Losing HD signal but not SD

[Michigan Czar]

Hi, I have had Directv for many years but I am new to HD this past May. I am having issues where my receiver is searching for satellite occassionally on HD but if I switch to a SD channel it is working fine. I know that HD is on 99 & 103. I ran a test tonight and here are the numbers, could someone please advise me what to do. Does my dish need to be adjusted?

In the menu it says I have a slimline-5 dish. Thanks in advance for any help.

99c - 88 92 82 86 88 90 83 85
88 90 85 85 92 90


103c - 85 90 83 88 82 89 81 88
84 90 82 89 85 93

 

[Wesro]

What type of setup and equipment do you have SWM, 4x8 switch or just hooked directly to the dish?

 

[Michigan Czar]

For HD I have a HR22-100 & H21-200. This is a new set up at a new home from May when I moved I added HD. I have the 4 lines from the dish going to the basement, it goes into some type of switch that has 4 lines coming in and up to 8 going out. I am using 7 currently that go out to the HD receivers and 2 other SD dvrs (R16-300 & R15-500).

 

[Wesro]

Considering your setup my first guess would be maybe bad BBC's. The little boxes on the back of all your receivers. There are many things it could be though. Bad LNB, switch, BBC's. I would try bypassing your switch and hooking four tuners straight to the dish and see what that does. That would at least rule out a bad switch.

 

[Michigan Czar]

I will try that but I will have to monitor it as I said it goes out occassionally. It hasn't been just bad weather though I am in Michigan and the weather has been cold and snowy but when it went out yesterday it was pretty clear.

So the transponder numbers I posted above look to be acceptable signal strengths?

 

[jdspencer]

Those signal strengths look good. A few in the low 80s could be tweaked, but I doubt this is your problem. Does this happen on both DVRs?

 

[Michigan Czar]

I have one HD dvr so I assume you mean both receivers as I have another HD receiver. I do not know but I will check the next time it goes out and report back with more information. I will also try hooking the receiver up to the lines coming in the house.

Could clouds or snow do this only to HD signal and not SD? From what I am reading it sounds like HD signal doesn't penetrate weather as well as SD. That could mean nothing is wrong and it is something I need to live with so that is why I am asking. I guess this may be answered depending on whether my second HD receiver is receiving the signal or not.

 

[jdspencer]

The Ka band is a bit more susceptible to weather. I'd see if the signal strengths can be raised first.

 

[Wesro]

Heavy cloud cover can cause signal lose and you will lose the HD before you lose your SD. I agree I would try to tweak your signals and go from there. When I was installed a few months back my HD birds where in the 80's. I retweaked and got them in them all in the 90's and rarely have signal issues now.