Which is bad - LNB or Switch?

[Stacy A]

What are the symptoms of a bad LNB - old legacy on a Dish 300 pointed at 61.5. And, what would the symptoms be of a bad SW21 switch.

The evening before Hurricane Rita hit, when the winds picked up the first thing I lost was my 61.5. I assumed the wind had turned the dish, which is the most logical starting point, but using same elevation and azimuth (which we scribed on the dish with "line-up" marks when we originally pointed it) I don't even get a weak signal. I get a screen that says satellite has been lost. Going to the point dish/signal strength screen I get absolute 0 on all TP's.

So, which is the most likely culprit here? the LNB, Switch, or still a poor re-peak job?

 

[SimpleSimon]

The only way to know is to start eliminating pieces of the puzzle.

Run the 61.5 straight to a receiver and see if that makes a difference.

Note that with Legacy equipment, it's a bit harder to tell what's what when aiming. It would be good if you had a cheap beeper or meter to see if the LNB is actually doing anything.

 

[SummitAdvantageRetailer]

Do you get Conn 110 Conn 119 Conn 61.5 with X's for Polarity? Or do you get Conn with 8 X's? If it detects the satellites by number, it's most likely a bad signal from a poor aligned dish or a bad LNB. A bad switch is easier to detect than a bad LNB, in my opinion. We get way more bad switches than LNBF's.

 

[Stacy A]

Do you get Conn 110 Conn 119 Conn 61.5 with X's for Polarity? Or do you get Conn with 8 X's? If it detects the satellites by number, it's most likely a bad signal from a poor aligned dish or a bad LNB. A bad switch is easier to detect than a bad LNB, in my opinion. We get way more bad switches than LNBF's.

Yes, it shows 110, 119, and 61.5 with both odd and even polarities, but I thought that was going to on there until I ran another check switch - at which time I would likely lose the 61.5, if it had no signal from it.

By the way, would it interfere with a switch if you didn't mount it on a hard surface, but sort of electrician taped it to a live piece of underground romex as it was on its way to the breaker box?

 

[SummitAdvantageRetailer]

Do the check switch because the receiver stores the last known switch configuration. It won't automatically do a check switch for you and tell you its status. So you have to run it through and see what it tells you.