dish on the fritz

[1shotcleaner]

i am having trouble with my dish the quality wont settle it jumps from 20-60 and every where in betwen does any one know what may be the problem? i cant adjust the dish to stop this. basic system in north west pa

 

[Glorystar1]

Welcome to the SatelliteGuys Glorystar forum!

What is the brand and model of the receiver? Is there one or two LNBFs on the dish?

Is this a new install or service on an existing system? If a service call, when was the last time you watched a channel on the system?

What channel is the receiver on when you are checking the signal? What is the Signal Level reading? Is the Signal Level steady or is it also jumping like the Signal Quality reading?

What is your location in the US? What is the LNBF rotation (SKEW) set to? Straight up and down (zero skew) or rotated right or left? If rotated, approximately how many degrees?

 

[1shotcleaner]

hi im in the north west of pa. the first bar stays stedy at 70 or 80 depending whre i move the dish. the second bar is the one that wont lock in. i never got good signal 40-55 depending on sat positioning but we could watch it. it hasent worked for a few months.i thought the cable may have goten crushed, so i tryed another cable and it does the same thing. it has only one lnb and is the drs200c geosatpro reciver. the lnb is set at an angle. and the sat is gk19 i think 19g somthing. any help would be great. also would it be posable to use an old direct tv dish and lnb if there is somthing wrong with my lnb?

 

[Wescopc]

NOT possible to use the DirecTV dish or LNB, wrong frequency and the wave format is circular (rather than linear).
Bob

 

[rv1pop]

Try a string test to make sure the dish has not gotten bumped and warped. Tape one string edge to edge, top to bottom and another string side to side. They should slightly touch where they cross. If they do, then probably the the mount/pole has shifted and you will need to try to realign the dish. Depending on where you are, there may be a secondary signal lobe that you are on. Mark you best position on the pole and angles and then go up or down a bit and try to find another hot spot that is better. This has been a problem in my area, because (I think) of the high tension power lines giving me reflections. Where the 3 sets of lines run near a property I have usually found two ghost signals as well as the right one. With only one line set runs through the ghost is usually lower that the real signal.

 

[1shotcleaner]

i have gotten a responce from glorystar and they said they get this complaint often and the fix is a new 25.00 lnb and i should expect to replace it every year or two. now how is that free satellite. any body know if i can get one that will work longer?

 

[Gary Z]

i have gotten a responce from glorystar and they said they get this complaint often and the fix is a new 25.00 lnb and i should expect to replace it every year or two. now how is that free satellite. any body know if i can get one that will work longer?

I have several of the Glorystar LNB's and over the last 5 years I have never had one to fail--I have even had the cheap LNB's from eBay and they are still working. An elderly friend of mine was having a problem where she would go through 2 LNB's a year and I discovered the buried cable coming in to the house had nicks and cuts on it and water got in to it-- replaced the cable and she has not had any more problems.

 

[Glorystar1]

i have gotten a responce from glorystar and they said they get this complaint often and the fix is a new 25.00 lnb and i should expect to replace it every year or two.

This is not correct. LNBFs should last a minimum of 5-7 years under normal conditions. Yes, we often hear of fluctuating Signal Quality, but the cause is typically a misaligned dish, incorrect LNBF rotation or warped dish. Rarely would a LNBF cause the Signal Quality to fluctuate. I will, with almost 100% certainty suggest that there is no problem with the LNBF. If the Signal Level was also jumping, then the LNBF would be suspect.

You may send your LNBF in for testing if you suspect it is defective. If it is not defective, you would only be responsible for return shipping cost. Problem is, at that point the shipping cost is then near the cost of just purchasing a new LNBF. CSRs offer this solution to customers who suspect the LNBF is faulty and do not wish to go through the wait time for shipping / testing and expense of sending equipment in for testing.

In previous replies to your post, Wescopc and rv1pop gave excellent suggestions for testing. What were the results of these tests?

 

[1shotcleaner]

the dish is strate and the signal does not have any other positions it comes in at. i recived the lnb, and correct it dident fix the problem. but the signal will not stop jumping. the best signal i could get was 45 prior to this now it is all over20 -60 i got it to stay 45-50 but it wouldent recive any chanels. any more ideas?

