lost ALL signal today.....

[Rhino1XL]

Got up this morning and didn't have satelite 119..... got "ERROR" 002 and called the tech support. They said the the dish needed a little adjustment. Later today, I lost satellite 110 as well...... so, NO TELEVISION !!!!
I have the DP 500 with the 301 recievers. I live in central california with todays skys clear as a bell!!!! My wife noticed a little pixelization yesterday, and today all went dead!!! All has been well for EXACTLY 1 year (no warranty as of 3 days ago...) with todays problems being the first that I've had.
ANY THOUGHTS ?????
could it be the LNB???

How much "adjustment" needs to be done to a dish..... I've NEVER used/adjusted a satellite before!!

ANY help would be appreciated!!!!

 

[Stargazer]

If it is DishPro then by doing a check switch it should be able to detect whether there is an lnbf connected or not and if it does detect a connection then it may be that the dish got out of alignment due to something loose at the mounting plate. Seeing how it is happening at both receivers it is most likely not to be in the wires. If you have an external switch then that could also be your problem. Seeing how both lnbf's went out it does not seem as if it would be those either.

 

[Rhino1XL]

Check Switch worked...... seems that the alignment got "out of whack"..... I'll get that re-aligned today or tomorrow.... HOW MUCH ADJUSTMENT USUALLY NEEDS TO BE DONE??????
Book sez "just a little"....... thats like saying "you can't add too much water to a nuclear reactor"..... leaves a little room for questioning dosen't it!!!
THANKS for the help!!!

 

[Barry Erick]

All of my locals, on 105 T 18 are massive pixilations today, yet the check switch and signal strenght are normal, 75, on this and the sky is clear. They were ok earlier this morning.
-- later.. a few minutes

All of a sudden, the 522 showed a message that it was shutting off to DL software. Did that, got a new program guide, shutdown and came back up with all locals working fine... Hmm. It showed 2.07 current software but I know when this was installed 2 weeks ago, the installer hit cancel before it was done, so maybe the entire dl was not installed. Signal strength is stil 75.

 

[deezoneezo]

Just to let you know Barry, this is only going to be the first problem on a long road of problems. 1st of all a 75 signal on Dish is pretty low. 2nd trees grow, move, and change shape. You will probably not have a 119 signal for very long especially if it's 75 right now. If I were you I would call either your retailer or Dish and have someone come fix everything. I'm guessing that your system and dishes probably aren't grounded either. Good Luck!

 

[Barry Erick]

Just to let you know Barry, this is only going to be the first problem on a long road of problems. 1st of all a 75 signal on Dish is pretty low. 2nd trees grow, move, and change shape. You will probably not have a 119 signal for very long especially if it's 75 right now. If I were you I would call either your retailer or Dish and have someone come fix everything. I'm guessing that your system and dishes probably aren't grounded either. Good Luck!

Wrong. 75 is decent on 105. The rest are fine(110 = 105 on most, 119 is 125 on most). The highest signal the installer ever saw on 105 was an 82 and 75 is where its been in a clear field with no trees at or near 105.

I have had Direct since it was called USSB with about 9 channels and never had a problem (other than weather) with 101, 110 or 119 of its stuff.

 

[Pepper]

By the way, the install instructions specifically say never install in a tree (Barry Erick signature).

 

[SimpleSimon]

Barry: Why did you hijack Rhino's thread?
He's got a D500 with a likely aiming problem - nothing to do with your SuperDish.

Rhino: "A little" means leaning on the rim of the dish with as little as one finger (if you're a big guy). How much you've got to play with it depends on how much it moved in the first place. Dish aiming is a combination of science and art.

Working alone without meters, you MUST be able to hear the receivers test tone from the dish location. Trying to do it with 2 people and walkie-talkies for example would be very frustrating for most people - unless the inside person just holds down the PTT key maybe. There is a 2-3 second delay between what you do at the dish until it shows up on the screen and tone.

That being said, if you're a handy kinda guy, you can do this.

