DTV HD channels go in and out

[ThirdRail]

I've been having a reoccurring problem over the past several months that the 4 technicians Directv sent out can't seem to fix. When I switch to an HD channel, sometimes it will go out with a searching for signal (771). My other tv, which has standard def, gets the SD channel no problem. When the signal goes out, I noticed my 103b's are all at zero. After a few minutes (usually 1-5 minutes) the signal will come back for 1-5 minutes before going out again. This will happen 2-5 times before the channel comes back on and stays on, usually resulting in me missing the first 15-30 minutes of a program. It happens on only the HD channels, it's happened on Discovery, USA, ABC, YES, etc. The results of the techs visiting me have been replacing my receiver with an H21-100, replacing the gray b-band filter with a black one, replacing 20% of cable due to cracking.
Here's how the cable runs:

5lnb dish (1 arm coming off the dish)
into Panamax m5300-ex
into Black b-band filter
into H21-100 receiver.

My signals are:
101
1-8 0 95 97 95 100 96 100
9-16 96 97 96 100 96 100 96
17-24 96 100 95 95 96 99 96 100
15-32 97 100 96 53 97 100 96 100

110
1-8 na na na na na na na 96
9-16 na 91 na 95 na na na na
17-24 all na
25-32 all na

119
1-8 all na
9-16 all na
17-24 na na na na na 79 88 95
25-32 97 100 100 99 98 99 0 100

99a
1-8 93 87 86 87 93 87 88 88
9-16 94 89 89 89 95 93 na na
17-24 all na
25-32 all na

99b
1-8 100 37 100 29 94 82 na na
9-16 all na
17-24 all na
25-32 all na

103a
1-8 0 0 0 0 0 0 na na
9-16 na na na na na na 92 86
17-24 82 87 89 92 37 0 91 91
25-32 all na

103b
1-8 78 65 74 65 77 68 74 67
9-16 78 69 76 69 79 73 na na
17-24 79 na na na na 75 na na
25-32 all na

I'm just outside the NY area in NJ - 07029

I'm supposed to be getting a call from a case manager in the morning and the tech on the phone tonight said it sounds like my dish needs to be replaced, possibly a bad lnb. The tech that was here Saturday said it could be that the cable is running into my Panamax (which he had no idea what it was or for) and I should bypass it. I still have the problem when I tried bypassing it and the cable is currently hooked back into the Panamax. One tech did realign the dish after a storm in June but I noticed he only checked the signal for 101 when he came back in. I asked about 103b and he said that if it's ok for 101 then the rest are fine. I knew he was wrong, and lazy since he didn't want to get a ladder for the 1 story roof the dish is on.

Any help will be greatly appreciated as this problem has been going on for about 4 months now. Any ideas to suggest to the case manager or supervising tech Directv said they will send out after I speak with the case manager? Anything I can do myself to try and fix the problem?
Thanks in advance.

 

[hdtvtechno]

sound like that Panamax device is a Surge Suppressor of some type..
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=Panamax+m5300-ex&first=41&FORM=PORE


disconnect it and run the cable from dish straight to receiver with the b-band adapter..

 

[Bob Nielsen]

The beamwidth on 99 and 103 is tighter than on 101, so a realignment might help. They are supposed to dither the adjustment so that it is really centered on 103, rather than just peaked.

 

[atp1313]

And with the 5LNB dish, he was right. You only need to lock onto the 101 (or is it the 103) and all other sat's are lined up. It's the way the dish/LNB arm was designed.

How many receivers do you have?
Do you not have a splitter, or is it just the one box?
If you have multiple boxes, is this problem on all receivers?
Any trees/line of sight issues to consider?
How do the MPEG2 channels in the 70's come in? Or ESPN (206)?

 

[ThirdRail]

I have tried running the cable directly to the b-band filter on the receiver and have gotten the same problem.

I have 2 receivers, the H21-100 and a regular one (not HD). When the signal goes out on the H21-100, it's only on HD channels and the other tv is fine (no signal loss). There are no trees or anything blocking line of sight, clear view of the sky. I haven't switched over to the MPEG2 channels when the signal goes out, just start channeling up or down and noticed that the HD channels around the one I was watching are also out, but the SD ones are not. Next time it happens I'll switch to ch.70 and see what is happening.

I would think there is a splitter right off the dish cause there are 2 lines coming off the roof, 1 to the living room and the other into the bedroom. When the first installer was there, he used the existing lines that was originally for cable and attached into those outside the house. The last tech that was there on Saturday was suprised that new lines were not run. Is this something I should request, the tech did leave saying that if it happens again, maybe have another tech come out and replace those lines. Still waiting to hear from a case manager from DTV on the issue.

 

[ThirdRail]

I spoke with a case manger yesterday about 1pm and scheduled a supervising tech to come out on Saturday afternoon. When i got home from work, I disconnected the Panamax once again and ran the cable straight to the b-band filter then the H21-100. Tonight (thursday) I'm watching Burn Notice on ch242HD and the signal goes out about 10:09pm. I checked ch70 then 206 and it seems those channels (mpeg2 right?) are coming in fine but I'm losing the others (ch 242 278 362 - mpeg4?). I then channel up 1 to ch242 (the SD channel) and it comes in fine. Signal strength shows the 103b at 10:09 at
75 0 74 58 74 60 71 61
74 60 72 65 74 66 na na
74 na na na na 72 na na
The 2nd time around everyting comes up with 0.

The signal comes back in about 10:11pm
10:19 signal on ch242 drops out.
10:20 signal comes back on.
10:28 signal goes out.
10:30 signal back on.
10:56 signal goes out.
10:58 signal back on.


My understanding is I'm losing the mpeg4 channels. I just want to be clear to the tech who comes out on Saturday cause I'm losing patience while watching my HD channels. I've been reading the forum here for a while now and I'm gald it's available. Thanks to everyone for helping provide some insight.

Should I just get the tech to replace everything that hasn't been replaced already? Is it a grounding issue(not sure how it's grounded), a bad lnb, or the dish needs to be tweaked with a minor realignment?