AM21 maybe gone bad?

[evansrte313]

Hello all - first time on this forum. I am a senior citizen who has limited tv/computer expertise. We have been Directv subscribers since the satellite went up in the mid 1990's. As we live in mid NW Indiana, my Directv local channels are Chicago (great!) and we have a 40' tv tower that gets us South Bend and Lafayette. My oldest son set us up with an AM21. According to him, this piece of equipment allows those antenna channels to show up on the Directv grid? (We did lose the day by day channel listings on those a few years ago when everyone had to reprogram their tv's.)

All worked great till today. Starting this afternoon, on the S Bend and Lafayette local channels we pull off of the outside antenna, we are seeing the message "Local Channel Connector not detected." Does that mean the AM21 has issues? I know the antenna is sound as we get a great picture on the tv by choosing local tuner and bypassing Directv.

If so, I see the LCC kits for sale on eBay. Would this solve the issue? My Directv receiver is Model HR-44-500.

Thanks for any help/advise the members of this fine forum can give me.

 

[c-spand]

Diodes puff up and go bad on those. I use a dc filter on mine. You can replace those with solder gun. There is a article here somewhere.

 

[c-spand]

Repaired My AM21N Today

My AM21N started giving me the Local Channel Connector (LCC) Not Detected error. After fruitless attempts to get Directv to send me an LCC kit, I decided to crack the AM21N open and have a look. I noticed that the large capacitor C2507 had a little bit of crustiness on the base around the...

www.satelliteguys.us

 

[raoul5788]

to Satelliteguys evansrte313!

 

[evansrte313]

Thanks Chip. Hope to get some great knowledge from the forum. RE

 

[jcrandall]

Since you have an HR44 Genie you could buy the LCC to replace your AM21. It is a much smaller form factor and can sometimes be found cheap on Ebay. Not a whole lot of them out there though so you may have to watch for one to be posted.

 

[evansrte313]

Thanks. I don't have the expertise or knowledge to attempt to fix the AM21 so that is my best option. Appreciate all the fine folks who gave me advise on the situation.

 

[c-spand]

You can try craigslist too. I have seen a couple of them there. Good luck to you and let us know how it goes.

 

[larry55]

I had the same problem I unplug my am 21 for a few hours . Later I turn it on and did over- the-air antenna Setup I went to Reset Setting then I put in my zip codes and it working . I did a reboot before I did this. Let me know if it worbs for you.

 

[evansrte313]

I had the same problem I unplug my am 21 for a few hours . Later I turn it on and did over- the-air antenna Setup I went to Reset Setting then I put in my zip codes and it working . I did a reboot before I did this. Let me know if it worbs for you.

Thanks for the information. Earlier I tried unplugging it overnight and upon plugging it back in still got the LCC error. I did not try to reset or rescan. I will give this a try.

I was wondering, for your local channels that you receive via the AM21 on the directv channel grid, do you get an hourly detailed channel listing or does it just say "Regular Programming" for the entire day? All I get is the regular programming entry on the channel grid. And this eliminates the ability to record shows from the local channels. Thanks.

 

[Jimbo]

Thanks for the information. Earlier I tried unplugging it overnight and upon plugging it back in still got the LCC error. I did not try to reset or rescan. I will give this a try.

I was wondering, for your local channels that you receive via the AM21 on the directv channel grid, do you get an hourly detailed channel listing or does it just say "Regular Programming" for the entire day? All I get is the regular programming entry on the channel grid. And this eliminates the ability to record shows from the local channels. Thanks.

I get Normal programing listed in the guide for the channels that are actually in my market ...
Those that technically are not my market I usually get Regular Schedule.

 

[larry55]

Same here

 

[evansrte313]

Thanks to each of you for the reply which confirms what I see. larry55 I didn't have any luck with the reset of local channels and rescan so guess I will be buying an LCC on ebay.
Out of curiosity, with the LCC will I continue to see "regular Programming" on the Direct channel listings for the local channels that I get via my antenna? Hoping for exact hour by hour channel listings!!

 

[evansrte313]

Got an LCC on ebay for a decent price and all is well with the local channels on Directv. The AM21 unit. does anyone want that? I would ship it to you for cost of shipping. If not I will pitch it. Thanks again for all the help from the fine members of this forum. RE