Odd rain fade pattern, only losing 110

[rekoil]

Hi,

I just had an HD upgraded completed on Thursday - new 5-LNB dish on the roof, HR20 installed. No intermediate multiswitch, just two home-run cables to the receiver. In clear weather I see all relevant transponders on 101 and 110 in the low-mid 90s. All is well with the world...

Except when two storms came through over the weekend - I lost signal from all of the 110 transponders (and HBO HD along with it), while the 101 transponders stayed alive with signals in the low 80s. I have two runs from the dish to my receiver, and I saw this failure on both of them.

I found it very odd that I would lose one satellite due to rain fade but not another. I would think that an alignment problem would cause a weak signal no matter what weather conditions may be - could this be a bad LNB or receiver, or a weather-exposure problem (short circuit due to rain, etc)? Advice is appreciated...

 

[vurbano]

Now that does sound like a bad LNB

 

[atp1313]

Or could it have been that there might be trees blowing in the storm that are only temporarily blocking the 110 LOS? Is the problem resolved as soon as the weather clears? Vurbano might be right in the LNB being bad, or there could be a short. But I would imagine the short would continue to be a problem after the weather passes as the wet cables would still be wet for some time after the rain.

And...

 

[rekoil]

Or could it have been that there might be trees blowing in the storm that are only temporarily blocking the 110 LOS?

Thanks for the welcome The dish is on a three-story high roof in midtown Atlanta, so no trees, just the Bank of America tower - which I don't think is going to sway very much in the wind

 

[atp1313]

If you see the "birds nest" swaying, run the other way.

How about the return to normalcy after the weather passed? Did it go right back to working or did it take several hours to recover?

I would certainly be interested to hear the outcome of the tech visit. please keep us posted.

 

[jdspencer]

And, as long as the tech is there to realign the dish, I'd have two more lines run for future use.

 

[iwc5893]

And, as long as the tech is there to realign the dish, I'd have two more lines run for future use.

And be prepared to pay for it, because running additional cables in not part of the service call.

Believe it or not, I actually agree with Vurbano that this is most likely a LNB failure. What are your signal strengths on the 119 when this is happening?

 

[rekoil]

And be prepared to pay for it, because running additional cables in not part of the service call.

Believe it or not, I actually agree with Vurbano that this is most likely a LNB failure. What are your signal strengths on the 119 when this is happening?

I already have four cables run (thanks for asking...)

I didn't think to check 119 the last time this happened, although the 110 signal returned in about 20 minutes. Will check 119 next time. Do 110 and 119 signals come in on the same LNB on the Slimline dish?

 

[iwc5893]

No, the 119 comes in from the LNB furthest from the arm, with the 110 being next to it. The LNB in line with the arm brings in the 99/101/103.

The reason I asked about the 119 was because rain fade on the center satellite only would be highly unlikely. Since the 110 and 119 use a 22kHz tone as part of their switching, it may be that the multiswitch in the LNB failed and is not passing the tone correctly.

 

[jdspencer]

I already have four cables run (thanks for asking...)

I didn't think to check 119 the last time this happened, although the 110 signal returned in about 20 minutes. Will check 119 next time. Do 110 and 119 signals come in on the same LNB on the Slimline dish?

Your original post implied only two cables run.

 

[rekoil]

Your original post implied only two cables run.

Sorry to not be clear - I have four cables coming from the dish into the house - two from the original dish install and two more run when the Slimline dish was installed - but only two are connected to a receiver (an HR20) at the moment.