Reception Problems With Our 721

[SpencerCat]

I posted a problem with my 721 receiver on another site, but the problem has not been resolved, so I’m cross-posting the problem here, hoping for some fresh insights.

I have my third 721 in 5 months. The first 2 had bad hard drives.

My current 721 has the following problem:
· picture pixellates, then breaks up completely
· black screen which says "Acquiring Signal"
· black screen which says "Channel xxx, Lost Lock", "satellite xxx, transponder yy, input z"

The channels that I have noticed this happening on are 341, 343, 351, and 354, although there may be additional channels.

I checked and tightened all of the connections from the receiver to the dish.

While on the roof I verified that the dish is grounded.

An interesting point is that during the day, the signal strength on the problem channels is in the 80's. At night, the signal strength on those same channels is 0 or in the 40's, giving me the "Acquiring Signal" and "Channel xxx, Lost Lock", "satellite xxx, transponder yy, input z" messages.

Does Dish lower the power output at night? If so, if my dish were slightly misaligned, could that combination cause the lost/low signal problems? I'm grasping at straws here.

Thanks for any and all help and suggestions.

Richard

 

[Mr Tony]

All 4 of these channels are on the same transponder (TP18 on 110), but your number seem low. Normally you should be around 100 signal.

Please give us your TP signals for both 119 & 110 TP 11 & 12.

It sounds like a misaligned dish. Dish doesnt lower the power but the satellite does move a little bit, but that shuldnt be the issue.

Also, is this a Dish500 or a Superdish?

 

[SpencerCat]

Here Are the Numbers

Iceberg, thanks for the quick response.

I have a Dish500.

Satellite 110:
TP11=87
TP12=90

Satellite 119:
TP11=94
TP12=93

 

[Mr Tony]

Those seem a little low

All 4 of mine are around 105 for each one. I have a 301 but use to have a 508.

According to Lyngsat, these channels are on this transponder

111
119
193
195
207
341
343
351
354
493
835

I wonder if its the LNB. I know there was one bad batch of DishPro Twins, which made 2 or 3 TP's go ouot. My Grandma had one of these, and the one that went out for her was TP18 on 119...coincidence??

Honestly, if you can tweak the dish by moving it a little bit, I would try that. You'd be amazed at what moving it 1/2 inch or less can do

 

[SpencerCat]

Thanks, Iceberg. Do you have any idea why my signal strength on those channels is 0 or in the 40's at night, every night? And the reception and signal strength (even though it's a little lower than yours) during the day is fine?

 

[Stargazer]

Maybe you have a bad tuner. To check this put it in PIP mode and put it on the same channel in the PIP window and see if it happens on both tuners at the same time.

 

[rc811002]

We replaced several DP Twins that worked fine during the day and would flake out at night. Seems like they would develop a short or open as they expanded and contracted with temperature.... FWIW.

 

[SpencerCat]

We replaced several DP Twins that worked fine during the day and would flake out at night. Seems like they would develop a short or open as they expanded and contracted with temperature.... FWIW.

That's an interesting idea. We live in Tucson, and the nights are finally starting to warm up, so maybe the problem will go away until next winter.

But I'm also going to try Iceberg's suggestion about re-aligning the dish. Occasionally owls, hawks, and ravens sit on our roof; maybe one of them landed on the dish or LNB with enough force that something went out of alignment. Still grasping at straws. If the re-alignment doesn't solve the problem, then maybe I will buy a new DishPro Twin.

Thanks for your comments.
Richard

 

[pacman]

I was having a similar problem with my 721 with 3 dishes on the roof (a 500 and a 300 - so I guess that would actually be 2 dishes ). The fix was to rewire everything. When originally installed, I used existing cable that was in the walls (RG-59) and the grounding was to an electrical outlet ground plug. About two months ago, I ran all new RG-6 from the SW64 into a distribution box in the house (also ran new cable from the antenna for HDTV). Properly grounded everything and used high quality connectors. Since then, we have not had any of the dreaded "acquiring signal" errors. While doing this, I moved the 721 sat connectors to port 3 & 4 of the SW64, our other single tuner box to port 2 and the power unit is all by itself on port 1. The power unit is in the new distribution box along with a custom patch panel for all the coax for the house (so I can patch pretty much anything to anywhere without having to go up on the roof).

 

[Titan_Wireless]

That's an interesting idea. We live in Tucson, and the nights are finally starting to warm up, so maybe the problem will go away until next winter.

But I'm also going to try Iceberg's suggestion about re-aligning the dish. Occasionally owls, hawks, and ravens sit on our roof; maybe one of them landed on the dish or LNB with enough force that something went out of alignment. Still grasping at straws. If the re-alignment doesn't solve the problem, then maybe I will buy a new DishPro Twin.

Thanks for your comments.
Richard

Spencer,

The temp thing at night is an issue I see with my Wireless ISP allot! It is usually caused by a connector that is not sealed against the elements. At night when the temp drops we get moisture build up in the connectors, and around the same time at night our signal drops to our clients! I know AZ is very dry, but you might want to put some sealing tape on your connectors.