Successful self realign plus more

[borghe]

So last night was the worst. trying to watch Blood Diamond on HBO with slight rain the picture went out constantly. Fine on every other sat. I've known that my clear weather signals on 103b were in the high-60s/low-70s but we've had rain go through in the past without too bad of problems. So today I decided to trek out and see what I can do.

The dish is on the roof 2.5 stories up. I'm severely acrophobic. My father-in-law is a roofer but not at all a technical guy, so I wasn't comfortable with trying to tell him what to do, especially since I've never even adjusted an AU9, let alone him. I went up with a cellphone and bluetooth headset, some wrenches, and a whole lot of guts. After working with my wife for around 15 minutes we went from an average signal in the low-70's to now in the high-80s/low-90s. I cam back down and all was good. :) Or was it :confused:

I checked both tuners on both receivers. Everything was good except for tuner 1 in the living room. It was still getting signals as low as 32 sometimes. Well, let's check the BBAs. BBAs checked out. Check the cables from the multi-switch to the receivers. They check out. Check the cables from the grounding block to the multi-switch. They checkout and I'm starting to get worried. Check out the grounding block. Checks out. So at this point it's either the cable from the dish to the grounding block or the 101-103 LNB itself. Climb back up on the roof (second time was MUCH MUCH MUCH better and faster than the first time. Severe acrophobic remember). Pull the LNB assembly off (sidecar). Fortunately only two of the cables were in a dual cable and fortunately I knew it was one of those that was having problems. I reseated both cables on the 101-103 LNB and voila. Equal signal strength on both tuners in the living room.

I can honestly say that if it wasn't for all of the people here talking about self-realignment I probably never would have done it. I would have ended up calling DirecTV, which I actually have no problem with.. I just don't have a whole ton of time right now to schedule a repair visit and the likely 2-4 hours it would take for an installer to do everything "right". This way I got to spend time outdoors on a nice (but hot) fall day and my HD channels are coming in beautifully. On top of that we have rain coming in tonight and tomorrow so I'll really get to see how much better the signal will hold up right away.

[Juppers]

You do know HBOHD is on 110 and not 103b right? From the levels you were showing, you needed the realignment anyhow though.

[K4SMX]

I'm sure glad that worked out well for you. Yes, it's always less scary the second time around. A few more trips, and it'll become second nature, until you haven't done it for a month, and then you have to start all over again.

Just curious. I assume you're referring to one of the main coaxial cables to the LNB from the receiver and not the sidecar 110/119 LNB's cable that is separately connected to the main assembly. Connectors are a major weak point, and generally speaking they should all be removed, examined, and re-connected as part of basic troubleshooting procedure.

[borghe]

I just wanted to follow up this post saying DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH WHERE YOUR DISH IS!!! In retrospect this was pretty stupid especially given my fear of heights. Fortunately once I was on the roof and off the ladder (and not able to look down) it wasn't too bad. But as other realignment threads always state, this isn't worth dying for. Luckily I had a pro with me (literally) who was able to help get me on the actual roof.

You do know HBOHD is on 110 and not 103b right? From the levels you were showing, you needed the realignment anyhow though.

sorry. meant HBOW. All of the new channels have given me small problems here and there, but last night blood diamond on W was virtually unwatchable. To make matters worse, it was West, so I didn't have another opportunity to watch it last night. but yeah, I usually get small little blips and tiny breakups on most shows I watch on the new channels.. err.. sorry... USED TO usually get small slips and breakups :)

I'm sure glad that worked out well for you. Yes, it's always less scary the second time around. A few more trips, and it'll become second nature, until you haven't done it for a month, and then you have to start all over again.
No way. I promised him I would stay off roofs if he promised to not try and fix computers.

Just curious. I assume you're referring to one of the main coaxial cables to the LNB from the receiver and not the sidecar 110/119 LNB's cable that is separately connected to the main assembly. Connectors are a major weak point, and generally speaking they should all be removed, examined, and re-connected as part of basic troubleshooting procedure.
Well, what was weird about this was that it was ONLY the 103b satellite, ONLY 1 line coming from the dish, and ONLY certain transponders on the satellite that were coming in low. All other transponders on 103b were matched to the other tuner. and it wasn't even even or odd. it was ranges of them. The only thing I could think of is that it was a flaky connection that happened to be zapping out those frequencies for some reason. I just reseated the cables and tightened them. I figured at that moment if that didn't do it I would just call DirecTV and let them deal with it (I have equipment protection)

[hilmar2k]

You do know HBOHD is on 110 and not 103b right? From the levels you were showing, you needed the realignment anyhow though.

HBOW HD is, though.

[K4SMX]

.....Well, what was weird about this was that it was ONLY the 103b satellite, ONLY 1 line coming from the dish, and ONLY certain transponders on the satellite that were coming in low. All other transponders on 103b were matched to the other tuner. and it wasn't even even or odd. it was ranges of them. The only thing I could think of is that it was a flaky connection that happened to be zapping out those frequencies for some reason. I just reseated the cables and tightened them. I figured at that moment if that didn't do it I would just call DirecTV and let them deal with it (I have equipment protection)
In a way its strange and in a way not. The whole 103(b) group, once it leaves the LNB for your BBC operates in a group of UHF frequencies which is much lower than all the other down-converted satellite frequencies. The fact that only certain channels within that lower 103(b) group were somehow attenuated by your bad connection is somewhat strange, but anything is possible with RF energy when it encounters strange inductances caused by corrosion. I have seen that happen, although not caused by corrosion, when cable TV splitters were inserted in line with satellite cable runs. Most channels work, but a few don't.

The main point to be learned is that your problem was caused by a bad connection, something which was simple to fix with a 7/16" wrench and a Phillips screwdriver!