No even transponders and low strength on the odds

[rhansen42]

We have a King Dome In-Motion Satellite dish with Direct TV. We only have the odd transponders with low signal strength and no even transponders on both tuners. We only have one receiver. We've done all the trouble shooting to know that the cables are good as well as the receiver. I think we have narrowed it down to the destacker or the LNB however we did read that low voltage from the tuner could cause a problem. We've had Direct TV repairman out and talked at length to the King Controls tech people but are at a loss as to how to reach a diagnosis without buying both an LNB and a destacker to see if one fixes the problem. Any ideas as how we can narrow this down?

[94-Newmar]

FWIW, even though I have a carry-out DirecTV dish I had the exact same issue. I use the 'park' cable entrance CATV jack to plug my dish into and it had been working fine. I would setup the dish, use my meter and tune for maximum signal then get inside only to find decent signal on the odd transponders and 0 on the even ones. I assumed something was wrong in the wiring and opted to plug the dish cable directly into the DirecTV receiver without even moving the dish - voila, solid signal on everything. So I replaced the park CATV jack and it's been fine ever since. I am assuming that the jack/connection might of had some corrosion somewhere internally causing the signal loss. I suggest having the tech 'ohm out' the connections all the way thru from the dish to the receiver before spending the money on an LNB.

[wa8yxm]

You have a De-Stacker with a single receiver.... Why? (No don't answer that) with a single receiver the receiver can tell the LNB what to send, You'd only need a De-Stacker if you had multiple LNB's or.. Of course, an LNB that does not understand DirecTV commands.

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Reset the receiver.. Either via the menu or via the big red button. This is not the same as unplugging it. Unplugging it and waiting then plugging back in will NOT reset it.

[Bill Adams]

wa8yxm,
If you read the post you will see that he mentions "both tuners". Even though you didn't want an answer, the answer is that he is using a destacker to work with his stacked LNB to provide a signal to more than one tuner. Ever heard of a DVR? (No, don't answer that). I believe that since the in-motion King Dome LNB's are all stacked he would still have to use a destacker with a single receiver.

[rhansen42]

Thanks for the reply posts. The In Motion does require a destacker eventhough we have a single receiver. We have reset the receiver on many occasions but it has not fixed the problem. We may have multiple problems since we have low signal on the odds AND no signal on the evens so taking our rig to a pro might be our best bet. Thanks again.

[dieselclacker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhansen42 Thanks for the reply posts. The In Motion does require a destacker eventhough we have a single receiver. We have reset the receiver on many occasions but it has not fixed the problem. We may have multiple problems since we have low signal on the odds AND no signal on the evens so taking our rig to a pro might be our best bet. Thanks again.

rhansen42,

Could your King Dome be finding the wrong satellite? I have, on occassion, had the same problem of only receiving signal from odd transponders, and found I was receiving signal from the 110 satellite on my Winegard, and not the 101 that is required for my non HD Directv.
Please post here, when solved, what the final resolution to your problem was.

Dieselclacker

[wa8yxm]

Aplogies yes, Bill, I missed the "Both Tuners" comment.. He would need De-stackers with that.. The odds of both of them going bad at the exact same time however...

Well.. Kind of "off the charts" as it were.

I like DC (The post above mine's) response too, though with the wrong bird the receivers SHOULD, register all zeros.. But then he is using DirecTV and the antenna pointing software is not nearly as good as DISH.

I do recall one poor camper. The auto-dish controller showed a very strong signal but his DirecTV receiver was all zeros.

Sat-119W

[Bill Adams]

As noted, with that antenna, even if he had a single, single tuner, receiver, he would still need a de-stacker with his stacked LNB. That's just the way the system is setup.
Also, it is not true that if you are pointed at the wrong satellite you should be seeing 0's everywhere. With DirecTV, if you point to the 72W satellite you will see very good SS #'s on all of the even transponders and 0's on the odds. You still won't receive any programming but that's what you will see.

