recognized shorthand. My bad.

 

[sca]

ah, it just confused me because there is a sat 118.7
well, if you do call dish, order the insurance, and try to save yourself another $20.
its good to have a tech out every couple years to 'tune' things up.
also, the sat business is slow this time of year. you may be suprised how quick you can get an appointment.
and, if you are going to switch services, make sure to tell dish beforehand - thats bound to help speed things up and make them a little cheaper, if not free.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Service technician came out and wasn't able to produce a better signal than I could get.

From what he told me, I guess Dish narrowed their spotbeam coverage of Bay Area and LA (which I thought was supposed to be CONUS) HDTV locals when they introduced the Santa Barbara HDTV locals a couple weeks ago. This post has a picture of the old Transponder 7 spotbeam map: http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/124787-moving-san-francisco.html#post1231615

He said he had a service call a week ago where someone was no longer able to get LA locals they had been getting for 2+ years. The only solution he had for me was to get another satellite and LNB and try to get the best signal for satellite 119, transponder 7 off that; then pair the two satellites together using the LNB Input on the first satellite.

I guess that gives me something to do next weekend.

 

[garys]

Most CONUS locals on 129 were switched to spot beams over the last couple of months, LA included.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Most CONUS locals on 129 were switched to spot beams over the last couple of months, LA included.

Would switching to a larger (from 18" to possibly 24") help the chance of getting better spot-beam reception?

 

[garys]

Spot beams are usually only 200-300 miles around the dma, if you are boarderline a bigger dish may help. But if you are too far outside the beam, there is no chance.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Spot beams are usually only 200-300 miles around the dma, if you are boarderline a bigger dish may help. But if you are too far outside the beam, there is no chance.

I'm approximately 250 miles outside of SF and am able to get a high single digit signal off Satellite 119, Transponder 7.

When I got a signal of 12, we were able to watch the channels, however we couldn't get a signal much higher than 15. I'm really just looking at trying to get a signal of 20+ so that there's less chance of the locals cutting out.