Help! No HD reception.

[KoreAmBear]

Aloha Everyone,

I have a vip622 and my HD reception is completely gone. I live in Hawaii so I probably have an atypical set up compared to everyone else.

I have a 1 meter dish (I guess it's supposed to find the 110 and the 129) and the regular dish that catches the 119.

Well, there are no physical connection problems. Everything is snug and tight. No unusual winds to knock off the placement of the dishes -- they are also snug and tight, on poles. They are low to the ground, though, as they can't be above my fence line per my HOA restriction. Anyway, with the 129 spot beams and the 110 channels (basically ESPN, ESPN2, Discovery, TNT, locals, HDnet, HDmovies -- but NFL channel and Universal haven't been working for a while, even though they should - we don't get the full slate of HD channels that mainlanders get), it has been working pretty good for a while . . . until the last few days.

Now, when I do the check switch, every time, the 119 pops up and the computer says "OK" and verified, but under where the 110 column should be for both inputs, there are Xs, meaning the computer doesn't even read the 110. I see a SW44 at the bottom of the screen as well.

Finally, my HDMI connection to my LCD seems to be weird. Sometimes the screen is completely blank, or the sound is off. If I pull the HDMI connection on the vip622 unit connector, sometimes the screen comes on after it has been blank. It's just weird.

I really don't want to call a retailer if I don't have to, as I wasn't happy with the one I've used before. I called DISH and the rep. shot out a signal to me, but it didn't do a darn thing and all she said was "sorry, call a retailer." Ugh.

Any ideas on what is going on? Any input would be appreciated. I'm really frustrated right now.

Will
Honolulu, HI

 

[harshness]

I'm surprised that they used an SW44.

It sounds like your 110W LNB (or maybe the 110 half of the SW44) may be going batty. 110W spotbeams are where all of your national HD is coming from. 129W doesn't reach Hawaii. As an experiment, you might try plugging the 110W LNB directly into the receiver and see if you can get a proper check switch result.

Outside of buying a bunch of replacement parts and paying ridiculous sums for shipping, you don't have a lot of choices but to go with a local retailer. The mainland support people know nothing of your situation.

 

[KoreAmBear]

Thank you harshness

The retailer installed an old LNB (hence the SW44?) to save me some money on initial installation (October 2005). It has given me problems here and there but for the most part, it's been acceptable. Recently, there has been a spot beam from 129 to Hawaii so that we get a really strong ESPN and ESPN2 signal. I'm pretty sure that's what's been going on. Anyway, I am reluctantly contacting my retailer. Mahalo.

Will

 

[BobaBird]

The SW44 is a 2-satellite switch, so you're just getting 119 & 110. Even if 129 reached Hawaii, it has no spot beams. The AK/HI HD package comes from spot beams on 110.