Problems with local channels in HD in Sacramento, Ca

golfergirl13

Member
Original poster
Dec 13, 2009
13
0
California
For the last 4 days, I have not been able to see any of the local channels in HD. Well, I should say, its off/on. However, I am able to see TNT, ESPN, TBS and all the other non local channels in HD.

Whenever, I go to a local channel in HD, I get, "Acquiring satellite signal" screen and then 5 seconds later, I get "Sorry for the interruption. There is no need to call us. We are working to have this channel back as soon as possible" screen.

After much frustration, I finally called Dish yesterday and after unplugging/plugging the dish receiver, I was able to watch all channels including the locals channels in HD.

While watching football this morn ing on the local channel in HD, everything was fine up until 4 hours ago. And now I am having the same problem. So, I unplugged/plugged the receiver again, but this time it did NOT work. So, I called dish and the rep couldn't help me. She said she will report my issue to the engineering department. She said even if she sent a technician to my house, the tech wouldn't be able to help either because the only one that can help with this issue is the engineering department.

Any suggestions? Has this happened to anyone else? By the way, I have a Samsung LCD HL-S5688W.
 
Then I have NO idea what can be wrong with ur box. Sometimes when u have OT HD if ur signal is poor or goes out it will also make ur sat signal go bad. I think it is a bug in the software.
 
go to menu 6-1-1 sat 110 and transponder 15. what is ur signal level at.

your sd locals come in on transponder 20, hd locals transponder 18. but 18 will NEVER lock. so just look at 15. and report back.
 
I suspect his TP 20 is going to be quite low... the HD locals are running at 8PSK 5/6 FEC which requires quite a bit more signal strength to sustain a picture.
 
thats what i thought. the crs has no idea wat she was talking about. needs to have a tech sent out. (bet you it was mounted on a fascia). Sacramento has had a lot of storms lately.
 
I agree, it is most likely due to the storms and winds that may have knocked the dish off direction a tad. My parents had a similar issue until the dish was re-peaked last week and now locals do not drop off.
 
Thanks for all your help. I did more searching last night and one article I came across said to unplug the receiver overnight and it should be good to go. So, I did that and plugged it back in this morning and now I have local channels in HD. :D

However, I really don't understand something. I unplugged the receiver for a few minutes and plugged it back in and it didn't work. So, why would it work after I unplugged it overnight???

Well, let's hope this fixed the issue. By the way, I am a female (as in my username) and I am a golf-a-holic. Just thought I would throw that out there.
 
A download was forced when you plugged it back in. I agree, you will have this problem periodically if your dish is not aligned correctly. Also, any tall trees growing around your home that might block signals?
 
my bet...

Its NOT going to fix the problem. please check your signals. (if your sat 110, transponder 15 is in the low 50s-40s u NEED someone to come out.)
Ok, I went to menu - 6 - 1 - 1 and I wrote down the following information


Transponder - 7
Satellite - 110
Locked - echostar 110 west
Signal strenth - 43

What does all this mean?

I don't have any tall trees blocking the signal. The weather has been windy and rain lately and that's when my problem began. Up until last Thursday, I haven't had any issues with the signal at all.
 
Change the transponder to 15, using the remote. We need to know the signal of satellite 110 Transponder 15
A silly question. What's the difference between transponder 7 to transponder 15? Like I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to know what these mean. And is transponder 15 a default setting?
 
Change the transponder to 15, using the remote. We need to know the signal of satellite 110 Transponder 15

I will change the transponder tomorrow and let you know the strength of the signal. Can't do it tonight because I have friends over for football.


14 15 16 21 are Conus or nation wide transponders these are the one dish network uses to check signal levels. 15 is the one i tend to use as an installer.

Thanks
 
You might want to connect a small off-air antenna as a back up for local channels. just a suggestion. Works well for me although I am not far from the antenna farm in Walnut Grove.
 
my 622 got taken out with the lightning that happened over the weekend in the area, sadly resetting didn't help out.