Need Dish installation help

[Mr. Old School]

I've got a problem, might be simple, but I don't know. I recently purchased a Dish 500 system with the SW-21 multiswitch. I had no clue what I was doing, but I used the angles that were provided for me and tried to aim my dish. After a little work, I finally got a 118 signal on satellite 110. Thinking that was all I had to do, I got down off the roof, called Dish and subscribed to the $80 package. Being that this was the day after Thanksgiving, things were hectic and I didn't really get to fooling with the dish until after everyone went to bed.

I started flipping channels and right away noticed I had none of the ESPN channels even though I subscribed to them. Same with the MTV and VH1 channels. Then I noticed I was getting HBO, but I didn't see Cinemax so I started fooling around in the menu. I was messing with the dish pointing menu when I realized that the only satellite I was getting was 110. So I moved it to 119 and even though the signal bar went all the way across, it didn't turn green or lock in. Below the meter it said "Wrong Sat 110" So then I ran the switch test and after it finished it said "warning, only 1 satellite connected" or something like that. So I have arrived at the fact that I am missing about half my channels and it's probably because of something I did or didn't do. Instead of calling Dish, I thought I'd ask the experts here because I've always gotten fast and timely help on these forums.

So what have I done and how do I fix it? Is it a bad multiswitch or any other problem with equipment? Do I need to go back on the roof and move the dish again even though I got a great signal? I'm sorry, I'm such a newbie when it comes to Dish, I had Directv for years and never had to deal with more than one satellite.

Thanks in advance, guys!

 

[dssturbo1]

the 119 carries most of the programming for your package and that is why you are missing those channels if you are only gettin ght e 110 for now.
the sw21 is used to connect two seperate lnb into one cable to run to one receiver.
SO your dish 500 should have two seperate lnb connected to the Y bracket at end of the lnb arm and you will need one cable run from each lnb to the sw21, then that cable into the receiver.
also use RG6, do not use rg59.
your dish 500 should have 3 settings. make sure you have the mast plumb, then set the skew (twist/turn like steering wheel), then the angle (up/down) then point it toward the azimuth east/west) coordinates for your location.
You can get them from the dish ponting menu, you probably already have them since you said you got the 110 already.
IF you already have those 3 set and are picking up the 110 at 118 signal strenght then you probably only need to move it sligthly to the west.
go to the signal strenght screen and choose the 119 and put it on transponder 11 or 12 to check for signal. IF you are now getting both the 119 and 110 with decent siganl strenght compromise between the two and then lock er down.
Do a Switch test again and hopefully it will show all ok two sats verified reception.
when you get the switch test with both sats then you will have all your sub channels in menu and ready to watch.
good luck.

 

[Mr. Old School]

Thanks for replying. I do have 2 LNB arms and they do both run into the switch and come out as one line which is running to my receiver. Everything is hooked up correctly, I can verify that. I guess I had no idea that you had to lock in two different satellites. I only got one set of coordinates to line up with so I figured if I lined it up and got a signal then that was all I had to do. It started dawning on me last night when I was missing all those channels that I had done something wrong.

The thing that puzzles me is when I move down to 119, it appears to have a full signal, but it's not a green bar and it never locks in and it says "Wrong Satellite, 110". Is that normal?

 

[dfergie]

There also should be a check box that will give you that will say dish 300 and dish 500, check the 500 box...it should give you the info to aim.

 

[Stargazer]

On the plastic Y where your lnbf's slide onto it should say 110 on one side and 119 on the other side. Go to your point dish signal strength screen and make sure the signal on 110 is coming in. Now cover up the 110 side of the lnbf and see if it is still coming in. If it is then it means that you are getting the 110 signal off of the 119 lnbf therefore you would have to drop the dish down and move it to the right to aim at 110 again. Once you get 110 in you should also be able to get 119 in as well. Do a check switch after you tune in 110 again.

