Receiver Vip 211k Help

[Johnnierat1]

I purchased a Vip 211k to add to my ice fishing house. My fish house came installed with a winegard RM-4600 manual crank up satellite dish. I was having trouble finding a satellite because when I plug my receiver in, it wants to do a 5-process check first. I can't exit off this screen to get to the "Point Dish" screen to ensure the dish is pointed in the proper location. So I brought the dish inside my home. It went through the first 3 processes but now it gets hung up on step #4, which is to "test connection". It says I need to make sure the receiver is plugged into a telephone line or ethernet port, however, it IS plugged into a phone line. Any ideas on how to get this receiver "updated" so I can then take it to my fish house to try and tune in my satellite?

 

[boba]

Do you have DISH at home?

 

[aaronwt6]

Just let it check the connection 3x in a row. It will of course fail but after the 3rd time it will go to the activation screen. At that point, just call and add it.

Oh and by 3x in a row I mean without unplugging, resetting, ect.

 

[Mr Tony]

I purchased a Vip 211k to add to my ice fishing house. My fish house came installed with a winegard RM-4600 manual crank up satellite dish. I was having trouble finding a satellite because when I plug my receiver in, it wants to do a 5-process check first. I can't exit off this screen to get to the "Point Dish" screen to ensure the dish is pointed in the proper location. So I brought the dish inside my home. It went through the first 3 processes but now it gets hung up on step #4, which is to "test connection". It says I need to make sure the receiver is plugged into a telephone line or ethernet port, however, it IS plugged into a phone line. Any ideas on how to get this receiver "updated" so I can then take it to my fish house to try and tune in my satellite?

when that 5 bar screen shows up can you hit menu right away? Unless its brand new and hasnt taken a download (software) you should be able to do that.
Also that dish will only get one satellite (110, 119 or 129) so depending on the package you have (assuming you already have dish) you will only be able to see one satellite.

 

[Johnnierat1]

After the second attempt of the "test connection" test, a screen comes up with the Receiver ID and Smart Card ID numbers. I have verified the numbers with Dish Network and it's a good receiver. Iceberg, the receiver won't let me hit menu right away and it won't let me hit menu after the two failed "test connection" tests. It's my understanding too that I really don't want it hooked up to a phone line since I'm hoping to use this in my fish house and prefer not to open another account with Dish.

 

[Johnnierat1]

OK. Disregard the last half of the previous post since Dish wants you to have all your receivers in the same house. Is there a way to get past step #4 of 5 so I can get to the "Dish Point" screen???

 

[Johnnierat1]

So I got it up and running and I got the receiver activated. But now when I go to watch programming, it says there is a complete signal loss. However if I go to the point dish page, I have 75% signal strength. I know I'm on the right dish and transponder. Any ideas???

 

[garys]

What color is the signal strength bar?

 

[Johnnierat1]

Green

 

[Mr Tony]

maybe rerun the check switch with the new dish (or is it the same dish)?

 

[Johnnierat1]

Different dish. I tried running the check switch but it just sat there for 10 minutes and didn't do anything so I cancelled out of it.

 

[garys]

You may have to try the check switch again with the dish you want to be using.

 

[Mr Tony]

If the other dish is aimed you would have to do a check swicth...it may take a while (10-12 minutes) but let it go through the full check switch

 

[Johnnierat1]

I'm doing everything on the dish it's going to be used with and it's the same dish I used to activate it with. It's a separate dish that my house. It's a winegard manual crank up dish on top of my ice fishing house.

 

[garys]

From what you posted, it should be getting something, let the check switch run all the way through.

 

[Johnnierat1]

Wow. Who knew that all I needed was a little patience! I let the check switch run all the way through (about 10 minutes) and ta-da!! Thank you so much for all the help!! I really appreciate it. I can already tell it's going to be a pain in the rear to switch satellites manually all the time but it's only a fish house!!

So I was able to find 110 and 119. How hard is it to find 129 to be able to get HD and my local Fox Sports North channel so I can watch some college and/or pro hockey?

 

[garys]

It may be possible that the dish is off about 9 degrees, when you get a chance, cover the center lnb and see if you lose 119 or 110. If 119, then it may be your skew, but if it's 110 it means you are getting 110 thru the 119 lnb and 119 thru the 129 one. If this is the case, reaim the sat to the right *I think it's right, please correct me if I'm wrong* (as you stand behind it) and up just a bit.

 

[Johnnierat1]

It's only a single lnb so I can only tune in 1 satellite at a time.

 

[Mr Tony]

So I was able to find 110 and 119. How hard is it to find 129 to be able to get HD and my local Fox Sports North channel so I can watch some college and/or pro hockey?

it will be just as easy as getting 110 & 119
When you aim the dish on the satellite signal screen (menu 6-1-1) use 129 for sat and 21 for transpdoner (you can manually change it). 1 through 16 are spotbeams and here in MN there are only a couple that show signal. 21 is CONUS (whole US) so it will work fine

If you dont mind me asking...what lake you fish on?

 

[Mr Tony]

By the way here are some inventive ways to move a dish that folks have done on Mille Lacs. They use an old antenna rotor
Since the elevation on a multi satellite dish doesnt change when you're on the lake (just azimuth) they use that. But your single LNB dish needs to change elevation for the different satellties