Help a satelite dumb a&& please

[wal1809]

I am trying to get my tracstar going using the house box. I have the software upgrade installed and the box displays locked 119 with 98percent signal.  All I can get from the tv is this in the picture.  Any help is appreciated.

[Ncbob]

It appears to me that the unit is not downloading the information to activate the satellite transponders...that's the Progress 0-5. If your signal strength is 95 you are locked on the bird.
Where's brother Tom when you need him?

NCbob

[Sean]

Looks to me like you are not on signal, or maybe wrong polarity.

When you bring up the signal meters in the receiver what does it tell you?

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[wal1809]

Thanks for jumping in fellas.  The signal strength shows high 90s.  I did a troubleshoot with dish and they said the tv is not getting a signal from the dish.  So here is what I think might be the problem.  I checked voltage on the cable into the tv.  I go nothing.

The cable from the tracstar main box shows voltage.  It travels to another box that has three jacks, the input and two outputs.  The sticker on that threeway box says "the cable has to go through the box for single or dual cable".  So going into that box the cable is carrying voltage.  I got nothing coming out of that box.  The two output cables go to the dishbox for the tv.  No voltage is getting to the dishbox.  The tech on the telephone said I should have around 20 volts tithe dishbox through that cable.

I don't know what that box is or what it does.  There is no on off or power switch on the box.  I am kind of thinking that box is bad.

What are your thoughts?

[wal1809]

Here is a pic of the box I was talking about.  I have voltage in the cable to the right side input Jack.  I got no voltage from the other two output jacks on the left.  Let me know y'all think.

[blue_goose]

It looks like you are not on the correct satellite.  Did you check your signal strength to see if you were on the 119 satellite.
Jack

[Sean]

...  The signal strength shows high 90s.

I am guessing that's on the TracStar.  I am asking about the built-in meter on the receiver (the box from Dish Network).  You access that via the Dish remote and it displays on the TV.

I did a troubleshoot with dish and they said the tv is not getting a signal from the dish.  So here is what I think might be the problem.  I checked voltage on the cable into the tv.  I go nothing.

There is no DC voltage on the cable going to the TV, so this doesn't tell you anything.  The only voltage carried on a coax here is LNB power, which only goes from the Dish receiver, to the TracStar/antenna.

The cable from the tracstar main box shows voltage.  It travels to another box that has three jacks, the input and two outputs.  The sticker on that threeway box says "the cable has to go through the box for single or dual cable".  So going into that box the cable is carrying voltage.  I got nothing coming out of that box.  The two output cables go to the dishbox for the tv.  No voltage is getting to the dishbox.  The tech on the telephone said I should have around 20 volts tithe dishbox through that cable.

Again, no.  It's the other way around -- the Dish receiver sends voltage to the antenna.  Nothing goes to the Dish receiver

I don't know what that box is or what it does.  There is no on off or power switch on the box.  I am kind of thinking that box is bad.

and

Here is a pic of the box I was talking about.

This is a "dual downconverter," intended to allow you to connect two receivers in different rooms to the same satellite antenna.

I have voltage in the cable to the right side input Jack.  I got no voltage from the other two output jacks on the left.

Again, there isn't supposed to be any voltage at the two outputs.  The voltage goes the other way.  You should read about 18 volts at the "input" jack.

The confusion here has to do with the way satellite antennas work.  The same coax cable is doing two different things, and those things go in opposite directions.

The main function of the coax is to bring the radio frequency (RF) signal from the LNB (Low Noise Block downconverter) on the antenna to the receiver(s).  In this regard it is no different, really, than a standard radio or TV antenna.

The LNB, however, requires power to work.  Complicating matters, the LNB can receive two different signals from the satellite, known as Vertically Polarized and Horizontally Polarized, and it knows which signal to try to pick up by the voltage of the supplied power.  The DC voltage used to power the LNB and also to tell it which polarization to pick up is sent to the LNB over the very same coax cable that brings the RF signal back from the LNB.

When a coax jack on satellite TV equipment is marked "Input" that marking pertains to the RF signal.  In reality, that Input is also an "Output" for this control voltage, which is going the other way.

Make sense?

I suspect that when you bring up the signal meter on the receiver, you will see a zero signal strength on all transponders, but if you see something else there we need to know that.

Zero signal would mean that either you are pointed to the wrong bird, or the LNB is defective or not getting power.  Note that the meter on the TracStar will show good signal strength if you are pointed to the wrong bird, because it does not distinguish between the different signals provided by different birds.  For example, if your receiver is a Dish Network receiver, it will not recognize the signal from the DirecTV satellite, but the TracStar, which works with both, will still see a good signal there.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[bevans6]

I would just double check that you have dc power at the LNB end of the cable to the dish.  I once worked on a home system that had been converted from cable, and there was a splitter in that line that interrupted the dc power.  I replaced the old input line with a new one that was continuous RG6, helped that out a lot...

Brian

[wal1809]

Hello Sean,  yes it makes sense kind of.  What I don't get is I have voltage in the coax when unplugged from the box in out. 

I will take another run at this when I get home in an hour.

I have the tracstar locked on 119 which shows in the book to be te signal for dish.  Fir grins I tried the others with no success. 

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Wal,

It sounds to me that your reciever got shut off by Dish Net or Zapped by Dish Net.

Call your provider to check account status on that reciever.

Good Luck
Nick-

[wal1809]

Hello Nick,  The reciever is still working in the house just not in the bus.  I believe it is an internal setting which is pasword protected.  I am on hold right now waiting to speak to a tech at Tracstar.  Hoping we can hit bingo right now and make this easy.

[Jerry32]

Dish and Direct do not use horizontal and vertical polorization. as you dont have to adjust for it. they use curcular right hand and left hand that is switched by voltage iether being 13v or 18v. Jerry

[Sean]

Dish and Direct do not use horizontal and vertical polorization. as you dont have to adjust for it. they use curcular right hand and left hand that is switched by voltage iether being 13v or 18v. Jerry

Jerry, you are right and I misspoke.  On DVB, the polarization is circular and it is RH or LH as you wrote (I have HughesNet on the brain right now, as I am struggling with my VSAT, where polarization is either Horizontal or Vertical).  The point that I was making is that the LNB supply voltage is different between the two.

-Sean

[wal1809]

Hello Sean, They confirmed the problem is as you ssupected right there between the  Tracstar box and the Dish Receiver.  They said it is either a bad wire/s or bad nas unit.  I am gonna nial this down today.  I am going to get the coax you talked about and wire it direct.  We shall see.