#@!%&*!!! Dish TV

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ZuniJayne

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Mar 5, 2005
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near Albuquerque, NM
There are a couple of Forum messages and articles I searched out, but they don't address all of the problem I am having.

I finally got down to brass tacks on setting up my Dish TV for the Fox.  I got the setup when I was house-sitting this last summer so never had to aim the antenna dish.  Silly me, I assumed it would be as easy as setting up my old Direct TV dish, which I could do in about 15 minutes or less.

My tried and true dish antenna setup was bolting it to a 2x6, leveling it, and using the trusty analog satellite meter to aim it.  Turn up the volume on the signal strength meter on the screen and listen to see if I had the right bird.  A handy rock or brick was good for steadying it if I was too lazy to drive the BF nails through the board into the ground. <g>

I have a 522 receiver/dvr and a DishPlus LNB.  The prewire on the Fox is only for one cable in, not the two that the receiver wants.  At first I was able to get either 119 or 110 but not both.  A DISH tech rep said I didn't have to use both connections at the LNB; both carried both satellite signals.

Well, that didn't work, and the "check switch" function apparently got confused and shut the door on 119 getting in to the receiver.  About that time my little satellite finder decided to croak, and/or was getting no power from the receiver to it so it could read signal. 

Next step:  try using the old coax from my Hughesnet dish to attach to both LNBs, run straight through the open window, to both connex on the back of the receiver.  Try to get signal - no luck.  Check switch still tells me to pound sand.

I get on the line with advanced tech support at Dish.  The last guy was helpful and realized I wasn't a TOTAL idiot and suggested I get a separator to make the check switch happy.  Apparently there is a catch-22 that you need a signal to make the check switch function right, but if the check switch is not right, you will NEVER see a signal on the TV screen display.

I wish I hadn't called a second time.  I got a person who is REALLY lucky that I am a couple of continents away.  I ended up hanging up on her.

I've been to several tech sites about this, and it seems each one has a little bit of the puzzle but not the whole thing.  Yeah, I know, I probably should have come here first.  ::)  I suppose Monday I could try to track down a local installer, but they probably want $$$ I don't have.

I tried to test the continuity of the analog signal meter by putting the tipsof my multimeter on ohms, in the wire hole on each side, and got a reading.  Testing on the threaded part for both sides said 0.00.  Is that telling me that something inside is fried?  There doesn't seem to be a way into it to replace a fuse or something.

I don't mind rewiring things to bring two coaxes into the Fox.

TIA for any help.
 
I assume you have a dish 500 with a dish pro plus twin lnb. With that setup you can use a single cable with a dish pro plus separator at the receiver to connect both tuners. Make sure you are using one of the two outputs on the lnb, not the input. The outputs are the two together on one side of the lnb. Use either one of the two. Make sure the separator is connected correctly. It is marked (tuner1, tuner2).

When you are pointing at two satellites it is very important to make sure the mounting pole is perfectly plumb. Get a level and check it.

Go to dishpointer.com and get the pointing coordinates for the dish 500 at your zip code. Set the elevation and skew coordinates on the dish mount, then slowly rotate the dish in the azimuth direction. Keep in mind, that you are not aiming the face of the dish toward the azmuth angle, but rather a line parrell to the elevation angle brackets on the back of the dish. Dish skew causes the face of the dish to be offset from the actual line of sight to the satellite. Therefore, it's better to use the angle brackets as a reference for the azimuth angle adjustment.

Running check switch sets the receiver up for whatever type dish and switches you are using. You have to run it every time you switch hardware configurations. You might want to run it before you connect to the dish to clear the current memory, then run it again after you align the dish.

Good luck.
 
 
Here is a phone number for a person who can answer your question. He is the west coast distributer from KVH and he really knows satellite systems and he is an extremely nice guy. He is in Lake Havasu and his cell is 760-835-2400. His name is Frank Carlson.
 
First... You need one coax per receiver input. If you are not using 2 inputs you don't need two coax

Second: I'd make a cable change on your Fox.. I'd add a length of dual coax from the receiver to a convienent connection point. RG-6.. Many trailers and motor homes are pre-wired for sat tv with RG-59, and frankly...... I"m getting very dissatasified with the el-cheapo RG-59 that was put in my Damon.. It's not even good for UHF television, let alone Sat TV.. WHen I get a few dollars to spare (I need another jar of connectors and 100 feet of coax) it's going by-by and RG-6 will replace it

Now.. Once you have nice solid nothing in between the connector and the receiver save RG-6 (or 1/2 of a dual rg-6 cable) try this.

On the receiver enter your present zip code.  Pre-set elvation and skew to the suggested.

Standing behind the DISH portion of the antenna, put a tin foil "hat" or cover over the LNB on your left (That is the 119 LNB) select 110 on the receiver and using a portable TV to view the signal meter on the receiver try to find 110. HINT, if you find a sat, the receiver will tell you 2 of 4 things

1&2: Signal strength and Sat name or "Wrong sat" (possibly both)
3: Sat number
4: Right sat

If you want 110 and it says the sat's number is 95.. Try a bit more to the west

if you want 110 and it says 127,, Try a bit more to the east

Once you have 110, pull the hat and trim skew for best on both 110 and 119

It truly is that easy.

And the software in the dish receiver...  Well.. I have never seen a bird dog's display but I have had them described to me.. The BD is a sat-finder meter costing over 400 bucks USED

and it's every bit as good as the Dish Network Receiver's antenna pointing feature.


One final thought.. I'm near the I-85 Georgia/SC. border.. If you are as well, House calls are possible.
 
SUCCESS!

Thanks for your suggestions!  I started from scratch and checked the volts DC output on both #1 and #2 on the back of the receiver.  13.3 - good so far.

I checked the HughesNet coax for resistance and everything was 0.00.  Ran that cable out the window to bypass possible internal wiring problems.  Checked vDC again at the end of the coax before attaching them to the LNBs.  Still 13.3!

Attached the HughesNet dual coax (RG6, 75 ohm resistance, 3000 mHz) to the DPP  #1 and #2 LNBS.  Ran check switch, and the receiver actually recognized the change in configuration!  Now we are getting somewhere!

Then I double-checked the mast and discovered a "hit forehead with palm of hand" error.  I had been reading the elevation from the center of the adjustment bolt, NOT the correct vertical flange. ( I am REALLY out of practice at this!) :-[

I corrected the elevation and covered the 110 with the tinfoil "hat."  I did remember to start the azimuth swing several degrees west of where I thought it should be. (Sorta like pulling ahead about 10 feet more than you THINK you should before you back up the rig.  ;D) 

It was hard to be patient to stop the swing long enough to let the on-screen signal meter catch up, but I did. 8)  Five minutes later I had enough 119 signal to run another check switch and make slight adjustments to get 110.  Yeehaa!

I still don't know why the signal strength meter screen still kept switching to 129 or 105 sats on its own. The receiver WAS putting out power to run my analog signal meter and the meter still didn't work.  Then the meter is toast, so I'll get another.  Hey - it lasted 15 years.  You can get 'em for about $13 now.  ..Although it would be nice to have the dual analog signal meter for $70. (Drool...)

Now I just have to rewire the Fox to accommodate the dual coax.  A separator would have worked, but I think it would have limited the versatility of the dual tuner to record shows.  I sure don't plan on using it for HughesNet any more.  ;)

Here are two really helpful websites:

http://www.satelliteguys.us and http://www.wowvision.tv And thanks to Jack Pearce for his...than any noob should know! 8) Thanks again!
 

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