Cold Weather loss of service.

[lefatman]

I have 3 HD receivers and 2 of them are working great.The other one continues to search for satellite. I have just checked the D* site and apparently there is a problem(that D* is aware of)with some Slimline dishes. Is it normal for 2 of 3 receivers to work under these conditions and the third not to. I have set up an appointment for next Thursday for a tech to come out. The temperature then is expected to be in the 30s and the problem might not be there. Any advise is greatly appreciated.

 

[jtwex]

Not really; you can swap out a working receiver & connect it to the line that isn't working to try and isolate it a little further. Should the switched receiver work at the new location then you have a receiver problem. The problem here is that the receiver might not work at the new location & then fail when it's moved back to it's original location. The weather can play all sorts of tricks with your signals, but a single wire SWM is more likely to lose all receivers then to just lose one. The only exception to this would be if the power inserter fed the splitter outside & something happened to one of the outside or exposed connections after the splitter. This would be a very strange install to have power &/or the splitter outside.

 

[Big Dawg 23]

I live in Minnesota and have had temps of -22, -24 and -26 in the morning. So far so good. My install was just done November 1st and have a HR-22

 

[aerial1]

Low signals on odd transponders on the 101

This is my second receiver sent from d-tv. The first was an h-20. This new receiver works fine but only on the 101 is the signal low on the odd trs. It ranges from a low of 0 on trs. 17 to 44 on 19 to the 50's.The Even trs. range from 92 to 100 . The 110 bird is all in the 90's. The 119 ranges in the high 90's.The 99 bird ranges in the high 90's as well. And the 103 is in the high 90's.Yes it was cold here in the midwest and today it will reach into the mid 20's for temp. I am at witts end with this problem. Any insights will help.

 

[mjmsr53]

I have 3 HD receivers and 2 of them are working great.The other one continues to search for satellite. I have just checked the D* site and apparently there is a problem(that D* is aware of)with some Slimline dishes. Is it normal for 2 of 3 receivers to work under these conditions and the third not to. I have set up an appointment for next Thursday for a tech to come out. The temperature then is expected to be in the 30s and the problem might not be there. Any advise is greatly appreciated.

Last month we had a day of cold temps (chicago area) and I list service for about 24 hours. I did not know what was going on, tech came out and really did nothing and all of a sudden, everything worked.

2 days ago, the weather was cold, got up in the AM and nothing worked - searching all morning til the sun came up, then it worked. Same day, late in afternoon, lost signal again. Below zero temps. Called tech service and they said it was because of the cold?

I took a hair dryer then and warmed the LNB and it worked for about 15 minutes and then started searching again. I called tech support again and they said it was due to the cold weather. I explained I was not happy, I could understand the heavy rains and snow, but cold weather? He explained (tried) that they were having "issues" with the slimline and that I was being raised to Care Management to resolve the issue.

Yesterday morning still no signal til the sun came up and it warmed up to about 5 below.

Care Management called me and gave me a special number to call if it happened again but the temps rose to about 5 above and all has been fine since.

One tech tried to tell me it was probably at the splitter but my splitter in IN my apartment. The cable from the LNB is short and then connects to a longer cable that enters my apartment (about 8 feet before entering the apartment) and then continues another 10 feet to the splitter. The only break in the line is about 2 feet from the LNB then a single cable to the inside splitter.

When I used the hair dryer, I only warmed the outside of the "housing: for the cable connection for the LNB, not the actual white round "thing".

My concern is that the system does not work in cold weather and they should provide info before installing this, or ask if we want the slimline or the multi disk.

One tech said I could try to insulate the cable but what part to I insulate since it appears that the cable connection to the LNB is where I might have a cold weather problem.

Regardless, it appears to be ok since it came back on yesterday AM.

I wonder if I call they will give me credit for the 2 days (off and on) that it did not work?

