Only receive signal quality when meter is connected

[Stargazer]

I am trying to fix an issue with a Glorystar system. When I have the signal meter connected, it works. When I disconnected it, the receiver loses its signal quality. Does anybody know what is causing this? I am someone's house and drove a ways to get here and cannot figure out what the problem was. I have the first strike meter. I use the same wires and bypassed the signal meter even trying the same barrel connector that is on the signal meter and no go without the meter connected. The meter's battery is ran down so it is not getting power off of the meter as the meter is getting it's power off of the receiver.

I originally came here to fix a signal issue and fixed that by rotating the lnb to correct polarization.

 

[Glorystar1]

1 LNBF or 2? 22KHz or DiSEqQ switch in line? Is the meter providing either switch selection or power not provided by the receiver?

Sounds like either the LNBF is not receiving 13vdc (Vertical) or 18vdc (Horizontal) at the LNBF or the LNBF is rotated 90 degrees out of rotation.

Measure voltage at the receiver SAT IN port and at the LNBF. Bad coax? Bad switch? Reversed coax cables on switch? Incorrect skew?

 

[Stargazer]

Only one lnbf receiving 97. I connected a spare FTA receiver I have with me up and it works just fine without meter needed. There is no DiSEqQ switch in the line. Meter gets power from receiver only since the battery in the meter is dead.

 

[Glorystar1]

Only one lnbf receiving 101. I connected a spare FTA receiver I have with me up and it works just fine without meter needed. There is no DiSEqQ switch in the line. Meter gets power from receiver only since the battery in the meter is dead.

What channel(s) are you trying to receive? Why aimed to 101w? Majority of channels are on Galaxy19 at 97w. Perform Factory Reset on receiver? Update receiver using OTA update for latest channel assignments on correct satellite? Do you have a VOM to test voltages?

 

[Stargazer]

I thought it was on 101w but realized it is on 97w. She wanted the 3ABN channels and I get them with my receiver. I done a powerscan on their Fortec receiver and it is picking up a bunch of channels but some channels will not pick up at all while others pixellate very badly. I am starting to wonder if their receiver has gone bad or something. When I did a blind scan on my receiver it picked up all of the stations without any issues.

 

[Glorystar1]

I thought it was on 101w but realized it is on 97w. She wanted the 3ABN channels and I get them with my receiver. I done a powerscan on their Fortec receiver and it is picking up a bunch of channels but some channels will not pick up at all while others pixellate very badly. I am starting to wonder if their receiver has gone bad or something. When I did a blind scan on my receiver it picked up all of the stations without any issues.

Could be a receiver issue. The Fortec Star receivers have an above average issue with failing power supplies. If a Power Scan on your test receiver produces good results, but a Power Scan on the customer's receiver does not, I would suggest a new receiver or repair is in order.

 

[T4Runner]

If all they want is the ABN channels, then check the 11842 transponder on 97W first and see if you are getting Quality. It may also be that the Transponder 11842 is not on the satellite receiver and need to be manually entered. Or it may need to be peaked.

 

[Glorystar1]

Stargazer performed additional testing with another FTA receiver and we determined that the old Fortec Star Lifetime Ultra had probably a failing power supply. By the time I spoke with him he had already performed a very thorough trouble shooting procedure! Looking forward to hearing the final resolution.

 

[Stargazer]

I have not heard back from them since I was out there on Friday night so all must be working fine. It worked without any issues after hooking up a new receiver that I had. I brought the bad one back with me so that I can run some tests here as well just to see if I get any different results here than I got there.

 

[T4Runner]

Symptom of weak LNB??

I had almost the exact same problem. Single LNBF on a dish with no dish pan struts attached and a mast with no mast support braces attached... no switch.

Used a SuperBuddy 29 to lock in 97W on the meter at the dish, after adding mast supports. I did not have extra dish pan struts but it was pretty solid to the roof after adding the mast supports. Peaked the SR1 bullet LNB on 11842 at the dish. Went down and no quality at the receiver. Used the meter at the coax coming into the house and no quality. Replaced the coax all the way into the house and checked the meter with resulting quality. Hooked it up to the FORTEC STAR MERCURY II and no quality anywhere!

I did a factory reset and added Transponder 11842 manually. Nothing. Signal was about 45% and no quality. Checked the settings but it did not seem to be holding them as I exited?

I could not get it to show any quality. Even tho it had been factory reset it kept trying to revert to 101W and showing ABN channels on 101W.

I dragged my 200c out and plugged it in. Same thing! I was going crazy with this settup. Went back and plugged in my meter to the coax coming down from the dish to bring my confidence back and see it VERIFIED. It was.

I could get on screen menu on both satellite receivers, but was stumped.

Is this also a symptom of a SR1 Bullet LNB going out?

 

[Glorystar1]

Does seem that the LNBF is working as the meter locks both inside and out. Did the SatBuddy meter indicate that the LO frequency had drifted? If so, how much? If the LO has drifted more than 3MHz, receivers will have issues locking onto the transponders, but the meter might have a wider more forgiving AFC circuit. Did you try Power/Blind Scan?

Not sure what activation code (what satellites and channels were preprogrammed by default into the customer's Mercury II receiver. If 1010 (AMC4 only) then the LO would need to be set to Standard type as Universal type is the default.

On the Mercury II, reactivate using code 3030 (G25 only) or delete the old AMC4 channels (if code 2020/AMC4 and G19) as described in the reaiming instructions before scanning in G19. Often the receivers will not log the channels if the old channels are not first deleted.

 

[T4Runner]

Not sure yet how to use the many features on the Satbuddy 29, as I have only had it for a few weeks. I did not check freq drift.

I did not do a blind scan, as there was just no Quality at all.

The activation code may be the key as I had to keep changing the LO from Universal, so I will try that 3030.

Thank you for the help.

 

[Glorystar1]

The SatBuddy will display the amount of LO frequency drift. It is a great feature that will be a great tool for trouble shooting.

If a LNBF has drifted more than 3-4MHz it is possible that the receivers would not display a Signal Quality, but a Power/Blind Scan would program in the offset transponder frequencies.