ANOTHER idiotic Dish Troubleshooting call!

DSpud

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Oct 23, 2007
742
0
Laredo, TX
I have St.Louis Locals in HD and have had problems receiving the channels since I had the 1000+ installed. I called up Dish Tech support today and told them about the problem. I went through all of their standard procedures, resetting the box, check switch, and that. The tech asked me If I had a picture. I stated that I did. She then asked "Good! Is there anything else I can do for you tonight?"

Um yeah, send a tech out to fix the dish they have yet to point correctly the last 2 times they have been out here! I don't think its to much to ask to have the techs correctly point my dish. That is what they were paid to do originally. I just wish they would send me out someone that knows what they are doing!!!
 
Just FYI my 118 transponder 18 signal is always between 15-21. My local Fox station is on that transponder. Watching the superbowl tonight with the signal cutting out or microblocking every 10 minutes was the final straw.
 
I will say good luck getting them to send some one that knows what they are doing. You would be better off to call and see what it would cost for a retailer to send someone out to find your problem. I know the company kettermans that dish liked to send out to even try to install my dish HD and they had no idea what they were evening doing. I think they are just after the fast buck and not to do anything if they dont know how or where to install.
 
Wouldn't know you know, Kettermans is who did my install too!

You should see some of the installers they send to my house. There has been one or two good ones during the 2 dish installs I have had in the last 10 years. Should say something, I have had two installs and an upgrade, and they have probably been out 10+ times.
 
You got one of the stupid reps who knew that they were not being monitored. Right now theres hih volume of calls and alot of reps are quitting to work for companies that will pay them more for doing less. (I can say that by experience) Just call back and ask someone to go trough all the troubleshooting steps. They missed ALOT.. didnt check device, software version, field g , sat signals and so on. check switch is the last step before advicing the cust that you need to send a tech.
 
Save your energy and don't bother calling Dish. Get yourself one of these SF95L DSS DBS DVB Satellite Signal Finder Meter SF-95L and realign your dish yourself. Connect it to port 1F (118) of your dish and make VERY fine adjustments until it won't go any higher. One thing to check is the mount. Is it on the roof or a pole? It needs to be rock solid for a 1000PLUS setup. FYI I just checked my SS...I am getting 56 on sat 118 tp 18
 
Save your energy and don't bother calling Dish. Get yourself one of these SF95L DSS DBS DVB Satellite Signal Finder Meter SF-95L and realign your dish yourself. Connect it to port 1F (118) of your dish and make VERY fine adjustments until it won't go any higher. One thing to check is the mount. Is it on the roof or a pole? It needs to be rock solid for a 1000PLUS setup. FYI I just checked my SS...I am getting 56 on sat 118 tp 18

The problem I would have is the same that every tech that comes over here has, if they peak it to 118, they lose 129 and vise versa. So, right now I have piss poor signal on 118 and 129. Like I said, all my channels work, just cut out every once in a while. I figure I will have one more tech come over and if they can fix it, fine, if they don't, I will be contacting the resolution team.
 
Save your energy and don't bother calling Dish. Get yourself one of these SF95L DSS DBS DVB Satellite Signal Finder Meter SF-95L and realign your dish yourself. Connect it to port 1F (118) of your dish and make VERY fine adjustments until it won't go any higher. One thing to check is the mount. Is it on the roof or a pole? It needs to be rock solid for a 1000PLUS setup. FYI I just checked my SS...I am getting 56 on sat 118 tp 18

My neighbor actually has one of these. The last time with my 301 I was getting in the 80s. After aligning it myself I got just over 100.

I just upgraded to DishHD and got upgraded to a 1000.2. The scale is different with my new 722, but needless to say I will be knocking on my neighbor's door.

Right now however I am okay. Did have a snow storm the other night where the signal cut out on me. This never happened before. I will endure it however because adjusting the dish in sub freezing weather is not an option for me ;)
 
Just FYI my 118 transponder 18 signal is always between 15-21. My local Fox station is on that transponder. Watching the superbowl tonight with the signal cutting out or microblocking every 10 minutes was the final straw.

This may not have been a dish problem - I had the same thing on my HD Local Fox channel which I get from Comcast, since Dish doesn't carry my HD locals yet.
 
Well, with a signal strength of 15-21, I am going to blame dish first. There is no reason it should be that low.
 
The skew settings for that dish are different when you add a 129 LNB. I think many techs don't account for that and use the 500+ skew instead of the 1000+ skew. Here in Phoenix, the 500+ has a skew of 94, whereas the 1000+ (same dish, but with 129 LNB) is 104. If I left it at 94, then the 129 would be missing. That is, until I re-adjust the dish to max out 118, at which point I could lose 129. There are so many more 500+ installs than 1000+ installs that if a tech memorizes the 500+ skew, he might inadvertently fall back on that memory for all those dishes whether they are 500+ or 1000+.

That might be your problem.

Post your zip code here and let us know what your current skew is. The skew is the hash marks that change as you rotate the dish in a clockwise or counter-clockwise fashion like a steering wheel. We'll see if that current skew matches what the 1000+ skew ought to be.
 
