missing/weak transponders on BEV 3100 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

MjrBedHed · 2003-01-09, 01:36 PM

Hello all, I only just found this forum moments ago. Normally I don't just pop into a forum and open a new topic, but I didn't see anything that matched my situation and wanted to put it out to this comunity to see if anyone comiserates or can shed some light over and above what I'm getting from Bell.

I've been an X-vu customer for some 4 years or so so this x-mas I figured I'd upgrade the receiver. Picked up a 3100 and activated it and everything is fne *EXCEPT* it does not allow me to view some channels (26 or more). Long story short...after several dead-ends with bell support we managed to narrow down the problem to the fact that I've got low or none existent signals on the even transponders from 14-32 (like 0%-40%). Based on that, bell shipped a replacement. Last night I plugged the new 3100 in and low-and-behold the transponder strengths are exactly the same on both 3100's. I plug my trusty 4 year old 3500 in and the signal is strong (75-80%) across the board...

I was hoping someone here could shed some light or let me know if they had similar experiences...Are there indications that the 3100 is not a great piece of hardware or am I ending up with lemons? I will accept that my dish needs a fine tuning but this DEFINITELY looks like something specific to the 3100 at this point due to the 3500 results....

Any thoughts?

hugh · 2003-01-09, 02:29 PM

Did Bell say anything about it possibly being the lnb, since the low signal strength was on even transponders?

MjrBedHed · 2003-01-09, 02:40 PM

They did and I'll probably switch to the other adaptor when the weather's nicer but bear in mind that my 35000 is grand with the same feed

fish_antlers · 2003-01-09, 07:01 PM

I believe that prob will be a bad LNB...

jvillain · 2003-01-09, 08:48 PM

Curiosity is getting the better of me now. I don't really know much about the LNB. As the signals from all of the transponders go through the same one, what makes you think it is the LNB. Any one ever opened one up?

MjrBedHed · 2003-01-10, 08:28 AM

Thanks for the input
Not that I'm disbuting the lnbf (was swinging my opinion that way anyway) but can anyone theorize why one receiver model works well and the other sucks if it the lnbf? I tested both receivers on the same feed (too miserable to be up on a ladder messing with the satelite just now). I am not all that familiar with the technology...

(I'm still waiting for expressvu to offer up their words of wisdom...)
based on the responses, I take it there are not a lot of negative experiences with the 3100 here? I did note that there were lots of posts indicating people had the 3100. That would alleviate one of my biggest worries that Bell had resorted to second or third rate electronics/technology in their latest receivers...

Can anyone relay what transponder levels they are getting in general? Its been a while since I checked the alignement on the dish but the 3100 is coming in at ~75% on most transponders that are good (i.e. all odd #'s and all even #'s to 12...we won't talk about 14-32) the 3500 (same feed as stated) is closer to 80% across the board...my gut would say stay with the old technology but I don't like being locked out of the newer stuff

fish_antlers · 2003-01-10, 11:28 AM

I have had a similar prob with DTV... and yes.. different receivers can give different reading with the same LNB.... but if yer dish is focused CORRECTLY you should be getting a reasonable signal across the board.

Have you tried checking the focus of yer dish? Not sure what the focusing/averaging transponder is on BEV but I'm sure someone here can tell you... before you tear everything apart I'd suggest confirming your focus is correct, then switching LNB's if that doesnt help.

james99 · 2003-01-10, 01:14 PM

When you have low or no strength on even or odd transponders then it's usually the LNB. But, since you have a receiver that works fine on the same dish, then that's a mystery

MrGrinch · 2003-01-12, 12:07 PM

This happened to me with my cottage receiver. It turned out that the coaxial connection at the grounding block was frayed and wasn't able to send the proper signals to the receiver. I only got the channels on the even trasponders. Check all the connections of your cabling and make sure there's nothing that appears out of order (splits in the cable, kinks, squirrel bites, etc etc). If you have one receiver that works and another that does not then chances are it's the cabling and not the LNB. Hope this helps... :wink:

tvguy · 2003-01-12, 09:12 PM

Check to see whether there are any splices in the cable to the 3100 or connections which are not properly sealed to moisture. There is a likelihood that you may have some moisture which is freezing in a point which is not properly sealed. The other alternative would be moisture at the LNB, or the dish is not properly focussed and signals are just too low at the lnb.

