Thread: Local Channel Issues

Hi all, new to the site but have been lurking for awhile. I haven't found a thread with my specific issue. I tried posting in a couple of other forums but got very little feedback, so here's hoping you guys can help.

I've been receiving local channels from Directv for only about three months but am getting the searching for signal message randomly and intermittently. After researching it I learned my locals are coming off transponder 1 on 99. I'm located in the Marquette DMA.

In checking signal strengths I noticed trnsp 1 toggles between 0 and 95-100.
In other words it's either great or non-existent, no in-between. Some of my locals are HD and some are SD but all are affected the same. My set-up is pretty basic, just 2 H-20-100's and Slimline dish. I recently had a dish realignment done and get great signals across the board on all sats, (mid-high 80's to 100, mostly solid 90's). No issues at all on national channels.

Not sure if the spotbeam would be an issue as I am located only about 50-55 miles from Marquette as the crow flies. There doesn't seem to be any pattern as far as the time of day or weather as to when the signal goes out. Percentage wise the signal is good more than it is not.

I haven't called Directv yet, thought maybe with some help I could correct the problem myself but if not could glean as much information as possible before making the dreaded call.

Right now I'm stumped as to whether it's a hardware, cabling or spot-beam issue or something else that hasn't popped into my not very tech-savvy punkin.

Sorry for the long-winded post but I tried to include as much info as I could think of to help you guys possibly diagnose my problem. Thanks in advance for any help as it would be greatly appreciated.

Any trees that might be blowing in the way?
Your SD locals are not on 99, that only has the HD ones.
We need you to post the signal strengths for all satellites.

Do you have the 3LNB or 5LNB Slimline? Is there another multiswitch being used?

Originally Posted by jdspencer

Any trees that might be blowing in the way?
Your SD locals are not on 99, that only has the HD ones.
We need you to post the signal strengths for all satellites.

Do you have the 3LNB or 5LNB Slimline? Is there another multiswitch being used?

No tree issues. Sorry I didn't know about the SD's being on a different sat.
5LNB slimline. No multiswitches. One thing I forgot to mention was that both receivers are affected similarly, if that makes any difference.

101

92 91 93 0 88 97 89 95
87 93 91 0 91 97 88 98
84 100 90 0 93 97 91 96
89 97 91 87 94 98 92 98

110

na na na na na na na 95
na 93 na 95 na na na na
na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na

119

na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na
na na na na na 92 96 87
30 95 95 94 40 95 0 93

99a

92 94 90 93 89 91 87 92
87 93 84 90 89 93 na na
na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na

99b

96 0 0 66 0 0 na na
na na na na na na 0 0
95 95 0 0 94 94 0 0
na na na na na na na na

103a

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 na na
na na na na na na 0 0
0 100 0 0 34 0 0 0
na na na na na na na na

103b

95 94 94 91 94 91 93 90
94 90 93 90 94 90 na na
na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na

Originally Posted by Datsgood

No tree issues. Sorry I didn't know about the SD's being on a different sat.
5LNB slimline. No multiswitches. One thing I forgot to mention was that both receivers are affected similarly, if that makes any difference.

101

92 91 93 0 88 97 89 95
87 93 91 0 91 97 88 98
84 100 90 0 93 97 91 96
89 97 91 87 94 98 92 98

110

na na na na na na na 95
na 93 na 95 na na na na
na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na

119

na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na
na na na na na 92 96 87
30 95 95 94 40 95 0 93

99a

92 94 90 93 89 91 87 92
87 93 84 90 89 93 na na
na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na

99b

96 0 0 66 0 0 na na
na na na na na na 0 0
95 95 0 0 94 94 0 0
na na na na na na na na

103a

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 na na
na na na na na na 0 0
0 100 0 0 34 0 0 0
na na na na na na na na

103b

95 94 94 91 94 91 93 90
94 90 93 90 94 90 na na
na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na

it could be one thing i can think of.


in my area. the midwest.. SL5 are obsolete for locals. we are using them for Jade world programming and everytime ih ave a local station problems.. i switch to SL3 and the locals start again.

i dont know your zip code or of this is the issue.

for us, SL5 are for foreign or use 95 dish for it too. but SL3 are mandate now for Locals here. last year is when we were told to switch ANY existing SL5 to SL3 bc they are obsolete for Locals

Originally Posted by sddtvtech

for us, SL5 are for foreign or use 95 dish for it too. but SL3 are mandate now for Locals here. last year is when we were told to switch ANY existing SL5 to SL3 bc they are obsolete for Locals

You are being given VERY bad info on a couple points:
- if an SL3 works for locals, an SL5 WILL work, too, regardless of market
- NEITHER an SL3 or SL5 will work on the 95 foreign channels - you still need a 95 international dish either way
- if a sub wants Jadeworld (or spanish), then you must use an SL5

The only issue is, that if you have an SL5, & the dish can NOT get a 119 signal, then you WILL have guide issues.
The only fix, is to switch to an SL3 LNB.

