[ctwo]

So I have a dish mounted on a post outside 120 ft from the house. Currently I have 2 Shaw Cable feeds going from the dish into the house into an SW21 switch, same as the one shown to be recommended on this site. Then into the receiver and to the TV. The dish is a dual lnb setup with one cable on the 91 and one on the 82. Dish is a 6100

With the receiver in the house, no signal shows up at all. I took the receiver and a little TV out to the dish and put a cable off the second LNB output to the receiver and aligned the dish so we were showing 90% signal. Then I brought the receiver back in the house and connected it and nothing!!

So I thought it might be the cable, but doing a tone test on the by connecting the two cables together inside and using a meter out at the dish showed the signal passes all the way around so the cables are not pinched or broken. Replaced a couple of the questionable ends but still nothing.

Took it back outside to check again and I have 90% again outside, bring it back inside and try connecting without the switch and still nothing.

What am I doing wrong. The dish is clearly aligned, the cables pass a signal all the way through based on the tone test. Is it best to just replace all ends regardless and try again or get a new switch?

 

[dirtroad]

1) Check the center conductor of the coax cable. It may be too short (not making contact) or too long (shorting things out). Check both ends, at the LNB and the receiver.
2) If you are using reclaimed coax from cable, make sure that there are no splitters.
Let us know what you find from this , and we can troubleshoot some more if you cant find the problem.
3) Take the switch out, trouble shoot one cable at a time.

 

[ctwo]

more trouble....

So I started changing connectors inside the house. Now when i hook it up to the receiver I get absolutely nothing... not even the bell screen. When I unhook the cable in the bell screen reappears. Is it possible this is due to a short?

As soon as I hook the cable from the satelite to the receiver the tv screen goes black and I hear a click... click... click... sound over and over.... did I somehow do something to damage the receiver when changing connection ends?

 

[dirtroad]

I have never here of that, but new problems crop up all the time. Is this a new receiver to you? Have you ever had it hooked up before?
In some receivers a clicking noise is the modem trying to connect to phone line.
I recommend shutting down receivers when making connections, but when troubleshooting I do keep them powered to save time.
I am just heading out, post results, so others can help. Make sure of good connections, and no sheild wires shorting anything.

 

[ctwo]

clicking has stopped and screen came back so i'm going back to re-doing connections. Not sure what that was all about.

 

[Costa]

Connect 91 directly to the receiver, bypass the sw21. Do a check switch test.

Oh, pull the smart card out, and push it back in all the way, trust me.

 

[ctwo]

All right all connections in the house have been changed. Tried what Costa said about connecting direct and doing a switch test, pull the smart card out and back in... still nothing.

The switch test just gives me "X" all the way across the board no matter how I have it hooked up.

Next on the list are to change the outside connectors, new switch, and new cable I guess.... Can you mount the SW21 switch outside? It would save me from buying another 120ft of cable is why I was wondering, right now its inside.

 

[Pinza]

Sure, the SW21 can be mounted outside, they normally are.....lol

Sounds to me like you could have a bad cable, is it in a conduit.?

I never run cable direct in the ground anymore, always use conduit, even the 1" stuff is better than nothing.

 

[ScaryBob]

Have the connectors at the dish been changed? Has a short and open test been performed on the cables? What type of cable is it?

 

[ctwo]

The cable was Shaw Bright wire 18 guage stuff. Normally used outdoors and can be burried without conduit or at lease that's what I was told by the guy I got it from. I had done a tone test on the cable, but think this still may be the issue. Today I'm getting some new RG6 and a new switch to test out. I'll post if my results tomorrow.

Thanks for all the input so far, it is much appreciated.

 

[ctwo]

So I replaced the cable, all new outside connections, and a new switch. Now it works just great! I was at around 90% on 91 and 100% on 82.

 

[Pinza]

Glad to hear you are working again.