Dish Pro Twin LBNF 119 Yes 110 No

[thad]

Please Help Me,

We have a Dish Pro Twin LBNF. I am told that a "switch" is built into the head of the satellite so we do not need an independent switch to pick up both satellites. We have 2 301 receivers. We are using one and the other one is sitting in a closet because we only have one TV. We will buy another TV at some point but for now the one is all we need. We purchased satellite cable (it's gray in color) and connected the cable to the satellite dish and down into our room with the TV and connected the cable to the 301 receiver. We can get 119 but we cannot get 110.

Here is what it says when we do a check switch:

Installed Switch: DP-Twin


Input: 1 2
Satellite: Conn 119
Polarity: X All
Device: Twin Twin
Status: Warning - only one satellite connected

When we press Details it says:

Direct Connect to a DP-Twin
DP-Twin-1 119 Even, Odd

We do not know what to do. It has been this way for about 2 months now. I bought the satellite package at walmart a long time ago and it sat in my closet and then we finally decided to get it hooked up 2 months ago and all is well with the 119 but can't get 110. we read on here that you have to move it over a bit so one of us went on the roof and one stayed in waiting for the red bar to turn green meaning the signal was found but nothing. The signal picked up on the 119 but not on the 110.

Should we have two coaxial cables running from the Dish Pro Twin LNBF even though we are only using one receiver? Must you have two cable coming from the satellite even though you are only using one box?

Do we actually need an independent switch? I ask this because upon closer inspection of the satellite dish I see that there is fine print on one side that reads 119 and fine print on the other side of the dish that reads 110. So of those two coaxial cable inputs located on the dish and those two white circles above the coaxial inputs, is one side for a coaxial cable to pick up 110 and the other for 119 and if one coaxial is missing does that mean no 110? I thought it was a twin that had both 119 and 110 inside each?

I just don't know why we can't get 110 and would like to very much. I can't see it being a damaged 110 because everything came out of the box brand new but I guess maybe it is a possibility. I'm just thinking we are doing something wrong. We went on the roof and move the dish left to right and up and down and still no 110. I thought we could leave one of the coaxial inputs on the roof unattached because we figured it was for the other 301 receiver which we are not using.

If there is someone out there reading this that has some knowledge, I could certainly use your help. I have a mean boss and coming home to my satellite is my panacea. ;-)

 

[volkodav]

did you set skew and elevation properly and is your mast properly leveled? you are just fine with DP twin those 119 110 numbers for there for dual LNB. and you do not need any switches.

 

[JohnTenn]

I'd check your skew to make sure it is set right. The skew is the twist of the dish. If you go to the point dish screen and enter your zip, and select dish 500 it will tell you the correct skew.

Also, Dish recalled, unofficially, several thousand DP twin lnbfs. These are identified by the lot number beginning with CCS. If you have had your LNB for awhile, you might have one of these LNB's which have been know to be bad out of the box.

A final note would be your check switch screen should read 119, 110 all, all. If it doesn't read 119 first, it is possible you are missing one satellite. The dish points at 2 seperate satellites with an internal switch to switch between them for each receiver. This signal cannot be split either, so if you are using existing cable, look for a splitter in the line.

 

[volkodav]

I'd check your skew to make sure it is set right. The skew is the twist of the dish. If you go to the point dish screen and enter your zip, and select dish 500 it will tell you the correct skew.

Also, Dish recalled, unofficially, several thousand DP twin lnbfs. These are identified by the lot number beginning with CCS. If you have had your LNB for awhile, you might have one of these LNB's which have been know to be bad out of the box.

A final note would be your check switch screen should read 119, 110 all, all. If it doesn't read 119 first, it is possible you are missing one satellite. The dish points at 2 seperate satellites with an internal switch to switch between them for each receiver. This signal cannot be split either, so if you are using existing cable, look for a splitter in the line.

thet DP twins you are talking about is Chanel Master CCS xxxx9960 ( i don't remember what the fist numbers are). They are defective to to over heating when it gets over 80 degrees out side

 

[Stargazer]

Do you have any trees that could be blocking the signal? I am thinking that most likely not in this scenario. You do not need an independent switch since it is a twin lnbf which has the switch built in. Before you run a check switch the receiver recognizes 110 on the 110 side and 119 on the 119 side. After you do a check switch it picks up both 110 and 119 on each side (if you are receiving the signals as you should).

You could be picking up 119 on the 110 lnbf. Me and others have done this before. Is your mast plumb? If so then your skew and elevation numbers should be true. See what those numbers should be for your zip code (or give us your zip code) and we will give those numbers to you. If it shows different on the dish then most likely your mast is not plumb and/or you are receiving 119 on the 110 side of the twin lnbf. If this is the case then your dish needs to be repointed.

