The wind blows and I lose service?!?

[gkjdc24]

So I just had my service installed on Friday and everything has been working great. Until this morning anyway...

I got an error that stated that I needed to try to change channels and if that didn't work, then I needed to hold the power button in on my 722 for 10 seconds.

I did that and it came up with an attention box and a 833 error code. Incidentally, I was told by 2 different reps that they had never heard of that code.

Anyway, It does it's test and goes through Input 1 & Input 2 with tests going to 4 of 4. This takes about 15 minutes to complete. Again, I was told by 2 different reps that it shouldn't take that long to check the switch configuration.

When it completes that test, it comes up to another error code (015) And it says aquiring satellite signal. It sits at this screen for several minutes with no noticeable progress.

Then I have to reboot the 722 only to repeat the same looping process.

Has anybody on these boards ever experienced this anomaly?

Should my dish move in 20-30 Mph winds? If so, then I may have to rethink this thing. We get winds like that in OK, all the time.
The only other thing I see, is that the installer has the dish pointed fairly close to a large tree in my backyard and maybe the wind blowing the branches, it constantly interferes with the signal.

At any rate, they won't be out until tomorrow afternoon, to fix my service. That will make momma extremely unhappy, since Idol is on tonight.

Any thoughts?

Sorry for the rambling post, but I wanted to provide as much info as I could. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[ncted]

Should my dish move in 20-30 Mph winds?

My Dishes are on the roof, and they routinely keep signal in high winds. We had some pretty heavy rainstorms that spawned tornadoes nearby a few weeks ago, and I didn't lose signal at all. This is a much better experience than I had with DirecTV BTW which always lost signal in thunderstorms.

Oddly, my OTA is affected by winds, even though my antenna is in the attic. Go figure.

Ted

 

[mike123abc]

Call and complain right away. The installer probably forgot to tighten the bolts on the dish. I am in Wichita Falls and we have high winds here too (like OK) all the time. Never have a problem with Dish. You probably do not want to tighten them yourself since the dish is probably already moved out of alignment.

 

[Jared Twomey]

As long as everything is mounted securely you shouldn't loose signal with normal winds.
and kind of odd... went to dish's tech support site and looked up that error number... doesn't exist on there either

 

[Jared Twomey]

also, if you have a dish 1000+ make sure the installer used the strut arms on the mast... should look kind of like a tripod. That is a heavy dish, with a big reflector that catches a lot of wind.
I know a lot of hacks around here don't use the arms and they dish just bounces all over the place in high winds

 

[gkjdc24]

Thanks for all the input.

I did call right away. after being on the phone for an hour with no resolution, I asked to be transferred to somebody that would handle my cancellation request. Long story short, they gave me a free month credit to stick it out.

I do have the 1000 and there are no additional arms to support it. (just one post and no tripod) I even made the comment to the installer, asking how it was going to do in the wind, because it looked rather flimsy. His answer was "It will be fine"

So is there any way I can repoint the dish on my own? Or am I stuck waiting until tomorrow for the installer? I guess it all depends on how far off it is?

Thanks again!

 

[osu1991]

If the bolts on the mast arm came loose just see if the arm moves up and down and try to reset it to level straight up and down. This can get you by until an installer returns. I just put up a 1000.2 at my lake house this past weekend and the high winds along the shore don't bother it. I have had Dish and Directv in Oklahoma since they both started and have never had a problem with the winds as long as the nuts and bolts are tightened correctly. If this had been yesterday I would have offered my help as I was just in Shawnee and Tecumseh.

 

[gkjdc24]

That would have been great and I appreciate the offer.

It appears that the dish is pretty secure though. It doesn't move up, down, or sideways. The only thing I can think, is that the installer pointed the dish right at this large tree. If I try to follow the path with my eyes, it looks like it goes right between 2 large branches, in kind of a "V" formation. The day that he installed it, there was no wind at all. Now today, it's windy as heck and those 2 branches are probably crossing the path of the signal making it impossible to lock on.

Make sense, or am I grasping here?

 

[RandallA]

"If I try to follow the path with my eyes, it looks like it goes right between 2 large branches, in kind of a "V" formation. "

Looks like you found your problem. The dish probably needs to be relocated or cut the branches.

 

[VanNuysBear]

One other thing to take a look at -- are any tree branches possibly getting in the way? Here in Los Angeles we get very heavy winds from time to time, and I never lost signal during these winds. However my neighbors tree branches gradually grew. So, during calm/no winds great signal. But when the wind blew hard, the branches would sway and interrupt the signal. It took a few strong wind episodes before I figured out what was happening. I simply moved the dish to take care of the problem. And so the winds no longer impact my signal.

 

[gkjdc24]

This is really just speculation though. The branches are about 60-70 feet away from the dish and just as high off the ground, but it looks like that's the path the signal takes.

 

[RandallA]

The signal comes 22 degrees higher than where the dish is pointing at. Any chance you can take a picture with the camera in front of the dish? Just to see if the branches are blocking the signal.

 

[gkjdc24]

The signal comes 22 degrees higher than where the dish is pointing at. Any chance you can take a picture with the camera in front of the dish? Just to see if the branches are blocking the signal.

Interesting...

I will have to try that. So basically just hold the camera directly in front of the LNB's? Then try to determine 22 degrees of slope?

Thanks!

 

[RandallA]

Something similar to the picture in the link. I took this picture for 61.5 by placing the camera in front of the dish. It turned out that my elevation needed to be higher and nothing was blocking the dish.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/attachment.php?attachmentid=18760&d=1189202193

 

[gkjdc24]

This pic is with the camera rested flat against back of the arm (right against the DP Plus logo) with the LNB's.

I'm not really sure if this tells me anything though...or does it?

 

[Pepper]

judging from that skew amount (you held the camera "level" with the LNB too, right?) you got's a tree in the way.

 

[sbsi]

When I got Dish, the first year I got tons of signal outtages. The following year and now, I don't get the outtages except station outtage.

 

[mike123abc]

Being in OK your elevation is probably pretty high for the satellites. My 61.5 Dish looks like it points strait at a wall. That tree at 70 feet is probably not an issue at all.

The signal bounces off the dish like a mirror. It comes in from above, and is reflected down to the LNBs. It is much higher up than you think looking at the dish.

I would still be on the dish not being secure in high winds. The alignment may not be close enough and the slight wind motion knocks it out.

 

[gkjdc24]

Pepper: Yes, the camera was level with the LNB. I really think it's the tree. Now that the wind is died down a lot, my signal is trying to come back in. Not sucessfully though.

SBSI: You actually went a whole year without raising hell?? You're a more patient man than I.

Mike: I'm not sure if it's the dish. I can't move it with my hand, so I would think the wind couldn't move it. Maybe I'm wrong...

At any rate...It's still not working, so maybe it's a combination of the 2

 

[cparker]

can you "lean" on the dish a little and see if the picture comes back?
Also... in windy conditions your dish, even though it feels snug, is usually getting whipped. Like as if you grasped it on each side and shook it alternating... left hand out, right hand in, then right hand out, left hand in ... alternating kinda fast.... like a dog shaking a rat.

And I'm tending to agree with the others that the tree may not be coming into play. I could be wrong. I'm not there and you are. If it WAS working and then a week later it's not.... I just ain't buyin the tree theory. If it was the tree it'd go out and come back intermittently in the wind. You seem to be indicating it went out and isn't coming back. Either that dish moved or you have a faulty connection somewhere would be my guess.

Oh... and that tree hasn't got a leaf on it... You could probably come real near shooting through the center of it from your distance and still get signal Although you'd go out when teh leaves came in.