Loss of Channels

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bigcynic

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Original poster
Jul 8, 2004
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I have three receivers. On is a TiVo unit and two are RCA units. In the past couple of months my TiVo unit and one of the RCA units will lose the signal for higher number channels such as 289, 299, 301, etc. The screen says searching for satellite. But if I turn on these channels on the second RCA unit, then I can receive the channels on the other units. Each unit has its own connection. The only thing I can think of is that something is going on with the phone connection. All three units are connected to the phone line. I have disconnected the phone line from both RCA units to see if this solves the problem. It is random and does not happen all of the time. Does anyone have any thoughts?
 
bigcynic said:

If you don't want the answer, why ask the question :confused: :confused: :confused:

The problem is most likely your cabling or multiswitch. Your phoneline has nothing to do with signal strength.
 
If you have the Phase-III (triple LNB) dish then your multiswitch is built in and will need a new dish.

The phone line is only used for PPV. It has nothing to do with signal strength or service.
 
Also if you have 2 recievers running from a split sattellite cable split using a normal splitter, this can cause loss of some ch's.
 
yup let me just get right on in here ....

The problem IS your multi-switch or your cable connections (split or not), unless you think all 3 of your receivers are bad, which I really doubt.

There are NO other possibilities, other than the alien lading a Roswell maybe:p
 
Hi all,

I'm having what sounds like the same problem. I have two RCA receivers, one in the living room and one in the bedroom. The receiver in the bedroom stopped receiving certain channels (261, 262, 299), and displays the "searching for satellite" message when we try to tune into those channels. All other channels seem to work great. I tried swapping the receivers to see if it was the connection or the receiver, and it appears to be the receiver. The receiver that was having the problem in the bedroom has the same problem in the living room. The receiver that worked fine in the living room also works fine in the bedroom.

One odd thing is that if I disconnect the power to the problem receiver for 15 minutes or so (as recommended to reset it), when I plug the receiver back in, the problem channels work for a few minutes. I haven't timed it to see how long this lasts, but I would say about 5 - 10 minutes. After that they go away and I get the "searching for satellite" message again.

Does this sound like the multi-switch too, or is this more likely a problem with the receiver?

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
First off Welcome to SatelliteGuys! It can't be a problem with the receiver because it works on the other cable, assuming you gave it the same 15 minute time frame. This looks more to me like a cabling problem. Is the cable in question RG-6? I have seen this happen in the past when RG-59 is used. I would also check the connectors to ensure they aren't loose or shorted....
 
If it's the same receiver acting up after swaping locations it's the receiver that is bad. It wouldn't happen to be an RCA model # DRD435RH would it?
 
Thanks for the replies, and for the welcome.

SilverSurfer: I may have confused things in my original message. One receiver does _not_ work in either location. That's what makes me think that it is that receiver. Personally I don't mind not getting those channels, but my wife wants her channel 262 (Soap Opera Channel).

Rockaway1836: I'll double check the model # when I get home. Is this a known problem with that receiver? Or is the receiver just prone to problems? It's been working fine for about two years now (at least I think that's when we first had the system installed), so perhaps its time is up :)
 
I had 2 of these. One just died and won't power up, the other has the same problem as you. I would just unplug it for 30 secs and re-boot it. They were not my primary receivers so it was no big deal to me. The one that died I had replaced by reactivating an old receiver that I had laying around. The other I replaced just this week. I was upgrading to another HD receiver anyway. The 2 RCAs are less than 2 years old and both have problems. I have 4 Sony receivers that I have had for over 10 years without any problems. Try calling D and see if they will replace it. Otherwise pick up a new receiver.
 
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