A few things that you can do to see if this is the case is to look to see where the 110 and 119 side is. Facing the front of the dish where you can see Dish500 written on it 119 is on the left side and 110 is on the right side. To test to see if you are picking it up from the wrong side cover the 119 side of the lnbf (not with something plastic as the signal will go through plastic). Make sure you cover it up with a peice of cardboard or tin foil. If the signal is still coming in then you are recieiving it from the wrong side of the lnbf. If the signal is not coming in at that point then you either have blockage of the satellite from a tree or something may be wrong with the switch inside the lnbf. You cannot simply just connect it to one side of the lnbf or the other after running a check switch as you have done to see if you are receiving it from the correct side of the lnbf. In order to see if it is connected to the correct side of the lnbf with the wire you would need to unhook the wire from the satellite receiver, do a check swithc with it unhooked, then hook the wire back up to 119 (left) side of the dish to see if you can then receive the signal. Use transponder 11. You can then connect it to the 110 (right) side and go through the transponders to see if you receiving the signal from that side as well. Some transponders on 110 will not come in because they are spotbeams. Check on transponder 11 on 110 as well, it does not have a spotbeam there.

 

[boba]

thet DP twins you are talking about is Chanel Master CCS xxxx9960 ( i don't remember what the fist numbers are). They are defective to to over heating when it gets over 80 degrees out side

CCS9601 was the number

 

[thad]

Thanks Guys for all your suggestions. I am going to go up on the roof and try what you suggested and hope for the best. I'll report tomorrow.

 

[SimpleSimon]

You could be picking up 119 on the 110 lnbf.

BINGO!

The dead giveaway is having 119 show up in column 2.

I'm slightly surprised that you didn't get 129 in the first column, but no matter.

You're 9 degrees off. Rotate it to the east, recheck plumb, elevation, and skew.

 

[thad]

So frustrating

Well we just came down from the roof and what a frustrating night.

I took some aluminum foil up with me and once we placed the aluminium foil over the 110 head we noticed that we lost the 119 signal. So obviously 119 is coming through on the 110 head. and here's is what we did.

"in house person" disconnected coaxial cable from 301 receiver. Did a check switch test. Results then became:

Input: 1 2
Satellite: Conn Conn
Polarity: X X
Device: Twin Twin

Now at this point the coaxial cable is hooked up to Port 1 (which is on the 119 side of the dish). Port 2 is empty because we are not using the second 301 receiver box. So,

"roof person" placed aluminum foil over the 110 head.
'in house person" went to "point dish" screen
"roof person" started moving dish (azimuth (right to left)); and (elevation (up and down)). We did not touch the skew as we kept it in line with what the 301 receiver indicated when we typed in our zip code initially.

We got no signal. Frustrated at this point.

So next we moved the coaxial cable to the Port 2 position (which is on the 110 side of the dish) and once again we got nothing.

We cannot seem to pick up the 119 on the 119 side of the dish.

Our thinking is that we are doing something wrong or there is something wrong with the 119 lnbf head. However, I strongly believe the lnbf heads are okay.

When we are moving the dish, do we have to do a check switch each and every time we move it? We just can't figure out why we are not picking up the 119 on the 119 head. My thinking is that if we can get the 119 on the 119 head then finally we can free up the 110 head to pick up the 110 signal.

So I came down from the roof and everything is back to the way it was when I first posted.

Please can anyone give me any advice because right now at this moment (even with a university degree) I am feeling very stupid, dumb and unintelligent. I can go out and try again (because I'm determined) or drink myself to sleep ;-)

Any help is really needed and appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

[thad]

Satellite Signal must be a woman. . . .

Well went back up and on the first try (by moving the satellite 9 degrees) the signal on the television in the house read:

Input:....................1.......... 2
Satellite:..............119...... 110
Polarity:................All....... Odd
Device:...............Twin....... Twin

We jumped for joy and then when the screwdriver was used to tighten everything into place we got:

Input:....................1............. 2
Satellite:..............Conn...... Conn
Polarity:................X............. X
Device:...............Twin......... Twin

So we tried for 30 more minutes moving left to right, up and down yada yada doing check switch test in between each to get the 119 back into the 1 column but to no avail.

It is 12:14 a.m. so we just got back inside and we are getting ready for bed. Horrible night. The satellite is teasing us. ;-)

 

[Stargazer]

BINGO!

The dead giveaway is having 119 show up in column 2.

I'm slightly surprised that you didn't get 129 in the first column, but no matter.

You're 9 degrees off. Rotate it to the east, recheck plumb, elevation, and skew.

He probably did not get 129 in the first column because the separation is 10 degrees on the oribital locations from 129 and 119 but 9 degrees with the twin that was designed for 110 and 119.

 

[chadzx11]

If your elevation and skew was set properly, and you hit 119 with the 110 lnb, then your mast is not plumb. You can compensate on the elevation (it would need to go up, IIRC), but it would be a whole lot easier if that mast was plumb, the closer the better. You might want to take a look at the AZ/EL and make sure the Pivot Point is in the hole on that skew plate, too. That can rock your world, if its not right.

Also, could it be something as simple as bad software (since it has never been hooked up, and it is a couple years old)? Sometimes that software does some screwy stuff!

