the switch thingie died I think

[Dee_Ann]

*fixed* the switch thingie died I think

ok, this is stupid.

I just bought a brand spanking new 8 satellite switch thingie.
I woke up this morning and found out RTV was gone.
So I check and find also that the 101 satellite is gone.

So I start checking things and while I'm sitting here watching White Springs on my coolsat, White Springs vanishes and says no signal.

The sky is clear. It's NOT weather.

So I check more channels. More satellites are gone.

And now, ALL satellites are gone. Nothing is there. My coolsat sees nothing and the pc sees nothing.

Things were working fine yesterday, I couldn't have asked for better.
Today, for no reason, it's just all pooping out in front of my eyes!

What can I do? Are these switch things fixable? I assume that's what is bad.

I'm so frustrated now.. :river

 

[delta_charlie]

Hi, you might want to try a full power off then back on for your receiver. Turn it off with the remote then turn of the power switch at the back.

My switch hung up one time and the power off fixed it.

It is worth a try.

Hope this helps, DC

 

[Dee_Ann]

hmm. Ok, now I'm really confused.

I changed the switch for another one and there is still nothing.
I tried with both the coolsat and the pc.

All the dishes can't go bad at once can they?

 

[Mr Tony]

If that doesnt work, turn the receiver off again with the back switch and unhook the cable that goes from the reciever to the switch. Also unhook cable from one of the LNB"s to the switch and connect them two with a barrel connector (bypassing the switch). If channels on that sat come back then its the switch

 

[Dee_Ann]

Fixed it!

I put the little squealy meter on the wire out where the switch is and there was nothing at all.
I put it on the wire where it goes inthe the ground just outside of the house.
It was working there making the little meter squeal.
But where it comes out of the ground at the dishes, there was nothing.

That had to mean the wire was dead.

Lucky for me, mr packrat had put a bunch of wires in the underground pipe between the house and the dishes.

So I picked out another wire that looked like it was nice and shiny and connected it to the wire that comes out of the house. Then I went to the dishes and I put the squealy meter on the extra wires until I found one that squealed. That had to be the one.

So I put the 8 dish switch back like it was and went back in the house and check and all my channels are back!

I got it fixed just in time too. I missed Adam-12 and Dragnet on the east channel but I can catch it in a bit on the west channel while I fix dinner!

Yay! I can fix satellite stuff! Well, just a little.. But at least I didn't have to pay someone to come fix it.

Now if I can figure out how to get a tv antenna hooked up on my new tv tuner card I'll have it all going for me!

@party

 

[turbosat]

Dee, next, you need to learn how to do the cable connectors (lowes building supply has a good brand of compression tool and its not super expensive) Compression connectors are worlds ahead of the older, crimp-on type of cable connectors.

 

[Dee_Ann]

OMG! I got tv channels from local now too!

The tv tuner card came in, I put it in the pc (easy enough) and it knew it was in there. I put the cd in and it installed the software for it.

My neighbor pointed out an old wire on the side of the house I never noticed before, probably an old satellite from a long time ago I guess.

So I took a wire and cut one end off and stripped it bare then made a loop.
I put that on the connector up there. I had to climb a ladder. I don't like that.

I followed the wire into the house and found the end. I put that end onto the new tv card.

Then I started the tv program and told it to scan for channels.
It found several.

KAOB-LD (four of them)
KBMT-A
KBMT-N
KBTV
KFDM6.1
KFDM-CW
KITU-D1 through KITU-D5 (five of them)
KVHP-HD
KVHP-SD

The thing that annoys me is that none of them are really HD.
The pictures are all taking up only a small portion of the screen.
Same way they do on my folks new HDTV.
The losers around here that put the stuff on tv still send crummy old pictures like it's 1955, they just send it on digital now. Digital joke. Meh...

At least it's free. And now I can get local weather which is the ONLY thing I care about.

I would like to get the channels that are listed as carrying some of the stuff that used to be on the 123 satellite, like Patty Duke and Mr Ed.

I guess I need a REAL antenna to get that. I hope.
Now I have to figure out which antenna to get and where.
I don't want to get ripped off by some fast talking salesman.

Anyway, I thought I would put a picture of my little home made antenna just so you guys can have a good snicker at it. I'm sort of proud of it but it really is sooooo white trash looking. I do need to get a real one.

So for your entertainment, I present, my home made antenna.

 

[Othea]

diseqc switch

One thing should always be repeated when mentioning diseqc switches -- never forget to turn off your receiver before you do any work at the satellite dish, otherwise the diseqc switch will probably be damaged.

However, in your case the cable was bad. I'll bet that it's just one of the F-connectors at the end of the cable, rather than the cable itself. If you have the twist-on kind of connectors, those are not very reliable. Perhaps you could just snip off 1/4 or 1/2 an inch from the end of the bad cable and replace the connector with a quality compression-type F-connector w/ o-ring?

F-connector? No, I'm not cursing; that's what they are called.

 

[Dee_Ann]

One thing should always be repeated when mentioning diseqc switches -- never forget to turn off your receiver before you do any work at the satellite dish, otherwise the diseqc switch will probably be damaged.

