certain channels going in and out

[crackenzag]

Hello all! I am a somewhat new directv customer and am having a problem. I'll do my best to describe the situation.

My zip code is 65611. Blue Eye, MO. Some channels will be fine for about 10 seconds, then search for signal, then be fine for 10 seconds and just keep doing this. Local channels are fine. No problems with locals. The channels I notice the most that have the problem are all the discovery channels, FX, and some others. If you need the exact list of channels that are having problems, I can get it, it will just take awhile...

anyhow, here is the research I've done so far. all transponders on sat 101 are 95 or above except 12, 18, and 26 are at 0 which i have read is ok. 20 is at 88 and 28 is at 77.

sat 99(c) 1-14 91 or above 14-32 N/A

sat 99(s): 1 at 53, 2 at 92, 3 at 56, 4 at 0, 5 at 55, 6 at 85, 6-14 N/A, 15 at 79, 16 at 98, 17 at 76, 18 at 85, 19 at 97, 20 at 98, 21 at 95, 22 at 95, 23 at 91, 24 at 97, 25-32 N/A

sat 103(s) 1-6 at 0, 7-14 N/A, 15-24 at 0

sat 103(ca) 1-8 N/A, 9 at 95, 10-11 at 0, 12 at 91, 13-18 at 0, 19 at 95, 20 at 95, 21-24 at 0

sat 103(cb) 1-2 at 0, 3 at 96, 4 at 0, 5 at 95, 6-7 at 0, 8 at 95, 9-10 at 0, 11 at 95, 12-13 at 0, 14 at 95, 15-32 N/A

sat 72.5 1 at 0, 2 at 96, 3 at 96, 4 at 97, 5 at 95, 6 at 0, 7 at 96, 8 at 100, 9 at 95, 10 at 97, 11 at 97, 12 at 0, 13 at 97, 14 at 96, 15 at 0, 16 at 100, 17 at 96, 18 at 0, 19 at 97, 20 at 89, 21 at 98, 22 at 100, 23 at 98, 24 at 100, 25 at 97, 26 at 97, 27 at 98, 28 at 76, 29 at 98, 30 at 100, 31 at 96, 32 at 100

NOW, I've noticed that when I go to the signal meters on 103(cb) the transponder 1 will alternate every few seconds betewwn 96 percent and not acquired. same with 2,3,4,5,6,7, and some of the transponders on 103(cb) that I listed above as having a strong signal I can not get to show any signal in the signal meter at this point.

Needless to say I am seeing patterns as I type this. It seems that there are lots of inconsistancies in the signal strength on the transponders on the 103(cb) satellite.

SO... any help would be greatly appreciated. If you need any more info from me, please don't hesitate to ask. I will say that this receiver is on a rather long cable from the dish. I did try to move the receiver to another receivers location and plug it in and it seemed to work fine... I just don't know why only the 103(cb) satellite is having problems. You can probably tell it took some time for me to get all those transponder readings. I'm serious about getting to the bottom of this... Step Brothers was on FX and I really wanted to watch it!!! I love that movie but it kept going to searching for signal every few seconds.

thanks in advance for any help I can get!

 

[raoul5788]

First of all, to Satelliteguys!

My first guess is a bad lnb.

 

[crackenzag]

thanks for the response raoul! Would that cause this to happen on only one receiver? There are 5 receivers all together and this seems to be the only one with a problem. Like I said before, it's a long ways from the dish though. Could the distance be causing a problem? I'm gonna guess and say it's about 200 feet of cable between the switch box where the rest of the receivers are connected and the receiver that's having the problem.

 

[crackenzag]

another question i have is what should I see on sat103(cb) as far as transponder percentages?

 

[raoul5788]

thanks for the response raoul! Would that cause this to happen on only one receiver? There are 5 receivers all together and this seems to be the only one with a problem. Like I said before, it's a long ways from the dish though. Could the distance be causing a problem? I'm gonna guess and say it's about 200 feet of cable between the switch box where the rest of the receivers are connected and the receiver that's having the problem.

Call me Chip, Raoul is just a screen name. What type if switch are you using? How many tuners are involved? A receiver has one, but a dvr has two. If you have more than eight on the basic switch, you could have the problem you are describing.

 

[crackenzag]

alright. I'll do my best. I don't know a whole lot about this stuff... I know that 2 receivers are DVRs and I believe 3 are standard. I am living in my father-in-laws apartment and there is cable run to the apartment from the switch under the house. I don't know what type of switch it is. There is too much snow to get under the house to look right now.

2 if a dvr has 2 tuners then there would be a total of 7 receivers - 4 receivers for the 2 DVRs and 3 more for the 3 standard receivers. so 7 shouldn't be a problem right? could it be that the switch is malfunctioning? would that cause only one satellite (the 103(cb)) to be having a problem? I've ruled out the reciever as it works when put in another known working receiver's spot.

