LOST SIGNAL - DISH POINTING QUESTION

[panache70]

For the past 2 yrs, I have been lucky enough to have Dish Network using a Dish500 2LNB setup pointing to 61.5 and 72.7.
Allthough not optimal (I am along the US Canada border near Northern New York so I should be using the 1000 series dish), I always maintained signals between 35 and 60 on all transponders.

Intense rain days were more difficult, but I rarely lost signal.
However, last week we experienced very warm temperatures for January combined with 65 mph winds.
The wind took some shingles off our roof, and must have also moved the dish slightly.

I am still getting strong signals on 61.5, but I no longer receive 72.7.
Signals are mostly zero on all transponders for 72.7, with the occasional 10 or 12 signal on certain TP's which is still not strong enough.

I honnestly cannot remember how I managed to set up the dish a few yrs ago, it was self install. I do remember it took a really long time for me to tweek it just right in order to get both birds. If I am getting 61.5 with solid signal, can anybody recommend best way to move dish to obtain 72.7 without losing 61.5?

Do you think it is the skew, or do I just need to tilt a little more to the left or right? I know this is not a typical setup, but I would appreciate any thoughts before I go up there... I would prefer not to call dish at this point, they will not want to play around with a Dish 500 2LNB for eastern arc anyway.

Thanks for your suggestions. hopefully after today's storm it will warm up a little and I can get up there and attempt to fix this.

 

[mike123abc]

If you have 61.5 the same it probably is skew/tilt of the dish is slightly off.

After dialing back in the signal take a sharpie and mark the dish and pole so you can see if it moves in the future.

 

[panache70]

Thanks. Wish I would have done that the first time (sharpie).
Given I am getting 61.5 strong (but nothing on 72.7), would you say the dish needs to be tilted to face higher/lower?
I suppose it is all trial and error and I will have some fun trying to get this right again...
Just wondered if 72.7 typically requires to be pointed higher than 61.5?

 

[garys]

You have to be careful if you ran a checks switch after pointing at 61.5, there are a lot of posts where your receiver will not find a sat location if it is not in the matrix (meaning if 61.5 is the only sat showing once you are done with the point dish, that is the only one it will see). If you have this, run the check switch without the dish connected to the receiver and you should be able to see what you hit again.

 

[panache70]

Thanks. After the check switch, it is showing 61.5 in Green and 72.7 in red (with an X in the box). I am assuming if some transponders are still showing very weak signal strength on 72.7 that the receiver can still find it. Would this be a correct assumption? If it could not see 72.7 at all, would the screen still show a red box with an X in it under 72.7, or would 72.7 not appear at all?

 

[garys]

If it shows, it should be in the matrix. Double check that the arm the dish sits on is level, front/back and side/side. Skew shouldn't need much adjusting, it is usually the azimuth and the elevation that you usually need to fine tune to get both sats in.

 

[panache70]

I imagine with such intense winds, it is not the elevation but more likely the azimuth or the skew...
It is blowing hard again today (around 40-45 mph), hopefully it will blow it back in place before I get up there

Thanks

 

[panache70]

Weather was better today, took 5 mins to fix problem... just had to adjust skew/tilt by a hair and it made all the difference. 72 and 61 now coming in just fine. Thanks to those who responded!

 

[mike123abc]

Glad to hear that it was an easy fix.