To the OP - is your dish an SWM LNB (single coax out of the dish to a splitter/power supply) or a legacy (multiple coax out of the dish direct to receivers)? If it's an SWM, the LNB might simply be bad - they have had to replace several that had problems.

Originally Posted by Datsgood

No tree issues. Sorry I didn't know about the SD's being on a different sat.
5LNB slimline. No multiswitches. One thing I forgot to mention was that both receivers are affected similarly, if that makes any difference.

101

92 91 93 0 88 97 89 95
87 93 91 0 91 97 88 98
84 100 90 0 93 97 91 96
89 97 91 87 94 98 92 98

110

na na na na na na na 95
na 93 na 95 na na na na
na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na

119

na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na
na na na na na 92 96 87
30 95 95 94 40 95 0 93

99a

92 94 90 93 89 91 87 92
87 93 84 90 89 93 na na
na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na

99b

96 0 0 66 0 0 na na
na na na na na na 0 0
95 95 0 0 94 94 0 0
na na na na na na na na

103a

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 na na
na na na na na na 0 0
0 100 0 0 34 0 0 0
na na na na na na na na

103b

95 94 94 91 94 91 93 90
94 90 93 90 94 90 na na
na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na

YES, the info you mentioned IS very important, as we know know it's probably NOT a cable issue, unless BOTH cables are bad.

I would think this could be a going bad LNB, possibly a weather related issue, cold vs warm .... daytime vs night time

Originally Posted by dishrich

You are being given VERY bad info on a couple points:
- if an SL3 works for locals, an SL5 WILL work, too, regardless of market
- NEITHER an SL3 or SL5 will work on the 95 foreign channels - you still need a 95 international dish either way
- if a sub wants Jadeworld (or spanish), then you must use an SL5

The only issue is, that if you have an SL5, & the dish can NOT get a 119 signal, then you WILL have guide issues.
The only fix, is to switch to an SL3 LNB.

To the OP - is your dish an SWM LNB (single coax out of the dish to a splitter/power supply) or a legacy (multiple coax out of the dish direct to receivers)? If it's an SWM, the LNB might simply be bad - they have had to replace several that had problems.

give my OFFICE a call and ask them why every service call and every new install even upgrades even if they have the SL dish.. we are to switch out the SL5 to SL3 bc our SL5 will not pick up the local stations.. i got a shit load of SL5 stacked in my garage and if i dont change it out, its a QC fail...

believe it or not..

not every where like yourself is changing it.. in my area.. it is...

Well the truth of the matter is, your HD locals are NOT changing sats - they are in the same place they have always been.
What I think the real problem is, when D* started doing the slimline upgrades, there was NO SL3 LNB, only the SL5. This was due to the fact that the MPEG2 HD's on 110/119 were NOT duplicated in MPEG4, so subs had to see all 5 sats to get ALL the HD.
However, when all the MPEG2 HD's were duplicated in MPEG4, THEN the SL3's came out & D* started using them in all markets where SD locals were NOT on 119. (which I'm assuming yours is not - SL5 are still used for other reasons as I already told you)

What I think has REALLY happened, is that some of the earlier SL5's had problems, & D* has had to replace them. Since your market does NOT need an SL5 f/SD locals, they just went ahead & changed them to SL3's - which makes perfect sense.

Not trying to argue with you, just explaining the reality of how it works - believe it or not...

neither am i and glad we could clearify this bc when you said this information is totally wrong.. ive been doing SL5 when they told us to start doing it even on a D11 reciever bc we are making a transition to using ONE dish market over 2 dishes.


then March of 2009, they told us to start using the new SL3 if they are not recieving Jade World programming.

I went to a service call where a guy lost channel TBS and Lifetime(wife's channel) and so when i changed the SL5 which we're required to do, installed a SL3.. TBS and lifetime came back.

but that was the 1% out of the 99% times i go to a service call finding the locals wont come in, especially on H22 and H23s along with HR22 and HR23s wont recieve Locals on SL5. i know this seems confusing but its what the site manager and Trainer said, change it out and they will get their Locals back.

My area is South Dakota. I did have an SL5 on my dish for a long time.. i didnt think i needed to change it... then boom lost Locals. i switched a new SL5 two times and still wouldnt work. then i installed a SL3 and locals came back on... it did this to all three of my recievers.

my IRDs were HR20, and 2 H22s.

on all of them i lost locals on SL5... then regain them after went through two SL5s and installed a SL3 and got locals with no problem.


im assuming area makes a difference. here its mandate all new installs, upgrade or even a service call to make sure that dish has one of the two, SL3 SWM or SL3. if theres a SL5, you take it down even if its good, you take it down and install a SL3. i go through 6 boxes of SL3s around here in a month.


just saying depends on where you are, sometimes it is the problem of having SL5 and switching it to SL3 to get locals.