help on dish 500 installation. TRANSPONDERS?! ARG!

dsharky

Active SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
May 15, 2004
22
0
Hi gang, installation question.

I have a dish 500 dish and went to do an installation today. I seem to get everything working, but only for 110 West with transponder 11 locked, over 90% signal strength.

HOWEVER, even the instruction booklet, says i need to get it locked in at the 119 WEST. But when i use 119 WEST on transponder 11, it gives a WRONG satellite error. From the booklet, seems like i need 119 West on transponder 21. But, no matter what i do, i can't get any signal on transponder 21 for 119 WEST. but PERFECT signal on 110 WEST, tranpsonder 11.

am i doing something wrong? please help. i only get about 8 channels working.
 
Need to know a little more here. What kind of LNBF and receiver for example.

Meanwhile, always use transponders 11 & 12 for 110 & 119 so that everyone is talking apples to apples.

Now, something to try: cover the 110 side of the LNBF eye with your hand - or even better aluminum foil - and see if your signal goes away. If not, then your 119 is looking at 110. Twist the dish 9 degrees west. :)
 
Did you run the CHECK SWITCH? I've done... oh, about forty-eight trouble calls on Dish installations where the technician forgot this (had a brain fart, whatever) and doing it cleared the wrong sat problem.

Just suggesting.
 
After check switch, make sure your mast is level on all sides. You may be seeing the wrong sattellite.. hense "Wrong sat" message.
 
Wayd Wolf said:
Did you run the CHECK SWITCH? I've done... oh, about forty-eight trouble calls on Dish installations where the technician forgot this (had a brain fart, whatever) and doing it cleared the wrong sat problem.

Just suggesting.

The problem is, i did a check switch, and i get "X" on both 119 and 110 feeds.

I'm using a Dishpro 500 Dual LNB.

If i get 110 locked, does that mean i'm almost there? i still don't get what Transponders are. I'll leave it on 11 then. But with 119, transponder 11, i get the "wrong satellite message" and get "x" on check switch.

my mast is level, 90 degree...i'm just so fustrated after spending 3-4 hours doing the same thing. Is there any kind of "signal finder" tool i can get from radio shack like the ones the pro installers use to make my life easier?

SimpleSimon: i'll definitely try your suggestion.But twist, do you mean just move the whole dish 9 degree west? or do you mean rotate the dish (like driving a steering wheel) 9 degree?
 
Aiming 101: West is west. Rotation is skew.

Think about it for a minute. I asked you to cover the 110 LNB. This makes sure we're playing with the one we think we are. Now, the uncovered one is supposed to be pointing at 119. If it's telling you it's seeing 110 you need to aim it at 119 - which is 9 degrees longitude west of 110. You do understand that the satellite numbers we use implicitly tell you where they are, right?
 
Sorry to bring this up again. i still can't get it to work.
I covered the 110 LNB and sure enough the signal drops off. However, for the life of me, i still cannot get a signal for 119 WEST on transponder 21. (and what the heck is all this transponder crap anyways?). I tried raising the elevation as suggested by the manual. no dice. am i just doing something foolish? I can get 110 LNB on transponder 11 no problem.

Okay, so then i brought the receiver to my friend's house who already has dish set up. Plug it in, and everything was peachy, 119 West, transponder 21 . Full signal. so i know my receiver is good. Shall I just give up and go to radioshack and get a signal finder(DO they sell such a thing?)

Please help.
Again, i'm using dish pro 500 dish.

Thanks all
 
I don't think a signal finder is needed. The 110 LNBF is bringing in 110, so the 119 LNBF is at least "close". BTW, I always use transponders 11 & 12 for aiming.

You say you have a DishPro Dual. If it's truly a Dual, then you have two of them - one for each satellite - and an external switch. Let's get specific. Does it/they have a big "DP" logo? Are there 2 separate housings, each with one "eye"? Or, and this is what I suspect, you have a 'wide' housing with TWO "eyes". This is known as a Twin, not a Dual.

So, if you have a Twin, try the other output (just for giggles). You may see 119 at that time - and NO 110. In which case, run Check Switch (yes, I know you already have, but now we're on the other wire). It's NOT likely to help. I'll go out on a limb here and say you've got a bad LNBF. Just for grins, look closely at the tag - does it have CS9601 on it? That's a known bad lot.

As for what transponders are, they're kind of like channels (different frequencies) - but don't use that term as it becomes confusing. A given transponder can have as many as 12 channels on it - but that discusion is for a different time.
 
Try this, check your elevation. If you are getting the 110 sat when you do a check switch( i didnt read all the post so I'm just guessing here) Then your elevation (up and down) on the dish is to high. I've helped many techs than lock on the 110 perfectly, but get nothing on the 119, drop your elevation down and turn your dish west just a tad as simon suggested. Make sure your skew is set proper for your location (skew: the tilt of the dish, will make it look crooked when you read dish 500) On thing I did notice, you said you were using a DP 500 Dual?!?! Did you mean DP Twin LNB? If your using a dual, then your only going to get 1 sat unless you have 2 duals and a SW 21 or DP 21.

Sorry I Just read simon's post, and repeated about the lnb heh.

He is right though, if you have a DP Twin, and the serial number is CS or CCS, its prolly a bad lnbf.
 
Ok the first thing that you need to do is check your mast for plum on both sides make sure that is level. If it is off level then it dont matter what dish tells you it want work, so be sure that everything is level. With that done make sure you have the correct skew/twist in the dish. Most self installs fail to put the skew in the dish and that will give you only one satellite when trying to install. I would make sure that the cable was going to the 119 side of the dish which is the left one if you are looking at it from behind. That way it will show the 119 on the signal meter on the tv screen. But I cannot stress enough that the mounting bracket must be level for the elevation and skew to be right.
 
hi sorry your having so much trouble... I had some similar problems.... but I'm new and not really familiar with Dishpro 500 Dual LNB.... but it looks as though there are 2 connectors that must corespond with 119 and 110 satellites.... make sure you know which is which on the lnb so when you checking the signal for 119 or 110 your looking at the right ones....

try this and see if it helps....

first off unplug the reciever wait a minute (take a deep breath) and plug it back in (just for a fresh start:)

only plug 1 of the wire is to the lnb (the one for 110) and get a lock with a strong signal on transponder 11 (This far your good).....

I'd unhook that wire (you know now that 110 is good to go)... then plug in your other wire into the other connector (assuming this is for 119) through the menu go back to the signal strength meter and go to 119 (transponder 11) and hopefully it'll lock.... if you've got a stong signal for 110 I think you'll have a strong one for 119......seeing on how there connected.... on my system the 119 came in 30 pts stronger than 110... and it works fine....

now assuming you get the lock... go back hook up the 110.... I'd go to switch check and test.... and hopefully it'll come up.....

please let us know how it works out....
 
wow guys! thanks for all the suggestions. I really really do appreciate it. Sorry for the confusion. I do mean Dish Pro 500 TWIN, not dual. (there terminolgies are confusing to me). I will go back and lock in the 110 and start messing with the elevation, skew and aziumth again. BEfore i do that, i will check the level olf the mast again.

Will update you all. This really just can't be that hard. If all else fails, i guess i'll call dish out there for $99 and have them install it for me.

thanks again guys
 
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