MjrBedHed · 2003-01-13, 08:17 AM

Thanks for all the input...this weekend I did some more playing...since I have only used one feed off the lnb I switched the cable to the other -- no change. I even did some testing at various places with cable as there were some points I could easily modify -- still no change. what I was thinking next was to run a test cable directly off the lnb to the receiver with no interruptions. That should eliminate the cable issue (btw anyone know how I can test a cable with an ohm meter? what am I looking for - obviously I have connectivity end-to-end but if its going a bit "funky" would I see extra resistance on the line or something measurable?). I will look at tuning it to but it seems to me its most likely as good as I'm going to get. Using transponder 11, which is what the install guide recommends I tune on I was getting a resonding 85-90% yesterday (I suspect yesterday was a stellar day but those numbers will be hard to beat).

Anyway, I keep y'all posted

depassp · 2003-05-17, 04:17 PM

Hi all,

I am having somewhat of a similar problem...

My 3100 can only seem to get 50% signal max, on pretty much all transponders..

I've tried my friend's 2700 on the same cable/dish, and it gets 95%...

I've tried my 3100 on my friend's cable/dish, and it only gets 50% max (same deal)

So, I figure it must have something to do with the receiver itself... I've tried flashing new firmware, but no luck...

-Phil

2003-01-09, 01:36 PM	#1
MjrBedHed Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 5	missing/weak transponders on BEV 3100 Hello all, I only just found this forum moments ago. Normally I don't just pop into a forum and open a new topic, but I didn't see anything that matched my situation and wanted to put it out to this comunity to see if anyone comiserates or can shed some light over and above what I'm getting from Bell. I've been an X-vu customer for some 4 years or so so this x-mas I figured I'd upgrade the receiver. Picked up a 3100 and activated it and everything is fne EXCEPT it does not allow me to view some channels (26 or more). Long story short...after several dead-ends with bell support we managed to narrow down the problem to the fact that I've got low or none existent signals on the even transponders from 14-32 (like 0%-40%). Based on that, bell shipped a replacement. Last night I plugged the new 3100 in and low-and-behold the transponder strengths are exactly the same on both 3100's. I plug my trusty 4 year old 3500 in and the signal is strong (75-80%) across the board... I was hoping someone here could shed some light or let me know if they had similar experiences...Are there indications that the 3100 is not a great piece of hardware or am I ending up with lemons? I will accept that my dish needs a fine tuning but this DEFINITELY looks like something specific to the 3100 at this point due to the 3500 results.... Any thoughts?

2003-01-09, 02:29 PM	#2
hugh Member #1 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 47,492	Did Bell say anything about it possibly being the lnb, since the low signal strength was on even transponders? __________________ As of January 2012, I am no longer the owner of the Digital Home website. If you have questions about the operation of the site, please contact VSAdmin. For personal inquiries contact me at the Hugh Thompson website.

2003-05-17, 04:17 PM	#12
depassp Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 1	Similar problems Hi all, I am having somewhat of a similar problem... My 3100 can only seem to get 50% signal max, on pretty much all transponders.. I've tried my friend's 2700 on the same cable/dish, and it gets 95%... I've tried my 3100 on my friend's cable/dish, and it only gets 50% max (same deal) So, I figure it must have something to do with the receiver itself... I've tried flashing new firmware, but no luck... -Phil

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2003-01-09, 02:40 PM	#3
MjrBedHed Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 5	They did and I'll probably switch to the other adaptor when the weather's nicer but bear in mind that my 35000 is grand with the same feed

2003-01-09, 07:01 PM	#4
fish_antlers Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 143	I believe that prob will be a bad LNB...

