Thread: any installers know how to pass red x's ?

hey im 5 year installer for directv and wanted to know if anyone knows how to pass the installation verification when activating new recievers without calling in to get a waiver?....certain batches of kaku 5 LNB's we get read low and dont read high enough signal to pass the 85 percent threshold needed to pass 99 and 103 .... anybody have any pointers on this ? please dont respond with " work on your dithering skills" this is a equipment issue and not installer issue...but when your in a bind would like to know how to pass the red x's if its at all possible ....

There is no way to get past it without getting better signals or getting a waiver. One thing you may try if you are close but a few points off, is move the rec outside to the dish, hook it up temp with a super short wire run, and after it is activated move it back.
Other thing you may consider is if you have an lnb you know to be good, keep it on the truck for situations like this..
That sucks you have defective lnb's. I've been fortunately to have never had an lnb fail installation verification.
Btw, you will get more responses if you ask this in the Installers Only forum here.

I have often come across situations like this, what I did a few times was this,


say for example you are getting 99 X on odds, then go to that transponder that is reading low for example say 77%... go to signal meter, get the customer on the phone and have them read every number as it moves up or down.

you get on the roof or whereever the dish, and move it slow, once she or he says 85 or better, stop. then go inside and check other signals, then do a verifying installation test.


if this doesnt work even with good signal, then you may have a bad LNB or bad reflector. make sure its plumbed!


i have occasionally done this when i cant pass a certain satellite on even or odd, this is pretty effective without having to be a headache to run a recievr outside with you with no tv.


ive had best of luck doing it that way when im in and out trying to lock it in, but having the customer read the exact numbers for you while youre fine tuning the dish trying to get better signal. it blows when our birddogs dont read 99 and 103s as AIM and Superbuddy does and sucks our office wont invest money in getting those satellite finders to make our job easier when it comes to 99 and 103 satellite.

its like a directv tech trying to tune in a Dish Network dish with no dish set up in ur birddog.

There is a way to bypass it but it is just a temporary fix. Its better to get it to pass right the first time. If you know you have some lnbs that are reading low, keep one that reads accurate in you truck and test all recievers then swap it back out for the ones that read low.

I saw this crap on the horizon. False positives and false negatives..... because the eq has quite a deviation. So you screw around with bypass tricks instead of actually improving anything.
The thought of calling somebody in India (or Utah) to get a waiver for broken eq from China so that the customer can watch commercial interruptions from LA just make me crazy.

Joe

Every now and then I'll get 1 that won't pass no matter how much you dither, either the odd or even on 99 or 103. I'll have 1 transponder barely below 85 and the rest above. This is how I deal with it.
If it's a swm I'll swap it out for a 4 wire head & run temp lines if needed. Once in place go to receivers and select 18' round & let it run through setup completely to completion code. Swap everything back to swm equipment and repeat sat setup and your good to go.
This process is a pain in the butt, but sometimes you just don't have a choice.

*When you swap back to swm it will still fail, BUT, you will have a "continue" option that will let it go on through.

check your reflectors, depending on how you store them (when I ran in my truck i had open boxes) and they got bent, you cant tell my looking at them, but if its bent just a lil, itll fail. I keep them in the cases now and throw the box away when i went through all 4.

what has worked for me in that situation is either have the customer read u the signals as u slowly turn the dithering pins, i also have ran into that ur tilt was off just a little bit, sometime those factory presets are arnt right and by just barely adjusting your tilt wil get u the signals u need to pass IV, the threshold is 90 and up...

Originally Posted by SBCATECH

what has worked for me in that situation is either have the customer read u the signals as u slowly turn the dithering pins, i also have ran into that ur tilt was off just a little bit, sometime those factory presets are arnt right and by just barely adjusting your tilt wil get u the signals u need to pass IV, the threshold is 90 and up...

Preset???? i ddint know they were preset.. wait... arent the dishes have to be put together? how is that preset?


90 or better? fail... its 85% or better to pass the test. But you do want your signals to be 90% or better in general but we're talking about the test, it has to be 85% or better to even pass the Installation Test.