Loosing hd signals...again

[Van]

So for those that have read my previous posts about my D experience you know that I have been through 4 hd receivers as well as two bbc's because of pixelling and other video issues and audio issues in the last 16 months. Well here we go again with issues related to HD channel loss to include locals in HD on overcast days.

When I loved to Virginia Beach back in April I had a mover program set up and when the installer came out I worked with him to find a location for the dish to go, roof and wall basically were out of the question because this is a coastal zone and I didn't want any issues with storm winds pulling the dish off along with part of the roof or wall ( did work for E in 05 in Alabama and Florida and saw enough damage to know it happens ). The installer with all of 6 months of training settled on a spot for a pole at the back of the yard that he felt would overshoot tree's that are in a neighbors yard on the other side of the canal but also put the dish directly underneath a tree in my yard and I pointed out to him the issue with overhang which his response was for my to cut the branches. At the time the signal was good at about %85 or so for the transponders on 99 and 103 but it has now fallen to %21 - %52 on both sats and I have not seen channel 2 and channel 2-2 for one of my local PBS stations and when it gets overcast and there is a light but steady rain or it gets overcast I loose many of my hd channels.

I've trimmed the branches overhanging the dish 5 times now and cant trim anymore as it will make the tree look like those that the road crews trim along road sides. The pole cant go any further forward as the ground is not stable due to some kind of giant river rodent the size of a small dog that has made the canal bank its home. The only definite line of site is the roof but given the location and the age of the roof I don't want it going there for obvious reasons. At what point is D going to realize that they are loosing money on my account as this is the 4th time that they have had to come out to my home since April and the 8th or 9th time overall for issues related to their equipment / installation since February of last year and work with me to end this fiasco and let me out of the contract?

Trouble call is scheduled for Thursday afternoon so I will update then but as much as I like the programming the equipment and installation quality leave a great deal to be desired.

 

[Liquidforce88]

Van is that pole moving?

This certainly sounds like a pointing issue. Have you tried to just turn the receiver to the signal screen and adjust the elevation and dither adjustments to see if you can get the signal any higher. If you ever did superdish installs the KA/KU HD dishes are far easier to adjust than those were. All you need is a 1/2" wrench and a few minutes to see if that is the problem.

If thats what it is then all you have to do is get that pole to stay put. How much concrete did they use, and how deep is that pole? It don't take very much for the signal on that dish to lose HD. Something like 1/20th of an inch will make a significant change in signal strength.

 

[Van]

Nope its not moving, there's 80lbs of crete holding it in place and its very well protected from wind load. I remember the superdish's, all three of them to be precise and the 1000's to. Either way its loosing signal and since I'm paying for the PP then its on their dime to fix it again. Looking further at the backyard I found a spot for a new pole but it won't be usable as it's in a location right at the old seawall where I will be rebuilding and adding about 4ft of backfill.

 

[digiblur]

Tighten the signals up instead of "loosing" them.

 

[Van]

At this point I'd prefer to just get rid of D and go ota, tired of dealing with them on all these problems and paying out $80 a month for service. Verizon has fios in the area so I'm checking them out to see how well it works for my father so we can get his bill down from $200 to $100.

 

[Van]

Hmm, service call is set for 4 - 8pm and when we get home at 3:30 we get an automated phone call about how I service call went and there's a note to call the technician on the door who won't answer his phone.

 

[Van]

Well Thursday came and went and I never saw the tech and I was to busy yesterday to call D however my father said the tech came in the morning and looked at the tv then went out to the dish and did something and said it was fixed which is funny because he left no paper work and it was still goofy until I took down two more branches and now the signal for 99 and 103 are in the 50's to 80's.

 

[webbydude]

Those number still seem a bit low. Average transponder numbers should be in the mid to high 80's...as a minimum...IMO.

 

[Van]

Just as I figured but I've come to expect this kind of service from D.

 

[webbydude]

Assuming you still have your meter...and if you're feeling frisky enough...why not try fine-tuning things on that Slimline? The dithering process isn't too much different than what was done with the SD121 and SD105 dishes.

 

[BHauser]

You'll also want to make sure that your pole is level going up and down (verticle) in the direction the dish is pointing. If that isnt level, you have a major problem if there is 80lb's of concrete on that pole.

 

[Van]

No meter, dish takes all things back when you dont work for them anymore. I'll have to find a day this week to open the window and turn up the volume and do some loud speaker tuning of my own.

The poles plumb, checked it out several times and nothings moved.