Can't lock in Signal on DISH Network

[jonrho64]

I am looking for some help.... I received a new receiver and dish from dish network to install at a family cabin... I mounted the dish with a clear view and have a signal on the dish pointer screen of 70 but cannot get the signal to lock? I get the program guide to download, but when I go to a channel it shows the program in the guide but no picture (black Screen). Any suggestions or help would be appreciated. The reciever is a VIP211 (I think) and the dish is a 500 with a dual lnb (it has 2 coonetions on the 119 side and one on the 110 side). I installed one coax to the 119 side of the LNB and ran it approx 125 feet to the receiver. But like I said the signal bar goes to 70 but is red and won't lock? :rant:

 

[PALL MALL]

Underneath the signal meter does it say wrong sat? I found the elevation to be off 20 deg when I setup my dish 500.

 

[jonrho64]

Yes, I think it did say wrong sat..... Im not at the cabin now unfortunately

 

[PALL MALL]

When you get back to the cabin, find out what sat your on. Go through the list of satellites till you find the one your on.

Dishpointer and the receiver gave me wrong elevation settings. Try raising the elevation 8 deg and re point.

 

[jonrho64]

OK do I go through the list of sats on the dish pointer screen where you put in the transponder, zip code, etc? and will the one i am on say locked or how will i know which one I am on? Thanks

 

[PALL MALL]

Yes, thats the right screen. Actually it should say what sat you on right next to wrong sat. Go to the sat it says and it should lock, the bar will turn green and it will say locked and the sat your on.

 

[jonrho64]

10-4.... thanks alot, ill give it a try today

 

[harshness]

The reciever is a VIP211 (I think) and the dish is a 500 with a dual lnb (it has 2 coonetions on the 119 side and one on the 110 side). I installed one coax to the 119 side of the LNB and ran it approx 125 feet to the receiver.

For future reference, the LNB in question is a DPP Twin, not a dual. The distinction is all-important.


Check out Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com for more specific pointing numbers.


Self-installing is overrated.

 

[jonrho64]

point taken

 

[dvrexpander]

The cable run distance of 125 feet is ok, but be sure you didn't lock on the 119 to the 110 sat..check your elevation cause if its too high it will lock on to the 110 and show up wrong sat. You really shouldn't be any higher than 34..usually 33-32 will hit the 119.

 

[tedb3rd]

I assume you've done the blah, blah reboot and you have decent RG6 cable from the dish to the receiver already... If you are hitting one of the main Dish Network satellites (110, 119, or 129), the receiver should eventually identify which sat it sees. No matter what satellite you are aimed at, 70 signal strength is more than enough. I'm confused as to why it is giving you that problem... 125 feet for cable is a little long, but I have seen folks get by with that. Use the zip code calculator to get a rough estimate on azimuth/elevation but be prepared to tweak... (maybe I missed something from sava700 but you're elevation settings could be much higher or lower depending on your location... but they should still be close assuming your mount is level/plum).

I had a similar problem where I was getting good signal strength on transponders but then just got the blank screen like you mentioned. Long story short... it was a bad cable that actually caused certain transponder frequencies to get 'trapped' whereas others made it to the receiver... But I'm not ready to say for you to rip out the cable just yet... Need to rule out some other things.

Can you be more specific about what transponder you have 70 strength... What sat is selected... What happens when you adjust the sat selection to the satellite where it says 'wrong sat' to? Does it lock then? If you have SOME signal strength, did you do a test switch to make sure the receiver is not trying to run through a switch?

 

[rglore]

If you are getting a good signal but a black screen, it's possible your receiver doesn't have the new G3 smartcard. Press menu twice and if Smart Card ID doesn't say DNASP241, you need a newer smartcard.