Why no OTA when there is a signal loss?

[Mike88]

I have the 722K with the OTA module. Last night 2 programs stopped recording at 11:40pm due to a signal loss, 1 OTA & 1 Satellite. Also could not access the guide & therefore did not have access to OTA content. However I could watch my recordings. It was this way for about 2 hours so checked the forum but did not see mention of any outages. I did a unplug/replug boot a couple times but to no avail. I called Dish & the rep said there had been no reporting of signal losses. It was snowing but I never had a loss like this all winter.

This morning I checked & everything is working. The History for the 2 stopped programs both said the DVR was rebooted at 4:43am. That means the signal loss lasted for 5 hours. With all the snow we've had this winter I have not experienced such a loss. The only thing I can think of is the snow was very wet which probably blocked the signal more than usual.

But why would the OTA signal not be available? And why would the Guide disappear? It doesn't update until 5:00am. If it was there at noon I would think it would be there at midnight.

 

[KAB]

When signal is lost, you need to access the guide from main menu...ie, menu button, program quide...then OTA channel.

 

[Mike88]

When signal is lost, you need to access the guide from main menu...ie, menu button, program quide...then OTA channel.

That did not work & I got an error message.

 

[harshness]

Perhaps it was the OTA signal that was lost. That's the only time I've not been able to tune to an OTA channel.

 

[Tampa8]

From my memory the 722 acts as you describe until you access the guide. My 612 does not, if I lose the Satellite signal I do not lose the OTA. However if I lose the OTA it make the receiver think the Satellite signal is gone and I then access the guide to get the satellite signal back. You also made a mistake of rebooting, that caused the loss of guide and then I can see how you can't watch OTA. Of course you could have watched OTA directly on your TV...
I would say when you rebooted with no signal available, the receiver did not know the signal came back until the update time made it reboot again. Very likely the signal came back long before that.

 

[Mike88]

The guide was gone before I rebooted the DVR.

When I called Dish to see if there were other reports of signal loss I was transferred to Advanced Technical Support. They said I was not getting the guide because I was not getting Dish Service. It would be like not subscribing to Dish service - no service therefore no guide. I would re-state if the guide was there earlier what would make it disappear. We kept going in circles.

I know I was getting an OTA signal because my HTPC was working just fine. It's the most reliable DVR I ever had.

Anyway the Dish DVR is back up & working.

 

[KAB]

OK, so, do you or do you not have (and pay for) dish service. 'Cause according to Dish you don't. And that's one of the things they are usually not wrong about.

 

[Bobby]

OK, so, do you or do you not have (and pay for) dish service. 'Cause according to Dish you don't. And that's one of the things they are usually not wrong about.

I think what they were telling him was that the Dish signal wasn't present to the receiver so that is why he had no OTA. I think it is pretty obvious that he has Dish service as a subscriber...

 

[KAB]

I think what they were telling him was that the Dish signal wasn't present to the receiver so that is why he had no OTA. I think it is pretty obvious that he has Dish service as a subscriber...

Well, that wasn't clear to me...seemed to be some gray areas as written.

 

[Tampa8]

Dish tech is wrong. You do not lose the guide if you lose the signal, it isn't the same as not subscribing unless it reboots while there is no signal . That would mean anytime there is snow on the DISH and the signal was lost you would lose the guide you would be forced to reboot. That isn't the case, simply clear the snow and all is back to normal.

 

[Mike88]

OK, so, do you or do you not have (and pay for) dish service. 'Cause according to Dish you don't. And that's one of the things they are usually not wrong about.

I do have Dish service. They (Dish) were saying because of the snow (possibly) the DVR was not receiving their service, therefore no Guide.

 

[Mike88]

Dish tech is wrong. You do not lose the guide if you lose the signal, it isn't the same as not subscribing unless it reboots while there is no signal . That would mean anytime there is snow on the DISH and the signal was lost you would lose the guide you would be forced to reboot. That isn't the case, simply clear the snow and all is back to normal.

Once before I had a long period of signal loss at night because of snow on the Dish. It finally melted but was not until about 11am the following morning, which means at least some sunlight was melting the snow/ice.

This time I didn't think it had been snowing for that long, but it probably was the wettest & heaviest snow we've had all season. The History stated the DVR rebooted at 4:43am which is about when the snowfall stopped. IOW the signal was blocked by wet snow in the atmosphere. If it was due to a build up on the dish I don't think it would have melted off at 4:43am because it was still cold & no sunlight at that hour. There might have been some snow on the dish but obviously not enough by itself to block the signal.

When I tried to reboot I got the usual message it would take about 5 minutes to acquire a signal. But that message only lasted about a minute, then I got the signal loss message.

However the History shows it rebooted at 4:43am, which means the DVR automatically rebooted when it acquired a signal.

I don't know how often the system tries to auto reboot. But could the DVR have tried to automatically reboot sometime between when the signal was lost and when I started to look at it? If so, could the attempted auto reboot have wiped out the guide data the same as if I attempted to reboot? That might explain why there was no guide when I looked.

 

[Tampa8]

Certainly speculation, but yes it's possible the receiver rebooted on it's own early on after the signal loss.

It is also possible the opposite of melting happened. If it was cold enough just enough moisture may have been eliminated from the snow on the Dish, and/or some may have fallen off. The opposite has happened numerous times for me, no signal loss, no more snow falling, and as the day warmed up signal loss because the snow gained moisture.