Need help please

[purrlady57]

My C Band system got zapped by a lightning strike earlier this month; I replaced the LNB and still have no picture. Is there anyway for me to test the LNB I installed to see if it's bad?

I'm not a techie; I need an answer in plain English please. My receiver hasn't updated since the lightning zap; I tried unplugging the receiver to see if it would reset and it did not. I also did an online rehit through NPS and the counter still reads zero.

I was on the fence about investing money into fixing my C Band system since I received the letter from NPS that stated C Band is finished at the end of the year. After browsing the forums here, it seems that NPS is not telling the truth about that, correct? I've had my system since the early 90's and have been very happy with it; I upgraded to the 4DTV receiver when I moved to a new home in May, 2003. This is the first time my system has gone down since the move; I got zapped by a lightning strike at my former residence once that required repairs to my tv, satellite receiver, replacing my garage door opener, along with a remote controlled ceiling fan, the ignitor for my gas stove, several timers and 1 wall outlet. The last lightning zap took out my dish and tripped one of my GFI outlets in my kitchen; otherwise, nothing else was damaged.

Any help/info would be greatly appreciated. My neighbor also has a C Band dish and has more knowledge than I do about working on them; he also has done repairs to a C Band dish that a friend of his has. He doesn't have a computer though; but I can relay any info/help from the forum to him.

I was pleased to find this site; I just joined up.

 

[truckracer]

C band is not finished! See the post by SRL in this forum.

A lighting strike probably did kill your lnb and quite possibly your receiver.

First you need a digital volt meter that will measure for 18 volts DC. You need to take the coax off the receiver and use the probes from the meter to verify at the coax port you have 13v to 18v dc.

If you do that's good. Check coax and all wiring. Are the ends of your coax corroded anywhere they are exposed to weather? If so replace the ends or if the coax I pretty old put in new coax RG6.

Is your lnb new? A used one may have been dropped or damaged.

Is your dish in the correct position to receive the desired satellite? You may need to bump it east or west with the remote.

Is your servo motor on the feedhorns flipping polarity? You can hear it while someone flips analog channels.
If your system has ku lnb did you reverse the coaxes by accident?

 

[truckracer]

Leviton makes a whole house surge suppressor that saved my stuff once. It wires to your electrical panel to a double pole 30 amp breaker and has warning lights and led's to show status. Sounds like you could use a couple.

 

[trinidex]

My C Band system got zapped by a lightning strike earlier this month; I replaced the LNB and still have no picture. Is there anyway for me to test the LNB I installed to see if it's bad?

Sorry to hear that - happened to me too just last month!

To test an LNB, I use a SkyPeaker Trio inline with my receiver and LNB.

I cover the LNB with my hand which makes the SkyPeaker Trio 'scream' more.

Also, by the way, I have never (touch wood) lost a receiver LNB input, I've lost many things, including power output from the receiver LNB port, which I got around by using a power inserter.

 

[purrlady57]

I believe the receiver itself is fine; I can pull up the menu on it-I just don't get a picture on it. When my analog receiver got zapped years ago, I got absolutely nothing on it.
When I access the menu and select adjust picture, it shows the signal strength as 10 and the quality as 99.
When I select change system setting and then check system status, it shows the trip counter as zero and the channels at 4973.
Truckracer, as far as I know, the LNB I installed was new; a friend had it for his system since his would get zapped by lightning quite frequently. However, he switched to DISH several years ago after the actuator arm went out on his C Band system and he also didn't want to spend the money to upgrade to a 4DTV receiver.
The LNB that was in the feedhorn is a Precision Model PMJ-LNB-C Gold Label series Digital compatible mini C Band LNB Noise figure 17 K. I have no idea what all of that means.....I know the LNB I had put in was for C Band and was digital compatible too.

 

[truckracer]

Those precision gold lnbs are good. Had a couple in the past. My guess maybe run a piece o temporary coax and try it.

 

[truckracer]

You may want to tell the members what city you are in and someone could come give you a hand.

 

[purrlady57]

I decided to try another LNB; ordered one from ebay for a very reasonable price. My boyfriend installed it for me and I now have a picture again. Yea! It has really sucked to be without my BUD since the lightning zap and I'm so happy it's working again.