If you covered up the 110 lnbf and the signal is not coming in now then it means that something may be wrong with the switch, something is blocking the signal from 119 or something is wrong with your lnbf. You can try to point at 119 only and bypass the switch so that way you make sure the switch is not the issue and you could also use the lnbf that was tuning in 110 to put it over to 119 since you also know that lnbf does work.

 

[SimpleSimon]

What dssturbo, dfergie & Stargazer said. Read it all carefully. It's a full explanation of how the 2-bird (satellite) set up works.

In a nutshell, we suspect you've got the 119 eye pointed at 110. This means the 110 eye is pointed at 101, which ain't right. Think the angles through.

 

[Mr. Old School]

On the plastic Y where your lnbf's slide onto it should say 110 on one side and 119 on the other side. Go to your point dish signal strength screen and make sure the signal on 110 is coming in. Now cover up the 110 side of the lnbf and see if it is still coming in. If it is then it means that you are getting the 110 signal off of the 119 lnbf therefore you would have to drop the dish down and move it to the right to aim at 110 again. Once you get 110 in you should also be able to get 119 in as well. Do a check switch after you tune in 110 again.

If you covered up the 110 lnbf and the signal is not coming in now then it means that something may be wrong with the switch, something is blocking the signal from 119 or something is wrong with your lnbf. You can try to point at 119 only and bypass the switch so that way you make sure the switch is not the issue and you could also use the lnbf that was tuning in 110 to put it over to 119 since you also know that lnbf does work.

when you say cover it up, what should I cover it with? The more I read, the more confused I become. Also, in my menu, there is no option for Dish 500, just Superdish Installation with 3 sat, 4 sat, full, and ALT with checkboxes. What should I check? Thanks again for all the help, guys.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Piece of tinfoil works fine. OR, if convienent, just take the switch out of the mix by putting a barrel connector in it's place. Now you've got just one LNBF to deal with - make sure you know which one.

Forget about the check boxes on your menu. Your receiver must be one of the ones where it doesn't matter - what kind is it anyway, I just skimmed the thread and don't see where you told us.

 

[dfergie]

You know sticky's with all this info in the appropriate forums might help folks with their respective receivers, switchs and dish combos...

 

[bcshields]

I have thought about that... let me pass it along to the other mods and see what we come up with

 

[ShadowEKU]

Simon is right... if you are getting "Signal" on the 119 side and it says wrong sat it sounds like its pointed at 101. Use the tinfoil method for getting it then pull the foil off. That should have you looking at both birds.

 

[SimpleSimon]

I have thought about that... let me pass it along to the other mods and see what we come up with

I've been working on a set of pages and file download area along with Jason. Progress has been slow lately. threads and stickys don't really work too well for something like this - FAQs and the like should be good. Scott's got the server space to do it.

 

[Stargazer]

I have seen others run into this same problem and I have done this myself even. Sometimes you best understand this sort of problem by going through it yourself.

 

[dfergie]

I've been working on a set of pages and file download area along with Jason. Progress has been slow lately. threads and stickys don't really work too well for something like this - FAQs and the like should be good. Scott's got the server space to do it.

doh, I forgot about that... FAQs would be better...

 

[Mr. Old School]

Well I've spent the day aiming, reaiming, skewing, lowering, raising, and cursing. I have had 110 and I have also had 119, but not both at the same time. I've tried everything you guys suggested in regards to aiming, but it didn't help. Finally, I switched the cable going into the multiswitch and 119 came in, but not 110. This would suggest to me a bad multiswitch, which is the last thing I thought it would be. Do these things go bad a lot? Anyway, I'm going to go buy a new multiswitch and see if that fixes the problem...I have a sneaky suspicion it will. I hope so anyway because if it don't I'm just going to live with having only 119 because my aiming days are over. My dish is on a slanted roof and is really a pain to fool with and I've been doing it for the last 4 hours. Hopefully, I will report back all is well in a bit. Thanks to all you guys who offered help...I do have a much better understanding now of how this thing works.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Just to be clear, you've got one LNBF on 110, and the other on 119 at the same time by bypassing the SW-21. If so, you've isolated the problem.