I am now an educated satelite dumba&&

wal1809 · October 04, 2010, 06:57:06 PM

Sean thank you. Time is precious for all of us so thank you for sheddin your thoughts on the satelite problem. It turns out I have two problems.

Problem 1- 2 bad coax cables

Problem 2- 1 bad NAS box

when I changed the cables it didn't work. When I bypassed the NAS box the signal went right into the tv immediately. So I will send it in tomorrow and have it fixed or buy a new one. I will be at lake sommerville for 2 weeks while attend a school during the day. Sure will be nice to have some tv before I go to bed.

Thanks again everyone for chipping in. What a great forum!!!!

bevans6 · October 05, 2010, 03:39:00 AM

What does the NAS box actually do anyway?

Brian

wal1809 · October 05, 2010, 05:19:44 AM

Good Morning Bevans. The NAS box is basically an expensive splitter as I understand it. The in motion satelites have only 1 LNB in the dish up top. It allows you to watch different tv programs on 2 televisions at the same time.

robertglines1 · October 05, 2010, 05:35:03 AM

Don't by el chepo nas I found out hard way. Good your now the go to guy on Sat troubleshooting Bob

JackConrad · October 05, 2010, 05:38:28 AM

What and where in the system is the NAS. Our systems is working great, but just in case, I would like to no where to start looking should a problem arise. Thanks, Jack

wal1809 · October 05, 2010, 06:09:13 AM

Quote from: wal1809 on October 05, 2010, 05:19:44 AM
Good Morning Bevans. The NAS box is basically an expensive splitter as I understand it. The in motion satelites have only 1 LNB in the dish up top. It allows you to watch different tv programs on 2 televisions at the same time.

Actually I was kind of wrong in the above answer. The NAS box allows you to collect siganl from Odd and even satelites. If you bypass the box you will only get half of the programming. I was told they rarely break but if they do you can buy new $144. and refurbished for $108. There are no new NAS boxes right now as they are having a problem at the factory. They are working it out now and should soon be up and running again. I just ordered a refurbished for $108.

What is really kewl is I called Dish and told them I needed another box. The guy will be out this afternoon to hand us our second box for free. I just signed up for another 2 year conttract. So I don't have to carry the box in and out of the hose. I don't think that is a very good idea to carry them back and forth as I found out the coax cables wear out ect. BEsides it is just easier to pay 5 bucks a month for the other box.

bevans6 · October 05, 2010, 07:56:53 AM

That's interesting, if confusing the heck out of me! I am with Bell Expressview, I believe it uses the horizontal and vertical method, and when I added a second receiver so we could have two TV's watching two channels they first sold me a very expensive splitter, I tried for a few days to get it to work, and they sent a guy out who told me I needed two LNB's and two cable feeds and each box just acted like a separate receiver, they just shared the physical dish and mount. Now I see dishes all the time with 3 LNB's mounted !

I think I will leave this to the pro's and call for help when I need it! I can act dumb with the best of them!

Brian

wal1809 · October 05, 2010, 11:16:59 AM

Quote from: bevans6 on October 05, 2010, 07:56:53 AM
That's interesting, if confusing the heck out of me! I am with Bell Expressview, I believe it uses the horizontal and vertical method, and when I added a second receiver so we could have two TV's watching two channels they first sold me a very expensive splitter, I tried for a few days to get it to work, and they sent a guy out who told me I needed two LNB's and two cable feeds and each box just acted like a separate receiver, they just shared the physical dish and mount. Now I see dishes all the time with 3 LNB's mounted !

I think I will leave this to the pro's and call for help when I need it! I can act dumb with the best of them!

Brian

I would definately want to leave it to the pros given I have that option. Well let me back up, I had the option but it was drive 100 miles and pay $125 an hour for the guy to figure out the same thing I figured out or he could come to me and do it for a $200 show up fee and $125 an hour on top of that. I was on my last leg when I decided to give it one more go and then I got it figured out.

WEC4104 · October 05, 2010, 12:44:08 PM

On satellite dish systems the protruding thing that sorta looks liek a microphone is the LNB. The LNB has to be set up for the correct polarity (linear or circular) and direction (horizontal/vertical, or right/left). Often times an LNB is actually multiple units built into one, with two or four coax connections. To simplify the cabling, electrically controlled switches (NAS) are installed. When multiple TVs and satellite receivers are used with one dish, these switches become even more useful (and sometimes complicated). On mobile tracking-style systems (buses and RVs) there is generally one LNB inside, which is motor driven. The motor drive points the LNB at the specified satellite, and compensates for the vehicle's movement. On stationary residential systems, it has become common to have two, three or more LNBs on a single dish. Generally, each of these are pointed at a different satellite. (110 degrees, 119 degrees, etc)

The switching that takes place in the NAS units is driven by a signal sent by the satellite receiver. It uses a change in voltage levels sent on the coax cable. Depending on the quality, length, and condition of the coax cable, and weather corrosion on the connections, the NAS can struggle to do it's job and switch properly.