OT Dish Network Receiver

John T

Well-known Member
QUESTION any Dish TV Receiver experts out there?? Or heck even Billy Bobs lol him and Bubba have lots of sat TV experience I bet

Is it possible for an older Receiver (mines a 625 with several years on it) to go bad and cause there to be a weak signal even if your Antenna and LNB and Cables and switch are all fine and well aimed??????????? I tried 3 different cables from antenna to receiver and 2 different LNB's

BUT REGARDLESS HOW WELL AIMED AND TWEAKED USING A GOOD SIGNAL STRENGTH METER I cant get over 50 or even less at the receiver diagnostic screen. I used to have a signal like 70 or even 80 but now despite different known good and one new LNB and despite new or different cables and the diseq switches and aiming the dish out the ying yang I CANT GET OVER 50 grrrrrrrrrrrr

Can an old receiver cause this???? I own all my equipment (Receiver and LNB and Antenna) so I can buy month to month and shop around WITH NO LONG TERM CONTRACT

John T Electrical but NOT much of an Electronics Enginner at my old age
 
If the connections are clean bright and dry, it is sure possible to have the internal amp in the receiver loose power. A leaky cap, or a Mosfet that has begun to fail will do it. The generation is from a period in which the technology was not quite as robust as it is today. (I would see if I could buy a used set (Ebay or a pawn shop or?) to try a different receiver. Jim
 
We gave up on Dish after a couple of years where we couldn't get decent reception and they insisted it was our location. We even took out several trees trying to get better reception. I found out that as soon as you cancel your service, you're suddenly talking to friendly, helpful people in the US rather than someone in India reading a script.

Reception with DirecTV has been fine in the exact same location where Dish wouldn't work. I suspect we had a bad LNB.
 
I don't have an answer to your question, but can share something with you from personal experience. If you have a friend that has satellite TV and you stop by to visit one night, and as you are walking to their front door and happen to see the whole family sitting around, vegetated around the TV, and they don't see you, you can have some fun with them. How, you ask?

You walk over to their Dish dish, pick up the steel lid to their steel trash can, and pass it slowly back and forth between the dish and its parabola, and let the fun begin. First, you will hear stomping of feet going back and forth from their seat to the satallite reciever. Then you will hear a female voice, "I don't know why its acting up, but it is". Then you stop slowly waving the metal trash can lid back and forth for a couple few minutes, and you will hear stomping feet go back to their seat. After a few, you slowly start passing the lid back and forth between the dish and the parabola again, soon followed by feet stomping their way back to the reciever, followed by more feet stomping back to the reciever, followed by a male voice saying, "Get out of the way woman, you don't know what you're doing". Then, you will hear stomping across the floor to the door, the door will fly open, and your buddy will come out and see what you are doing and ask you what the h.ll you're doing out there. I know this from personal experience, and know to do this ONLY to friends that don't have loaded firearms in their house.

Mark
 
I would ask if a friend or neighbor who also has dish could bring theirs to your house, and see what kind of results you get.
 
Normally see this kind of calls or complaints in the spring when the leaves and trees come out. How is you line of sight? Do you have leaves in the view?
 
Dish recently obsoleted their old receivers. Ours was 15 years old and started doing what you describe. When I called, they gave me a new receiver and installed it for free. They sent out a letter several months ago.
 
John,
I can't remember what dish receivers I own, have 3 of them. I called dish and got a free up grade. Dish told me to keep my receivers. Each receiver was good for only one TV. I had 3. The upgrade allowed me to get by a little cheaper and it didn't cost anything.

I'll check tomorrow see what I have. If you can use them, they are yours. I'm not sure if anyone can use them. They have a smart card.

Post back tomorrow evening, if I don't forget.

Here is the scary thing, When dish did an upgrade it took them a long time to work the bugs out. I found out the dish, eye and receivers were all used, the eye was bad. Then dish wants you to pay for a maintance fee on their used stuff.

When it comes to adjusting the antenna, there is a channel on your TV that is your meter. I used telephones to communicate with the person in front of the TV, BETTER OR WORSE. I think there are 3 or so different adjustments to fine tune antenna. Good luck. Also as you know trees will mess with you.
George
 
I have DiirecTV,
I use their equipment and pay a few dollars for repair and upkeep it's worth it when things go wrong like they did awhile back just call and it's fixed with a thank you and no payout.
Walt
 
(quoted from post at 18:39:09 04/21/14) Is it possible for an older Receiver (mines a 625 with several years on it) to go bad and cause there to be a weak signal so I can buy month to month and shop around WITH NO LONG TERM CONTRACT

John T Electrical but NOT much of an Electronics Enginner at my old age
A simple answer: Yes! Resistors and capacitors can change values as they age, and electrolytic caps can leak. Or, solder connections can crack.

