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Satellite Dishes & Receivers (Down & Out)

A

AK1490

Guest
I have 4 satellite dishes out back with a rack of receivers inside. A week ago one of the program feed signal strength readings started heading downward. Still had audio however. Today everything hit rock bottom as all feeds from all dishes & receivers were down between 0.5 & 0.0...thus no or in some cases broken audio. Feeds include Premiere/Rush, Westwood One/CBS News, Jones Radio Networks/Good-Time Oldies & so on. Ideas?
 
> I have 4 satellite dishes out back with a rack of receivers
> inside. A week ago one of the program feed signal strength
> readings started heading downward. Still had audio however.
> Today everything hit rock bottom as all feeds from all
> dishes & receivers were down between 0.5 & 0.0...thus no or
> in some cases broken audio. Feeds include Premiere/Rush,
> Westwood One/CBS News, Jones Radio Networks/Good-Time Oldies
> & so on. Ideas?
>

If this is all C Band feeds:

Blanketing across multiple satellites and channels makes your location
the primary and common factor. Check on any terrestrial microwave services that have just been installed in your area. It sounds like you're primarily receiving C Band stuff and there are industrial terrestrial microwaves (phone co.) just below your 4 GHz receive frequencies that may have been set up across your path.
Check with your local Frequency Co-ordinating committee chair if you know who it is.

If this is all Ku Band feeds:

IDHFC

Also, I haven't kept up with the sunspot cycles which can do funny things, but you said "all" your dishes and receivers. Usually sunspots effect certain satellites at one time, all satellites over time.

My best guess on a Friday night. Gotta go!!!<P ID="signature">______________
Electricity is really just organized lightning.
~George Carlin</P>
 
> I have 4 satellite dishes out back with a rack of receivers
> inside. A week ago one of the program feed signal strength
> readings started heading downward. Still had audio however.
> Today everything hit rock bottom as all feeds from all
> dishes & receivers were down between 0.5 & 0.0...thus no or
> in some cases broken audio. Feeds include Premiere/Rush,
> Westwood One/CBS News, Jones Radio Networks/Good-Time Oldies
> & so on. Ideas?
>

Did you check the LNB voltage?

Critters in the feedhorn? Birds and wasps like to nest in there.

Dish alignment? I had a dish get partially spun by high winds once, and of the five Starguides hooked to it, one was still getting enough signal to work. The others muted.

(edit) sorry, overlooked the part where you say you have 4 dishes...why 4? Most of the services you mention come off the same bird. If they are all being affected, then there could be an interference issue.

I've heard of all kinds of different things causing problems for satellite reception, including microwave ovens at nearby fastfood restaurants, malfunctioning radar detector in a nearby parked car, etc. I had a situation once where a paving crew was installing asphalt right underneath my dish, and the tamper machine was knocking out the SEDAT feed for Rush.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by awsherrill on 07/16/05 04:40 AM.</FONT></P>
 
> I have 4 satellite dishes out back with a rack of receivers
> inside. A week ago one of the program feed signal strength
> readings started heading downward. Still had audio however.
> Today everything hit rock bottom as all feeds from all
> dishes & receivers were down between 0.5 & 0.0...thus no or
> in some cases broken audio. Feeds include Premiere/Rush,
> Westwood One/CBS News, Jones Radio Networks/Good-Time Oldies
> & so on. Ideas?
>

Is there a common power supply feeding LNB voltage? Gee that sounds like a culprit to me...

Is the path clear? (i.e. no new trees... you can see a change in signal strength in just weeks thanks to tree).

As someone else stated, get your hands on a spectrum analyzer and see what your signal might be if the above have failed...

If you were close to Springfield, MA. I'd give you a hand with it...
 
Well, I assume from your description that there are four LNB's as well, fed, I assume, off their respective receivers.

So that would eliminate that problem--unless you do have a common supply OR some kind of cross-fed situation using a DC blocker which suddenly decided to let DC through...shorting out or dragging down supplies because they are now coupled?

Dish alignment is always a problem, though four dishes at once? --if you've had a wind storm. I have heard of a WV-type problem, where the dish is mounted on a hillside (in a blob of concrete no less) and slowly lost alignment as the hillside slid downhill..

Hence the likely culprit is some kind of TI--or even airborne interference.

Military radar is a sneaky culprit. Depending upon plans unknown to us common folk, it can suddenly appear for a week, then vanish. Bush visiting your area, perchance? Usally it doesn't kill the signal like you see but instead causes sporadic dropouts that get worse than get better.

Military Radar is supposedly below the band used for satellite, but that assumes it is is where it is supposed to be transmitting. Microwave Filter can sell you a filter that hangs on your LNB & is very good at eliminating this problem. Somwhat pricey at $500.

If you have a friendly cable guy or even versatile two way shop you may find someone with a spectrum analyser. Our local two way guy has one that plugs right into the 1.2 ghz output of the LNB. His will power the LNB, so if you have a spare one, you can wave it around to see where any TI is coming from.

One type of TI he's found is from cell phone equipment on the fritts--but this is likely to be a pulse that sails up and down through the band.

Same thing can happen with STL's.
 
> I have 4 satellite dishes out back with a rack of receivers
> inside. A week ago one of the program feed signal strength
> readings started heading downward. Still had audio however.
> Today everything hit rock bottom as all feeds from all
> dishes & receivers were down between 0.5 & 0.0...thus no or
> in some cases broken audio. Feeds include Premiere/Rush,
> Westwood One/CBS News, Jones Radio Networks/Good-Time Oldies
> & so on. Ideas?
>

Been a fair amount of discussion and some good ideas posted thus far. I think critters in the feedhorn or possibly a bad connection / cable, if the affected receivers are fed by one single dish. All the services mentioned above come off the same bird, IIRC. I'd like to know for sure if we're dealing with separate dishes & separate receivers or one dish feeding multiple receivers.

RFB
 
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