Help with install.... please

[bretster23]

I have a question for you, we have had directv for a week now, and we have had low signal. We've had tech after tech come out and try to fix it. We are still haveing problems with the signal. We live in an apartment building and we have a non-penetrating mount on our balcony.

Since the "new" tech came out we have been getting low signal on 101, but every othe sat is getting in the 80's. The tech said that the reason why we are getting low signal on 101 is because of the static electricty that is coming off the back of the box. The tech switched out the box and it's still low signal. The Tech said that we might be getting a low signal due to being close to an airport, could this be true? and another thing i am including the sat signal on all the sats. and hopefully one of you guys will beable to help me out..

Sat 101 tuner 1

1-8 77 80 79 0 78 89 72 88
9-16 73 83 76 0 76 91 76 94
17-24 79 0 83 0 80 94 80 92
25-32 82 0 85 0 85 95 82 95

Sat 101 tuner 2

1-8 59 66 69 0 69 85 73 85
9-16 71 80 74 0 73 91 74 92
17-24 74 0 80 0 77 93 79 91
25-32 80 0 79 0 83 95 81 95

Sat 110

1-8 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 86
9-16 n/a 83 n/a 89 n/a n/a n/a n/a
17-24 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
25-32 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

Sat 119

1-8 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
9-16 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
17-24 n/a n/a /na n/a n/a 87 0 86
25-32 0 89 89 87 80 90 0 92

Sat 99 (c)

1-8 78 84 74 79 75 82 72 76
9-16 75 79 72 72 76 80 n/a n/a
17-24 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
24-32 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

Sat 103 (c)

1-8 84 83 85 82 80 80 82 0 81
9-16 82 81 82 80 84 83 n/a n/a
17-24 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
24-32 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

Inclosing just wanted to let you know that i am sorry this is sooo long, and another thing, the tech's have changed out everything. they changed the entire dish, the LBNF, put in all new wireing, and have changed the boxes 4 times now. they have changed out the b-band converters. and we are still getting low signal..

Thanks in advance for any help that you guys may have. btw i am the wife and am trying to get this fixed while husband is at work.. thanks again for all the help...

 

[Joe Diamond]

There is a chance that the overhang from the roof or balcony above is blocking the top part of the dish or a railing blocking the lower part.

Mark where your settings are now set before you begin. Use a pencil.

Check that the mast is plumb. If the bubble indicator is not in the mst just use a small hand level or clinometer. If not correct that and adjust the elevation to exactly what is listed in the set up menu for your zip.

Peak the 101 to get a better signal (90s) and then adjust az until the 103 comes in best. If you use the meter in the receiver work slowly, there is a delay or lag. Loosen the az & tune that before doing the el. Tighten all when done.

The numbers you have are ok. Are you missing channels?

Joe

 

[bretster23]

Thanks for your help, got another question.. I just got off the phone with the tech that came out here and he said since his signal on the dish was high that the above balcony is not interfering with the signal.. He said that the problem is static electricity threw the apartment.. could this be the problem? Also he said that there is nothing still on 99c is this true? That we shouldnt worry about that sat at all.. Plus they wont wont ground the dish either said that it is the apartments job to ground building.. Well again thanks for all the help i appreciate it alot.

 

[Joe Diamond]

Thanks for your help, got another question.. I just got off the phone with the tech that came out here and he said since his signal on the dish was high that the above balcony is not interfering with the signal.. He said that the problem is static electricity threw the apartment.. could this be the problem? Also he said that there is nothing still on 99c is this true? That we shouldnt worry about that sat at all.. Plus they wont wont ground the dish either said that it is the apartments job to ground building.. Well again thanks for all the help i appreciate it alot.

The 99 and 103 are used differently all over the country (CONUS) and in your area the 103 is in use so don't worry about the 99 unless you discover elsewhere that it is being used.

The missing transponders are more of a mystery but DTV changes transponder usage without notice. Check for missing programming channels. From there checking the corresponding transponders can be done. You need the current list.

The static electricity thing seems like baloney. If you want to play around with it run a test wire from the dish to a known ground like your unit electric pannel or the center screw of an outlet. Static is caused by wind blowing over large dishes at high velocity for long periods. I vote baloney there. If things improve with grounding I am wrong.

If the mast is not plumb the published azimuth and elevation will be off and the dish will be difficult to tune. If you correct the alignment of the mast you will then have to correct the az & el adjustments...and I bet the missing and low transponders will come up.

Joe

 

[Van]

The tech is an idiot, your getting interferance from the balcony above you and the only real way to correct that is to mount the dish to the outside of the balcony railing. Living near an airport wont lower your signal and static electricity will kill a receiver but it wont lower a signal. Depending on the dish you have the tech will be seeing anywhere from 1 to 5 sats and most wont stop to check the signal strength of every sat at the dish on a 5 lnbf set up because it takes time.

