Forum Discussion

Dayle1's avatar
Dayle1
Explorer II
Apr 04, 2018

DirecTV transponder problem

My DirecTV setup worked fine 10 days ago. But moved to a new campsite and on Sunday I set the system up again. I'm using an 18" round manual dish and signal meter to locate the 101 sat. I got plenty of signal strength on the meter, but nothing on the DirecTV setup menu. But when I scrolled thru all the transponders, 3 were actually working with signal strength between 77% and 85%. They were numbers, 28, 30 and 32. All the other transponders were zero.

Rebooting the system did nothing. DirecTV tech support was worthless. So, on a chance I ordered a new LNB thru Amazon. I just swapped out the LNB without disturbing the dish. Didn't bother to recheck the signal meter. But no change, the same 3 transponders have 80% to 84% strength and all others are still zero.

Seems strange that this is a receiver problem, but what else is there? Anyone have ny ideas or suggestions. DirecTV today says they don't make service calls for mobile setups, to call Camping World for help.
  • bdpreece's avatar
    bdpreece
    Explorer II
    Apr 04, 2018
    Odds are you are not on the correct satellite. Not sure what the sat near the 101 is but I have this problem periodically as it actually has a stronger signal than when I connect to the 101 and they are pretty close together.
  • 2oldman's avatar
    2oldman
    Explorer II
    Apr 04, 2018
    bdpreece wrote:
    Odds are you are not on the correct satellite.
    x2.

    With that setup you shouldn't need a meter, just use the beeps in the receiver. That way there's no mistaking for the wrong bird. You shouldn't ever need to look at the transponder strength either, just the horizontal bar on the Signal meters screen.
  • jerseyjim's avatar
    jerseyjim
    Explorer
    Apr 04, 2018
    Quite a few years ago, I also had that problem. On the "setup" page, it even said "incorrect satellite". A simple re-aim solved the problem.
  • Ivylog's avatar
    Ivylog
    Explorer III
    Apr 04, 2018
    X4 on wrong satellite. You should have asked on here sooner although now you have a spare LNB.
  • Bill_Satellite's avatar
    Bill_Satellite
    Explorer II
    Apr 04, 2018
    As others have stated, this will happen when pointed at the wrong satellite so you just need to get away from that sat, recheck your antenna settings and compass and give it another shot. When you are pointed correctly you will get a picture on the TV (check a non-network channel like Food on 231 or the DTV channel 100 which runs even without programming turned on).
  • Dayle1's avatar
    Dayle1
    Explorer II
    Apr 04, 2018
    So is everyone saying it is possible to be on the wrong sat. and still get 3 of 32 transponders to show 80+% strength???
  • edatlanta's avatar
    edatlanta
    Explorer
    Apr 04, 2018
    I don't have to worry about finding the wrong sat since only use the Signal Strength meter built in to my Genie (or earlier DTV receivers prior to the Genie). I have a wireless baby monitor that I aim the camera at the signal strength screen on my TV, take the remote out to the dish and aim it. The directv system won't connect to the wrong sat so I never have the wrong sat issue. The baby monitor works great and is much cheaper than the high priced meters. I did have to buy a new battery for the remote a few years back that I think was in the $5.00 range.

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