[wa8yxm]

I have heard that DTV will do that if you point at a wrong bird.. That's one of the thigs I like about DISH receivers....

They not only tell you right or wrong bird,, They tell you WHAT Bird. DTV is not nearly that good.

The short story I mentioned above... It was the Antenna control panel that told me how to fix his problem (re-point) just so you know.

That said. DirecTV does have the advantage of all ti's NTSC programs (For the average RVer) being on one bird.. Makes dome use much easier.

[ronharp]

You probably won't like this too much, I sure don't, but I've been “working” on the same problem with KC since last December. I purchased a refurb(my first mistake). It would not find the 3 sats except once.(I do have Dish). Sent it back at my expense. They said it was fixed and sent it back to me. Had only odd TP no even. Sent it back in at my expense. They changed some things including the LNB and sent it back to me. It then found 3 sats most of the time and had “some” even TP but not always a picture on the channel connected with the even TP that showed good. They then shipped me a “different” LNB. I then had “more” even TPs and found 3 sats almost every time. I purchased a “new” LNB and then had really fast location of 3 sats every checkdisk and very fast channel changing. Checking TPs found most of even and all of odd ones, BUT did not bring in picture on many even TPs though they showed communication in the “point dish” window. Sent it back in at “their” expense this time. I just got it back yesterday and have not checked it yet. KC said the checked it on “every channel and every TP” and found no problem and sent it back without adjustment. I will get it set up this weekend and see what I can do. I think I will try a different power source if it does not work right off the bat.

Ron

[Clay L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wa8yxm I have heard that DTV will do that if you point at a wrong bird.. That's one of the thigs I like about DISH receivers.... They not only tell you right or wrong bird,, They tell you WHAT Bird. DTV is not nearly that good. SNIP That said. DirecTV does have the advantage of all ti's NTSC programs (For the average RVer) being on one bird.. Makes dome use much easier.

Actually the newer HD receivers do tell you the sat numbers and all the transponder signal strengths on a given sat at the same time. Don't know about the SD receivers though.

[Don The Ham]

The following cleared my problem with the missing transponders.

Removed and reconnected the cable between the King-Dome tuner and the controller. These are an RJ type connectors (telephone type). My tuner and controller are located in an overhead compartment above the windshield. This area is inside my coach wall, but not insulated from heat or humidity.

Removing and reconnecting electrical cables tends to clear corrosion problems.

[ronharp]

Well, it is the same as before sending it in. In spite of it "working" on every channel and every transponder, per KD, it still does not bring Fox News in on any of the 3 channels.

Ron

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronharp You probably won't like this too much, I sure don't, but I've been “working” on the same problem with KC since last December. I purchased a refurb(my first mistake). It would not find the 3 sats except once.(I do have Dish). Sent it back at my expense. They said it was fixed and sent it back to me. Had only odd TP no even. Sent it back in at my expense. They changed some things including the LNB and sent it back to me. It then found 3 sats most of the time and had “some” even TP but not always a picture on the channel connected with the even TP that showed good. They then shipped me a “different” LNB. I then had “more” even TPs and found 3 sats almost every time. I purchased a “new” LNB and then had really fast location of 3 sats every checkdisk and very fast channel changing. Checking TPs found most of even and all of odd ones, BUT did not bring in picture on many even TPs though they showed communication in the “point dish” window. Sent it back in at “their” expense this time. I just got it back yesterday and have not checked it yet. KC said the checked it on “every channel and every TP” and found no problem and sent it back without adjustment. I will get it set up this weekend and see what I can do. I think I will try a different power source if it does not work right off the bat. Ron

[StStg1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clay L Actually the newer HD receivers do tell you the sat numbers and all the transponder signal strengths on a given sat at the same time. Don't know about the SD receivers though.

I have an SD regular 18" DTV dish. I always can tell signal strengths on all 32 transponders. I've never had a problem selceting the TP with the strongest signal for my system. Just my 2 cents.