Maybe you should post your software version, too.


I've hit 129/119 before, and that blew my mind because, at that point in time, I didn't even know that there existed a 129.

 

[Stargazer]

Well went back up and on the first try (by moving the satellite 9 degrees) the signal on the television in the house read:

Input:....................1.......... 2
Satellite:..............119...... 110
Polarity:................All....... Odd
Device:...............Twin....... Twin

We jumped for joy and then when the screwdriver was used to tighten everything into place we got:

Input:....................1............. 2
Satellite:..............Conn...... Conn
Polarity:................X............. X
Device:...............Twin......... Twin

So we tried for 30 more minutes moving left to right, up and down yada yada doing check switch test in between each to get the 119 back into the 1 column but to no avail.

It is 12:14 a.m. so we just got back inside and we are getting ready for bed. Horrible night. The satellite is teasing us. ;-)

When you tightened the screws in it probably changed the way the twin was pointing at the dish (changed the focal point) although it should not have changed it enough if you was getting a good signal when you originally had a signal. You should have tried loosening the screws to see if the signal came back in. If it did I would have tried getting in a stronger signal before tightening the screws back. Did you have all of the bolts tightened down when you had the signal in before you tightened the screws up? This reminds me of when I was putting in SuperDishes and I had the signal in for 105, 110, and 119 really good and then when I tightened the bolts down the signal would drop greatly on 105 if not go out completely. I had to start listening to the pitch as I tightened the bolts down to see if it caused it to go down and I had to adjust the elevation the correctly way so that I could allow for the bolts to tighten to peak the signal. That was a big aggervation. I also had to start tightening up a certain bolt before another bolt to prevent it from doing that so much.

Seeing how it said 119 All 110 Odd tells me that you had some signal but not the strongest one possible as it was only getting the odd transponders from 110. It seems as if you did not have it peaked before you tightened the screws. You was very close to getting it. You should be able to get 110-120% on 110 and 119 unless you have partial blockage or your skew is off because your mast is not plumb on ALL sides. If the skew is not plumb on all sides you might be able to peak 119 but 110 and 129 will not come in well.

At least you got the satellite signal on the correct side of the twin lnbf and got a signal in tonight. You have to move that dish SLOWLY when trying to peak that signal. Listen to the pitch of the tone and move it slowly left and right until you hear it at the highest pitch. Once you get the highest possible signal moving it to the left and right tighten it down and do not worry if it went down as you tightened the bolt because you can adjust it on the elevation (up and down). Move it up and down until you get the highest pitch and then tighten the bolts down on both sides. Do another check switch and see what the result is.

What was the best signal strength that you found on 119 when you was tuning the signal in?

 

[Stargazer]

If your elevation and skew was set properly, and you hit 119 with the 110 lnb, then your mast is not plumb. You can compensate on the elevation (it would need to go up, IIRC), but it would be a whole lot easier if that mast was plumb, the closer the better. You might want to take a look at the AZ/EL and make sure the Pivot Point is in the hole on that skew plate, too. That can rock your world, if its not right.

Also, could it be something as simple as bad software (since it has never been hooked up, and it is a couple years old)? Sometimes that software does some screwy stuff!

Maybe you should post your software version, too.


I've hit 129/119 before, and that blew my mind because, at that point in time, I didn't even know that there existed a 129.

If your elevation and skew is set propertly and you hit 119 with the 110 lnbf that does not mean that the mast/pole is not plumb. It just means your hitting the satellite with the wrong lnbf because the elevation is set wrong. He already corrected this when he hit 119 in column one and 110 in column two. He may run into this problem again though trying to find 110 again so he needs to keep the wire connected to the 119 side that is going to the receiver that he is trying to get the signal on to peak his dish.

The software for Dish500 has been there for a LONG time so that should have nothing to do with trying to point his dish for a Dish500. It would give problems with trying to get 129 in later on though if it is not listed in the satellites. Once he gets 119 in he could shut his receiver off for about 20-30 minutes and it will download the latest software update if it needs one.

You can find out what the software is by pressing the SYSTEM INFO button on your remote control located below the INFO button or press >MENU >6 >1 >3 on the remote control. Where it says software it should say P and three numbers to the right of it. If it says P2.09 P2.44 P2.46 P3.41 then it has the current software.

You can view the latest software versions at the following link: http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/customerCare/technical/software_versions/index.asp

 

[thad]

Yes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm up and running. And without having DISH come out for a service call. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SimpleSimon]

He probably did not get 129 in the first column because the separation is 10 degrees on the oribital locations from 129 and 119 but 9 degrees with the twin that was designed for 110 and 119.

That 1 degree difference is not relevant at most latitudes. Here in the middle (39.5N, 105W) it's easy to tag 129/119 with a Twin.

And that 110-120% ain't gonna happen to often any more - except on spotbeams, and those should NEVER be used for peaking. Always use 11 & 12 on 110 & 119. Yes, use both - because as thad discovered, even without any cable issues, you CAN mis-aim enough to lose half of them.