No signal

[jjnemoiii]

I hope someone can help me see whats wrong. Yesterday, signal levels were in the low 90's. today, 0% for everything across the board. Dish and LNB are clear. Took meter out to dish, backlight came on, so it is getting power from Sat receiver. I assume this means cable is good to this point. Moved dish around a little, thought maybe it moved a little, meter did not move off zero. Have had Dish/LNB for less than one year. Did not check short cable from LNB to end of arm, assume it should be good yet tucked in arm. Any idea's?

 

[jtwex]

Moved dish around a little, thought maybe it moved a little

As tempting as this might be to do, this is always the last resort because it's best to start with the connections leading from the receiver & follow the cable back to your multiswitch (if you have one) then to any splices & finally back to the LNB. If you live in the north where weather has been a factor any water could have frozen or caused connections to go bad. Since you've moved the dish, however slightly, the only thing to do now is re-aim the dish starting with 101. I'm sure you only moved it slightly so ideally everything will fall back into place quite easily. If you have the equipment (a small TV & extension cord) you can bypass your existing cable runs & hook up a temporary cable directly to your LNB. Once tuned, hook it back up to your existing cabling & if again you get nothing you now know it's a cabling/switch problem. Some people use cell phones or two way radios (with one person watching the TV SAT signal) to re-aim the dish but I find it easier to setup shop right at the dish. If you're experienced with the meter, perhaps you can find all your birds with the meter alone.

 

[jjnemoiii]

As for moving, I pole mounted it, and leaned on the pole to move it. Pulled back and forth on four edges of dish to adjust slighty, meter never left zero. Had sensitivity maxed out, nothing. Did not loosen any bolts, adjusters, should still be aimed correctly. As for connections going bad, and I am not sure of this, but as my meter is satellite receiver powered, when I hooked it inline with my existing cable, and the backlight came on, I assumed all cable were good to that point(?) FYI, this is my meter, only Winegard brand: Satellite Finder - RadioShack.com
I originally did all of the install, including aiming, so maybe tomorrow I'll try reaiming it.

 

[jjnemoiii]

I also believe there is a multiswitch in with the LNB itself. There are three outputs from the LNB housing.

 

[jtwex]

I also believe there is a multiswitch in with the LNB itself. There are three outputs from the LNB housing.

Yes, unless you have a very early version of the AT9-sidecar you have a built-in multiswitch (in fact, that AT-9 had one also but it didn't seem to work correctly).

Uh oh, there could be a problem here that will require someone else's input here as I'm not familiar with any Slimline with only three outputs. The standard Slimline AT-9/AU-9 both have four outputs & the newer SWM LNB Slimline has only one (Requiring a power inserter & subsequent splitter). It is possible that the new 3-sat Slimline (99/101/103) has only three outputs as I haven't seen one yet but reading the doc's it too looks to have four outputs with a built in mulitswitch.

Anything can fail, cable, connectors, receiver & LNB's but I have found it's usually a fixable problem with what you have on site. Use one fresh coax cable with new connectors & re-aim the dish.....by your own post it looks like it will be only very minor corrections to bring back 101. If you can't bring 101 back with a new cable, then I guess the LNB &/or receiver went bad. If you live somewhere where the weather just went to crap it's dollars to donuts that is what you should be focusing on.

Keep us posted.

 

[jjnemoiii]

Thanks for all the help. Wish it were weather, but all we had was lots of snow. Dish is clear, and in the past it took a lot to get any signal problems on touchy HD channels, yet even 101 is still still at 0%. If my meter is getting power from receiver, can I assume cable from receiver to my meter is good? I have approx 3 foot cable from LNB to meter, then cable to receiver. Meter backlight comes on when cable is connected, but 0% signal. After blowing out our latest 6-10" of snow, I'll go back to troubleshooting dish. FYI, no snow, or anything else on dish, LNB's, arm, etc.
Thank you again!
Joe

 

[jtwex]

Yea, I wasn't necessarily talking about snow/rain fade causing the problem but more likely any moisture that got into one of the connectors causing an interruption or short circuit of the system. If you hooked up another new cable & ran it through the meter & into the receiver & it's showing power than that leaves a bad LNB or it's out of alignment. Depending on the dish it's easy to tighten down the fine tune bolts leaving the main bolts loose which can cause the whole dish to move in a storm. Since you did this all yourself & seem to know what you're doing can't you just realign the dish? I know it's a pain in the winter but that's about all I can suggest. You can remove the LNB & bring it in the house if you suspect moisture got into the module; warming it up with the leads facing down can't hurt. Have you tried a full reset of your receiver right before the option to format the hardrive?

 

[jjnemoiii]

Full reset? Did reset with red button behind card door. Anything more than that, I've not heard of it. FYI also, receiver is H20, no DVR, with OTA-HD. If there is more to a full reset, I am eager to learn, and thankful for all of your help.

 

[jjnemoiii]

Sorry, LNB is four output, AU9 Rev. 1C . New cable from lnb to Meter, still no signal. LNB inside to warm up/dry out in case.

 

[jjnemoiii]

JTWEX - THANK YOU!! All is great! My guess is drying out the LNB, although a guess only. I took off the back cover, seemed well sealed. Dried with hair drier, reinstalled, and when I got back inside, receiver was updating program guide. AWESOME! THANK YOU!!!

 

[jtwex]

Your welcome. If that sucker is anywhere near warranty I would consider replacing it. In fact, if you call DTV they may send you out a replacement LNB assembly for free. In the future, either cap the unused port on the LNB (just a plastic cap, not a terminator) or keep all four ports hooked to coaxial cable & loop the unused coaxial under the dish so water/gravity wont feed into the LNB assembly.