Channel to Sat Map & Troubleshooting Advice

[ForceBlast]

Can someone point me to a map of which channels correspond to which satellite? Channel 231-1 (Food Network HD) is getting no reception on either of my HR21 receivers. I have an error 721 on both.

I did briefly get some very garbled reception on one of the receivers but then it stopped working again. The other channels I've looked at seem fine including some HD. I haven't checked them all (there are so many!) I've checked all of the cables, reset the DVR, and checked the dish for debris. I see no obvious problems. It has been working fine for the last few days (just had it installed Thursday.) I was considering tweaking the dish, but wanted to do some research first. Any advice would be appreciated.

It's somewhat cloudy today, but my wife definitely isn't going to accept that excuse.

Thanks!

[veryoldschool]

You might need to have your service refreshed since: "721 Channel Not Purchased"

[ForceBlast]

I'm sorry, I meant 771. It's "Searching for signal on sat 1".

[veryoldschool]

I'm sorry, I meant 771. It's "Searching for signal on sat 1".
OK, then what are your levels on the 103c [b] SAT for both tuners?

[ForceBlast]

When I view the individual transponders they all say either 0 or N/A on both tuners. When I select "Signal Meters" (the view that shows one transponder at a time) they say "Not Aquired" for both tuners. It looks like the 99(s) sat has the same issue. (All 0s and N/As). Thanks for your help.

[litzdog911]

ForceBlast ...
You have a 5-LNB dish right? If so, your dish needs alignment to receive the Ka-band signals from the 99 and 103-deg satellites.

[ForceBlast]

ForceBlast ...
You have a 5-LNB dish right?

LOL! Yes. It's a 5-LNB and the receivers are configured for 5-LNB. The strange thing is that it was working yesterday. It is raining today, but I can't imagine it would go from working to nothing just from the rain. It's not really raining that hard either, and it was only cloudy earlier. I guess I'll try my hand at re-aligning it. If that fails, I guess I'll put in a service call.

Thanks.

[veryoldschool]

LOL! Yes. It's a 5-LNB and the receivers are configured for 5-LNB. The strange thing is that it was working yesterday. It is raining today, but I can't imagine it would go from working to nothing just from the rain. It's not really raining that hard either, and it was only cloudy earlier. I guess I'll try my hand at re-aligning it. If that fails, I guess I'll put in a service call.

Thanks.
"yesterday" you may have been in the 40s.

[ForceBlast]

"yesterday" you may have been in the 40s.

Man, you're good! The weather cleared up today and you're right; the 103(c) transponders jumped back up to around 40. The 99(s) transponders are still at 0 though so I'm not really sure that they ever worked. Maybe I just haven't tried to watch any channels from the 99(s) sat.

There is one thing I've noticed that's strange. The elevation is about 10degrees off of what it says it should be when I read the help text on the receiver based on my location. Is this information accurate? Is it possible the installer missed the mark by that much!? Would anything be working if that were the case?

Thanks.

[seltech]

when I aligned my 5-lnb I went with what the receiver had for numbers on the ele/az and it worked like a charm :) I wouldn't think it would be off by 10 degrees though, even if your tweaking your dish, you shouldn't be that far off what the area code ele/az adjustments are in the receiver.

[veryoldschool]

Man, you're good! The weather cleared up today and you're right; the 103(c) transponders jumped back up to around 40. The 99(s) transponders are still at 0 though so I'm not really sure that they ever worked. Maybe I just haven't tried to watch any channels from the 99(s) sat.

There is one thing I've noticed that's strange. The elevation is about 10degrees off of what it says it should be when I read the help text on the receiver based on my location. Is this information accurate? Is it possible the installer missed the mark by that much!? Would anything be working if that were the case?

Thanks.
Ten degrees off seems more than what would work. Is the mast plumb? Some of the ten degrees might come from that if it's not.
99 right now is only spot beams for local HD and if yours aren't coming from 99, you may have zeros or very low levels even with the dish "nailed".
Here is something that might help: http://www.dishpointer.com/
Select the 5 LNB dish and your location, then look at the setting at the bottom.

[Supervolcano]

Forget about 103(s) and 99(s) completely. Those are all "spotbeams", each carefully pinpointed at just the cities that directv desires. If your not getting good signal on those, chances are that's because your not supposed to be getting signal on them.

