Do AU9s?

[GentleBen]

Do AU9 SlimLine antennas/LNBs suffer from cold weather? Yesterday, while watching one of the football games in HD I noticed that my system would freeze periodically and suffer from major pixelization. At times it was so bad that the picture would be on the screen with major pixel drop outs while also showing the dreaded "771 - Searching for Signal". This occurred on both the HR20-100 with 60' coax runs and an H20 with a 35 foot run. There is no multiswitch involved as I only have three runs of coax - 2 to the HR20 and 1 to the H20. The dish is mounted on the roof with no trees or limbs in the LOS and there has been no inclement weather in over a week.

During the day I get all transponders at 90+ readings but when it gets cold (below 60 degrees) the 101 satellite begins to drop to the high 60s and low 70s on multiple channels although the 110, 119 and 103(b) all still seem to be good. It was so bad yesterday that I tried to watch the game on the SD channel and saw the same type of dropouts and freezes.

Because two different types of receivers (H20 and HR20-100) were displaying the same types of problems and because they are on separate cable runs it seems to be that the problem is probably with the dish and its LNBs. Any thoughts?

[Pinion413]

Believe me, I'm no expert, but I'll pose a question. What was the cloud cover/weather around the time you were experiencing the problems? I'm up here in MA and it's been into the 30's and even high 20's some nights recently and have had no such problems with our Slimline. The only times I've had any trouble like that is during periods of heavy cloud cover.

[jdspencer]

Well, you do have a multiswitch. It's integrated into the LNB assembly. Hopefully you do have a fourth line run from the dish. Otherwise you'll need it run when you upgrade to more receivers. It could be an LNB problem. My AU9 is working fine and our temperatures have dropped into the 30s lately.

[Earl Bonovich]

If they are damaged... and there is a crack and moisture can get in there... sure.

But in generall.. no the difference in temperature should not have an effect.

[msmith198025]

havent had much cold weather with my slimline in mississippi, but last winter I had no problems

[bwaldron]

If they are damaged... and there is a crack and moisture can get in there... sure.

But in generall.. no the difference in temperature should not have an effect.

Yep, and failing LNB's generally peform worse in warm weather.

[GentleBen]

Well, its 0500 and 52 degrees outside and neither system is receiving anything on the 101 satellite although it appears that all the other satellites have a good (90+) signal on every transponder.

Really interesting to note that I am not having a problem (other than with the NFLST mentioned in my first post) on any of the new HD channels, just the stuff on the 101 satellite.

I'm willing to bet $5 to a doughnut that when the DirecTV repair arrives on Saturday afternoon (when its arm) that everything will be working and he will leave without repairing/replacing the LNB. If so, the next call on Monday will be to DirecTV telling them to send someone out to pick up their equipment as I will be going to Comcast cable.

[K4SMX]

Well, its 0500 and 52 degrees outside and neither system is receiving anything on the 101 satellite although it appears that all the other satellites have a good (90+) signal on every transponder.

Really interesting to note that I am not having a problem (other than with the NFLST mentioned in my first post) on any of the new HD channels, just the stuff on the 101 satellite.

I'm willing to bet $5 to a doughnut that when the DirecTV repair arrives on Saturday afternoon (when its arm) that everything will be working and he will leave without repairing/replacing the LNB. If so, the next call on Monday will be to DirecTV telling them to send someone out to pick up their equipment as I will be going to Comcast cable.
One thing you need to do before blaming your LNB: Run around and remove, inspect, and re-tighten with a 7/16" wrench all the connectors in your cabling. If you still have this problem after that, I would simply tell them that your LNB has an intermittent temperature-related failure with its 101 section every single day and needs to be replaced. They should have no problem with the fact that they can't verify that at this time of the year. You could take a picture of your 101 signal strength page under Setup > Sat & Ant > View Signal Strength. You should call them in advance of their arrival to make sure they have a spare LNB/dish on the truck.