I've perused some of the pages about what will be available on BUD after the first of the year; am I going to need to buy a different receiver if I want to subscribe to the channels on W5? My neighbor also has a BUD but no computer, so he's relying on whatever I can find out to decide what they're going to do.

I appreciate all the help that everyone tried to give me in order to get my BUD back. Thank you so much.

 

[Dishman Dan]

I decided to try another LNB; ordered one from ebay for a very reasonable price. My boyfriend installed it for me and I now have a picture again. Yea! ...

...I've perused some of the pages about what will be available on BUD after the first of the year; am I going to need to buy a different receiver if I want to subscribe to the channels on W5?...

A big welcome to you!


It is great news that you have your C band going again! What LNB did you end up getting??? We LOVE pictures of satellite dishes here so please post a photo of your setup!!!

As for the 4DTV receiver after the first of the year, it is still too early to know for sure. But it looking like there will be something available for us on 4DTV! Keep up to date on this by checking back with us!!!

 

[ZetaMale]

Leviton makes a whole house surge suppressor that saved my stuff once. It wires to your electrical panel to a double pole 30 amp breaker and has warning lights and led's to show status. Sounds like you could use a couple.

A secondary surge suppressor mounted to the main disconnect box on the back of the house is highly recommended also. You'll have to be very careful installing it, though. If you're not comfortable installing one then you should hire someone that can do the job (such as a licensed electrician). If you do install one yourself, YOU DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. I really hate to take the disclaimer route but too many people like to sue others rather than taking responsibility for their own actions.

 

[ZetaMale]

My C Band system got zapped by a lightning strike earlier this month; I replaced the LNB and still have no picture. Is there anyway for me to test the LNB I installed to see if it's bad?

Since you're not a techie, you should try replacing the LNB with a spare or find someone that has a Birdog meter. A Birdog can test the coax and LNB as well as tell you signal strength and quality. If you have an analog receiver, you can see if you can get a signal on SES1-16 (W4 on the 4DTV) - you might try finding that signal with the 4DTV also. SES1-16 is a PBS signal.

 

[ZetaMale]

I decided to try another LNB; ordered one from ebay for a very reasonable price. My boyfriend installed it for me and I now have a picture again. Yea! It has really sucked to be without my BUD since the lightning zap and I'm so happy it's working again.

If you haven't already done so, you should drive a ground rod into the ground near your dish and attach a #2AWG ground wire from the dish to the ground rod. This will give you some lightning protection at the dish.

I've perused some of the pages about what will be available on BUD after the first of the year; am I going to need to buy a different receiver if I want to subscribe to the channels on W5? My neighbor also has a BUD but no computer, so he's relying on whatever I can find out to decide what they're going to do.

I'm subscribed to SyFy on W5 with my 4DTV model DSR922 so you probably won't need a new receiver. However, there are still details being hammered out about the transfer of the authorization stream from Motorola to Comcast. So, nothing is set in concrete yet (other than our dishes).

 

[purrlady57]

A big welcome to you!


It is great news that you have your C band going again! What LNB did you end up getting??? We LOVE pictures of satellite dishes here so please post a photo of your setup!!!

As for the 4DTV receiver after the first of the year, it is still too early to know for sure. But it looking like there will be something available for us on 4DTV! Keep up to date on this by checking back with us!!!

Thank you for the welcome; I appreciate it.

I got a Zinwell ZC-D11B 10 degree LNB from a seller on ebay; free shipping was included.

My set up is a 10 ft. mesh dish that I've had for well over 16 years; when I moved from suburban to rural back in 03, I took the dish down/apart and moved it to my new home. The lightning zap earlier this month is the first since I moved here; my system has had only two zaps since I've owned it-and the first zap was much worse than this one. Sounded like a bomb went off right outside of my home; the lights went out, my 2 cats were practically hanging from the ceiling due to fright and my neighbor came running over because he thought my house was on fire-they saw a bright orange flash through their windows-the lightning didn't do a direct strike on the house, but it was very close.

I will be checking in to keep up on what's going to happen after the end of the year; I love my BUD and want to keep it going. Cable is not an option where I'm at; the local phone company wants waaay too much for their tv service and I'm not a big fan of the small dishes since both companies seem to want to jack up the rates for current customers every chance they get- according to my neighbors who have them......