 

[chgocolt]

I'm a new subscriber (3 months) and I've had a similar issue where my HR-DVR went out first, but the two standard def receivers went out on 1/11. Then about 5 hours later nothing worked. I brushed the snow off the dish and dumped wiper fluid on it to take down the ice. No signal. In messing with all of them (Tightening connections, multiple resetting, etc.) I finally 2 of the 3 to come back, but only when all 3 are powered on. After 5 or 6 hours the will loose signal and need to be reset a couple times to recover. In my 21 unit building there are 17 D* customers and the couple I've asked have not had any issues or needed to get to the restricted access roof to clear their dishes. (Some had much more snow than mine when I went up there)

Of course when I called D* on 1/11, the closest appt they could give me is 1/19.

If I new how long it takes to get a service call from D* I would have never switched to them.

 

[chgocolt]

I'm a new subscriber (3 months) and I've had a similar issue where my HR-DVR went out first, but the two standard def receivers went out on 1/11. Then about 5 hours later nothing worked. I brushed the snow off the dish and dumped wiper fluid on it to take down the ice. No signal. In messing with all of them (Tightening connections, multiple resetting, etc.) I finally 2 of the 3 to come back, but only when all 3 are powered on. After 5 or 6 hours the will loose signal and need to be reset a couple times to recover. In my 21 unit building there are 17 D* customers and the couple I've asked have not had any issues or needed to get to the restricted access roof to clear their dishes. (Some had much more snow than mine when I went up there)

Of course when I called D* on 1/11, the closest appt they could give me is 1/19.

If I new how long it takes to get a service call from D* I would have never switched to them.

 

[Jimmy the Dish]

Here's what happening with the cold weather. If you were installed with the new single wire swm LNBF and it's made by winegard, they cannot tolerate (work) when the tempature gets below zero. Luckily, I only installed 8 of these heads, as 7 of my customers called with the same problem. DTV is not officially recognizing the problem as they won't compensate my company to replace the defective LNBFs. The eagle Aspen SWM heads supposedly work fine, and are what they're using as replacements.

You would think Winegard and DTV would beta test for such extreme tempatures, but they don't!

Having my business in Chicago's Southwest suburbs, I have taken it upon myself to service my customers.

 

[goaliebob99]

Im having this same issue. A took a spectrum analyzer to the line and saw signal. I had D* send me a replacement receiver to see if that fixes the issue. If it doesn't then they need to send a tech out. The earliest they could get a tech out wasn't until Thursday two weeks out. Ouch!

It this a SWM issue or a Non SWM issue. I have SWM and its doing it.

 

[goaliebob99]

Here's what happening with the cold weather. If you were installed with the new single wire swm LNBF and it's made by winegard, they cannot tolerate (work) when the tempature gets below zero. Luckily, I only installed 8 of these heads, as 7 of my customers called with the same problem. DTV is not officially recognizing the problem as they won't compensate my company to replace the defective LNBFs. The eagle Aspen SWM heads supposedly work fine, and are what they're using as replacements.

You would think Winegard and DTV would beta test for such extreme tempatures, but they don't!

Having my business in Chicago's Southwest suburbs, I have taken it upon myself to service my customers.

Yea it is and SWM issue. Im having the same issue. I recon, unless I get an HR23 or something like that. Then I will just send the non activated receiver back. IM going to have Masterdeals send this thread up to D*

 

[mjmsr53]

Here's what happening with the cold weather. If you were installed with the new single wire swm LNBF and it's made by winegard, they cannot tolerate (work) when the tempature gets below zero. Luckily, I only installed 8 of these heads, as 7 of my customers called with the same problem. DTV is not officially recognizing the problem as they won't compensate my company to replace the defective LNBFs. The eagle Aspen SWM heads supposedly work fine, and are what they're using as replacements.

You would think Winegard and DTV would beta test for such extreme tempatures, but they don't!

Having my business in Chicago's Southwest suburbs, I have taken it upon myself to service my customers.

When Care Management called me yesterday, it was shortly after the sun came up and warmed up the LNB - it was working. They gave me a special number to all and said when it happens again, call them.

I am thinking they knew the weather would warm up a bit, and it did. No issues here since yesterday morning.

My concern is when it goes out again - and it will. I will hear the same story and be placed in the shuffle again.

Why don't they just send a tech out now since we know it is weather related - the infamous SWM Winguard issue?

Other than this, I have no complaints.

 

[HD MM]

I lost all of my Mpeg4 channels and HD locals yesterday. The mpeg2 channels and SD locals worked though.