 

[Glorystar1]

From your description, I believe that the dish is either aimed at the incorrect satellite, the LNBF rotation is set incorrectly or the receiver menu settings have been changed from the defaults.

Evidently I incorrectly read or incorrectly assumed from your second post that you were watching the Glorystar channels, but the Signal Quality reading was unstable. In your most recent post it appears that you have no Glorystar programming displayed behind the Signal Meter and the Signal Quality is jumping? You also have not responded to the question of what channel that the receiver is on when you have been attempting trying to aim the dish.

So lets start from first base.....

• How did you verify that the dish is not warped? By eying across the edges? String test?
• Is the mast perfectly plumb and level? How was this checked?
• Do you have the satellite receiver and a small dish beside the dish when making adjustments? If not, make sure that you have a small TV and the receiver next to the dish before attempting to aim. It is nearly impossible to aim a dish without the Signal Meter visible at the dish.

• Set the LNBF rotation (skew) to the correct angle for your region. Without knowing your city city, I can only guess around 15 degrees counter clockwise (when standing in front of the dish looking towards the reflector).
• Set the dish elevation setting using the A scale. The pointer is visible through the elevation scale on the left edge of the elevation lock nut.
• Use you compass to identify a distant landmark (tree, telephone pole, neighbor's chimney, etc.) that aligns with the compass reading. Stand away from any metal objects and in line with the dish when identifying this land mark.
• Depress and hold the Channel Up Button on the front panel switch the Master Power Switch ON
• Release the Channel Up Button after the Testing Menu appears
• Select #0 LOAD DEFAULT and press OK. When prompted, turn OFF the Master Power Switch or the rear of the receiver
• If using the RF output and the video does not appear, Press OK button 2 (two) times and the video display will reappear
• Perform the receiver activation in Glorystar mode.

• Locate the satellite using channel 901. Do not use any other channel to locate the satellite as other channels can produce many false readings and display channels from incorrect satellites.
• VERY SLOWLY pan the dish 10 or 15 degrees east and west of the landmark. If no Signal Quality reading increase is noted with TV channel programming displayed behind the signal meter, increase or decrease the elevation by one degree and VERY SLOWLY pan the dish in this same area again. Repeat if necessary until the satellite Signal Quality reading increases and the TV programming is displayed behind the meter screen. You may need to increase or decrease the elevation 5 or more degrees in 1 degree increments before you find the Signal Quality reading and peak for highest Signal Quality reading.
• Once you have peaked the Signal Quality reading and TV programming is playing behind the meter, change the TV channel to 113. Verify that the Signal Quality remains above 50%. If not, make small adjustments to increase the Quality reading to above 50%.
• Now place the receiver on channel 106. If the receiver has been correctly programmed during the past year, the 3ABN programming should be playing behind the meter screen and AMC4 satellite name will not be displayed. If the screen displays AMC4 for the satellite name, skip to the next step. Verify that the Signal Quality is above 50%. If not make slight adjustments to the dish aiming and slight adjustments to the LNBF rotation and fore/aft placement in the clamp. Verify that the Signal Quality reading is balanced and has high as possible on three channels: 901, 113 and 106. Signal Quality should be above 50% on these 3 channels, but usually the Quality readings are 60 - 70% when the dish is correctly aimed and the LNBF rotation and fore/aft setting is optimized.
• Perform an OTA Update.
  1. Using your GEOSATpro remote control, press Menu button
  2. Left Arrow to Accessory Screen
  3. Down Arrow to OTA
  4. Press OK
  5. Verify Automatic Update setting is ON
     (if OFF, Press Right Arrow to ON)
  6. Press Down Arrow to Update Now
  7. Press OK
  8. Screen displays" Do you want to update S/W?"
  9. Press OK
     After OTA update, the receiver will restart.
  
  Verify that the Signal Quality reading on all channels is above 50%. If not continue to make small adjustments to the dish aiming and the LNBF rotation and placement until the Signal Quality readings are as high as possible and as balanced as possible.