D* 771 - zero signal from all transponders

[Just_the_Ticket]

I've been having intermittent issues w/"Searching for Satellite" (771) errors - H20 HD receiver installed in Dec '07 was 'fine' for first several months ... started to spaz a bit during the olympics. errors have been increasing steadily.

Called D* yesterday for assistance. After two receiver resets with service rep, all transponders for all satellites show "0" signal strength.

2nd receiver (OLD RCA) indicates that there's no signal (posts msg "move dish 3 degrees").

Please help (lest we miss today's Sunday Ticket games :-/ )

 

[iwc5893]

Since this was a slow developing issue, my guess would be that the dish needs realigned or a cable/connector went bad.

 

[Just_the_Ticket]

Thanks ... that's what i was afraid of ... is there an easy way (sans meter) to validate/verify alignment? Seems to me the older dish/receiver had a "Satellite alignment" mode to help setup dish. I'm trying to avoid a service-only call before D* comes out in a few weeks to add a couple new receivers.

 

[iwc5893]

There is, but you will need someone to be able to call out the signal strengths to you.

Setup - satellite - signal meters. Start with the 101 sat and peak it back to max value, then repeat for the 119 sat.

What type of dish, multiswitch, and receivers do you have?

Also, there is a quick way to see if it's the cable or multiswitch. Go to the signal meters as described above, and select an odd transponder on the 101 sat. Go out to the dish, find the cable that feeds that receiver, and place a multimeter on the connector (black on the barrel, red on the stinger). You should see approx. 12-14 VDC. You can repeat this for the even transponders, and should see 17-19 VDC with the evens. This will tell us if your getting a signal through the cable back to the LNB.

 

[Just_the_Ticket]

Thanks! ... I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

 

[Just_the_Ticket]

Thanks again. just got around to it this AM ... multimeter showed juice from receiver, but not thru BBC Module. removed BBC module, and blammo ... there's a picture.
So here's the next Q: What's the BBC Module for ? All of the channels that i checked tune OK ... seem to get all HD ... is the BBC needed?

P.S. - apologies for goofy Q's ... but I only know enough to be a candidate for the Darwin awards ...

Thanks again!

 

[Just_the_Ticket]

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[iwc5893]

Thanks again. just got around to it this AM ... multimeter showed juice from receiver, but not thru BBC Module. removed BBC module, and blammo ... there's a picture.
So here's the next Q: What's the BBC Module for ? All of the channels that i checked tune OK ... seem to get all HD ... is the BBC needed?

P.S. - apologies for goofy Q's ... but I only know enough to be a candidate for the Darwin awards ...

Thanks again!

The BBC's are used to convert the MPEG4 signal from the sats to something the receiver can see (since they're transmitted in an entirely different frequency range). Call D* and they will ship you some BBC's at no charge. They're not needed if you have a SWM LNB setup.

 

[Just_the_Ticket]

Thanks! I'll call D*