[corporate666]

So I ended up working out a deal with D* and they sent a tech out Wednesday to install the dish. I thought he was going to run all the wires to the new switch, but he said he was there to mount and point the dish and that was it.

So.... he showed up Wednesday, and put up the 5-LNB slimline dish. He re-connected the two cables from my old Dual LNB dish to the two corresponding LNB slots on the new dish, and left a few feet of cable for me and said I'd need to run the wires from those cables into the house into the new switch. He also gave me a Zinwell 6x8 multiswitch.

So yesterday I didnt have time to run the 2 new wires for the dish, so in the meantime I connected my two wires (from my 2 old LNB's) to the Zinwell inputs, and connected the TV's back up to the swith as well. But only 1/2 my channels are working - only the even channels. In the antenna setup, I only see signal on the even number transponders.

I thought the fact that the dish has some sort of switch in it, and the Zinwell says "you need all 4 ports connected to use a 5-LNB dish" meant that perhaps the missing 2 wires were something to do with it. So I just got done hooking up the other 2 wires. Now I see signal on the 110 and 119 satellites but I still see no signal on the 101 odd's.

Here's the breakdown

Satellite 101, no signal on odd transponders, good signal on evens
Satellite 110, good signal on all transponders (I only see a few - 8, 10 and 12)
Satellite 119, good signal on all transponders (I see 22-32)

I called D* and they said they can send a tech out, but he will TRY to get here Saturday. Now I'm pouting because I wanna see my new HDTV

Anyone have any suggestions on things I can try? I was thinking if I hooked the old multiswitch up just to the old wires (the standard def LNB's) it would tell me if the switch is bad - but is the old switch compatible with the LNB's on the new dish (I know its not compatible with the HD programming LNB's but what about the SD programming?). I already checked all the connections and everything seems OK. I know the switches change the power going to the LNB's so I dont wanna hook the old one up and somehow fry the LNB on the dish.

Also, how do I know which wire goes to which on the input of the switch? 2 ports are labeled 13V and 18V. Then there are two others labeled the same but with "22kHz tone" above. I believe the tone is what tells the HD LNB's to be utilized an therefore the HD LNB's should go to those two inputs and the SD LNB's (the two existing cables the guy re-connected to my new dish) should connect to the ports marked 13V and 18V, but does it matter which cable goes to which port between the 13 and 18V????

Anyone want to suggest anything else I could try to get this up and going before the D* guys show up???

 

[litzdog911]

Bad installer. Bad installer

You need all four lines from the dish to the Zinwell WB68 multiswitch satellite inputs. It doesn't matter what order they're connected to the multiswitch's inputs.

 

[urnote96]

Call directv and get another installer out there to redo that job...unreal

Its just sad seeing how much of a bad rap that us good installers get from the bad ones...

 

[Teronzhul]

The 13v and 18v leads are for the even/odd on 101. 13v22khz should be 110 and 18v22khz 119. The HD programming should already be available to you as most of it is carried on 110/119 and you are seeing those signals. (Assuming that the card is able to authorize without 101 odd)

I would suggest double checking the connections between your switch/dish to make sure they're secure and not damaged.

You possibly have a damaged connection, a bad multiswitch, or a bad dish LNB. Checking the cables is about the only thing you can do easily yourself. Try switching the 13v/18v cables around and see if your situation changes. If reversing them makes odds work and evens fail, then that would tell us the dish is likely ok and the switch or the cables are the problem.

If you try bypassing the switch with a barrel connector, and it works fine, then the dish/cabling can't be at fault and it will lie with the switch.

The only way to troubleshoot these things is process of elimination. Take one thing out of the picture at a time.

 

[litzdog911]

The 13v and 18v leads are for the even/odd on 101. 13v22khz should be 110 and 18v22khz 119. The HD programming should already be available to you as most of it is carried on 110/119 and you are seeing those signals. (Assuming that the card is able to authorize without 101 odd)

I would suggest double checking the connections between your switch/dish to make sure they're secure and not damaged.

You possibly have a damaged connection, a bad multiswitch, or a bad dish LNB. Checking the cables is about the only thing you can do easily yourself. Try switching the 13v/18v cables around and see if your situation changes. If reversing them makes odds work and evens fail, then that would tell us the dish is likely ok and the switch or the cables are the problem.

If you try bypassing the switch with a barrel connector, and it works fine, then the dish/cabling can't be at fault and it will lie with the switch.

The only way to troubleshoot these things is process of elimination. Take one thing out of the picture at a time.

These steps won't really help. He needs all four dish outputs connected to the Zinwell multiswitch for his DVR's and Receivers to see all of the satellites and transponders. As a workaround he could connect a couple of his receivers directly to the dish's outputs, bypassing the Zinwell multiswitch. That will work until the extra two cables are run from the dish to the multiswitch.