Direct TV

[txtaz]

We had Direct TV 500 (Dueal LNB) installed 6 months ago and now one of the TV's does not work. I've swapped receivers, cables and it looks like it's the LNB. Direct TV wants $100 to repair it. I'm in the process of cutting tree limbs around it before ordering a new LNB (ebay $24) to see it that works. Any pros out there? Can trees all of a sudden cause a total failure on 1 LNB? Anyone have suggestions for a replacement to Direct TV if it comes to that?
Thanks
Wes ( Mr tree trimmer in 90 degree heat)

[txtaz]

Never mind, the answer is YES. :p

One minute the thing works and then it doesn't. I cut down all the limbs in front of the dish and it starts working again. NOTE: There is a 9 degrees difference between the two LNB's, so one could go out before the other one.
Hope this helps someone.
Wes

[wytmike]

If one tv isworking and the other is not working it may not be the LNB. It could also be the multi switch that has failed. Try swapping the feeds at the the multi-switch which is usually on the back of the dish.

Mike

[hardcrab]

i've had DIRECTV for 3 years, any problems i had were taken care of in short order, including equiptment failure due to lightning.
i'm very happy with this service and would recommend it to anyone [especially COMCAST customers]
~ no, i'm not a DIRECTV employee ~ :yes:

[synack]

DirecTV is the bomb diggity! ;-) I ditched cable for DTV back in Oct of 1994 and haven't looked back since!

Anyway, your typical DTV satellite has 32 transponders on it. An LNB can only tune in either odd or even transponders at any given time. As you switch channels, the receiver sends different voltages to the LNB to instruct it to switch back and forth between the even/odd transponders. It's because of this voltage signal that you cannot use a standard splitter on the sat cable.

A dual LNB (one unit with two coax cables coming out of it) has two LNBs in it which can operate independantly of each other and allow you to use 2 receivers with it.

A double dual LNB setup (two units usually with two cables out of each) allows you to tune in the 101 sat and the 119 sat. A triple dual gets the 110 sat in addition to the other two. Most programming comes from the 101 sat. 119 has NASA, spanish, some HDTV, and some local channels. 110 has locals and some HDTV.

So, if you lose a whole LNB unit, or it gets blocked, you will lose all the programming on that satellite. If you lose half of a dual LNB, then you will get weird situations across the multiple TVs where some channels will be there and others wont (i.e. the odd transponder channels show up, but the evens disappear since an LNB can only tune even or odd).

[txtaz]

After trimming half a forest or so it felt like, the second TV came back on. So the trees were blocking the signal. I was a little disappointed when they offered no help other than a $100 service call on 6 month old equipment. They could have asked if trees were close by or blocking the dish. Ohhh well live and learn.
Thanks for the info guys,
Wes

[Richard Rees]

Wes, Turn off the soap opera's and get a job.

[txtaz]

Wes, Turn off the soap opera's and get a job.
Ohhhhh man, I'm busted. :biggrin.:
I'll start looking right after "Days of our lives"
Wes

[Moody Blu']

honestly, satellite is cool, but with all the problems associated with them, customer service, idiot installers and signal goin in and out when it rains or yada yada.id rather have cable.

the dual lnb and triple lnb dishes are being faded out with dishes with triple lnbs and multi switches built in. terk makes one now and there are a couple others. my installers install them all the time and instead of running to a multiswitch and then to the recievers they run right out of the dish into the recievers.