Dish satellite won’t lock on to any satellite

[Jalisa]

Hello- our dish (traveler) won’t lock on to any of the three western arc satellites. We’ve been in wide open spaces and nothing happens, keeps searching and going through the usual motions and finally stows away. Dish customer help could not help us. Any thoughts? Currently in Utah.
Thank you,
Lisa

[Dutchstar411]

Originally Posted by Jalisa

Hello- our dish (traveler) won’t lock on to any of the three western arc satellites. We’ve been in wide open spaces and nothing happens, keeps searching and going through the usual motions and finally stows away. Dish customer help could not help us. Any thoughts? Currently in Utah.
Thank you,
Lisa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjDz8GJcEWM

Look at this video, it might help.

[BonS]

If the info in the video doesn't resolve your issues then you should check your cables. Check both the cables that run from your dish down to your receiver and controller. My OEM cables were installed in the roof and bent too tightly. Eventually the heat and bend were too much and the cables failed creating shorted cables. I also had cable failures on the dish itself. Fortunately, Winegard sells a replacement set of cables. and they're fairly easy to replace. Good luck in fixing your problem.

[Jalisa]

Thank you both for the help!

[SeeTheUSA]

DISH has a second level step for us Outdoors folks beyond the regular call in customer service. As I remember, it’s called “pace” or something similar. Anyway, while talking to customer service, they can forward to that and get either Winegard or King (as it applies to your actual dish).

Give it a try.

[RayandWendy]

If you are using a wally box that has not been activated before, make sure Dish has the right numbers for the box and the smart card. I spent 2 weeks on the phone with them before someone had me reconfirm the numbers, one was mis-typed.
Later...
Ray

[Lt Dan]

One other thing you can try. Unscrew the coax connections and wiggle the coax around. I found that sometimes the coax tip gets a corrosion coating and doesn't make contact very well.

[powercat_ras]

Several things ...

The search function is provided by a circuit board in the base on the roof that powers the LNBF and that has a sat signal receiver that looks for the sat dish pilot signals (LNBF is the thing at the end of the arm that has the 3 signal pickups).

The dish on the roof will search and find sats so long as your dish and control box are good and connected, even with all the coax cables going into the inside disconnected.

Things you can check and fix yourself are:

I suggest you try these one at a time ...

Make sure the LNBF is not loose (you should not be able to move it around with light force with your hand), check the screws at the back of the LNBF bracket and tighten if need be. Don't over-tighten it is really easy to strip out the plastic bracket if either or both in the plastic bracket are stripped, you should replace it. There is a way on the control box to put the dish in a raised position so you can do this, or you can just start search and unplug the control box after the dish raises and has started to search to get it out of stowed position so you can check this and do the next step if need be.

There are 3 cables that go from the base to the LNBF (they connect inside the plastic bracket). Make sure the connections are tight.

The cable from "C" on the base to the back of the LNBF is used for search. That cable likely goes to "1" on the back of the LNBF. You can try switching that cable on both ends with the "B" cable in case the "C" cable has gone bad. The "B" cable does not carry any signal.

LNBFs very occasionally fail, finally you can try getting another one and switching it out, there are three types, the old original Western Arc LNBF, and two Western ARC hybrid LNBFs, an older vintage and an newer vintage called "slimline". The "slimline" needs a different bracket. Only very new vintage Dish rooftop units have hybrid, most will have the old original.

I am telling you this so you don't buy the wrong kind. If you have the non-hybrid LNBF be sure to get another one of the same kind.

These are the same LNBF as used on all residential installations that are pointed at the "western arc" sats, you can buy them new or used. Dish stopped using the old original several years ago so finding new ones has started getting difficult, but there are lots of used ones for sale at places like Bay.

Those are things you can try before you take the Dish down and send it off for service.

Good luck.

[Jalisa]

Thank you to everyone- we will try these ideas and hopefully one will work.

[chuckbear]

You need to call Winegard and not Dish. Dish does not make you antenna. Their tech support has always been helpful to me. Chuck

[brandss]

I went through months of the same problem and only found the problem by accident. We have a wally receiver and the darn thing worked with our pathway x2 but not the traveler. While the coach was in for weeks of collision work I brought the wally into our casita in Florida where we have a dish mounted to the side of the casita. It would not lock on satellites.

Had a dish repairman come out, he did a few things and said it didn't make sense that it wouldn't work. Went out an got a new Wally with update software and it all worked. He said sometimes the older receivers have outdated software and don't upgrade correctly. Didn't make a lot of sense but now everything works. Might be worth a try.

[powercat_ras]

Originally Posted by brandss

I went through months of the same problem and only found the problem by accident. We have a wally receiver and the darn thing worked with our pathway x2 but not the traveler. While the coach was in for weeks of collision work I brought the wally into our casita in Florida where we have a dish mounted to the side of the casita. It would not lock on satellites.

Had a dish repairman come out, he did a few things and said it didn't make sense that it wouldn't work. Went out an got a new Wally with update software and it all worked. He said sometimes the older receivers have outdated software and don't upgrade correctly. Didn't make a lot of sense but now everything works. Might be worth a try.

The OP said their Trav'ler would not find any sats on search. This can not be a Wally issue. The Trav'ler will find and lock on sats even with no receiver connected.

[chuckbear]

We typically fire up the travlr before we turn on the Wally. Once the sats are locked we turn the Wally on. You might try it. Chuck

[Jalisa]

Again, thanks for all the help. We’ll go up on the roof when it’s not over 100 degrees and check things up there, and call winegard vs dish. Happy travels!