110 but no 119 for a while now

[tpinck]

We are full time RV’s and travel the country quite a bit. I use a tripod mounted dish 500 and the DVR 625. I believe my LNB is a Dish Pro Plus TWIN. I originally got the system in September last year here in North Branford, CT, since that time we have been to California and back, have little problems setting up the dish. In the past 3 or 4 stops, I have been able to get 100 to come in fine but not the 119. I use the Line-a-site and a in-line sat finder to acquire and fine tune.

We will be here for at least 2 months so would like to get the 119 in. Here are some of the signal strength I am getting:

110 spot 20 103
21 86
16 88
15 81
14 84
These give Locked EchoStar 110 W

119 Spot 19 82
16 88
15 82
14 84

These all give Wrong Sat – EchoStar 110 West

A check switch results in Input 1 – port 1 110 OK Twin, port 2 Conn X Twin, port 3, X X N.C. Same for input 2

I am running 1 coax from the dish to the receiver with, I believe, a splitter going to the 2 receiver inputs. It’s the way the installer set it up.

I tried covering the 110 with tinfoil and re tuning, No change at all. Covered the 119 and got nothing, nada, zero no matter what I did.

Could I have a bad Dpp LNB, It did blow over a couple of times, but no visible damage.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Tim

 

[dennisinsc]

I recenlty had a problem with 110 and 119 as well.

Don't know if it will help but here is what I did.

Somewhere in the forum I had read about disconnecting the cable and running switch test to "clear the matrix." Don't remember who suggested it to whom, but it worked and my thanks to whomever it was. After running the test the choices were to retain previous setting or keep the new. Of course I took the new. Receiver then re-acguired the satellite and had both 110 and 119.

 

[suzyq]

otherwise, it's a bad lnb

 

[tpinck]

Thanks for the input, I tried it this afternoon and got the same results. I think I am going to have to agree with suzyq that the LNB is defective. I have a few other things to try tomorrow, then start looking for a new LNB, I wonder if it will be covered on my warrenty?

Thanks all

Tim

I recenlty had a problem with 110 and 119 as well.

Don't know if it will help but here is what I did.

Somewhere in the forum I had read about disconnecting the cable and running switch test to "clear the matrix." Don't remember who suggested it to whom, but it worked and my thanks to whomever it was. After running the test the choices were to retain previous setting or keep the new. Of course I took the new. Receiver then re-acguired the satellite and had both 110 and 119.

 

[Mr Tony]

unhook the cable from the receiver and do a check switch to clear out everything. Menu 6-1-1 and then there should be a box for "check switch"

Then hook up the cable and aim at 119. Once thats locked in, redo check switch.

Sometimes cleaning out the switch setup fixes those oddball problems

 

[Jared Twomey]

you can tell from your check switch that it is not lined up properly.
The fact that the 110 is coming in on port one means you are out of line, now if you were getting 110 on port 2, and still not getting 119, then you have a problem

 

[tpinck]

Thanks Iceberg, I have tried unplugging the cable and running check switch, reconnect then run check switch again, only result was hight signal strength on 110.

Thanks birddoggy, If I understand you I should be seeing 110 on port 2 not port 1. Never paid much attention to which sat was on which port, just that they were both there. This morning I will recheck the cables and connections and then realign and see what happens.

Thanks again
Tim

you can tell from your check switch that it is not lined up properly.
The fact that the 110 is coming in on port one means you are out of line, now if you were getting 110 on port 2, and still not getting 119, then you have a problem

 

[tpinck]

LNB appears to be bad

I tride everything that was suggested and no improvement. Tried a different output from the LNB, tried new cable all with the same result. I just ordered a new Dpp twin LNB, hopefully I will get it next week and that will fix the problem.

Again thanks for all the help.

Tim

 

[Jared Twomey]

i honestly dont think it is a bad lnb (been wrong before, it could happen),

but you are picking up the 110 on port 1, so port 1 of the lnb is obviously working, there is no technical reason why you could get 110 on port 1, and not 119.

Like I said before, if you were getting 110 on the correct side of the lnb, and still not getting the 119, then i would suspect the switch in the lnb, lnb eye, ect...
but you're not, you are getting the 110 on the wrong side, so it is not lined up properly.

