Help with erratic satellite reception.

[shorrock]

We are having a lot of issues with our dish, and wanted to get some info to talk with the guy when he shows up on Monday.

Yesterday, we had a lot of rain and the receiver was acting up a lot(would have to acquire a satellite signal every time we would change the channel. The 622 could display a channel on one output, but the same channel could not be displayed on the other.

When I called in last night, they asked me to run a check switch, when I did, it showed that an existing satellite was missing, and asked if I wanted to delete it. This morning, everything seems fine.

It seems to happen whenever it rains, and the 61.5 satellite drops out for no good reason (No rain in the area).

I checked the diagnostics screen, and found this:

LNB Drift Detected
0x00, 0xa1, 61.5(e-8)

We had a tech out last week who looked at two menu screens and said that we don't have a problem. It has gotten steadily worse since he was here And I will be killed if the problem is not fixed by my wife. What should I make sure the technician does/knows when they arrive on Monday...


Thanks to all,

Tom

 

[rcdallas]

Simple, first you make sure the dish is properly aligned then make sure your connections are good... still show LNB drift replace the LNB.

 

[highdefjeff]

It sounds like the signal is just low on the 61.5 satellite. There may be a tree or obstacle partially blocking the dish (which couldn't easily fixed by the tech) or your mounting is high and he didn't want to go up there to fix it.

How long have you had the system installed?
Has this always been a problem?

Reading again your post, you say the 61.5 goes out even without rain which suggests a failing LNB.

 

[shorrock]

We have had the system for about three years now...

The problem started in Early July and has been getting progressively worse. since then.

I've checked most of the connections, and they feel tight (Can't loosen them by hand.)

Thanks all,
Tom

 

[tastim]

Assuming you don't get an idiot at your house... this is usually a pretty basic fix.

You have LO Drift.... that is problem #1 and needs to be fixed no matter what else is wrong with your system. The other thing that needs to be checked is Dish peaking... just because the bolts are tight does not mean the Dish hasn't moved... mounts settle, warp, bend, etc....

Replacing the bad LNBF will probably fix your problems... but repeaking to get the best possible signal strength is something I ALWAYS do on a Trouble Call/Service Call. (Well ok.. if some tweaker put the Dish somewhere WAY unsafe, you might be on your own as long as the signal is fairly good... I don't love my job THAT much)

There are other things that can cause signal loss, of course... but 90% of the time, these are the culprits.

 

[highdefjeff]

Assuming you don't get an idiot at your house... this is usually a pretty basic fix.

You have LO Drift.... that is problem #1 and needs to be fixed no matter what else is wrong with your system. The other thing that needs to be checked is Dish peaking... just because the bolts are tight does not mean the Dish hasn't moved... mounts settle, warp, bend, etc....

Replacing the bad LNBF will probably fix your problems... but repeaking to get the best possible signal strength is something I ALWAYS do on a Trouble Call/Service Call. (Well ok.. if some tweaker put the Dish somewhere WAY unsafe, you might be on your own as long as the signal is fairly good... I don't love my job THAT much)

There are other things that can cause signal loss, of course... but 90% of the time, these are the culprits.

Yep.