And the az/elev/tilt settings the receiver gives for your zipcode are just rough guesstimates. If you were 10 degrees off, you'd get nothing for signal. If your getting some signal, then your very close.

What you need to concern yourself with are 101, 110, 119, & 103(c).
Choose a clear day to align your dish.
Use azimuth and elevation to peak the 101 signals.
Then use tilt to peak the 119 signals.
Then use the fine tuning screws to peak the 103(c) signals.

Most of the transponders for all 4 of those satellites should give signals in the 90's when your done.

[ForceBlast]

Awesome! Thanks for the detailed advice. I also checked the site 'VeryOldSchool' pointed me to. It confirms the elevation, azimuth, and tilt that the receiver gave me give or take a few decimal points. So I guess it's a combination of the dish being slightly off and the pole not being exactly plumb. First I'll check for plumbness and then I'll go through the steps you provided, Supervolcano. I'll report back with my findings.

I have noticed there is quite a bit of "wobble" in the pole in spite of the fact that it's cemented into the ground. The base is solid, I'm just talking about the natural flexing of the pole. I hope this doesn't mess me up too much.

I'm so excited to experiment with this. If only I wasn't stuck here at work. :rolleyes:

[Supervolcano]

Wobble isn't good.
How deep into the ground is your pole?
How tall is it above ground?

[ForceBlast]

I'm not sure about the depth because I wasn't watching when the installer dug the hole. If my memory serves me right (I'm at work now) it's about 6'5" high give or take a couple inches.

[veryoldschool]

I'm not sure about the depth because I wasn't watching when the installer dug the hole. If my memory serves me right (I'm at work now) it's about 6'5" high give or take a couple inches.
Filling the pole with cement will stiffen it.

[ForceBlast]

Using an RCA to coax converter I ran a coax from my receiver to my dish as well as an extension cord. I then hooked up a small TV and used it to view the signal fluctuations. Before I did anything I put a small amount of pressure on each side of the dish and noticed when I moved the azimuth in the clockwise direction the signals on 103(c) got much better. So I just used the fine tune screws and after about 1.5 turns on the azimuth screw I had signals in the very high 80s to mid 90s on 103(c). They started in the 40s so I'm pretty happy with it. My other sats improved as well. Most of the transponders on those are at 100.

I'm glad that I took a risk and did it myself rather than putting in a service call. This morning it was extremely foggy and cloudy and my signals were still rock-solid. Prior to doing this I lost signal just from it being cloudy. I'm extremely happy with the results. Best of all, my wife is happy. Thanks to everyone for your help!

[veryoldschool]

Using an RCA to coax converter I ran a coax from my receiver to my dish as well as an extension cord. I then hooked up a small TV and used it to view the signal fluctuations. Before I did anything I put a small amount of pressure on each side of the dish and noticed when I moved the azimuth in the clockwise direction the signals on 103(c) got much better. So I just used the fine tune screws and after about 1.5 turns on the azimuth screw I had signals in the very high 80s to mid 90s on 103(c). They started in the 40s so I'm pretty happy with it. My other sats improved as well. Most of the transponders on those are at 100.

I'm glad that I took a risk and did it myself rather than putting in a service call. This morning it was extremely foggy and cloudy and my signals were still rock-solid. Prior to doing this I lost signal just from it being cloudy. I'm extremely happy with the results. Best of all, my wife is happy. Thanks to everyone for your help!
And for $15 you can join the DBSTalk club. [shameless plug]

[Supervolcano]

Nice job!!

If someday in the future you find wind affecting it, due to the wobble, might consider pouring concrete down the pipe like veryoldschool suggested.

[ForceBlast]

And for $15 you can join the DBSTalk club. [shameless plug]

<--- Done! :D

The help I've received here so far is definitely worth the price of membership. They should make all installers read these forums for a week before sending them out. I really think there'd be far fewer mistakes and service calls if they did.

Nice job!!

If someday in the future you find wind affecting it, due to the wobble, might consider pouring concrete down the pipe like veryoldschool suggested.

I'll definitely keep that in mind if things go out of whack again. So far it's been a really strong and consistent signal. We even had a pretty heavy rain yesterday evening - the signals didn't look much different.

[veryoldschool]

We even had a pretty heavy rain yesterday evening - the signals didn't look much different.
At some point you will have enough rain to have rainfade, but it shouldn't last long [now]. Good job and Welcome to "the club". :)