 

[bretster23]

Thank you for all your guys help, but now I'm really screwed. I called aaron that works in the presidents office and he said that he wasn't sending anymore tech's out here to help with our situation because the tech's have done all they can to try to reslove the issue. So aaron said we have 2 options.. the first one is keep the service as is. and the second is to get out of the contract and go some where else. My personal oppinion is that he'd rather get rid of us as a customer than help. They can fix the problem if they just take the time but the tech's here are a sub-contractor and have know idea what they are doing. even the tech that came out here this last time. he's working from california a company called RCC.
So now i have a directv service that has low signal and the box freezes up all the time and picsalation and i dont know what to do. I'm at a loss because i want directv to come out here and actually fix it the right way. but i think my options for that are long gone. what do you all think we should do?
any suggustions? I'd try to fix it myself but i dont have the tools and i dont have the meter and i dont have a clue to what i am doing. and niether does my husband. So any suggustions would be greatly appreciated..

thanks you to all who have helped, it's been very much appreciated.

 

[Joe Diamond]

You might try posting your town and zip............somebody on here is probably close.

The other way requires a 1/2 inch open end wrench. Turn on the signal meter (menu...setup....view signal meter) and slowly move the dish left and right while viewing the signal on the 101 satellite. then do the elevation. When you have the highest number you are done. Take your time.

And I think you are not done with the DTV office. The installation is guaranteed for ninety days.
If you are not getting a picture and your account is active they will (should) fix it. The subcontractor is not the last word.

Joe

 

[bretster23]

thank you joe you are very helpful as to everyone else. Yeah the office of the president told me that i need to try to do the signal myself. and now i'm waiting for customer relations to get ahold of me.. oh and my zip is 58504 in bismarck North dakota..

thanks again for your help, i will have my husband help me try to get better signal.. wish us luck LOL..

 

[iwc5893]

The tech is an idiot, your getting interferance from the balcony above you and the only real way to correct that is to mount the dish to the outside of the balcony railing. Living near an airport wont lower your signal and static electricity will kill a receiver but it wont lower a signal. Depending on the dish you have the tech will be seeing anywhere from 1 to 5 sats and most wont stop to check the signal strength of every sat at the dish on a 5 lnbf set up because it takes time.

Considering that the OP has a non-pen roof mount on their balcony, I'm guessing that the landlord won't allow any other type of installation. The tech may be an idiot, but we don't know if they were restricted by the landlord in their mounting options. If they are shooting through a balcony railing to get signal, or the balcony above is blocking signal, then there's not a lot the tech can do unless the landlord changes their minds to allow a rail mount.

And to the OP, those signals strengths may seem low, but they are above the minimum required by DirecTV. Are you missing any channels, or having real signal issues?

 

[raoul5788]

Bretster, can you post some pictures of your installation? One from behind the dish and one from the side showing the whole area might be helpful.

 

[techstech]

You can get interference if you live to close to the airport; when planes hover over your apartment it will cause it to pixel i know bc i live like 1.5 miles away and every time it hovers over it pixels for a split second. Also the balcony above you is blocking some signal, nonpens cant give you that much leway the mount is probaly 3 feet from the railing causing your overhang to block it. try a rail mount or mount with a clamp. i should know i do apts installs all day long and rarely do i use non pens. Some people are so quick to judge techs even when they themselves dont know all the answers.

 

[bretster23]

I will try to get a piccie of the layout later today. The apartment manager here doesnt' want any holes or nothing. We had it mounted to our rail but the rail was to shaky and when the wind would blow it would lose signal. The first tech that came out suggested we'd move it or not get the service. I am still working with Directv. I am trying to get a local installer here to come out and fix it. hopefully they will beable to. but thanks for all your guys help. this board rocks! How do i know if i am missing channels? everyone keeps asking us this and i have no idea how to even check. I know we are missing some locals because here in bismarck they dont have the locals. but we get some of the NY locals.what other channels are we or could we be missing?
thanks for your help guys and gals.

leanne

 

[bretster23]

*update*
I have some local buisness coming out here monday at 1 to see if they can fix it. lets hope they can. =) we still have lots of pixalation going on but i think that might have to do with the balcony above us as well. so we well see how this all plays out on monday. thanks again for all your help and i will post piccies of what the dish looks like now. before monday. =) thanks again for your time and help. it's much appreciated...

leanne

 

[bretster23]

UPDATE!!! UPDATE!! UPDATE!!! UPDATE!!! UPDATE!!! UPDATE!!!

Well we had to pay another tech to come out here and give us the diagnosis on what the problem was. Well all along my husband knew what was wrong. My husband told the Directv tech that is was a bad LNB but he didnt want to listen. So we ended up paying a tech 75$ to come out here and tell us that yes in fact we were right it was a bad LNB. So today the Directv tech is coming back out here to replace the old one and give us a new one. So now we should be getting the Great signal that we should have been getting all along. =) yeah!! well i just wanted again to thank everyone who has posted a response to our problem and all the help. Your help was much appreciated. And i hope you all have a great day!!

thank you again,
leanne

 

[james champion]

If the Lnb does not fix it see if they have a H21 receiver to plug in and check the signal strength with. You may just have a software glitch on the HR21.