I live in Cleveland, OH. Over the last two weeks we've had extremely cold temps and a lot of snow. From Saturday night through Sunday we got an additional 6-8" of snow. I'm thinking one of the LMB's on the satellite is clogged with snow and ice and that's what is interfering with the signal.

 

[jcrandall]

We should point out this is only affecting the Winegard SWM lnb. The single wire lnb has only been used a year or so, and they have two manufacturers. So there are not a ton out there, and I would imagine their replacements would just be through general service calls. If you have one and are in cold climates, it may be good to add the service plan for winter.

I'm thankful I have the Eagle Aspen version, and have survived many cold days and nights with tv, as much as 15 below.

 

[tkorell]

I have experienced all of these this week in Chicago

Started the week with nothing working after a wet snow storm.

Went up on the roof early in the week to break off the snow and ice on the dish then everything worked.

During the cold snap, some channels never worked, some worked off and on, and some worked on some receivers and not others

As of yesterday afternoon, everything was working right before the tech comes out tomorrow

 

[julz304]

I am at my wits end with this whole satellite tv nonsense. Any advice would be appreciated...here's the gist of the problem(s);

I lost ALL local channels about three weeks ago. I have alot of local channels in my area in MA, so it was frustrating. Not to mention, I am relatively clueless with electronics and anything like this. I set up appt. for tech to come out. Got service back a few days later. Cancelled appt. Lost service again about two days later. Made another appt. Another week away. They came out this morning, and left without fixing a thing. I actually have ZERO sefvice now, and the tech said he would make sure at least one TV worked. The tech blamed snow, but all of the problems started BEFORE we had any snowfall.

Do I have to wait until snow is gone to get a tech to fix the problem. This guy was claiming that it was too risky to fix it. My roof is pretty flat and dish is about two feet from the edge of roof. I understand maybe it is a little more risky with some snow, but isn't that their job? I'm not trying to sound sarcastic, I'm just wondering how to get my service back that I have been paying for this whole time.

All of my odd # transponders are reading zero, all even #s seem to be 89 and up, if that helps.

 

[HD MM]

We should point out this is only affecting the Winegard SWM lnb. The single wire lnb has only been used a year or so, and they have two manufacturers. So there are not a ton out there, and I would imagine their replacements would just be through general service calls. If you have one and are in colc climates, it may be good to add the service plan for winter.

I'm thankful I have the Eagle Aspen version, and have survived many cold days and nights with tv, as much as 15 below.

This is incorrect. I do not have the SWM lnb. I have the Slimline-5 with the previous lmb setup, installed in late 2007. I have the HR20-700 and the H20. For two days now, I have not been able to access any of the MPG-4 channels or HD locals. I only have access to the SD stations.

I checked the roof and most of the snow on the satellite and it's near surroundings have melted off. It's got to be the ice and cold that's giving it issues. Two more days until we're supposed to reach above freezing. Hopefully warmer temps will fix this. I've never had a problem like this in my entire term with D*

 

[sammy4041]

I am a lover of TV, but not the most technical person out there. I am not saying this applies to anyone here, but I had cold weather problems a year ago and everytime the temp would go below 10 degrees I would lose signal. My problem was as simple as a bad cable going from the dish to the switch. The cold temp caused condensation to form with the copper. I replaced the coax and whalla. Just thought I would throw it out there.

 

[HD MM]

Day #3.

18ºF

Still no HD or MPG4. I now only receive the SD channels.

Tomorrow's high is 34ºF. Please let Wednesday be the day to melt some of the ice/snow off my LNB's/satellite!

 

[HD MM]

Day #4 and I'm glad to report all channels are now back up for me.

 

[outerub]

So, at the risk of sounding slow ....

My new slimline dish has an lnb with three "eye's" and a sort of "hood" extending out from the top of the largest one. It has four output connections, all of which carry the five main satellite feeds. Is this an SWM lnb ? What exactly IS an SWM lnb ? Is it a Winegaurd or Eagle Aspen lnb ? (I haven't experienced any signal loss issues .... yet.)

Sorry for the hijack but this seemed like the most logical place to ask ....


Regards,

UB.