no switch found message

[tv watcher]

OK, here's what I've got.
Dishnetwork.
An oval sat dish, with three LNBFs into a DP34 switch.
A 4900 upgraded receiver. SuperDISH installation.

One day last week, on a very windy and freezing day, I stopped receiving satelite signal.
No signal strength, no switch found (when running switch test).
I took the switch down, took it apart and found some minor corrosion inside of it.
I replaced the DP34 switch and the Dishpro adapter with new ones.
Still no signal strength, no switch found.
I did continuity testing of the cable between the switch and the receiver. No continuity between center and ground until I shorted out the other end. So that was good.
I replaced the DP34 switch again.
Still, on the check switch screen it shows 'Installed Device: unknown"

I noticed that if I unplugged the receiver, upon powering back up, the check switch screen showed 'satelite reception verified' before the switch test, after which it showed 'no switch found'.

What next?

Also, just to throw some fun into the game, today I received a new card for the reciever. I've changed to the new card, but it has not made a difference.

Thanks in advance for any help provided.

 

[boba]

Is the 4900 your only receiver? What super dish do you have 105 or 121? Are you just using 119 & 110 or do you receive signals from another satellite location? Have you tried running the 119 satellite signal from the dish to the receiver without a switch to verify the dish is still aimed correctly, you will need a working Dish Pro adapter if the 4900 is the only receiver.

 

[tv watcher]

Is the 4900 your only receiver?
>YES

What super dish do you have 105 or 121?
>Don't know, how do I tell?

Are you just using 119 & 110 or do you receive signals from another satellite location?
>I believe I receive three satellites signals. I had to upgrade the dish and receivers when we went with local channels. I'm in Maryland.

Have you tried running the 119 satellite signal from the dish to the receiver without a switch to verify the dish is still aimed correctly
>No, I have not. I wasn't worrying about the signal strength yet. I thought I should get a good switch message before trying to tweak satellite aiming. I will try it. How do I know which LNBF is 119?

,you will need a working Dish Pro adapter if the 4900 is the only receiver.
>It is, I do, and I replaced the adapter already.

Thanks

 

[Pepper]

Looking at the front of the dish, a superdish 105 has the outboard LNBF on the right, the 121 has it on the left.

If it's a 105, you can safely disconnect 105 as it is not in use any longer.

 

[tv watcher]

Looking at the front of the dish, a superdish 105 has the outboard LNBF on the right, the 121 has it on the left.

If it's a 105, you can safely disconnect 105 as it is not in use any longer.

With the satellite at my back and me facing the front of the dish, the LNBFs are outboard to my right. So, I guess that's a 105.

So I have a 50 50 chance of direct wiring the 119 into the pro adapter and then into the receiver.

 

[tv watcher]

Today ran another RG6U cable from the satellite to the receiver, just for testing sake.
I direct wired each of the three LNBFs to the wire, to the proadapter, to the receiver. Powered it up and nothing. No satellite signal found.
I used the Sadoun satellite finder to peak the reception of the LNBF that is directly over the arm. Then direct wired that to the proadapter then into the receiver. Again, no signal on any satellite.
I didn't try any of the other LNBFs as it was by then dark and raining, on the roof. OK, so I'm a wus.
The satellite finder lit up when the proadapter was plugged back in, so that proved the proadapter is providing power and the wiring between the two was good.

Is there anything else to check?
I'm left thinking it's the receiver. If so, does the question become software or hardware?

Thanks

 

[Agonizing Fury]

First off, the reason your receiver is not detecting a switch, is that legacy receivers (or any receiver with legacy LNBF/Switches hooked up to them) cannot tell if a switch is installed at all unless they're getting some kind of signal. The problem may or may not be the receiver. One thing to check, what is the power output from the satellite receiver itself? If you have a multimeter, go to the signal strength screen, select any Odd numbered transponder from any satellite. You should be getting around 13VDC from the Satellite port on the receiver. Try the same with an even numbered transponder. You should be getting around 18VDC. This is very important, because the voltage change is how the receiver tells the DP Adapter if it wants odd or even transponders. If there is no voltage output from the receiver, the the DP Adapter probably won't send anything (although I could be mistakn about that)

 

[tv watcher]

I'll check the receiver output.

There is some voltage getting up to the dish, as the sat finder meter worked. It requires voltage to light up and provide audio. Plus, I was able to peak the signal by adjusting the dish. (although the dish ended up where it was originally.)

Thanks for the idea. I'll post as soon as I check the voltage.

 

[tv watcher]

I checked the voltage going out from the Proadapter towards the switch. It's just under 20 volts.
The voltage coming out of the receiver, to the PRoadapter, is 13 on odd, 18 on even.
And I've just found, on the Sadoun site, the manual for installing my dish and a document explaining the DishPro product.
They answered a lot of questions.

I did not get the manuals for this equipment when it was installed by the pro. He didn't speak english, so we didn't have much information exchange.

Thanks for the help that I was given. If I come back with more questions, I hope they won't be quite so - freshman.

 

[Sadoun]

And I've just found, on the Sadoun site, the manual for installing my dish and a document explaining the DishPro product.
They answered a lot of questions.

Glad we were of help.

 

[Pepper]

On the 105 superdish, 119 is the one farthest to the right (again, looking at the front). On a 121, the LNBFs for 121 and 119 are in a merged unit with 110 farthest to the left.

 

[tv watcher]

Using the directions, I was ablt to work towards getting a signal. A couple of bumps in the road. The directions called for using 105 as part of the setup. Not. I used Sadoun's direction finder, Dish's sat finder (peak angle on installation screen) and the angles listed in the SuperPro directions. All three different (by as much as 10 degrees). And none worked. I ended up scanning the sky, using the Sadoun Sat finder meter and the on screen sat signal meter to find 119. Never realized how many sat signals could be picked up. Peaked it on 119, then went to 110 and peaked it. Somewhere earlier I realized I couldn't get a signal on 105 and with the earlier warning that 105 wasn't necessary I didn't let it hold me up. Finally sucess, over 100 on both sats.
Never did figure what the original problem was.

One interesting item. While scanning, I was able to pick up 118, IIRC. It was a foreign programming feed, with about a half dozen channels available to me. Entertaining.
It was received off of the 105 LNBF. Now I'm considering ways of picking up that sat signal and feeding it into the #3 input of th switch.
Is this how people get bit by the sat bug?
Thanks again for the information and help.