Sporadiac Breakups, same time each night

[briansanders007]

ok I'm officially puzzled. For the past three nights, I have had picture breakups around 9:20pm cst that last until around 10pm cst. During the middle of that time my picture is filled with so many breakups and pixels I can't even watch but than at around 10 it starts getting better like there was no problem. I have a dish 811 and 301. Both recievers have this problem. In fact my 301 shows the aquiring signal during that time. I don't have any devices that fire off during this time (like microwave, tools, ect) I have a wireless network but it's on all the time. I never loose 105 and it comes in fine. I noticed channels like fox news, tbs, tnt all come in pixelated and even the dish channel 101 starts to pixelate. I think it maybe 119. I was doing some tests looking at my signal on 119. I would switch to a transponder and it would show 96 as the signal for a couple mins, suddely drop to 91, back to 96 than it would go to zero back up to 96 and would show "wrong sat". This is so wierd!!! The only thing that has changed in the last several days, is we did get some snow. ok so I check my dish out for snow. No snow, checked the lnb's and no snow or ice covering them. The only thing was a little frost on the dish but I have seen that before. Could this be my switch going bad? My switch is mounted in my basement so no weather problems there.But it only happens around the same time each night? I don't really see any signal problems with 110 or 119 so I think my dish is still ok. I got the super dish (installed professionally by dn) about a month or so ago and no problems since. any ideas? I thought maybe clouds but just went out and there are stars.

 

[carload]

When I had a similar problem, it persisted until I swapped in a new switch. About the same time of night can mean that a bit of moisture freezes about the same time.

 

[Barry Erick]

You don't need clouds to change the path. Temperature inversion in the sky can do this. This is when there is not a gradual temperature change through the atmosphere, but a band of heated or cold air between normal temperatures. Usually this also had moisture and clouds appear. But at times it does not. The rf beam (signal) "bends" and results in a weaker signal. Although I do not have a link to it, Bell labs has a study of this published on the web. It is similar to looking at the bottom of a pool. As you look in at something on the bottom, it does not appear to be where it actually is due to the light wave between the object and your eye changing angles due to temperature changes.

 

[briansanders007]

Thanks pretty interesting. Thanks for the input! If it is this, than I guess there is nothing I can do. That sucks. Maybe tweaking my dish might help over come this, however all my signals look good 99% of the time.

 

[Barry Erick]

ALso, if you have a plant or old railroad in your path, where the steam release goes high enough, this will get your path, also. We had a dish temporarily at a telethon site to pick up our local and it was next to a train museum which ran excursions on old steam engines. Everytime one passes, we lost signal...not from the train being in the path, but the steam from the engine being in our path.

 

[briansanders007]

It just started doing it again, happened around 9cst than it's getting worse. It's so wierd. I notice some pixelation during the day every once in a while but it's getting to the point now that it's unwatchable.

 

[briansanders007]

I usually just watch my 811. So as an experiment I go check out my 301 to see if the signal is bad. There is a satellite searching signal page so than I go into check signal, 105 look good, 110 is fine, but on 119 the signal bar is jumping up and down and up and down from 108 to 0 and it's red saying wrong satellite. So I unplug the receiver. Than I check out my 811 and the signal problems are gone!!! No blocky images. This is so weird! Can a faulty receiver cause this problem? I thought each drop off the switch was independent and shouldn't cause any problems?

 

[Mickdog]

Any vehicles with a radar detector in the area? There are a couple in my area and when they are on it throws my signal for a loop, but the interference only shows on the 105 signal. When they remember to turn them offf or leave the area, it stops. Go figure!

 

[briansanders007]

No that I can tell. I think it has something to do with my 301. It can't get the 119 feed, a check switch shows it ok but when I go to view the signal is shows around 100 signal not locked on wrong sat. I think something's messed up with the reciever cause when I unplug it, my 811 is fine.

 

[ken]

Most radar detectors are passive, I am curious what type they are? I don't own one so I'm not sure about one in a car but in the military they would be passive and not emit any signal at all.

 

[bcshields]

I think you have to go back to basics. Signal jumping could be a tree branch waving in the wind.

What got me though is you said 119 is getting the "wrong sat" tells me your dish isn't pointed correctly. Check for a plumb mast, then go into your menu, 6-1-1, and then choose "point dish" when set to Dish 500, put in your zip code and make sure your dish is set to the proper settings.

 

[Mickdog]

Most radar detectors are passive, I am curious what type they are? I don't own one so I'm not sure about one in a car but in the military they would be passive and not emit any signal at all.

Well one of the vehicles belongs to someone that does not live in my complex so it is never here long enough to find out. I asked the person they visit, he said they have one, but he is clueless about the details. The other belongs to a young individual whom I have not approached to find out. Considering the demeanor of his entourage, he is probably clueless as well. Could be jammers. Or could be installed incorrectly.

 

[Barry Erick]

I think you have to go back to basics. Signal jumping could be a tree branch waving in the wind.

Same time each night is the keyword which would eliminate this in our random world. That is, unless he only watches tv during this time and has that all the time he watches...same time each night.

 

[bcshields]

Some LNBF's and switches are sensitive to temperature changes. I would try to switch out some hardware before I go trapsing around the neighborhood with a frequency detector.

 

[Mickdog]

Some LNBF's and switches are sensitive to temperature changes. I would try to switch out some hardware before I go trapsing around the neighborhood with a frequency detector.

Well, if one can prove that the tempeture changes beyond the threshold everynight at the same time, that might be valid. Of course it does not, so, without having to have a meter, I think this person could do a visual of his imediate area and see if there are vehicles, or check with his neighbors to see if they are running anything wierd, or survey his area for Towers, power plants, military bases, airports, etc.... As it turns out, and contrary to popular belief there are more electronic signals that can affect sattelite stuff than you would think.

 

[briansanders007]

Update:

The 301 box was really acting wierd. I noticed when I unplug it, my 811 is fine. No pixelations. So I moved the line on the switch (installed inside by house) to an open spot and haven't noticed any problems. The wierd thing is that I have the tv going from 5-10 or so and someone is usually watching it but the problem occoured around 9. So I guess it's fixed for now. I still think the 301 is being flaky.