Local Channels Missing, Mountain living.

[jimsach]

I live in a wooded mountain area near Lake Tahoe with limited access to the sky. I have an old 2LMB oval dish that pulls in Sat 101°, 110° and 119°. Problem is, all of a sudden there were different cable stations showing up on my locals. At the same time, I had installed a second receiver about 30 miles away at my main house that pulls in all the channels. I called Direct TV. The folks on the phone said the problem is that I am not picking up locals due to a change in satellites. In particular, I need good signals on 119° 27 and 28. My signal strength on 119° 27 is good, but drops to 0 on 28. They told me to set my Dish Type to 3-LNM (18 x 20) They sent an installer come out. He brought a new 3LMB dish, but could not pick up 101° at all with the new dish. We ended up putting back the old dish, and I had to align it because it would not work with his meter. The installer said because the new dish does not work at this location that I am out of luck and I will never get the locals. He said that my old dish does not pick up all the the different signals. He told me to petition the FCC to bring my locals in on the west coast feed. The installer felt pretty bad about the whole thing, but could not get it to work.

Any suggestions?

 

[boba]

Try a TV antenna.

 

[TwoBagger]

I am in N. Tahoe using the same Dual LNB old schol dish. My locals are out of Sacramento on the 101. Sounds like you were getting Reno off the 119. Call D* and see if they will change you to Sac instead. I am within a quarter mile of stateline and I was never offered the Reno feeds. By the way, The Sacramento locals are far better than Reno.

Also, Sac HD is on the 99.

 

[texasbrit]

jimsach - what's your zip code??

 

[jjfeo]

A friend of mine is having the same issue here in Indiana. He is getting a searching for signal error. Could that be a dish pointing issue?

 

[texasbrit]

A friend of mine is having the same issue here in Indiana. He is getting a searching for signal error. Could that be a dish pointing issue?

There are lots of potential reasons for getting 771 errors. Dish alignment is the most common, but faulty cable/connectors, incorrect satellite setup, and (more rarely) receiver, multiswitch or LNB problems can all cause 771 searching for signal error messages.
If your friend posts here with info about his setup (number and type of receivers/DVrs, dish type, multiswitch - if any) and which channels are giving 771 messages we might be able to help.

 

[texasbrit]

jimsach - I assume you are in zip 95646, but which county are you in? Alpine county is supposed to get Reno locals, Amador is supposed to get Sacramento locals. Which locals do you have in the guide now, and which ones did you have before?