The other thing I would suspect (since you said the dish has blown over multiple times) is that the reflector could be bent, it only has to be bent a little bit to screw up the dish

 

[tpinck]

Thanks birddoggy - I will look at the alignment again. The part I can not explain is when I cover the 110 LNB with tinfoil I get only 110 on the switch test, however if I cover the 119 side of the LNB I can not get enough out of the system to indicate on the strength meter. I have rotated dish 180 and up and down in elivation. The dish does not show any evidance of damage however the LBN on the 119 side shows scuff marks.

Tim

 

[Jared Twomey]

as you have the dish aimed now, it is picking up the 110 on the 119 side of the lnb.... it is picking up nothing on the 110 side of the lnb...
that should explain why you are getting the results you are when you cover the lnbs

when you cover the 110 side, you arent losing anything, because you arent getting anything there anyway... the only thing you are getting is the 110 on the 119 side of the lnb
when you cover the 119 side, you lose everything, because all you are getting is the 110 satellite on the 119 side of the lnb

one thing a lot of people get stuck in their mind is the markings on the lnb.. just cause the lnb says 119, doesnt mean thats all it will get, you can point that lnb at quite a few satellites in the sky, hell you can use that same dish 500 to pick up the 119 and 129 at the same time, it all depends on the alignment of the satellite. The lnb is a dumb device, it doesnt care what its pointed at.

i know this isnt the answer you want, but i honestly dont think it is an lnb issue,

and i'm not trying to sound like a smart ass, but i have been installing and servicing these things for years and i hate to see you chasing your tail fixing problems that you dont have

this may be a stupid question, but by chance has the skew been changed at all? if the skew isnt right you will get this same problem you are having.

 

[tpinck]

Yes the skew has canged slightly with each change of location, the current skew here in CT is 127. I don't have it recorded but I think the skew in Goose Creek, SC was 131, 128 in Dover, DE, 129 in Panama City, FL , Kings Bay, GA it was 131 and Elizabeth City, NC it was 130.

We had both 110 and 119 at Kings Bay, but not at Goose Creek, Dover, Elizabeth City and here in CT. Nothing has happened to the dish since Kings Bay, every thing happened before that, so my guess is that it is OK and you are correct that it is an aligment thing.

I use a Align-a-site device and a Wineguard signal strength meter to do the alignment. I try to make sure that the mast is plumb and true, then use the Align-a-site to set the skew, azimuth and elevation. Then using the signal meter I peek the signal, ay adjusting first the azimuth, then teh elevation and lastly the skew, seldom changing the skew after the inital setting.

Is there something I am doing wrong or something I can do different to get better results?

Tim

 

[Roadwarrior]

where are you setting your dish up at? It is possible that you keep running into a line of sight problem. The 119 will be a little lower and farther to the right of the 110. It's a long shot but you might want to check that as well.

 

[tpinck]

Roadwarrior -
I have a fairly narrow field of view, but I check the clearances with the align-a-site and see clear sky for about 10 deg elevation either side of the target of 26 deg and almost 60 deg Azimuth either side of the target 248 deg.

 

[Roadwarrior]

Well then, I think it actually could be the lnb. The service calls that I roll on are static dishes, and I have seen my share of bad lnbs that just would not pick up 119. So, if you are trying to point with a bad lnb, it is a reasonable assumption that it would only hit 110. That would explain the recent problems and why check switch shows 110 first.

It's really the only other solution, assuming the dish isn't damaged. I guess you'll find out soon.

 

[tpinck]

Roadwarrior - Thanks for your input, I did not get a chance to play with it today but hope to soon. The new LNB should be in on Thursday. All I can do is give it a try and see.

Tim

 

[Jared Twomey]

i'm stickin with the lnb not being the problem but then again i've been wrong before... let us know after you try the new lnb

 

[Van]

tpinck drop your elevation 4 degreas and move the dish to the west about an inch and you should start to see signal again, its a common mistake to not have the mast plumb all the way around, it usually happens from improper mounting or from a damaged or bent mount and I have seen this with tripods where a leg gets bent just enough to throw off the whole structure and make leveling a nightmare.

 

[tpinck]

Van - thanks for the input, I will be going over the setup and alignments tommorow. If this resolves the problem the worst case is I'll have a spare LNB.

Tim

 

[tpinck]

Got them locked

Well Birddoggy was right it was alignment all along. I move the dish about 10 feet to the east, made sure it was plumb and redid the alignment. I got a reading on 119 but no 110, ran check switch and 119 is in the first slot and 110 is in the second slot. 119 is at signal strength 91 and 110 is at 75, good enough for me. :up


Thanks to all of you for your support and Birddoggy I am sorry I doubted your theory.

Tim