However, in your case the cable was bad. I'll bet that it's just one of the F-connectors at the end of the cable, rather than the cable itself. If you have the twist-on kind of connectors, those are not very reliable. Perhaps you could just snip off 1/4 or 1/2 an inch from the end of the bad cable and replace the connector with a quality compression-type F-connector w/ o-ring?

F-connector? No, I'm not cursing; that's what they are called.

Oh gosh, someone said something about that before but now I can't remember where it was, they suggested some sort of tools you need to make them.

How hard is it to make wires or fix them? Are the tools and ends expensive?
I wonder if it would be worth buying the stuff if I don't use it very much.

 

[Mr Tony]

OMG! I got tv channels from local now too!

sounds like someone is happy

Then I started the tv program and told it to scan for channels.
It found several.

KAOB-LD (four of them)
KBMT-A
KBMT-N
KBTV
KFDM6.1
KFDM-CW
KITU-D1 through KITU-D5 (five of them)
KVHP-HD
KVHP-SD

so you get all the channels in the market except for My Network TV which is analog only.
Question...is KVHP actually KUIL that we had on AMC4? KVHP is Fox from Lake Charles, LA...maybe they labelled it wrong.


Nice ghetto antenna But if it works thats all that matters

 

[Mr Tony]

Oh gosh, someone said something about that before but now I can't remember where it was, they suggested some sort of tools you need to make them.

How hard is it to make wires or fix them? Are the tools and ends expensive?
I wonder if it would be worth buying the stuff if I don't use it very much.

The compression tool will cost you the most. I got a tool & 10 connectors for 25 bucks at Lowes. The connectors I get online as they sell them cheap.

Compression is way better than twist on. I use to be a twist on kind of guy but switched to compression a year or two ago. Thats all I use now

 

[Anole]

esteveW came up with a good deal on the connector assembly tool , I believe.

See what you can get on a nothing antenna?
Imagine what you could get on a real one! -

 

[Dee_Ann]

sounds like someone is happy

so you get all the channels in the market except for My Network TV which is analog only.
Question...is KVHP actually KUIL that we had on AMC4? KVHP is Fox from Lake Charles, LA...maybe they labelled it wrong.


Nice ghetto antenna But if it works thats all that matters

Well, right now on KVHP-HD is a gawd awful football game.
And on KVHP-SD there is a logo that says "The CW" and Married with Children is playing.

Maybe someone will know how to look up the tv listings in Lake Charles.

 

[Mr Tony]

interesting you are getting Lake Charles but not KUIL in Beaumont

 

[Dee_Ann]

esteveW came up with a good deal on the connector assembly tool , I believe.

See what you can get on a nothing antenna?
Imagine what you could get on a real one! -

How big are those tool things? My hands are small and I don't have much strength in them. I am afraid I might not be able to squeeze the thing enough to make it work.

Oh and I saw on the walmart website that they sell antennas.

I need one for outdoors but I can't see spending $150 for one.
Can anyone see a low price one that would let me get both kinds of tv?
Like the digital and the whatever the other one is? I am still not understanding this new tv stuff.

Walmart.com: Electronics: TVs: Accessories: TV Antennas

Or any other places to shop for an antenna besides radio shack? I just do not like that place. They always talk down to me like I'm stupid and try to sell me junk I don't want.Thanks guys!

 

[zamar23]

Dee,

Welcome to OTA Club! If you need more OTA orientation & gear info, Stampeder's OTA FAQ & Knowledge Base is the best info deal on the web, one can find. When looking for OTA Antenna, keep in mind what Iceberg said: you already get almost all channels you can theoretically watch in your area.

What ATSC (digital OTA) TV Tuner Card model did you get? Does it have NTSC (analog OTA) and/or QAM (digital cable) coax IN ports? Do you happen to have an old cable from a local Cable TV company connected to your house: there might be some unscrambled Cable TV channels to catch from it, including re-translated local HD OTA channels.

Also, I wonder, how you can watch Sat TV channels via Coolsat 6000 on your TV, if its connected only to your PC (I assume, via Coolsat's pass through OUT port passing coax cable signal from the switch outside the house)?

 

[Dee_Ann]

interesting you are getting Lake Charles but not KUIL in Beaumont

Oh they are saying that the KVHP-SD channel is "FOX 29"

Oh here we go, I just caught their ID thingie between shows.

 

[phlatwound]

I made and used one of these for 2-3 months before I got my CM 4228, it worked really well.....and was FREE!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw"]YouTube - Coat Hanger HDTV Antenna![/ame]

Most of my locals were either hi-VHF and UHF so that helped, I don't think these do very well on the lo-VHF channels.

 

[Mr Tony]

Oh they are saying that the KVHP-SD channel is "FOX 29"

Oh here we go, I just caught their ID thingie between shows.

yep thats Lake Charles Fox & CW

 

[Mr Tony]

I need one for outdoors but I can't see spending $150 for one.
Can anyone see a low price one that would let me get both kinds of tv?
Like the digital and the whatever the other one is? I am still not understanding this new tv stuff.

all antenna gets both digital and analog. Analog is the "fuzzy TV you use to have"
Its the tuner that you need to have to see both. I dont know what PC tuner card you have

Another question is does it show the signal strength on the channels? If its good enough maybe you dont need a different antenna