Frustration with HD locals dropping even with good signal

[ctajbm]

Still loosing my Charlotte, NC HD locals intermittently and getting the 'We are aware of the problems and there is no need to call us' display. Called Dish this morning and was told there are no known issues with these channels. The only channels affected are 6483 to 6486. These are on 118 transponders 8 and 9. Signal consistently in the high 40's to low 50's even when is get the dish message. Problem occurs on both my 411 and 722 receivers and not even always at the same time. Sometimes one gets the channels and the other doesn't and vice-versa. Only seems to affect these four channels. Other channels come in fine. Have replaced cable and switch (DPP44). Receivers both have latest software. Have 118 and 119 coming in on a single 6' dish with a new single lnb. It's about 5 inches square and has outputs for 118 and 119. 110 is on a 4' and 61.5 on a 6'. Signal good across the board. Grounding has been checked. All equipment is surge protected with heavy duty surge equipment and the coax lines are also run through the surge protector. Have posted before and was given a few helpful suggestions but nothing worked. I know the Charlotte locals are not spot beamed so I don't think the issue is signal but at this point I really am out of ideas. Is anyone else getting this dish screen on their HD local channels?

 

[ShadowInc]

I also have the Charlotte locals and have not noticed problems like you are describing. I've had audio dropouts, but they say that is a software issue and are working on it.

 

[ctajbm]

Thanks. That's very helpful info although i was kind of hopeful that it was a known issue that everyone was having. Still going to have the LNB swapped this weekend but I'm not hopeful that this will resolve the issue.

 

[Pepper]

What part of Charlotte requires a 6-foot dish to get the signal?

I always thought that message indicated a problem with the uplink, though if that were the case you'd see it on all receivers at the same time.

 

[ccg3]

If your having the LNB swaped out, have them check the signal at the dish. The dish could be off just a little causing the problem. In fact it may not be LNBF, but a repoint issue.

 

[geonaz]

My signals in the Charlotte area are fine. I do show a drift of -8 and Dish gave me an option of repair or letting it go as is. I chose to let it ride since I have not had any problems. I do not have 61.5 at this time Only 110. 118.7, 119 and 129.

 

[ctajbm]

Thanks for the advice. Will have them check the dish alignment as well although it seems strange that it only affects one receiver at a time. The reason for the 6' dish is because I am in the Cayman Islands so we are almost 550 miles due south of Miami. We are generally able to get 119 and 110 on a 4' dish but 61.5 needs a 6'. Originally had 118 and 119 on my 4' but was getting normal signal drop out and because the signal strength of 110 has jumped up recently, at least from here, I decided to use the 4' for it and keep the 6' for 118/119. As you can guess it's not very attractive having three large dishes in the backyard but that's the price to pay for wanting satellite TV in paradise. There is a lot of Dish and DirectTV piracy going on down here but I am not interested in that game and so I have a legal subscription direct with Dish and use my sisters address in Charlotte for the service location. That's why I get Charlotte locals.

 

[Edgar_in_Indy]

I think you're having problems because Charlotte, like many Eastern markets with HD locals, currently has their locals on a CONUS feed AND a spotbeam. according to the EKB Dish Channel Chart, Charlotte has locals on CONUS on 118, and a spotbeam on 61.5. I assume that you're out of range for the spotbeam on 61.5. So what happens, is sometimes your receiver tunes to 118 (without a problem), and other times it tries to hit 61.5 (which is a problem since you're out of the spot beam.)

I'm having the same problem in Indianapolis trying to get locals from Atlanta. There does not seem to be any way to force the receiver to only look at the CONUS satellite. The only reason I have 61.5 is because my wife wants Brazilian channels. It looks like my only good option is to "move" to a market that has only CONUS and no spotbeam.

 

[ctajbm]

I think you've hit the nail on the head. Now that I read this i recall that every time I loose a channel and the signal screen comes up it is 61.5 that it's searching for. The problem has only happened since I've switched to the Charlotte locals. I used to get the NY ones (distance locals) but when they moved their HD locals to spot beam I decided to switch the Charlotte. What you've said makes perfect sense. My signal on 118 is always strong so once it establishes a lock I wonder why it tries to connect to 61.5? Anyway thanks for the explanation. Now I need to either find HD locals on CONUS only or see if i can do away with 61.5.

 

[Edgar_in_Indy]

I don't get 118, so I don't think I have any CONUS options that will keep me in the Eastern time zone, but since you have 118 you should be able to get the locals out of Pittsburgh. The channel chart is showing that they currently do not have a spotbeam.