Problem resolved? Maybe.
I finally got Dish to send out a tech. I showed him my problem (short range of control from the 40.0), and showed him that all my 40.0 remotes did the same thing. He agreed that there is a problem, which was a good start. But he pulled a 54.0 remote out of his pocket, and it worked fine from all over the house. "It has an improved transmitter", he said. So I told him that he needed to exchange my 40.0 remotes for 54.0 remotes, and all would be well. He agreed that this would solve the problem, but said he wasn't allowed to do that. I asked if he could exchange my Hopper Duo for another Hopper with an external antenna. He said that a swap would probably solve the problem, but he wasn't allowed to do that, either. WTFO? Turned out that he works for a local audio/video installation company who is contracted to Dish, and their contract doesn't allow him to exchange equipment. So he left.
I called Tech Support at Dish again, and got a real nice guy who spoke perfect English! He checked the notes from the original tech, asked me a few questions, and agreed that exchanging the remotes was the way to go, and that it was Dish's responsibility to do the exchange. But guess what? They don't have any 54.0 remotes in the warehouse. So he suggested that he could exchange my Hopper Duo for another Hopper model that has an external antenna. I agreed to try it, and he said he would ship one out that same day. And he did. But guess what again? I got the shipping manifest by email, and Dish is sending me another Hopper Duo, with no external antenna! I'll hook it up, just in case the original is defective in some way (disconnected internal antenna or whatever), but my expectations are low. I expect that I will have to call Dish AGAIN, to correct the shipping screw up.
So the saga will go on. Stay tuned.
BTW, I used the camera trick to confirm that the 40.0 does not use IR on Hopper-related commands. Thanks for that, Kevin.
Bill
I finally got Dish to send out a tech. I showed him my problem (short range of control from the 40.0), and showed him that all my 40.0 remotes did the same thing. He agreed that there is a problem, which was a good start. But he pulled a 54.0 remote out of his pocket, and it worked fine from all over the house. "It has an improved transmitter", he said. So I told him that he needed to exchange my 40.0 remotes for 54.0 remotes, and all would be well. He agreed that this would solve the problem, but said he wasn't allowed to do that. I asked if he could exchange my Hopper Duo for another Hopper with an external antenna. He said that a swap would probably solve the problem, but he wasn't allowed to do that, either. WTFO? Turned out that he works for a local audio/video installation company who is contracted to Dish, and their contract doesn't allow him to exchange equipment. So he left.
I called Tech Support at Dish again, and got a real nice guy who spoke perfect English! He checked the notes from the original tech, asked me a few questions, and agreed that exchanging the remotes was the way to go, and that it was Dish's responsibility to do the exchange. But guess what? They don't have any 54.0 remotes in the warehouse. So he suggested that he could exchange my Hopper Duo for another Hopper model that has an external antenna. I agreed to try it, and he said he would ship one out that same day. And he did. But guess what again? I got the shipping manifest by email, and Dish is sending me another Hopper Duo, with no external antenna! I'll hook it up, just in case the original is defective in some way (disconnected internal antenna or whatever), but my expectations are low. I expect that I will have to call Dish AGAIN, to correct the shipping screw up.
So the saga will go on. Stay tuned.
BTW, I used the camera trick to confirm that the 40.0 does not use IR on Hopper-related commands. Thanks for that, Kevin.
Bill
