Satellite 105 Local channel signal loss

tatwell

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Original poster
Nov 11, 2005
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I have a problem with a DishNetwork system that has, so far anyway, been unfixable by the DishNetwork techs, if anyone has any ideas about possible causes I would love to hear them, before we have it taken out and go to another system. In short the problem is a loss of signal lock on satellite 105-local channels-the current receiver is a 510 DVR, however this receiver is a replacement for the first one we had, the replacement was made in an effort by dnr to resolve the issue. We have had dishnetwork for 4 years and until about 10 weeks ago had never experienced any difficulties. When this problem surfaced it was out of the clear blue, I mean that nothing had been changed at our location, nothing added around us. The dish itself sits in an open area, with nothing that can get in the way to block it, and no trees, shrubs, etc. has grown up around it. The odd thing is that the problem invariably occurs in the evening hours. It has happened anywhere from around 8 o'clock Eastern time, to midnight. Never once has it happened in any other time frame, and in the mornings after an occurence the system is back to working correctly. It does not happen every night, but seldom misses more than one or two evenings without failing. An example..this week it lost signal at around 11 pm, did not go off Tuesday night, went off Weds night at 10:30, went off last night at around 8:30. If we happen to be watching anything other than a local channel everything is fine , then if we go to a local channel we will get an error 015, and off course cant get back to the other channels until the 015 goes away. If we switch to a local channel and are lucky enough to get an 002 error, then we can of course go back to the other channel and at least watch those. If we happen to be watching a local channnel when it goes out, it does so with very little warning, sometimes a quick flutter and then the 015 appears. Since the problem began everything in the system with the sole exception of the dish itself has been changed...receiver, switch, lnb's, all cable involved, and the ground block. Signal levels are high, according to each of the techs who has came out. All cable connections have been checked and tightened many times. I put a ups on the receiver just to eliminate any possibility of an ac issue. Nothing that has been done has made any difference at all in the problem, no better no worse. The frustration factor is quite high at this point, and spending around an hour or so on the phone each time we call support, and going through the same scripted troubleshooting adds to it. I know that since everything has been changed it appears that there could be some sort of inteference causng the problem, but if that was the case, then why wouldn't all satellites be affected, not just the local one? And, what possible sources of inteference cause problems with this equipment? I have done a good bit of searching for other cases like this, but have never found one exactly like ours. So...at this point we are giving serious thought to getting rid of DishNetwork. Any sugestions, or possible sources of information on solving our problem would be greatly appreciated.
 
Well, the 1st question that has to be asked is, what levels are you getting on each satellite? Transponders 11 and 12 for the 110 and 119 are what you check for those two birds. I typically will check the transponder that your local channels come in. The best way to find that out is to do a check switch while you're watching a local channel. That will insure you're on the proper transponder
 
Thanks for the advice. I just checked the signal strength, around 6 pm here... 105 is on transponder 05 signal is 75. 110 on 11 is a little over 110. and 119 on 12 is a bit over 110 also. This is what we have been getting all along, at least since the problem started, as mentioned the techs have all said that the lower signal on 105 is still within the acceptable limits. I would appreciate your opinion. Thanks again.
 
To be honest, those are really good levels. Just going by what you're saying, it could be a variety of things, but my 1st guess/stab would be the LNB itself. I've personally seen problems occur during certains times of the day. Especially with the 105. Kind of puzzling that the LNB has already been swapped out. Perhaps another LNB or DP34 switch swap out is needed?
 
Actually you should be checking 105 with the transponder your local channels are on as that is the only one that matters. My local dma is on 18 and can only get a 70 signal. I would tune receiver to one of your local channels then go to the installation menu to check it (as the transponder for the channel you are on will be the one the screen shows before you try to change it). The quality of the image is not the strength of the signal as much as what you local market uploads, but DN has not had high signal on 105 to begin with. Word in my DMA is that DN may move our locals to 110. Good luck.
 
Looks like you have the same problem as mine with the 522, but my dilama is with sat 121. I dont thing is the LNB, it could be the tuner for that receiver required a strong signal from this particular satellite 105. to improved in my opinion try an lnb with a very low noise figure. I am going to trie it my self next week, i will let you know.
 
miguelaqui said:
The reason why your 105 would be going out and not the other satellites is that the frequency is different for 105. There is probably some terrestrial interference going on.

Does anyone have a radar detector around there? that was discussed here

[t=82147&highlight=radar+detector] t=82147&highlight=radar+detector[/URL]


O.k but why in my situation the dvr 522 receiver, signal is playing up and down on sat 121, signal is good on sat 119. but the receiver 4900 has good signal on both 121 and 119 , using the same cable, same dish, same lnb.

Let's say there is radar detector or something like this affect the signal from sat121 why it would not happen to the receiver 4900 and only to the dvr522.
 
ebehalifax said:
O.k but why in my situation the dvr 522 receiver, signal is playing up and down on sat 121, signal is good on sat 119. but the receiver 4900 has good signal on both 121 and 119 , using the same cable, same dish, same lnb.

Let's say there is radar detector or something like this affect the signal from sat121 why it would not happen to the receiver 4900 and only to the dvr522.
have you tried something as simple as swapping the 4900 with the 522? I know that you need to have 2 cables for the 522, but you could bring the 4900 to the 522's location to see how it reacts.
 
ebehalifax said:
O.k but why in my situation the dvr 522 receiver, signal is playing up and down on sat 121, signal is good on sat 119. but the receiver 4900 has good signal on both 121 and 119 , using the same cable, same dish, same lnb.

Let's say there is radar detector or something like this affect the signal from sat121 why it would not happen to the receiver 4900 and only to the dvr522.

I thing I state in my previous message that I did this. 4900 o.k for both sat 119 & 121, but the 522 only good signal for sat 119 and as for sat 121 fluctuating up and down.
 
I had a similar issue when upgrading a customer from D500 to SD 105.

I had a 180 clear line of site. Dish was on south side of house. Only thing in plain sight was a power line that feed the house from the main road to the west.

105 on my bird dog was 75-77 signal. Check switch showed the bird just fine. Switch to a local channel on 105 and it would pixelate and then pop error 15. I replaced the Dish itself, LNB cluster, 34 switch, ground block (even bypassed it in case of back feed) all cables and swapped 311's out and even tried a 322 I had in the truck. Spent 2 days on that job with no results. Finally dropped them back to a Dish 500 and put up a OTA for there locals.

I took all the equipment home and hooked it up in place of mine and it worked just fine. So there was some sort of interference on the FSS frequency or very close to it and bleeding over it.

So something working on or very close to the FSS spectrum Dish uses (11.7GHz to 12.2GhZ) is causing your interference.

And doing a quick google search shows that this spectrum can be used by a wide variety of public and private services. From Fleet vehicles to public/private Airplanes. But there usually in a different frequency range.

It sounds like a MS (Mobile Radio service) or a FS (Fixed Radio Service) went up near you in either the same band as Dish or close enough to it to cause interference. And now that I think about it the house I had problems with had a tower to the South about 2-4 miles with several different kinds of transmitters on it. Yet every SD install I did south of that tower had no issues with 105. I wonder if someone was using a MS/FS on it pointing to the North?
 

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