Mid day outages

[warren45840]

Today, I was informed by tech support that my loss of over half of my programming during the day is due to the sun "bearing down" on the dish, and that there was nothing that could be done about it. Further, the csr told me that this was happening all over the country.

I am finding this particularly frustrating because this loss is only occurring on my DVR converter(510).

I have had this system since April, 2005, and this is the first major problem I have had. This has been going on for about 2 months now, and I can't remember how many times I had called tech support.

I have had the converter exchanged, and it worked ok for about 2 weeks, before this problem resurfaced.

Now, I had asked them before the exchange occurred if this was a systemic problem, and I was told no. If they had said it was, or that it was this sun issue, I would not have exchanged converters.

Now, my sense of irony cannot ignore the facts that it is a premium converter being adversely effected, nor did the shopping channels vanish during these outages.

I have fired off an email to customer service, and am looking forward to their reply. I wanted to post this in order to commisserate with others in my postition, and to warn others before they might do something like asking for a tech to come out to their homes to try to fix something that I am told cannot be repaired....and your bill for my non service is 30 or 50 or 100 dollars.

Anyone else having these problems?

 

[dfergie]

More than likely your LNB is going... the heat is getting to it, do not talk to csr, go directly to tech next time you call and explain what is happening and when ( sun outages only occur during the fall and spring equinoxes)Btw... what is this converter you are refering too?

 

[warren45840]

I was referring to the receiver...model 510 with the dvr
I used csr as a general term...it was tech support who told me about this sun bearing down issue...in my calls to tech support, I went through all of the steps...front panel reset...switch check...LNB reset...change receiver out.
This post is more about consumer affairs than tech issues...I don't want a lot of people to spend useless funds on a tech call when I am being told this is a nationwide problem

 

[dfergie]

Its not a nationwide problem or there would be threads here and elsewhere burying the forums... example If it was the sun causing this I live in the Desert with strong heat and sun... I would lose both my D* and E* service's which has not ever happened ( even with C Band you get interference during the equinoxes and may loose signal temporarily but not most of the day and C band solid dishes reflect a heck of a lot more heat than a 18", 20" or whatever size )

 

[warren45840]

I am relaying what I was told by tech support today...I have a neighbor who also is on dish, and they are, at least when we called them today, experiencing outages on at least one of the same channels that I am.
Now, this is only affecting the dvr receiver...the secondary receiver, model 3-something...works fine.
Also, I am not a tech...you lost me at "I would lose both my..." in your last post...lol

 

[Pepper]

it might not be a "nationwide problem" but there are a lot of bad dishpro lnbfs out there, i have had two on my system go bad this summer.

I'm just guessing but do you have a superdish and is it the channels on 119 that are going?

 

[warren45840]

Must be a very educated guess...because that is exactly what seems to be the issue.

 

[tripod]

I lost all ESPN's from 6 to 730 pm Est yesterday and acted like sunspots.

 

[long_time_DNC]

They must be referring to sun beating down on their satellites.

 

[NOHDjunkie]

Must be a very educated guess...because that is exactly what seems to be the issue.

If it's a superdish then the LBNF is the problem. 119 superdish LBNF failures seem common this summer.

Mine crapped out last month after three years. I had them come out and replace the LBNF assembly, then when they left I took the super dish down and put up a 500 since I don't need the 121 satellite anymore.

 

[rich88]

The most common problem we are having is the 110 LNB on the Type 2 Super Dish 105 is overheating during the day, causing the customer to lose all the channels coming off the 110 sat. When the temps cool down during the evening, the channels come back in.

Our cure for this is replacing the Type 2 SD 105 with a Dish 500. We no longer need a SuperDish in this area since the locals were moved to the 110 from the 105.

The Type 1 SuperDish 105s in this area are still working fine. Sure, we still run into a few bad LNBs here and there, but nothing close to an "epidemic".

As for the SuperDish 121, I really can't speak for because we have so very few of them in this area.

 

[warren45840]

More specifics about my set up...superdish 121...2 receivers...a 510 and a 311...DP34.

I started losing channels again this morning...around 10am edt...but not that warm...air temp. around 80-82...although the dish is exposed to direct sunlight by then...

I wanted to experiment concerning the heat failure suggestions...so I sprayed down the LNB (while still covered) with water for about 10-15 minutes...some of the channels lost returned.

Now, I am not a tech, but what I am not understanding is why is this only impacting the 510 and not the 311 receiver.

Also, looking at this and other threads, it seems hard to believe that DishNetwork's tech's are unaware of this problem.

One more thing...betraying my ignorance here, but why would this issue not immediately manifest on the replacement receiver but wait nearly 2 weeks before reappearing...

and...it was extremely hot in the early part of last week...this did not reoccur until after the temps dropped back into the low 80's...the days were mainly sunny

 

[drsings]

Same problem

I've had the same problem with two receivers...501, 508 dvrs. They lost signal in the heat of the day for a couple of weeks then lost signal totally for certain channels on 119 (I don't know which channels are on 119 so I don't know if all of them are off). I also have a 311 which works perfectly. The problem follows the receivers when you switch locations.

Called Dish and they wanted me to replace the 501 and 508. I am going to have the LNB replaced first...if that doesn't work then try the receivers.

 

[drsings]

Mine is OK Now

Got a new LNB installed this evening for my Superdish 105. It has fixed my problem so far. I guess the true test will be tomorrow. Its supposed to be in the lower 90's again.