Shaw Direct possible defective receiver or incorrect satellite tuning?

[basictech]

Hello,

I've perused a few posts on the forum and haven't found anything quite in the vein of my own problem. So I'm an A/V tech in LA and we have a rich Canadian client that has a Shaw system installed that I'm trying to troubleshoot. Apparently it's a renegade system and I cannot contact Shaw directly for support. So mums the word I suppose, please. Anyhow. Originally the tech that set this up says he tuned the dish by feel without any coordinates as far as azi, angle, and skew go. The service worked fine for about a year or so and then just last week dropped out completely. I've been trying everything for about a week to get this signal back on from panning the dish manually for hours and yesterday I got hold of a Super Buddy and even after finding the strongest signal and acquiring lock on Anik F2 I am not receiving adequate transponder signal.

So at this point I am halfway suspecting that the receiver, an HDPVR 830, is not correctly interpreting the signal. This is primarily due to the fact that I receive the "lock" confirmation on the Super Buddy at the dish and at the receiver where my RG6 is coming into our equipment room, however, when I'm looking at the tuning screen on the display connected to the receiver, I receive a dead zero signal on T2 and a fluctuating signal on T1 that goes between nearly zero and as high as 75. However, what I just noted is that T1 on the receiver will continue to give these variable readings between nearly zero and as high as 70 or 80 even when totally disconnected from the dish or any RG6. So just because the transponders are not changing whether the receiver is connected to a cable or connected to absolutely nothing is what is somewhat leading me to believe the receiver is defective. But again, typically my day consists of pulling wire and hanging televisions, this has just been thrust upon me so any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[mikekohl]

That looks like real signal on your meter, on the proper satellite. How is the Shaw 800 series box connected to the satellite antenna? The 800 and the 830 are less than reliable, when compared to the previous 600 series receiver (no longer made). Hopefully the customer has a second receiver (600 or 800 series) on premises, which can be put in its place for testing. Otherwise you will have to ask a series of questions about whether or not anything has been changed since when the receiver was last working.
If there is a multi switch in the system? If the 800 series box is connected with two separate cables, one for sat reception and one for the DVR function? The dish is probably doing just fine, but problem is likely the receiver having a hiccup or a failure, and/or interconnection issues. Do ANY channels work from F2 on this receiver? Anik G1 will not work in New Mexico. Anik F1R has very few channels left. In your situation, a backup receiver without a DVR that has already been authorized with same mapping code as existing one would be the quickest test. Non 800 series receivers are hard to come by, and new ones must be obtained in Canada. Whoever has this account needs to handle troubleshooting, and if needed-- acquisition of a replacement receiver and/or reauthorizing it on a working system. You are kind of on your own without help in Canada.