[Guest]

I have a PVR 508, and have been having reception troubles this morning, then all is suddenly ok. Not raining or anything, just satellites locking to the incorrect sat. ie.. 119 would connect to 110 or vice versa (not sure exactly).

i did a switch test and all is perfect odd even odd even.

I wonder, did dish network perhaps reset their sats this morning? (around 11:30am or so)

 

[aboz]

I have had the same problem since yestrday.

 

[Guest]

Its interesting. because I thought it was perhaps rain earlier in the day - maybe clouds. but this never happened at all.

sat 119 is normally at 120/125 strength, while my sat 110 is normally 90/125. They are normally locked in, with no troubles.

When the troubles were abound, the signal was literally bouncing between 60-90 then to 0, back and forth, never syncing to the satellite, even saying "wrong satellite" (or something like that) for sat signal. No green bars! That was 119. 110 was a little worse, but pretty similar.

Now back to perfect. I'm in Hartford, CT.

 

[Chris Blount]

I also noticed it this morning on my PVR 501. Picture would freeze, blank out and then return. Looked at the Dish 500 setup screen and signal strength bars were bouncing up and down between 0 and 90.

Suppose it had something to do with the ECM sent out last night?

 

[JohnH]

Might have been some storm activity around the Uplink Center in Cheyenne: http://www.wunderground.com/radar/station.asp?ID=CYS19

 

[Guest]

I'm still having this problem on and off. No problems during the day, but now the last 5 hours it is doing the same thing with signal. Any ideas?
Should I call dish network? Is my pvr 508 possibly messed up? Even if it passes the switch test?

The dish is -definitely- aimed properly.

 

[andyf]

My 3900 was hard locked this morning, first time ever. Had to pull the plug to reset.

 

[drjake]

You could have a bad receiver, bad lnbs or bad cable or connections. Many times we have seen this type of problem with moisture in the cable causing an intermittent short. Did your installer use weatherproof connectors?

 

[Lyle_JP]

I had to do a yank-the-card reset on my 4900 yesterday morning as well. It was in standby mode and wouldn't respond to any remote or front panel commands. It probably has something to do with the ECM. When I re-inserted the card, everything went back to normal.

-Lyle J.P.

 

[Guest]

Drjake:

Re: as to weatherproof connectors.

How do I determine if he used weatherproof connectors on the outside?

By the way, this dish also has a terk TV42 antenna attached to it (the antenna's made to clamp to the sat. dish), and came with 6 cables, only 2 weatherproof, the remainder I believe standard rg6. I have it wired as follows:

LNB --> coupler ---> Standard nonweatherproofed RG6 --> Antenna IN ---> OUT ---> Weatherproofed RG6 ---> coupler ---> Cable that terminates inside.


It would have been nice, but the installer didn't leave much slack on the cable coming from the LNB, so that is why I must couple to another cable to connect to the TV42 antenna.

All of this lies outside the house.
No problems today ,but maybe it is a moisture condition. I am not sure if the installer used weatherproofed connectors where he coupled each LNB to the Long cable that terminates inside.

would this be enough to wreak havoc? this has been the first rain in quite a long time, and I've only had the service for around a month (with no problems).

Suggested solutions? Should I buy connectors and recrimp everything? Or can I simply buy new cables?

 

[drjake]

If there is moisture in the cable, it has probably travelled a couple of feet. Thus you will need to cut it down several feet, so replacing the cable may make sense. There are two types of weatherproof connectors, crimp and compression like snap and seal. Both will have an O-Ring inside the threaded to portion to ensure a strong seal. Many people swear by the compression type, but the crimp type will work just find if you uyse good connectors. Good weatherproof crimp connectors will have a dab of silicone in t he crimping section to seal the cable to connector.

 

[Guest]

My guess is it was the heavy cloud coverage in your area causing the the receiver to not sync up with the satellites. While wet fittlings can cause it's own problems, if you were just installed a month ago with one rain storm it's highly unlikely water has made its way into the cables - unless your area was flooded and the cables were under water. Has this problem passed now that it's been a few days?

 

[Guest]

Yeah it hasn't come back yet -

There was no flooding, no noticible cloudiness, not even -that- much rain. And the cables definitely seem dry. But I did re-do the wiring...

LNB --(weatherproof RG6)--> Terk TV42 --> Installer Weatherproof RG6 -> Coupler --> Installer provided cable to inside --> receiver.

No problems yet.
We'll see.

Maybe its the PVR. who knows.

 

[Guest]

My guess is you either had bad wiring, bad fittings then. The same problem was happening here in Wisconsin to a couple of customers homes. The signal was fluctuating from 70-110 but wouldn't lock in. It was pouring rain yesterday and I used that link above and sure enough it was raining in Cheyenne also. Let me know if that problem comes back...............

 

[Guest]

Well actually here's the latest. I have a two receiver household, and have a Dish301 downstairs. I swapped it in to where the PVR508 is - and lo and behold, no troubles, exactly at the same time when the PVR508 was cutting out and having satellite locking troubles. So Dish says its probably the PVR508 thats defective and is sending a free replacement.

Hope this is the end of the problems.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the info. It's good to know.

 

[Guest]

Got the replacement PVR 508 today - fixed EVERYTHING!