No signal for Satellites 103 & 119

[mmittner]

Well I tried to pick up those 800 channels on my SD box, and same thing.. searching for signal 771. So its defiantly widespread. Which way would I adjust my dish.. up down or left right?

 

[harshness]

You would be hard pressed to get signals from 99W and 110W and have an aiming issue. I suspect a switchgear failure in the LNB.

 

[mmittner]

Even though I was able to receive signal for about 30 min last night? So do you think one of the 3 LNBs are what picks up the 103 and 119 satellites?

 

[harshness]

119W comes in on the east feed horn and 103W comes in on the west feed horn (along with 101W and 99W). The middle feed horn is for 110W. The dish is a reflector so whatever is up in the sky is going to be reversed after it hits the dish (west becomes east and vice versa).

The fact that you can get 101W and 99W without much trouble suggests that aiming isn't the source of your zero signal problem with 103W. Worst case would be that 119W wouldn't be optimal but your 110W signal strength indicates that's probably not the case.

Again, it sounds like a switchgear issue; probably related to heat.

 

[Jimbo]

Do you have the BBC's on both lines going into the Sat 1 and 2 input ?

 

[mmittner]

What is a switchgear and how can it be replaced? @ jimbo... Yes, I have 2 BBCs in my receiver. But what's weird is that I could pick up the channels on 103 last night and this morning.

 

[mmittner]

What is a switchgear and how can it be replaced? @ jimbo... Yes, I have 2 BBCs in my receiver. But what's weird is that I could pick up the channels on 103 last night and this morning.

Now they are gone...???

 

[raoul5788]

Have you called Directv? Regardless of what's wrong, you are probably going to need a service call to fix it.

 

[mmittner]

No I haven't. Where I am located is hard to find, plus I don't want to pay for the $100 service call. If its just a LNB I can buy one cheaper than the service call....

 

[harshness]

But what's weird is that I could pick up the channels on 103 last night and this morning.

Once the LNB assembly heats up, it fails and the channels go away. As it cools down, they return. The cycle will repeat for a while but at some point the LNB assembly will fail permanently (heat failures are usually destructive).

This is a known pattern that has been experienced by a non-negligible number of DIRECTV customers. OTOH, there was also a couple of makes and models of LNB assemblies that had a high failure rate when they got very, very cold (below 10F).

 

[mmittner]

So do you suggest I get a new LNB? Do you have any recommendations on where to buy one?

 

[raoul5788]

You may need a new lnb as Harshness says, but first you should try to adjust the dish. It would be easier if you have someone to help. If you can see the tv screen from the dish, then you can do it alone. Bring up the signal strength screen. Push lightly on the back top edge of the dish and see what it does to the ss numbers. They take a few seconds to repopulate. Then try the other three spots. If the numbers go up from pushing on one spot and the zeros are replaced with 70s+ on the screen, then it might be the alignment is all you need. If they don't get any better, then a new lnb will probably do the trick. Solid Signal - Signal Solutions including HDTV Antennas, DIRECTV & DISH Network satellite equipment and home entertainment supplies & accessories is a good place to look.