 

[raoul5788]

Okay, so it's not too many tuners on a multiswitch, but it could be a bad switch. It's not the receiver because moving it ruled it out. What if you put a different receiver where the first one is? Does the problem stay at the same place or is the receiver okay there?

 

[Jimbo]

Might want to check and replace all coax connectors, check coax for any breaks/ cuts/ nicks in the line.
Water in the line anywhere would cause this.
Also as Chip mentioned, could be a bad LNB or MultiSwitch (going bad, stuff doesn't always go out right away).

 

[Daddy Dithers]

Cable type/quality could be an issue as well, especially with a run of that length. Should be RG6. Sounds like that run of cable may have been an afterthought/not installed when other receivers were installed. Did DTV install that run of cable? As Jimbo mentioned, connectors are a likely cause. Moisture could be the culprit.

 

[crackenzag]

thanks chip, I haven't tried a different receiver at the problem receiver's place. I will try that. The cable is run properly underground in conduit (it was run when the house and shop/apartment was built about 5 years ago). We did have a problem with the cable between the receiver and the wall about 3 months ago. I think all we did was replace the connector and not the cable. But could a bad cable or switch cause problems on only one satellite? That's the part that's messing with me. I could see the LNB causing this but I would think any cableing problems would affect all satellites and channels. am I right?

 

[crackenzag]

also i may be helpful if someone could explain breifly what the multiswitch does. thanks.

 

[Daddy Dithers]

Cabeling/connectors can absolutely effect a signal from an individual satellite. The other day one of our guys hade a bad groundblock cause loss of signal on all odd transponders on the 103. One thing you learn early is not to say "It can't be that"...because it can.

 

[Daddy Dithers]

also i may be helpful if someone could explain breifly what the multiswitch does. thanks.

It is in essence a splitter. 4 receivers or 2DVRs can be run from the 4 lines from a 3 or 5 lnb. A 6X8 switch allows you to feed any combination of 8 lines...4 DVRs...2rec/3DVRs, etc. using the 4 lines from the dish as inputs. Also allows for combining signals from more than one lnb..i.e., 3 or 5 lnb, international and 72.5 if needed for desired programming.

 

[raoul5788]

IIRC, 103cb is a different frequency band than the others, so it could be affected and other satellites not.

 

[crackenzag]

ok guys thanks. Good info. I'll try the suggestions and if something works, I'll report back.

 

[kjlued]

We can rule out bad receiver as you already switched the box to another room and the problem stopped.

If it is just happening on 1 receiver and there is a multiswitch in place, we can probably rule out the LNB or ground block.
As all four ports feed the mutiswich which would most likely cause the issue to happen on all lines.

If there is no multiswitch then it is more possible that it is an LNB or ground block.

If there is no multiswitch, switch the lines on the ground block.
If the problem continues then you can rule out both the ground block and multiswitch and assume its cabling or connectors.
If the problem is fixed but move rooms, then you can assume it is between the ground block and LNB.

If there is a multiswitch then then swap the lines going in to the house.
If the problem stops, it is most likely a bad multisitch. If it continues, it is bad cabling or connectors.

If you list all the components, we might be able to narrow it down a little more.

 

[crackenzag]

alright. I'll do my best to explain what I know is there.

There are 2 dishes on the house. There are 2 DVR receivers, and 3 standard receivers. There is a multiswitch under the house (or at least I think that's what it is. Its a box with a buch of coax cable hooked to it. Probably about 6x8 inches or so (trying to remember since I saw it last).

 

[raoul5788]

I just noticed you are near Branson MO. Did you ever go to the '57 Heaven Museum that closed a couple of years ago?
Anyway, you say you have two dishes. Is one for local sd channels? If so, they either have or will move to the 99 or 103
satellite soon so you won't need the second dish and it could be removed. Have you tried a good receiver where the bad
one was first located? Also, you should check all of the wiring for damages and the connectors to make sure they are tight.
Have you considered having Directv come and look at it. If you have the protection plan it's free. If not, it may be worth
signing up for.

 

[crackenzag]

no, I never went to 57 heaven. I know where it is, but never went. Anyhow, I don't think I'm supposed to have this receiver hooked up where it is. Since it's technically outside the main dwelling... It's being paid for, so Its' not like the service is being stolen. Anyhow, that's why i don't really want DTV out here.. there is about a 200 foot underground cable run from the house to the shop where the receiver is. there is a redundant cable run in the conduit underground just incase something happens and using this cable didn't help anything.

 

[raoul5788]

The plot thickens! I missed the original post about the cable run being long. Now knowing that it is 200 ft makes me suspect that is the issue. Anyone else?