bad lnb? with slimline5 dish

[josefl710]

So my last dish survived though ike without a hickup, but directv called me up and said my hr10-250 was getting phased out and wanted me to upgrade to a newer hd-dvr but would need a new antenna and receiver.

Well they come in and install everything, i get a new hr22-100 and a slimline5 dish, and im getting all my channels tech makes me sign papers and promptly leaves. A few mins later im browsing through the channles and am getting searching for sat signal on most of them. I run signal strngth check and im getting a signal on all sats 103,110,119 but i get nothing but zeros on all the transponders for sat 101. I confirm this on all 3 of my receivers sat 101 is not working but 110,119, 103 are. I go to the roof and dish seems a little unstable, i jiggle it a bit and then i get 101 back at relatively high strenght this lasts a few hours and then it goes out again after some light rain. i go to roof jiggle the dish a bit an 101 comes back but this time it only lasts a few mins. I call directv and tell the service rep this, they assume its an alignment issue and send a new tech to realign antenna.

A week later new tech comes to my house, he seems to have issues getting 101 to read at begining but eventually gets it. he realigns and secures antenna making sue it doesnt jiggle no more and everything is screwed tight. I check downstairs and tv is getting all the channels again, i sign the new papers and tech leaves. An hour later im browsing channels and get searching for sat signal again, i do a new signal strenght check and behold 101 is completely out but 110,119, and 103 are still coming in fine same prob as before.

So what the heck can couse something like this, i am begining to doubt its an alignment issue since 101 is suppost to be easier to get then the rest as its the main directv satellite. It can't be a cabling issue since its happening on all my receivers and last tech respliced and secured all cables, so is it a bad antenna?, or perhaps bad lnb?, or maybe the multiswitch built into the antenna is bad? keep in mind I only have 4 ouputs coming out of he antenna to 4 tuners, to make things worst after the second tech came out 1 of the 4 outputs doent even work anymore.

perhaps an expert can shed some light on this before the third tech comes to try to fix this....

[rudeney]

Since 99 and 103 are “stacked” with the 110 signal, it can’t really be a cabling issue. If the dish gets the signal and it is secured, then I doubt it’s an aiming issue unless you have a partially obstructed view. My guess is a bad LNB or internal multiswitch. Either way, I’d guess replacing the LNB assembly will fix it.

[harsh]

The LNB assembly should have been replaced when the tech came out based on what you've told us. The dead port may be the tip of the iceberg and it is a problem that should be worth a free service call.

Don't sign off until the LNB assembly is replaced and you've verified that all tuners are working.

[josefl710]

tech that came last time just called me back and he will take a look at it tomorrow. You guys know if DirecTV will charge me for any of these service calls? The initial install was suppost to be a free upgrade but i have not been able to see TV since they put the new antenna in. Nothing was mentioned before but if that is the case i would seriusly consider cancelling even though up until this hassle, i've really enjoyed their service.

Thnx for the tips, i'll make sure all receivers are working before signing off once lnb is replaced tomorrow.

[rudeney]

There should be no charge. Installations come with a 90-day warranty.

[texasbrit]

Since 99 and 103 are “stacked” with the 110 signal, it can’t really be a cabling issue. If the dish gets the signal and it is secured, then I doubt it’s an aiming issue unless you have a partially obstructed view. My guess is a bad LNB or internal multiswitch. Either way, I’d guess replacing the LNB assembly will fix it.

Actually 99 and 101 are stacked together, 103/110/119 are stacked together. But since there is no multiswitch, all the signals come down the same cable to the tuner. So it can't be a cable issue, because you would lose them all.
If there is a multiswitch the situation changes. But to lose both 99 and 101, all transponders, you would need two cables to be faulty.

[rudeney]

Actually 99 and 101 are stacked together, 103/110/119 are stacked together.

You are correct. I always get that backwards! Sorry for any confusion.

But since there is no multiswitch, all the signals come down the same cable to the tuner. So it can't be a cable issue, because you would lose them all.
If there is a multiswitch the situation changes. But to lose both 99 and 101, all transponders, you would need two cables to be faulty.

Pretty much what I was saying - this is likely not a cabling issue. There is a multiswitch inside the LNB assembly, but that really doesn't matter since I'm fairly certain we've narrowed down the problem to something upstream of the cabling. Whether it's the LNB itself or the internal multiswitch doesn't matter as both are repalced as a unit.