winegard automatic swm3 antenna

Two possible issues

1: he pulled slightly on the coax and it came, Slightly out of the connector. Story follows.

2: he soaked something not to be soaked (low odds if it's on the roof because GOD soaks most of what's up there from time to time)

Story:
After I moped my roof the OTA antenna did not work.

Dug into the roof (There was a clamshell I had to dig out and unscrew) and just there was a set of 3 connectors. Two Male F-Connectors on on the cable from the box inside and one to the antenna. and a barrel connector.. Rusted to beat the band..

I re-dressed both cables (Cut off a small bit and put on new connectors. WEATHER PROOF connectors) and a new double female (barrel) and ... TA-DA. it worked. 100 percent. Continued to work up to mid-october when .... Well I stopped using it. (Far as I know it still works)

Thanks. It's been raining since we're been here. I hope I can get up there tomorrow and see what I can see.

Hi, the fact you just had your roof washed my be coincidental. We had the same "no voltage at the LNB" message and after calling Winegard for tech support it turned out to be a faulty cable from the LNB to the turrent. I ordered a replacement, while waiting for the replacement I made one up from a piece of coax I had laying around. Sure enough, it was indeed that short cable!

I used my "homemade"cable for a few weeks but eventually that one went bad (I expected that to happen though) and installed the factory replacement and NO troubles since! :B

Good luck with your situation.

Dan

dapperdan wrote:
Hi, the fact you just had your roof washed my be coincidental. We had the same "no voltage at the LNB" message and after calling Winegard for tech support it turned out to be a faulty cable from the LNB to the turrent. I ordered a replacement, while waiting for the replacement I made one up from a piece of coax I had laying around. Sure enough, it was indeed that short cable!

I used my "homemade"cable for a few weeks but eventually that one went bad (I expected that to happen though) and installed the factory replacement and NO troubles since! :B

Good luck with your situation.

Dan

I haven't had a chance to look. Did this cable have regular RG6 connectors on both ends?

My dish would turn completely over lake a saucer, make a complete 360 search with the lnb arm pointed straight up and then return to the stow position. Was your experience similar?

Did you get CS help from Winegard?

It is most likely the cable between the LNB and the base. It might just be the connector at the base if it got hit with a pressure washer. Remove the LNB cable and ensure it's clean and dry. If not, clean, use some dielectric grease and reinstall. If that does not fix it remove the LNB and detach the coax and run a new one. Standard coax can be used to replace the skinny coax to test the unit.

Bill.Satellite wrote:
It is most likely the cable between the LNB and the base. It might just be the connector at the base if it got hit with a pressure washer. Remove the LNB cable and ensure it's clean and dry. If not, clean, use some dielectric grease and reinstall. If that does not fix it remove the LNB and detach the coax and run a new one. Standard coax can be used to replace the skinny coax to test the unit.

Thanks. That sounds a lot like what Dapperdan was describing. The Biblical rain has stopped so maybe my wife will let me go back up there. I have some Deoxit and a kit to make coax to size. Maybe this will work.

X2 Dapper Dan. Winegard explained the problem and sent me the cable no cost. I wasn't in a hurry so that worked out just fine.

The connector at the LNB was clean as a whistle . The one at the box was a little corroded. I scrapped the center wire with a knife and Deoxed all of it. Didn't work. There are 3 coax connections in the base. Is it possible they are interchangeable? Thanks.

I haven't had a chance to look. Did this cable have regular RG6 connectors on both ends?

My dish would turn completely over lake a saucer, make a complete 360 search with the lnb arm pointed straight up and then return to the stow position. Was your experience similar?

Did you get CS help from Winegard? "

Our dish operates the same as yours. I didn't notice any corrosion on either end of that short cable I replaced. To be honest the faulty cable didn't "look" bad but obviously was. I managed to be able to use my "homemade" cable for a little while but I made it a bit too short and eventually that one failed. The replacement has been working great ever since. :B

As to those other connections on the base you'd have to call Winegard and ask them, I have NO idea if they'd work or not. I reconnected the replacement cable to the same terminal on the base.


Dan

mikestock wrote:
The connector at the LNB was clean as a whistle . The one at the box was a little corroded. I scrapped the center wire with a knife and Deoxed all of it. Didn't work. There are 3 coax connections in the base. Is it possible they are interchangeable? Thanks.

Just FYI, it's never a good idea to scrape the center wire. The signal travels on the surface of the wire and you want that wire to remain as smooth as possible.
As to the other leads, yes, coax is coax. If you really have the SK-SWM3 antenna you should only have 1 wire that leads from the SWM LNB to the base. Where are these other coax cables? Any coax can be used to test if that cable is bad. Even a spare 50 footer sitting around somewhere.