Dish Network

[HayZee518]

This more of a gripe than a fixit complaint. Are all the online and phone techs a bunch of morons? [}] You post a problem explaining exactly what you observed and did and they reply with exactly what you said![}] Since I installed a dish in Jan I've replaced the receiver and the LNBF and my signal still cuts out about 5 times during the broadcast day. I told them I have a clean line-of-sight to the southwest and they still insist that my problem is weather. Sunny day, no wind! The guy that installed the system insists that the receiver and the LNBF is mis-matched but they keep on insisting that the problem is OTHER than equipment.[8]

[mrcaptainbob]

Call those weenies and ask for the 'gripe' department. Once you get transferred, tell them the issue and since it's so difficult for them to properly match the receiver and LNBF and give you a sytem that works correctly, then maybe your money would be better spent on DirectTV. We've had Dish for almost five years now. We had an issue recently (about 14 months ago...) and they were real quick to resolve it. The same guy came out and was almost trippin' over himself apologizing about the situation and how sorry he was for not having done it 'right' the first time. And I wasn't even cranky with them!

[LazyPup]

Hazee,,,,,the problem may be "other than equipment" but that is easy to check. Have they used a signal strength meter to align the dish?

Quite often when we think of satelite systems we think in terms of geosynchronous satelites out in space, but in reality, any radio transmitting device that works as a relay to a master station is defined as a satelite station. Most satelite TV networks work on terrestrial satelites which are mounted on mountain tops or high towers and aligning the reciever antennnas correctly is critical. Dish antennas only have about a 5 degree field of view so it you happen to be on a fringe area and the dish is even slightly out of alignment you end up with a weak signal.

If the field service tech will attach a "bird Wattmeter" or a signal strength meter they can then convirm that your converter is working correctly and they can tweak the dish alignment for best signal.

[mrcaptainbob]

How did you fare with the Dish people?

[HayZee518]

They won't budge. Signal gets lost now and then but they won't do anything about it.

[jonmiles]

HayZee518:
I can prob. tell you what to do to fix your problem if you would like. I am a Dish Network Dealer. When you have time some night, send me an email at IM2FAST4U2PASS@jemservicesinc.com

I need to know the following:

Date system was installed

receiver model ( 3900,4900,301,311,322, or PVR/DVR etc. The info is on a white label located on back or bottom of receiver. It will have serial number and ROO number on same label.

Type of dish 300 single LNB or 500 double LNB. Do you have one or two reflectors (dish)

Do you live on east or west coast.

signal strength on a sunny day. If you don't know how to check I can tell you when you contact me. I may need to know transponders as well depending on problem.

Did the problem just start ?

Does it happen all the time or just on warm days with temps above 85

Does it affect all channels ?

You get the idea........

Let me know if I can help. Least I can do after all the help I received from this forum and Lazypup.

Jon

[HayZee518]

The dish is a 500 system with dual LNBF. The receiver is a dual receiver IR & RF - says echostar on the back mdl DE07-DE08. Rest I'll have to get from on-screen help.
DISH 322, Receiver CA Nr: R0061080189-02, sMART cARD id: s0080537680-88 (but there's no visible smart card in the slot)
Software version: L192GCFD-N
Boot strap version: 1414GCFD

[jonmiles]

o.k. lets start fresh.

unplug the receiver from the 120V outlet you have it plugged into, and leave it unplugged for about 1-2 min. If you have more than 1 receiver, unplug them also. Do not waste your time doing anything else until you do this first.

After you have waited the 1-2 min. plug only the 2-tuner model in. If you have more than one receiver.

Allow it 10-15 min. to start up and do a self check. And when you see the 1 of 5 countdown finish and regular TV channel is showing get the remote and do the following. If for some reason the 1 of 5 coutdown doesn't finish after 10-15 min. just go ahead and start the following. It won't hurt anything, I just wanted to make sure the receiver had a chance to finish it's start up completely. The 2 tuner models are a little touchy when you try to rush them. Like the old computers when you tried to do many task at the same time they just locked up, and you sat there forever waiting.

Now use the remote with the green #1 for TV # 1

Press the SAT button to make sure we are telling the remote to operate the SAT.

Now press the menu button and then press the number 6-1-1 on bottom of remote. This will take you directly to the point dish screen. We are looking for the point dish screen to check signal strength.

Select sat 119 and transponder 11 and dish 500 and write down the signal strength at the bottom of screen.(Green) On a sunny day.....

Now select sat 110 and transponder 12 and write down the signal strength. (Same thing)

If your signal strength is low it will cause your system to loose a signal every time a storm rolls in is why dish ask you about the weather.

Causes for low signal:

#1 reason- dish out of alignment from high winds and improper installation.

#2 reason- tree limb has grown into line of sight and blocking signal.

#3 reason- Severe thunderstorm cloud in line with your signal for your dish. The storm cloud has to pass between the signal from the satellite in orbit and your dish. Just because your friend accross town may have lost his signal doesn't mean you will loose yours. The cloud or anything else has to break the signal to your location.

#4 reason- RG-6 cable ground wire condition, barely making contact with copper(center wire)or installer didn't clean plastic from wire if using under ground type cable or put too much grease/sealer on copper when installing and is preventing a connection or signal to pass.
If the outside ground wire ( silver ) touches the copper inside wire, you will loose your signal. If it just barely touches it.
This is prob.not your problem but I have seen stranger things happen.

Do you have anything blocking air flow to the receiver? If I do a lot of recording and leave mine on for the day while it is working hard. It sometimes will get hot enough to start acting funny/slow. Once I reset it, just like rebooting a computer it works fine for another 1-2 weeks. This also depends how many brown outs we have had. If the power starts going on and off and the unit did not shut all the way down before the power came back on, the satellite receiver will not boot up properly 100% of the time and may need to be unplugged and wait 1-2 min. and then plug it back in to boot from the beginning. Just like a computer. Because that's what it is.

A friend of mine lives in another town in a old house where they have many power issues and he had a lot of problems with his satellite not working correctly. He finally hooked his sat receiver to a battery back up just like you would buy for your computer and he never had any more problems. He used to call me all the time saying it was doing this and doing that and when I went over to his house I unplugged it and then plugged it back in to reboot. I never did find any problems with anything satellite related. And he kept telling me the power didn't go out that he knew of but he was at work and because his clock wasn't flashing thought the power was fine. I only know once he hooked up the battery back up he never had any more problems.

Another question I had?

How many satellite receivers do you have in your house?

Do you have 1 or 2 reflector dishes outside. Are they mounted on your house with the standard bracket or mounted on a pole/ wood post etc.

I have seen the 34 switches hang up and you have to do a hot reset to get them to start working again. Mine has done this 2 times in over 1 year.

Hot Reset proceedure: Push your power button in and hold it until the green and blue light go out and release it. The receiver will start up again doing a self test. This doesn't always work and you have to unplug the receiver so myself rather than doing this hot reset and taking the chance it may not work and wasting time with that I always just unplug when I can.

Your box has the smart card inside. They no longer use the removable card slot you seen in the front.

Sorry about all the questions but you didn't post any pictures

Let me know what you find out