Since you've eliminated the coax, switch, LNBF, and alignment: Have you checked the DC voltage feeding to the LNBF? You should have either 13 VDC or 18 VDC measured between the center conductor and the shield. That voltage powers the LNBF and switches the LNBF polarity between LHCP and RHCP. The 625 is dual tuner, do both tuners have low signal? Have you connected the receiver and a TV outside at the dish?

You can pickup a replacement DVR-625 for $65 at solidsignal.com

I understand why you prefer owning rather than 'leasing' with a multi-year commitment.
 
John T, Has anything grown up between your dish and the sky? A tree branch will play havoc with the signal.

As for passing a garbage can lid between the dish and parabola? How can you do that since the dish is the parabolic reflector? Why a parabola you ask? Less spherical aberrations. Less aberrations means you get a stronger signal.
 
"The 625 is dual tuner, do both tuners have low signal? Have you connected the receiver and a TV outside at the dish?"

YES Both 110 and 119 have weak signals, 20 to 50 max DESPITE no blockage,,,,,,Despite perfect aiming and tweaking using a signal strength meter at the dish,,,,,,,,despite a new LNB,,,,,,,,new and tried different 25 ft cables from Antenna to Receiver

I can buy a new HD Receiver in the box on Flea Bay for around a hundred bucks so Ima thinkin its about time to go ahead and upgrade as my 625 is pretty olddddddddddddddd.

THANKS

John T
 
Thanks Walt, but I have Dish and a Dish receiver and already own all my own equipment NO TERM CONTRACTS and a cheaper rate and don't need or want to change, just asking if an old weak receiver can be the cause of a weak signal??

Take care now

John T
 
Thanks, NOPE absolutey NOTHING in the sky blocking grrrrrrrrrr Ima thinkin its time to upgrade to a new HD receiver, around a hundred bucks for new in the box, cheaper then fixing my old one fer sure.......

John T
 
Thanks Jim, I think its time to upgrade to HD and I can get a new in the box HD receiver for around a hundred bucks which is less then fixing my old outdated unit

John T
 
(quoted from post at 07:07:01 04/22/14) "The 625 is dual tuner, do both tuners have low signal?"
YES Both 110 and 119 have weak signals

I can buy a new HD Receiver in the box on Flea Bay for around a hundred bucks so Ima thinkin its about time to go ahead and upgrade as my 625 is pretty olddddddddddddddd.
ut, do [u:21d846c355]BOTH TUNERS[/u:21d846c355]have low signal? "The Dish Network 625 satellite receiver contains 2 individual tuners in one box. These Tuners are designated TV1 and TV2."

We are currently running 722K receiver that I add the OTA tuner module. HD is nice, sometimes. When we upgraded our old Dish 500 pizza pan had to be upgraded also. Not only to add the 3rd satellite, but the switching technology had changed also. I don't know which dish you are currently using, just do some research. "Subscribers west of Chicago use Dish 1000.2 antennas aimed at the 110°W, 119°W, and 129°W orbital locations (referred to as the western arc). Subscribers east of Chicago use Dish 1000.4 antennas aimed at the 61.5°W, 72°W and 77°W oribital locations (referred to as the eastern arc).

If buying used from an individual do you due diligence concerning clear ownership and billing.

To appease some readers: I'm in the process of acquiring a Farmall 450 motor to drop into my M. (Tractor related:)
 
Had dish a few years ago and ended up with a similar problem. When I took the old stuff down realized there was water in the combiner box at the antenna.... assumed my weak signal was caused there. After they refused to fix leased equipment for free it went back to them.
 
JT,
My old receivers are dish 311 upgraded with smart cards. I'll leave email open if you want them.
George
 
If anyone wants one of these receivers and is in the north central WV area, please come and get it. New in Box, 5 years old? Will ship if you wannna pay for it. Emails open.

Aaron
 
John, call them and tell them you're having trouble and Direct TV just offered you a great deal to switch. I bet they will change it for free...
 


I would call them and have them fix it. I had Direct TV come out last fall and switch my own personal box out for a new HD box. They even put up a dish because my shop is too far from the house. I had a old dish, but wasn't compatible with HD, and my dish, I also owned. So I got a new dish installed to the shop too. When they were done they left, only to come back ten minutes later saying the company told them to check out, and zero in the equipment in the house too. Didn't cost me anything.
 
On my old Dish 625 with Dish Pro and 2 Eyes LNB 500 Pizza Pan in South Central Indiana, I'm on 110 and 119 yet that's just slightly East of Chicago.

I will study before I buy a new HD 1000 series Pizza Pan with the 3 eyes to get the right one

THANKS FOR THE INFO

John T
 

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