SW21 problem - ABA DSS

gaijin · June 2nd, 2008

I had a Dish 500 setup and working fine for 110/119. I installed another dish and pointed it to 91 NIMIQ1.

I installed a SW21 to connect the 2 satellites and my receiver.

Here's the problem:

I connect the receiver and my original dish (110/119) to the Switch, update my settings in the receiver and that sat/dish works fine. I watch tv, update, etc.

If I plug the other satellite (91) into the SW21, I lose all signal. If I unplug the other sat (91) I get signal again on original (110/119). I bought brand new wire, redid the connectors 3 times and all to no avail. The odd thing is the very first time I set everything up, I was able to get a green signal lock on all 3 satellites. I climbed down from the roof and my wife met me at the door and said 'We lost all the signals' when she went to scan channels. After this, I was never able to get a signal on the new satellite (91).

What could happen such that I get a solid lock on all 3 satellites and then without altering anything physically, lose the signals?

The current state is that I cannot get any signal at all on the dish pointing to 91. Could there have been a short or something that blew up the LNB on that dish?

Going to try another LNB in the meantime, but just curious if anyone has any suggestions.

**bill of oz** · June 2nd, 2008

the first thing to do is plug each of your LNBs into the reciever one at a time and check signal (no switches being used).....this will let you know if your LNBs are all okay and your dishes are aimed properly

**clarencegriffit** · June 2nd, 2008

This would be my guess to your problem sw21 and the dn500 lnb both us the same signal to change the switch and the lnb or close enough to make a porblem changing the sittings you may have to us a tone burst switch or change everything to the diseuqe 4x1 switch to correct the problem or the switch just maybe sticking not much help I know but try two cables to the dish 500 lnb and one cable to the 91 lnb and a 4x1 switch lnb1 to 119 lnb2 to 110 and lnb3 to 91 and see what happens from there if you have a 4x1 switch sorry I can't help that much my best guess

DishCharlie · June 2nd, 2008

Ahh gaijin-san, it seems to point to switching problem. For certain the second dish cannot be a DN500 with a Twin LNBF if using a SW21. External and internal switches very confused by commands from receiver. As suggested by clarencegriffit change switch to 22KHz or DiSEqC type.

gaijin · June 2nd, 2008

Thanks for the feedback so far.

The oringinal working setup is a DISH500 with TWIN LNB and the new dish is a DISH 500 with a SINGLE LNB, both standard issue Dish Network gear.

My father has this identical setup and it works fine with him and a SW21.

As I said, I was able to get a good, clean 'lock' with all 3 attached to the switch the very first try, but then it all went downhill from there.

I'm also having trouble getting any signal at all from the 91 dish now, even though I was 'locked' onto 91 and all good on my very first attempt. That's why I wondered if it was possible to damage the LNB on the 91 DISH.

DishCharlie · June 2nd, 2008

If the second DN500 has a single LNB with no internal switch, then the SW21 should work, assuming all components are undamaged. I have an identical setup using a DN300 as the second dish. Have you been powering down the receiver each time you connected and disconnected the cables at the LNB and the switch? I have blown 3 SW21s in the past. LNBs can be blown too. Are you still able to confirm signal from 91sat directly to the receiver without the switch?

gaijin · June 2nd, 2008

No, I can no longer confirm signal on the 91 dish. After the initial setup success, I have not been able to get anything. That's why I immediately thought something got blown or damaged. I just installed a 2nd SW21 and it behaves EXACTLY the same way. 110/119 work fine on the switch, but when I plug in the 91 dish, I lose all signal.

I cannot confirm signal straight through or with either sw21 device. My guess is the LNB got blown, but I have no idea why that would have happened. Tomorrow I will be trying with a new LNB straight through, no switches, and I'll update with status.

Thanks again for the feedback.

gaijin · June 3rd, 2008

Hey Charlie,

Thanks for the tip about powering down the receiver before making any changes. I powered down, connected everything, turned receiver on and PRESTO! it was all good. I setup the multisat search and now I'm good to go.

Thanks again!!

**jose2001** · June 3rd, 2008

dit you fix your problem yet amigo