Searching for Signal - Help!!!

[superhomey]

Hi guys, I'm experiencing signal loss frequently to both of my receivers. I replaced RG-6 cables and connections, and even moved the dish (Terk S-26) off my roof. I can get signal by doing one of two things:

1. Unscrew the coax cable from the receiver and then tap the coax wire to the outside of the female connector until I see a spark. Usually if I quickly reconnect the cable my signal goes from 0 to 97%. :confused:

2. Wiggle the coax cables coming out of the dish itself.

What a pain in the butt.

I'm wondering if it's the multiswitch in the dish. Either I get signal or I don't. That goes for each of the three sats. Could it be grounding itself out?

Appreciate the help!

J.J.

[morgantown]

Your cables need grounded. A dual pass through connector is usually included with installation kits and it has a place where you can attach a ground. It is not a splitter or anything, it is just a metal piece that has a place where you attach two cables on one side and two on the other.

Hope that helps.

[superhomey]

Thanks for the quick reply, I'll check it out when I get home.

J.J.

[Skip Towne]

Sounds like bad coax connectors to me. Grounding has nothing to do with it.

[superhomey]

Replaced the ground block but looks like the problem was the connectors. I hate to admit it but I didn't know you were supposed to peel back the wire mesh before putting the connector on. I was snipping the wire mesh flush with the outer jacket. Guess I wasn't making a solid connection. A friend of mine came over showed me what I was doing wrong. Man, I felt stupid. I replaced the crappy twist on F connectors with the outdoor compression type. Everything seems to be working great. I have ~98% signal strength and holding steady. The test will be tomorrow during football.

Thanks a lot for your help guys.

J.J.

[superhomey]

Well all was well for most of the day but I lost signal again, this time during the Chiefs game. I disconnected & reconnected the lines going into the dish and everything is back up. Since I changed all the connectors, and made sure I did them correctly, I'm thinking it's the lines coming from the LNBs. Anybody have this happen before?

J.J.