Poor Reception on Odd Transponders Only?

[don24mac]

On our H21-100 HD receiver the reception on some HD channels is very poor with excessive pixilation and picture loss. When I check the satellite transponder signal strength it shows on Satellite at 101? the even transponder signals in the mid to high 90s. But the odd transponder signals between 58 and 79, with an average of around 68 to 70.

The other satellites have a high signal strength except for 99?(b) which has transponder 1-8 as 0. The rest vary between 0 and 100 with the odds being low and evens high. Sat 103? (a) has a few low readings, too.

I believe the Slimline dish is probably aligned OK because our SD receiver gets a high transponder reading on Sat 101? with all the readings, even and odd 94 or above.

Also, I've tried switching the two leads coming from the Dish to the receivers and the SD receiver still gets high the readings and the HD receiver remains the same.

I've also had DirecTV send me a new B-Band converter, but this didn't help.

Has any one else had this problem? Does it sound like I need a new HD receiver?

Any comments would be appreciated. TIA

 

[Greedy]

Don I don't know if my problem is the same as yours but I'll give you my experience.
I installed DTV myself in July 08,I have a HR20-100 with the slimline 5 lnb,2 cables running from the lnb to the 2 tuners on the receiver .At first, everything was great,then around October I noticed tuner 1 had alot better signal than tuner 2 so I decided to switch cables.Same thing happened, tuner 1 had alot better signal again.Then I noticed more and more channels was giving me the 771 nag(the standard def channels from 200 to 400).First GAC,then LMN and so on.

I tried different setups to see if I could fix my troubles and nothing worked so I decided it was time to get new BBC's.One day while surfing ebay I came across a good deal on ebay for BBC's,rca cables,component cables,HDMI cables and a SL3 lnb(swm lnb) with powered switches for 4 tuners and 8 tuners.

I didn't even plan on using the SL3 LNB(3 satellites in 1 lnb and gives me everything I had with the 5 lnb) right away but after reading the BBC's would be eliminated I switched lnb's.What did i find but my tuner 1 went from 80-90% signal to 90-99% and tuner 2 went from 60-70% to 90-99%.What a difference!

After seeing this I'm convinced alot of signal issues can be eliminated by using a powered SWM lnb and getting rid of those lousy BBC's.I always wondered why dish net used powered switches for HD and directv didn't.Directv should have used power and saved alot of headaches for thier customers.Switching from HD to standard def requires power!

I have read that the only draw back to the SWM was cold temps but I have seen temps below 0 degrees and I haven't noticed any real trouble.Maybe when it was that cold the channels took and extra second to come in but I really cannot say if that even happened.

Good Luck Don,I really hope you get your situation resolved.

 

[sonydude1966]

Don I don't know if my problem is the same as yours but I'll give you my experience.
I installed DTV myself in July 08,I have a HR20-100 with the slimline 5 lnb,2 cables running from the lnb to the 2 tuners on the receiver .At first, everything was great,then around October I noticed tuner 1 had alot better signal than tuner 2 so I decided to switch cables.Same thing happened, tuner 1 had alot better signal again.Then I noticed more and more channels was giving me the 771 nag(the standard def channels from 200 to 400).First GAC,then LMN and so on.

I tried different setups to see if I could fix my troubles and nothing worked so I decided it was time to get new BBC's.One day while surfing ebay I came across a good deal on ebay for BBC's,rca cables,component cables,HDMI cables and a SL3 lnb(swm lnb) with powered switches for 4 tuners and 8 tuners.

I didn't even plan on using the SL3 LNB(3 satellites in 1 lnb and gives me everything I had with the 5 lnb) right away but after reading the BBC's would be eliminated I switched lnb's.What did i find but my tuner 1 went from 80-90% signal to 90-99% and tuner 2 went from 60-70% to 90-99%.What a difference!

After seeing this I'm convinced alot of signal issues can be eliminated by using a powered SWM lnb and getting rid of those lousy BBC's.I always wondered why dish net used powered switches for HD and directv didn't.Directv should have used power and saved alot of headaches for thier customers.Switching from HD to standard def requires power!

I have read that the only draw back to the SWM was cold temps but I have seen temps below 0 degrees and I haven't noticed any real trouble.Maybe when it was that cold the channels took and extra second to come in but I really cannot say if that even happened.

Good Luck Don,I really hope you get your situation resolved.

Why don't you think that maybe it was your 5LNB that was defective? Maybe your problem could have been corrected with a new 5LNB? I haven't heard anything about the SWM providing a better signal.

 

[Greedy]

#1-The 5LNB was new in July,same as receiver,and I have installed many different kinds of dishes in my lifetime even though I am not a certified installer.I have also tried several switches,sw-21,sw-21X,sw-44,sw-64,sw-22d and now the SWM to name the ones I can think of and I have never had a LNB go bad.

#2-When I read other forums I see some people called DTV and get their receivers traded or the BBC's for a newer ones and still have the same trouble.

#3-I had trouble with Dish Network without a powered switch,the receiver had trouble switching between SD and HD,when I added the sw-44 no more trouble.I believe HD receivers need the extra power to help switching.
(Dish Network switches and directv have different voltages so use the correct switches for each receiver)

#4-In the future you will see DTV eliminate the BBC's altogether.Because there have been so many signal issues and tuner 2 issues with dual tuner receivers that DTV has simplified things by creating the SL3 and SL5 lnB's.

Although, there is no way to prove that it isn't a defective Slimline LNB but I'm willing to bet its fine.Otherwise,no channels would work.My experience with LNBs is that they either work or they don't.
I had thought to myself that maybe I should have a Directv SWM but I would have never believed the signal difference until I saw it with my own eyes.I don't expect this LNB change will help everyone but I thought I would share what I know because 3 months of seeing the 771 nag was driving me nuts and now no more nags!

 

[wrknclass]

there could be several reasons you have bad transponders on the odd's only.
you could have a bad lnb the wnc lnb's were know to have issues with cold weather over time and went bad. it could also be a semi corroded cable. the even and odd transponders travel in differebt spots on the cable itself. could be a short in the cable also or a bad ground block and so forth.
my suggestion would be trace the cable or cables going to that reciever only and check them carefully. if this dosen't correct yourproblem then it may acctualy be the reciever. there has been a recall on h20-600 recievers for overheating. had a few bad h21-100's i've run across lately but it was usualy the line or something else. hope this helps. sorry for the bad spelling

 

[rickaren]

Replacing the defective SL5 with the newly designed SL3 corrected my issues which were very similar but I did have low readings in the 50s or higher 40s, not zeros. They are now in the 90s with no other adjustment, except in the setup.The SL3 picks up every channel I could receive with the SL5 LNB, with channels moved from the below 100 guide to other channels higher up. Mine was also conditional on cold and rainy/snow days and nights. No issues now and only the LNB was changed out.

 

[don24mac]

I'll be calling DTV about having this fixed in a week or so. Since DTV tech rep sent me a new B-Band converter, and that didn't help, It seems to be the Wingard 5LNB. Others here have apparently had a similar problem and DTV apparently knows about it. In fact, I had a feeling the tech rep knew that my request for a new BBC wouldn't solve the problem because she suggested I call after checking that so they could send someone out for an on-site repair.

 

[scarebear]

what are the readings for all of the HD sats (99-103) you maybe getting 0's on spot beams (you're supposed to)