Dish dropping out every day

[boomer47]

I've had Dish for about 3 months now and it has been a pain since day one.
At least once a day and two or three times some days (during good weather) the system just drops out.
I get one screen that says "reacquiring satellite" or that the "channel is down, don't contact us, we know about it".
I can solve the "channel down" by going into the guide and selecting the same channel,watch live tv, and the "down" channel comes back up.
After spending several hours(really) on the phone and wearing the paint off the reset button and wearing the finish off the ac plug prongs for resets to satisfy the phone techs I'm about to give up and go back to Direct.
I've had three service calls where the tech takes a look at everything and says that all is well. Problem is that I can't get a service call while the system is down. Kinda like your car skips and misses until you take it to a shop where it will run just fine and no problem can be found.
Today I just have a blue screen that the info banner will come up on but no reception. Hit the reset button and all is good for about 15 minutes then have to start all over again.
Everything has been checked out,good signal strength and wiring, so I think it is the receiver(VIP722) but the tech says he can't change it out unless he can see the problem which comes and goes and of course will not occur when he is here.
Anyone have any suggestions on how to solve this and also does anybody know how to contact Dish with such a problem without punching numbers on the phone and getting transferred around for 15-20 minutes and then going through all the resets,blah,blah and not getting the problem fixed?

 

[JimP]

When you go into antenna tuning, what signal strength numbers are you getting on each satellite?

 

[boomer47]

JimP,

78 on 119
62 on 110
42 on 129

Funny thing is that tropical storm Fay just went through here with some of the heaviest rain I've ever seen and I had no dropouts.
It seems the system just can't stand good, clear sky days.

 

[Voyager6]

JimP,

78 on 119
62 on 110
42 on 129

Funny thing is that tropical storm Fay just went through here with some of the heaviest rain I've ever seen and I had no dropouts.
It seems the system just can't stand good, clear sky days.

Your problem is the 129 satellite. E5 is on its last legs and will be replaced soon (fingers crossed). You should have a tech come out and repeak (repoint) your dish or ask for a separate dish for 129. What area of the country are you in?

 

[Fredinva]

Your problem is the 129 satellite. E5 is on its last legs and will be replaced soon (fingers crossed). You should have a tech come out and repeak (repoint) your dish or ask for a separate dish for 129. What area of the country are you in?

His signal strengths are fine on 129!!!!
I have a dedicated 129 and mynumbers are less than his.
he may have a bad lnb

fred

 

[boomer47]

I'm in Birmingham,AL.
I've been prowling around this site and see a post in the stickies about which transponder to check on each sat.
My original figures are from using TP 11 on each sat.
I've seen two different opinions on which tp to use.

tp 7 on 110
tp7 on 119
tp21 on 129

tp21 on 110
tp19 on 119
tp17 on 129

Is either of these corrrect? Anything better?

And in case no one has noticed, I'm a complete newbie at this and can use all the help I can get.
Thanks to all in advance.

 

[boomer47]

OK, I just ran a strength test using the above.

110,tp 07 =52
119,tp07 = 40
129,tp21 =54

110,tp21 =70
119,tp19 =85
129,tp17 =56

How does this look?

 

[dishtechsup]

boomer47

If you dont do anything, does it fix itself?

And if it does how long does it take?

 

[boomer47]

No, it won't get any reception after either of the screens,"reacquiring satellite" or something like "this channel is down and we know about it, don't call us".
After the "channel down" message I can go into the guide, select the channel that is supposed to be down, hit live tv and that same channel will come on so it is not the channel itself that is down.
The "reacquiring sat." just runs forever and the only solution is to unplug the VIP722 for a minute or so, plug it back in and then wait 3-4 minutes for it to do its thing.
Gets kinda old doing this 3-4 times a day.
As I said before, weather is not the problem. I get the dropouts more on a clear day than during the massive rain storms that we just had.

 

[peano]

Sounds like a bad tuner in the 722, or a bad LNB or a bad switch. Could even be a bad RG6 connection. In that order.

 

[PopcornNMore]

JimP,

78 on 119
62 on 110
42 on 129

You are so lucky! You have great signal compared to me.

My signal strengths:
65-70 on 119
60-65 on 110
15-25 on 129

Welcome to Dish Network!!! I had DirectV before Dish Network and I switched. Most people simply get a dedicated dish for 129 which is what I may end up doing also.

 

[LordKron]

been seeing so of that with locals in this area, but that was due to "Fay"
been off since saturday after it passed, let ya know later this week, if this area
SE. is having these issues

 

[boomer47]

Yeah, Fay has been tearing things up around here for 3 days now and I'm getting good reception.
Fay is supposed to be out of the area by tomorrow so I'll probably start getting my drops again.
I did finally manage to get a dish tech on the phone(6th or 7th call) that listened to me instead of just reading his trouble shooting manual and I'm supposed to be getting a replacement receiver in a few days.
Being a newbie here on the forum, what is the best way to post back after I get the new receiver up and running ?

Stay with this thread or start a new one with the results?

 

[JimK2]

To test, try swaping the inputs to the vip 722 from the separator, could be high freq attenuation from RG6 coax or connectors.

 

[LordKron]

low freq barrows in the lines could also cause this, check your wall plates and see if it is a blue colored barrow, if not it needs to be, the tech should have replaced that

 

[rich88]

low freq barrows in the lines could also cause this, check your wall plates and see if it is a blue colored barrow, if not it needs to be, the tech should have replaced that

Might also be a good idea to check that connector behind the wall plate.

 

[LordKron]

what he said

 

[boomer47]

No wall plate. I had Direct for several years and already had a fairly new twin lead ran through a wall so it is direct cable from the dish to the receiver. Not sure what a barrow is but both cable connectors have a blue collar at the rear of the connector.
The Dish installer checked the cable and passed on it and I was having no trouble with Direct TV reception. The only reason I switched to Dish was Direct wanted around $300.00 to upgrade to HD being I was an "old and valued" customer.
Anytime I deal with a company that treats new customers better than old I try to get away as fast as possible.

 

[highdefjeff]

If you are using a power strip/surge protector, bypass that and go straight to the wall. If using monster power, definitely go to the wall. If that's not it,

Check your electrical outlet wiring. A tester can be found at Wal-Mart for about 6 bucks. You may have a neutral/hot reverse at your house outlet.

 

[boomer47]

House wiring is OK. I have 5 computers spread around the house and that is the first thing I check before installing one.
Funny thing, I have been browsing around here and on other forums and tried a couple of things I found.
I put a small computer fan beside the left rear of the 722 case to pull the heat out and raised the 722 about 2 inches above the shelf it sits on. I can tell a big reduction in heat just by touching the rear of the case.
Have not had a dropout in two days and though I don't have a clue as to why, my 129 reading is now 55. Could cooling the receiver down have that much of an impact?
I'm going back to computers. This satellite thing has me buffaloed.