[Anthony in NYC]

I installed the Terk Sat C kit last night.


I have a DTC-100 and one of the generic smaller boxes by RCA.


After I completed the install I left the boxes unplugged for about 30 mintues before I was able to get back to seeing if it worked.


Once I plugged them back in and turned them on I went to the menu to change the dish to 3 LNB from 2 LNB.



The generic RCA box didn't want to find a satellite signal at all. After going to the dish pointing option I was able to see that the problem was with the 101 signal. The 110/119 locked in the 90's, the 101 signal would only lock if I switched to transponder 31.


When I powered on the DTC-100 it worked fine and I got Showtime-HD for about 5 minutes but then it vanashied and now it says searching for satellite" when I went to 90 or 543. All the other channels seem to be fine (including HDNet and HBO-HD, Spanish Channels).



So right now I have the generic box working as it was before I don't need Sat C for that one so it's not really and issue.


But I still cannot get Showtime HD. Of course DirecTV customer support was little to no help. What should I test. What should I do next. ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

 

[larryv]

Check your cabling. Make sure you have the Sat B/C combiner hooked to the Sat B 18v input on the multiswitch. Also, check that the cables are correct going into the Sat B/C combiner. They are not interchangable.


Your generic receiver cannot get both Sat A and B, unless it says

DirecTV Plus.

 

[Anthony in NYC]

tried that..... they seem to be correctly input... anything I should check before I concluded that I must have a bad LNB?

 

[Leftcoastdave]

Yes, check that the center signal line on your coax connector is not bent.


Some kits contain the cheesy RG59 cable connectors and the center conductor is both short and not very robust. I bent mine when threading it into the combiner and had to reposition it several times before I got it inserted correctly.


This could cause you to get no signal on 110 but still be seeing 101 and 119 channels. Check both the 9" and the 31.5" connectors at both ends.


And good luck.

 

[larryv]

You said 101 was a problem. Did that clear up? The fact that you had SHOH and then "searching for satellite" sounds like an intermittent cable.

Have you tried going back to the original pre-SatC setup? Leave the LNB in place, just take out the combiner and run Sat B direct to the 18v Sat B input. If that checks out OK, you can test the Sat C LNB, by running it directly to the Sat B 18v input and leave off the Sat B line and combiner. You will be missing one polarization of 119, but this would prove that the Sat C LNB is OK. If that LNB is OK, hook up the combiner. If 110 is gone, then the combiner is the problem.

Even if it looks like the SatC LNB is bad, disconnect the coax from it and measure the voltage at that end of the coax. Be careful not to short the center conductor to the shield. If you don't have 18v dc, then the coax is bad.

 

[Anthony in NYC]

Thanks for the tips I will try them tonight. I checked the cables and none of them are bent. I replaced the short wire with one that I know works and that didn't work. So tonight I will try the steps above. Thanks for everything. I will keep you posted.

 

[Anthony in NYC]

I tried everything above and still nothing. I sat down on my roof feeling quite defeated. I glanced up and noticed the tip of a tree remotely in the same area my dish was pointing.....


The TREE strikes again.

Given that I live in a two family in NYC and my dish is installed on the roof I never considered that this might be the issue. I move the SAT-C LNB to the position of the SAT B LNB and pow I got a lock on channel 90 and 543. This explained why it seemed to come and go and worked best at night (when the wind it pretty strong... I live close to the water). Unfortunately. I cannot cut down the tree it's on someone else property. I guess I am going to have to have my dish repositioned.