0 on all Odd 99(c) Transponders

[jdunner3]

Help! My dad cannot get all of the recently moved channels. I am only in town for the weekend and hoped I could help him before I have to head back home.

All 99(c) odd transponders show up as 0 signal while the evens are in the 90's.

When the new bird went live he obviously had issues and called D* since I could not get home to help. They showed up on Wednesday and replaced the dish, the multiswitch and ordered him a new DVR. Apparently the techs final thought on the issue was a bad tuner. Whatever.

We now have a HR21-700 to replace his HR20-700. Nevermind the fact that he receives his locals via an antenna. BOTH boxes get only the even 99c transponders on BOTH tuners.

What would be causing this?

[jdunner3]

No thoughts?

I just disconnected the 13v (99) feed into the multiswitch and it did not effect the transponders. Am I correct in assuming this is bad somewhere along the line?

[njblackberry]

If you figure this out, I'd be thrilled. All my EVEN transponders on 99(c) are zero.

[RobertE]

No thoughts?

I just disconnected the 13v (99) feed into the multiswitch and it did not effect the transponders. Am I correct in assuming this is bad somewhere along the line?

If it is a bad line, then you should also be seeing the same issue on the 101 sat. If not, it's a switch or LNB issue. Possibly BBCs, but the odds of all your BBCs having the same issues are very, very small. You may want to check for any missed diplexers, splitters, etc.

[jdunner3]

Going to bypass the switch now. All lines are home run from the HR-20 directly to the distribution closet.

[jdunner3]

Switch has been bypassed. Issue seems to be resolved on Tuner 1 but Tuner 2 is still only seeing signal on the even transponders.

The D* tech left the old switch here so I have two to try. Both seem to be doing the same thing.

Going to try the HR21 box and see if it has issues now that the switch is out of the equation.

[jdunner3]

OK the HR21 shows 0's across the board for 99(c) on Tuner 1 only. Tuner 2 is great. What gives?

I have swapped BBC's. All that good jazz.

[jdunner3]

If anyone has followed this thread....doubtful....but I think I may have narrowed it down to a bad wire. All transponders on 99c are great now. And that is on each tuner.

However...the issue has moved to the 103c bird. I will test those two wires in the am.

[eakes]

Coax/connectors could certainly cause the problems indicated. Unfortunately, a lot of times disconnecting and reconnecting the connectors will temporarily "fix" the problem. I hope you find all the problems come light of day, a tip of the ol' hat to your troubleshooting efforts. I have been following your thread but had no constructive comments to add.

Hopefully, you will find there is no problem with the HR20 and you can return the 21.

[Tiger62]

We now have a HR21-700 to replace his HR20-700. Nevermind the fact that he receives his locals via an antenna.

Call D* and inform them that you MUST have OTA capability and that their replacement of the HR20 with a HR21 results in your losing that capability. Ask them to send you a free AM21 tuner to pair with the HR21, thus making you whole again. If they resist, just order the AM21 from them for $50. From reports here, the HR21/AM21 combo is as good as, if not better than, the HR20, and installing it is a piece o' cake.

[jdunner3]

Thanks for the responses guys. I have already ordered the am21 so no big deal there. They just promised my dad over the phone that he would be getting a hr20. I had a good chuckle at that one. Mainly, I do not want him to have to setup his recordings again and lose any of the stuff he has saved.

Side topic: I plop an external drive on whatever box I end up having him keep will that box be able to be swapped to another box if we have problems again?

Checking all terminations etc right now. We'll see how it pans out.

Thanks again.

[jdunner3]

Wow. Guess I should of been more thorough. Then again, so should of the D* tech.

I got my butt up into the attic after checking all the terminations at the dish. In line on 2 of the 4 wires were old school amplifiers from the original installation. Why the tech did not remove these when he was up there at the time of the HD upgrade is beyond me. Why I didn't think about getting in the attic to check for myself after all these headaches....well its the attic!

I did see that at the time of the HD upgrade the tech did not feel the need to ground anything. The wire goes into the attic and sits there. There is a grounding block on the side of the house that 2 of the 4 coax cables are connected to. Will this be sufficient to ground to?

The HR21 has great signal on everything. I love it. Going to test the HR20 now. Crossing my fingers that this afternoon's trip home will be in knowing all is well for the old man!

[eakes]

All the coaxes that enter the house should go through a grounding block and that block should be connected the AC service ground.

Glad to see that you are getting all the problems solved.

It is really sad that a great service like Directv and DISH feel compelled to provide 'free' installs to enroll new customers and that results in underpaid/underqualified installers that totaliy FUBAR way too many installs. This in turn results in unsatisfied customers who cancel because of lousy service. In my opinion the word of mouth from unsatisfied customers far outweighs the 'benefit'? for free, unprofessional installs. They really need to reevaluate their marketing strategy!

Off my soap box now!

Good luck with getting everything working proprly.

[jdunner3]

Thanks eakes. I am going to have to figure out how to ground this thing then. Maybe that is why the HR20 box now has a bad tuner after a couple years of use?

That being said...the HR20 is bad. He is going to have to stick with the HR21 and wait for the AM21 to arrive.

My dad lives in the middle of nowhere and has been a D* sub since '95. He will not cancel unless something major changes. Throughout this ordeal I kind of felt like D* knew how long he has been on board and knows he will not change. :nono2:

Thanks for letting me log my issues here. I follow the forums regularly. Just don't often have issues or anything constructive to interject.

[K4SMX]

.....Side topic: I plop an external drive on whatever box I end up having him keep will that box be able to be swapped to another box if we have problems again?.....
Unfortunately, not at this time.

[jdunner3]

Another update!! Turns out all is well with the great rooms HR21. The H20 upstairs is not getting ANY HD channels. Luckily this is a SD TV and they only watch the SD channels. There are short term future plans to upgrade this TV so they can enjoy HD in the bedroom.

My question is why would I be getting great signal strength on the HR21 but not that H20? Keep in mind that this occurred as I was leaving my parents house and did not have any time to troubleshoot. I do know this is a new RG6 that is run straight back to the multiswitch.

EDIT: Hey K4SMX, thanks for answering and understanding what I was trying to get at. That sentence definitely makes very little sense!

[eakes]

BBC defective or missing, defective receiver or defective multiswitch.