My zip code is 62053. I don't remember what the skew is set at, although I remember it being within a degree of what was shown on the point dish screen. The dish is on top of the house and not easy to get too. I would look for you right now on the box but my wife is playing Guitar Hero III on the Wii. We don't bother her when she is getting booed off the stage........................ :p
 
I had done the HD upgrade with the 1000.2 and 722 last week,the installer though knowledgeable and seemed to know what he was doing had my skew dialed to 115 (for Dish 500) :confused:

I gave the 1000.2 a dial to 120(for my zip code) which helped boost the signal on the 129 bird. Now some of the transponders on 110 that carry our local channels in HD get bad pixel breakup.:mad:

Some 110 transponders blaze in with very high signals where others are in the 30-50 range.
 
Here are the settings you should have for the 500+
220 azimuth, 36 elevation, 117 skew

1000+

220 azimuth, 36 elevation, 121 skew

If you say its close to what the point dish screen says, that means you are probably using 500+ skew which is very close to the 500 skew. Point Dish screens don't have the 500+, 1000+ or 1000 angles. Only 300, 500 and Super Dish. Mark your current skew with a fine marker and change it to 121 and see if it doesn't produce better results. Print this thread out so you can give it to the tech in case he isn't aware the skew is probably the problem. It's possible none of the other service techs checked the skew.
 
I had done the HD upgrade with the 1000.2 and 722 last week,the installer though knowledgeable and seemed to know what he was doing had my skew dialed to 115 (for Dish 500) :confused:

I gave the 1000.2 a dial to 120(for my zip code) which helped boost the signal on the 129 bird. Now some of the transponders on 110 that carry our local channels in HD get bad pixel breakup.:mad:

Some 110 transponders blaze in with very high signals where others are in the 30-50 range.

When you changed your skew from 115 to 120, you moved the 110 to slightly higher than the optimum elevation. Think of it as pointing a flashlight at an angle towards a concave mirror and you rotate that mirror, the beam moves to a different position. You might try lowering the elevation a degree at a time and check both 110 and 129 until you find an elevation that gives you the best balance of signals on both.
 
Thanks for the tips there Vegas:up I tweaked the elevation and the azi which resulted in these numbers,they look about right on a crammed 3 lnb dish?
Sure wasn't easy with a single input swing meter,might have to invest in an accutrak or a Bird dog.

110 TR 31 =60 (Dallas HD Locals)
119 TR 14 =77 (Starz K&FM)
129 TR 23 =45 (Rave HD)

What I may do in the end is just add a second dish to serve 129 then tweak the 1000.2 for 110/119.;)

Sorry for the jack there Derek,I just happen to have the same local HD issues as you and many others.
 
Thanks for the tips there Vegas:up I tweaked the elevation and the azi which resulted in these numbers,they look about right on a crammed 3 lnb dish?
Sure wasn't easy with a single input swing meter,might have to invest in an accutrak or a Bird dog.

110 TR 31 =60 (Dallas HD Locals)
119 TR 14 =77 (Starz K&FM)
129 TR 23 =45 (Rave HD)

What I may do in the end is just add a second dish to serve 129 then tweak the 1000.2 for 110/119.;)

Sorry for the jack there Derek,I just happen to have the same local HD issues as you and many others.

I wouldnt bother with the wing dish. 45 on 129 with the new software is pretty good. The 129 is still the problem, not a ton you can do.
 
If you adjust the skew you must adjust the elevation and sometimes even the azimuth. Even with the proper skew setting (133 here) when I peak 118 the 129 is less than perfect. I could peak 129 but then I would lose 118. I always peak the 118 and pretty much ignore the 129. If you ever sweep the azimuth past 118 you will notice that there is a very small window where you either have it or you don't...the 129 has a much larger window as do 110 and 119. The 118 is a different type of satellite, can't remember the exact name, but it has a lower powered and narrower beam. I can't count how many trouble calls I've been to where the customer is losing channels on 118 because the dish wasn't peaked to 118. I have a 1000+ at home, and of course I peaked it on 118 with the skew at 133. 118 TP 12 I am getting 71 (722 rcvr) on 129 tp 12 I am getting 55. I have NEVER lost signal or noticed pixelation at all.

To the original poster, and anyone else with problems with 118, check that your mount is plum and level, your skew is correct, then peak your dish on 118 till it is absolutely perfect. At this point if you have problems with 129 you should consider putting up a second dish. If you really wanna get it perfect, you can put a dual meter (or two single meters) on 129 and 110 at the same time. Adjust the skew until both are peaked. You MAY notice a slight improvement. I never bothered because my signal is good enough. If I ever have problems I might try it.
 
Thanks for the tips there Vegas:up I tweaked the elevation and the azi which resulted in these numbers,they look about right on a crammed 3 lnb dish?
Sure wasn't easy with a single input swing meter,might have to invest in an accutrak or a Bird dog.

110 TR 31 =60 (Dallas HD Locals)
119 TR 14 =77 (Starz K&FM)
129 TR 23 =45 (Rave HD)

What I may do in the end is just add a second dish to serve 129 then tweak the 1000.2 for 110/119.;)

Sorry for the jack there Derek,I just happen to have the same local HD issues as you and many others.

I just checked my own 1000+ for comparison

110 TP 31 I get a 62
119 TP 14 I get a 78
129 TP 23 I get a 39 and it still works perfect

P.S. Don't waste your money on a Birdog. I personally HATE them with a passion, but as a customer who will use it occasionally, you really need nothing more than a $20 analog meter that draws it's power from your receiver.
 
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