2003-01-09, 08:48 PM	#5
jvillain ______________ Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,460	Curiosity is getting the better of me now. I don't really know much about the LNB. As the signals from all of the transponders go through the same one, what makes you think it is the LNB. Any one ever opened one up?

2003-01-10, 08:28 AM	#6
MjrBedHed Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 5	Thanks for the input Not that I'm disbuting the lnbf (was swinging my opinion that way anyway) but can anyone theorize why one receiver model works well and the other sucks if it the lnbf? I tested both receivers on the same feed (too miserable to be up on a ladder messing with the satelite just now). I am not all that familiar with the technology... (I'm still waiting for expressvu to offer up their words of wisdom...) based on the responses, I take it there are not a lot of negative experiences with the 3100 here? I did note that there were lots of posts indicating people had the 3100. That would alleviate one of my biggest worries that Bell had resorted to second or third rate electronics/technology in their latest receivers... Can anyone relay what transponder levels they are getting in general? Its been a while since I checked the alignement on the dish but the 3100 is coming in at ~75% on most transponders that are good (i.e. all odd #'s and all even #'s to 12...we won't talk about 14-32) the 3500 (same feed as stated) is closer to 80% across the board...my gut would say stay with the old technology but I don't like being locked out of the newer stuff

2003-01-10, 11:28 AM	#7
fish_antlers Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 143	I have had a similar prob with DTV... and yes.. different receivers can give different reading with the same LNB.... but if yer dish is focused CORRECTLY you should be getting a reasonable signal across the board. Have you tried checking the focus of yer dish? Not sure what the focusing/averaging transponder is on BEV but I'm sure someone here can tell you... before you tear everything apart I'd suggest confirming your focus is correct, then switching LNB's if that doesnt help.

2003-01-10, 01:14 PM	#8
james99 Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Burlington Posts: 24,791	When you have low or no strength on even or odd transponders then it's usually the LNB. But, since you have a receiver that works fine on the same dish, then that's a mystery

2003-01-12, 12:07 PM	#9
MrGrinch Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Winnipeg, MB Posts: 873	This happened to me with my cottage receiver. It turned out that the coaxial connection at the grounding block was frayed and wasn't able to send the proper signals to the receiver. I only got the channels on the even trasponders. Check all the connections of your cabling and make sure there's nothing that appears out of order (splits in the cable, kinks, squirrel bites, etc etc). If you have one receiver that works and another that does not then chances are it's the cabling and not the LNB. Hope this helps... :wink:

2003-01-12, 09:12 PM	#10
tvguy Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 59	Check to see whether there are any splices in the cable to the 3100 or connections which are not properly sealed to moisture. There is a likelihood that you may have some moisture which is freezing in a point which is not properly sealed. The other alternative would be moisture at the LNB, or the dish is not properly focussed and signals are just too low at the lnb.

2003-01-13, 08:17 AM	#11
MjrBedHed Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 5	Thanks for all the input...this weekend I did some more playing...since I have only used one feed off the lnb I switched the cable to the other -- no change. I even did some testing at various places with cable as there were some points I could easily modify -- still no change. what I was thinking next was to run a test cable directly off the lnb to the receiver with no interruptions. That should eliminate the cable issue (btw anyone know how I can test a cable with an ohm meter? what am I looking for - obviously I have connectivity end-to-end but if its going a bit "funky" would I see extra resistance on the line or something measurable?). I will look at tuning it to but it seems to me its most likely as good as I'm going to get. Using transponder 11, which is what the install guide recommends I tune on I was getting a resonding 85-90% yesterday (I suspect yesterday was a stellar day but those numbers will be hard to beat). Anyway, I keep y'all posted