Signal strength is good, Check switch is good, Still getting intermittent signal losses

[brownieville]

Had a Dish tech come out to try to alleviate this problem. Everything seemed to be working fine, but now it's back again.

I have two dishes, one for 110/119 and 129. They're getting good strength. When doing the check switch, it all looks good. But it's impossible to watch anything as I keep on getting signal loss. First, it only seemed to have happened on HBO (sat 129). Now, it's happening on TBS ( I think 119). Anyway, TBS was working flawlessly Friday, but yesterday it was unwatchable with all the signal losses.

I've scheduled someone to come out again Wednesday, but I was hoping to solve this myself.

Any ideas?

 

[Tampa8]

If it's not just one satellite (you said you were not sure) then probably not an LNB problem. Is there anything that can be getting in the line of sight? Do you have more than one receiver, does it happen with any receiver?

 

[Jimmerinwi]

I was thinking LNB drift, but unlikely its happening on 2 different lnb's. Although I have seen it happen before.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[brownieville]

I was thinking LNB drift, but unlikely its happening on 2 different lnb's. Although I have seen it happen before.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

We have only receiver, and there's nothing obstructing the dishes. In fact, I had a tree service remove some limbs around the area for better coverage.

I just can't figure out why the check switch looks fine, but we continue to get signal loss.

 

[papalittle]

Loose connection, bad ground block, loose dish, faulty receiver.

 

[satnewb]

Do you know what the previous tech did? Any equipment replaced or did he just do a quick signal check and call it good?

Assuming you've got the 129 line run into a dpp twin, so in theory it's possible the twin is going bad and causing the 129 dropouts as well. I'd have probably removed that setup and put up a 1000.2 at one of the current dish locations. Less parts to go bad in the future.

 

[brownieville]

Do you know what the previous tech did? Any equipment replaced or did he just do a quick signal check and call it good?

Assuming you've got the 129 line run into a dpp twin, so in theory it's possible the twin is going bad and causing the 129 dropouts as well. I'd have probably removed that setup and put up a 1000.2 at one of the current dish locations. Less parts to go bad in the future.

When he came out the first time he aligned the dishes and messed with the LNBs. We have to have two dishes because one dish can't find all satellites without trees getting in the way.

Someone is coming out Wednesday. I'll post a reply then.

 

[Tampa8]

We have only receiver, and there's nothing obstructing the dishes. In fact, I had a tree service remove some limbs around the area for better coverage.

I just can't figure out why the check switch looks fine, but we continue to get signal loss.

We have to have two dishes because one dish can't find all satellites without trees getting in the way.

Someone is coming out Wednesday. I'll post a reply then.

??

 

[Jim5506]

Do you have an OTA antenna connected and OTA channels set up.

It has been observed by many that if your OTA tuner is on a weak channel, it can cause an error to appear even if satellite signal is sufficient.

This may not be the error you are getting, but then again it might be.

If it is the case, just keep the OTA tuner on a strong OTA channel.

 

[old corps]

Do you have an OTA antenna connected and OTA channels set up.

It has been observed by many that if your OTA tuner is on a weak channel, it can cause an error to appear even if satellite signal is sufficient.

This may not be the error you are getting, but then again it might be.

If it is the case, just keep the OTA tuner on a strong OTA channel.

+1!!!

Absoulutely true!

Ed

 

[brownieville]

+1!!!

Absoulutely true!

Ed

No, we don't have an OTA antennae connnected.

Naturally, on the day the Tech is here, the receiver is working flawlessly with no signal losses. Still, he's going to change out receivers.

I'll report back on how the new receiver does. I still have my doubts.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

 

[dishcomm]

Could be a bad run of cable. Could be a romex staple through the cable. Could be a cable pinch..Could be a corroded fitting at the lnb or ground block. Could be a sucked back fitting where the conductor is too short. Could be the dish is out of plumb.
Could be a bad barrel connector in the wall plate...Could be Bush's fault.
Who knows. Someone with some knowledge and the ability to think on their feet will have to figure out this one.

 

[brownieville]

Could be a bad run of cable. Could be a romex staple through the cable. Could be a cable pinch..Could be a corroded fitting at the lnb or ground block. Could be a sucked back fitting where the conductor is too short. Could be the dish is out of plumb.
Could be a bad barrel connector in the wall plate...Could be Bush's fault.
Who knows. Someone with some knowledge and the ability to think on their feet will have to figure out this one.

So the tech changed out receivers, giving me a 722 to replace the 622. But he didn't do that much checking. He didn't seem that knowledgeable as he didn't really know the difference between the 722 and 622.

But anyway, so far so good. But the problem was intermittent, so we'll see.

 

[dwarren2]

Did you ever do a System Info? That will check for lnb drift.

 

[vasaaric]

I know you said you ran a check switch, but to randomly loose ONE of your LNB's, it sounds like it has to be the switch. For the multi dish solution, did they post a single LNB running into the switch on your other dish, or was a DPP? If you have two DPP's, the switches will compete and you can randomly loose signal that way. Also, double check individual transponders, and ensure your cables from your seperator/triplexer behind your reciever are of equal length, as seperators can get funny from uneven or unduely long stretches of wire. also double check that you don't have any low freq barrels in the line and are on all RG6 (RG59 on anything except your backfeed will sometimes conduct the signal, sometimes impede it with no rhyme or reason.)

hopefully the new reciever fixed it though! If not, double check those possibilities.

 

[3HaloODST]

Sometimes there comes a time when you need to reset the switch itself. You can accomplish this by unplugging ALL receivers AND power inserters (if applicable) for about 5 minutes then replugging the switch and the receivers, and running a check switch.

 

[brownieville]

I know you said you ran a check switch, but to randomly loose ONE of your LNB's, it sounds like it has to be the switch. For the multi dish solution, did they post a single LNB running into the switch on your other dish, or was a DPP? If you have two DPP's, the switches will compete and you can randomly loose signal that way. Also, double check individual transponders, and ensure your cables from your seperator/triplexer behind your reciever are of equal length, as seperators can get funny from uneven or unduely long stretches of wire. also double check that you don't have any low freq barrels in the line and are on all RG6 (RG59 on anything except your backfeed will sometimes conduct the signal, sometimes impede it with no rhyme or reason.)

hopefully the new reciever fixed it though! If not, double check those possibilities.

Well, the receiver swap out didn't solve it. Big surprise. I called another tech (#5 and counting) and he went ahead and changed the cables outside, but not the one into the house. Since then I think I had only one dropout since then, but that's one too many. We really don't watch that much so it's hard to tell how it's doing.

I'll pass along the above info if #6 needs to come back out.

Also, I have reset everything and done system info to no avail.

 

[DavisSatellite]

If there are no possible LOS issues, then I would go through the cable from end to end. I've seen bad barrel connectors, ground blocks, connectors, diplexers, etc... cause funky and intermittent issues on DP and DPP systems. I would just have all that stuff replaced.

 

[sca]

i am suprised nobody mentioned the simple things...loose connector. correded connector. rg-59. none of these will show up on a signal check or system info. its just a matter oif tracing the cable back to the dish and examining all connections.

 

[satnewb]

If the system is grounded I would try un-grounding it, possible even cutting the third prong off the receiver power cord.

If this is a 2 room setup the whole system could have been replaced by a good tech in about 90 minutes. Kinda silly to keep sending techs out there.