VIP-211K Receiver + Dish 500 / Can't get any t.v. stations to show up

[CodyRosa]

The third is the one we have. I have the cord going into "port 1", I also have a satellite finder hooked up at the moment and this is what we got.. Locked - Echostar 129 W.
Also my next question is shouldn't the stations (3,4,5,9,29 etc.) be showing up in the program guide? All I see is like 9000+ and that's it. We were able to watch t.v. at one point and then we lost it and have not had it sense.
While finding signal we have yet to see the 110 pop up and whenever we have the satellite on the t.v. set to 110 it shows up as the echostar 129 and never 110 or 119 satellites.

Any help leading us in the right direction would be helpful!

Thanks everyone,

Cody

 

[Mr Tony]

Welcome!

something isnt right....129W transponder 1 is a spotbeam that doesnt cover your location (it is for Des Moines IA) so it shouldn't be showing any signal

Best thing to do is rerun the check switch and see what it shows in that screen. If it picks up any satellites it will tell you. It really sounds like you are too far west and are getting 129 on the 119 slot and 119 on the 110 slot. That is why you arent getting any locals

If the check switch shows 129 & 119 when done then the dish needs to be moved a smidge east and up a little bit

Finlayson huh? I hit a deer on 18 going out of Finlayson a few years ago heading to Mille Lacs

 

[CodyRosa]

Thanks! and LOL was your vehicle ok after that deer? haha...

Ok I will do the check switch and take pictures of every screen for you to see.

 

[CodyRosa]

it normally does 3 tests... why is it doing 38?

 

[Mr Tony]

38 is what it does for the older style LNB's (the old Legacy types)....so when its done it probably wont show all satellites. Hopefully it finds something

 

[Mr Tony]

Has the dish been setup properly before?

One thing to note is the 211k is real slow to acknowledge a signal when aiming (I had one last year when I had Dish) so once we get the check switch results then we can figure out where to aim next

 

[CodyRosa]

Yup we actually did watch t.v. before but then I just reset to factory settings.. could that be why its 38 for the test?

 

[CodyRosa]

I just reset it today, like 30 min ago. We used to watch t.v. then after one storm it never came in again.

 

[Mr Tony]

nah wouldnt be that. If the dish is aimed properly the check switch will find the right satellites and set it up to work

 

[Mr Tony]

I just reset it today, like 30 min ago. We used to watch t.v. then after one storm it never came in again.

if the check switch shows something else than 110 & 119 then the dish possibly could have been moved out of whack

 

[CodyRosa]

I guess my last message didn't go through. We did watch t.v. on it before about a month ago and then lost signal from a storm and were never able to find the signal again. I did reset to factory settings today. Is that why there were 38 tests?

 

[CodyRosa]

Ok i see you saw my last message good! Ok should i hit save or cancel?

 

[Mr Tony]

click on save and see what satellites it shows in the list

 

[CodyRosa]

 

[Mr Tony]

well you're not aimed at any satellite then (which is what I figured when it went to 38 tests)

Best thing to do is this...
in the setup menu (menu 6-1-1) select satellite 119 transponder 21 (you can manually select them)
Also make sure the cable from the LNB to the receiver is in the port 1 slot and not the "LNB IN" on the LNB...also in the sat in slot on the receiver

now you will have to try and aim the dish...make sure to move in small increments and wait a few seconds for the receiver to acknowledge if there is a signal. If it picks up a signal from any satellite it should register on the meter

 

[Mr Tony]

elevation should be 32-33
azimuth (where to aim in the sky on a compass) 208

 

[CodyRosa]

Ok well its dark out now so I will try tomorrow and update you. Thanks for all the help so far Iceberg! You've been a great help.

 

[CodyRosa]

Oh yea everything that you've said is what he have had. we had 32 and the azimuth or whatever was 210. Thats where I picked up that 129. Should we go east then? I already had my line going to port 1 as well.

 

[DavisSatellite]

If you have a Dish Pro Plus Twin LNB like the picture you originally posted, you should not get a check switch that runs 30something checks. In my experience that usually indicates you have a bad connector, barrel connector, ground block, or cable somewhere between the receiver and LNB.

 

[CodyRosa]

Well the check switch was normally doing 3 until I reset to factory and then it did 38. We have done multiple of the check switch and it always did 3.