 

[Barry Erick]

Simple: Because he had trouble with a sat... and I had one

Pepper: I've had a dish on that tree trunk for over 7 years (Direct until 3 weeks ago) and once a year I tweak it. Other than infrequent weather outage, that has had (and still does) the strongest of any other dish I've used, mainly because the others have been multi-satellite ones. It's been on that tree so long that you can no longer see the base mount, as the tree has grown around it. I do not know what kind of tree this is, but the trunk does not move in the wind, and there is no place to put a pole and have sight of 119. This is on a property line of tons of trees and this just clears for 119. Current reading on 119, Transponder 11 is a solid 116. Circumfrence of the tree is..... well, I can't put my arms around it.

 

[Mickdog]

Hey Barry, Simons right! What does your tree have to do with the thread starters question? Is his in a tree?

 

[Vice Grips]

I was wondering how a tree got into this discussion too. Did it grow that much over night? Unlikely. The first signs would be intermitent signal intruptions such as when the tree would blow in the wind. Or in the spring when the leaves come on.

Do you have any other recievers? Do they work? Could be a common circut in your reciever that does have a rep for failure.

My guess is the dish was not mounted tight in the first place and it moved. Any wind lately? I've fixed more than one installers shoddy work.

Unlikely to be the LNB but possible. Even tho you are in Calli, could there be snow on your LNB? I heard you guys got snow this week or was it last......

And lastly, squirrels chewing your RG6 happens too but that isn't too common.

That's all I can think of for now.

 

[Rhino1XL]

HEY..... how did my thread get HIJACKED!!!!

Just kidding.... I don't care.

Guess when I turned the dish about 4 degrees that was a "little too much".....
OH well..... live and learn.

The dish is mounted to my home, which was just completed exactly 1 year ago. I was thinking that the house is still "settling" , and that I culd have lost signal that way.

Did a Check Switch...... ALL seems fine.

Got a guy to come out Saturday and re-adjust my dish for next to nuttin..... especially since DN wanted $100.00 just to send someone out!!!

THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP !!!!
Great forum!!!

 

[Stargazer]

Usually if the dish had just lost its signal it should not need much adjustment especially if the signal is being lost little by little (noticing pixellation before complete loss of signal) unless a high wind knocks it out of whack. Checking signal strength every once in a while when the weather is clear to compare the signal strengths is a good way of seeing if your signal is dropping more and more. Sometimes that is an indication of tree leaves if this happens during the spring.

 

[Barry Erick]

I was wondering how a tree got into this discussion.

Yelling mode:
If you read the thread, you will see this was a comment from someone on my signature and not from me. And the freeking tree HAS NEVER been a problem over the several years it has been in place... READ THE THREAD ALREADY!

 

[SimpleSimon]

Barry - sheesh - chill will ya. If you hadn't've jumped in here in the first place, this wouldn't've happened.

And if you're going to ask install related questions, you WILL continue to get popped for the tree mount in your sig. I didn't do it because I saw you talking about it before in another thread, but others are gonna pop ya, even tho you know the whys and wheretofores of a tree mount.

 

[Pepper]

Well I'm not even sure why the note about trees is in the install instructions, or why it would matter. Maybe it is because a tall tree is more likely to take a lightning hit, and having a big piece of metal attached to it could only increase that likelihood?

 

[Vice Grips]

Trees do matter. They are quite capable of blocking the signal. They have little to do with this thread tho.

 

[Barry Erick]

Trees do matter. They are quite capable of blocking the signal. They have little to do with this thread tho.

geeze - read the messages and see

• I never mentioned trees.
• Someone else brought it up from my signature
• repeat: Read the messages

 

[SimpleSimon]

Barry: Read what I posted earlier. Yes, it's a misunderstanding, and a hijack, but oh well.

As for trees, lightning is one reason, the other is that as the tree grows, the aim changes. Barry is aware of this and apparently is happy to deal with it - as is his right.

Now, can we get back on-topic?

 

[Barry Erick]

Simple Simon says:
Now, can we get back on-topic?

Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes and agreed.