Random Signal Blinking

[rtchin]

Hi,

I'm in Los Angeles and about two weeks ago I started getting random signal issues. Not sure what the problem is. Dtv's customer support is no help, i've "rebooted" my receiver 100 times now.

So this is what happens. the channel will black out for about 2-3 seconds, no video, no audio, just a black screen...then come back on. then after a minute or two, it'll go out again. It doesn't happen on all channels all the time. My wife was watching locals upstairs and she was blinking in and out. I was downstairs watching espn with no problem. We've had the reverse happen too where she's watching something and it's fine, i'm watching another channel and it starts blinking, so I don't think it's a particular receiver or connection to a receiver.

That was happening for about a week. Then, last week, everything was fine. no blinking, nothing. Well, it's now back again tonight. I was trying to watch the Laker game and every minute or two, it starts blinking.

So my problem is I don't think it's an aiming issue. I've checked signal strength and all transponders are over 80 with exception to 4, 12, 18, etc, which are 0, but i think there's supposed to be 0 on those. could it be a bad LNB? or bad multiswitch? or bad cables? I live in a condo, so I'm not allowed on the roof. only licensed installers are, so there's a limited amount of fiddling I can do. If it's an LNB or multiswitch problem, is that something I should expect DTV to replace, or is it my own problem?

I've had direct for over a year and no problems until just recently. I've been on the phone with their customer care three times now and the process has been the same...reboot...reboot again..."if it continues to happen, call us back".....

I have a regular dish, dual lnb, on the roof, multiswitch is on the roof as well.

thanks for any help.

 

[ernmiester]

Happened to me the last few nights black screen about 1-2 seconds

 

[rtchin]

update. i finally got through to tier 2 tech support. the guy said that i probably need to back track through all the cables and swap them out to see where the problem is. if no change, then the LNB has to be replaced. sounds like a headache to me. plus, they said to replace the LNB, i'd need to pay $70. looks like i'm going back to cable.

 

[charlene]

Found this reference to a blinking problem...

...related to the LNB at http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/lnb2.htm

"A lot of motorised systems use a Universal LNB nowadays. This is good from the point of view of ease of installation and adjustment but it really is a compromise if you are dealing with any weak signals. Where a weak analogue signal might give a picture with terrible "sparklies", a weak digital signal can give a blank screen and no sound. You need to cut the losses as low as possible and provide an accurate adjustment for "skew" which is the rotational angle at which your dish receives the signal from the satellite."

 

[damaged]

This could also be moisture getting into the line somewhere. Perhaps you get fog around the ttime it goes out? Rain before it happens?

 

[Jimbo]

This could also be moisture getting into the line somewhere. Perhaps you get fog around the ttime it goes out? Rain before it happens?

This is where I was leaning as well, need to isolate it a bit more.
Just curious, you are having issues with the locals as well, Are they coming from D*'s dish as well, or OTA antenna ?

I'm thinking possibly a connection with moisture issue, witch he can't really check without maintinance.

Jimbo