[jaypb]

Just curious if anyone else had low signal strength on the 3 D* Transponders on Sat C on Tuesday night into Wednesday AM?


Here in the NJ area we had rain tonight....but not the heavy kind that usually leads to a Sat C outage/breakup. I have signal strength of high 20's/low 30's on Xponder 10 and low 40's on 8/12. Never had an issue like this before.


I had no issues before 9pm....but when I tried to watch Sho-HD and HBO-HD at around 11:30 pm I have no picture....and it persists now. HDNet Movies is out as well.


Anyone else?





Thanks

 

[greywolf]

There's a whole thread on night time Sat C problems on the east coast, http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=451007

 

[jaypb]

Quote:

Originally posted by greywolf There's a whole thread on night time Sat C problems on the east coast, http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=451007

Thanks for the heads up. I remember seeing that thread a few weeks ago and didn't give any thought to it since I wasn't having issues like that at the time. I watch Dead Like Me at 10pm on Sunday nights every weekend....without an issue.


Just thought it was too coincidental that I haven't had ANY problems with these channels since my Triple LNB went up almost 2 years ago....other than rain fade and snow/ice issues.....and last night it was lightly raining. But the signal loss I was seeing wasn't "in line" with previous episodes (i.e Sat C goes, Sat B goes next and then Sat A). What I'm seeing is Sat C xponders at around a 40 signal strength on all 3 of my Hughes E86's....and Sat B in the high 80's/low 90's (where it normally is) and Sat A transponders that I checked at low-mid 90's. I'll have to have the wife check during the day today.

 

[DrDon]

Quote:

Originally posted by jaypb since my Triple LNB went up almost 2 years ago

You must have the older dish that uses the Sat C kit. As you'll see from reading through the thread Pat gave you, those Sat C combiners have about a two-year lifespan if left outdoors. Those in the central part of the country have enough actual signal that they'll never notice until it fails entirely. Being on the edge of the footprint, anything from condensation in a connection to the failing Sat C kit is going to present more quickly. To test, bypass the combiner running a line directly to the Sat C LNB. If all is well, then your combiner is going south.

 

[jaypb]

Quote:

Originally posted by DrDon You must have the older dish that uses the Sat C kit. As you'll see from reading through the thread Pat gave you, those Sat C combiners have about a two-year lifespan if left outdoors. Those in the central part of the country have enough actual signal that they'll never notice until it fails entirely. Being on the edge of the footprint, anything from condensation in a connection to the failing Sat C kit is going to present more quickly. To test, bypass the combiner running a line directly to the Sat C LNB. If all is well, then your combiner is going south.

I should have put "Phase 3 triple LNB" in my previous response. I have the combined lnb....not a Sat C kit upgrade. It's either a KTI or a WTC dish. I'll have to check when I get home.


The odd thing is it's still misty/raining here in NJ area and my wife tells me that 70/71 are breaking up and 73/78 are coming in as of 10am. She wasn't able to give me signal strengths and I didn't have the time to go through it with her on the phone. I'm interested in seeing if the Sat A signal strengths on those 3 receivers are at the same level as the 4 receivers I have hooked up to the Single LNB dish I also have. If not, it's GOT to be the LNB's....right ?!?!?


I've only gotten through page 3 of the thread that Greywolf pointed me to. Seems there are a lot of E86/Mitsu clone HD units being mentioned by those having nighttime problems.


I'm leaning towards it being an issue in the LNB somewhere. My connections are tight because I was up on the roof in the summer adding a new line to the dish. I believe I waterproofed the line I added, but I can't vouch for the 2 that the installer hooked up. I'll have to wait and see if the signal strength increases once the sun comes out and any potential water issues "dry up" to see if the signal strength bumps back up.


Thanks.

 

[DrDon]

While you're up there, check to make sure the mast is still plumb and that the dish hasn't slipped anywhere. Look for new signal path obstructions as well as garbage on your dish. You wouldn't think bird poop make that much of a difference, but when it hits the lnb dead on.. .


But, yeah, connections, connections, connections. Single biggest source of issues.


Also make sure those E86s are kept cool. But you'll see that in the other thread.

 

[jaypb]

Quote:

Originally posted by DrDon While you're up there, check to make sure the mast is still plumb and that the dish hasn't slipped anywhere. Look for new signal path obstructions as well as garbage on your dish. You wouldn't think bird poop make that much of a difference, but when it hits the lnb dead on.. . But, yeah, connections, connections, connections. Single biggest source of issues. Also make sure those E86s are kept cool. But you'll see that in the other thread.

All 3 have some sort of a fan washing over them and are out in the open not in a confined space.


I'll have to get out the old flashlight tonight and check. I'll try covering the Sat C LNB as well.


Is there a universal LNB replacement for these Phase III's available for sale? I'm not sure if I have a KTI or a WNC dish....and I'm not sure if either's LNB assembly fits on the arm. And I'm not sure how receptive a call to D* for some help with a new assembly will be.....

 

[DrDon]

No, you cover the Sat B LNB to see if reception improves on Sat C. You may find you just need to retweak the pointing a bit. They've ramped down the error correction on C again. A dish set slightly off two years ago might have had enough EC all this time to make up for it. But not now. I had to re-run lines to mine the last time they did this. Levels jumped from 80s to 100s and I still have no idea what was wrong with the other line. Both RG-6, both the same age.