Help with Winegard Travler SK1000 and Hopper 3

[Thunder_Mountai]

I really need some help with our Winegard Travler SK1000 and Dish Hopper 3. I did the LNB and switch conversion to accommodate the Hopper at least seven years ago. It has functioned pretty much flawlessly since then.

On this trip satellite system functioned normally in two previous two locations. Then I moved to a new location three days ago. According to my Dish locator app I have a clear sky shot at 110, 119 and 129. I deployed the Travler and only satellite 119 has an asterisk beside it on the power box. Check switch shows the other two are missing.

I spent almost an hour on the phone with Winegard. We did a EL Re-Calibration. We disabled the multi-satellite mode and were able to do a manual find on 110 and got a lock and asterisk on it. Did the same on 119 and 129 and got lock and asterisk. I reenabled the multi-sat function and got a lock on 119 but not the other two. 119 has all the HD subscriptions and local channels that matter to us.

I did run across an option on the internet called Hopper Check Switch with nuclear option. It tells you to unplug the Hopper, unplug the switch, wait one minute and reverse the sequence. Haven’ done that yet cause it didn’t make since to me because it thought turning off the Travler box killed the power to the dish anyway. Am I wrong on that? Or is the power inserter always feeding voltage to the dish?

At this point Winegard is saying I possibly have a bent arm. I did replace the reflector because of a minor dinger. It had been working fine for about 5 years with the dinger. So, they sent me a photograph of the proper arm alignment. Checking it involves pressing power and select on the Travler box to kill the power with the dish deployed. Then I remove the reflector and manually fold the LNB arm back. I check that the arm is center in the reflector mounting plate. I just can’t imagine that the arm would all the sudden be bent. Just wanted to post here before doing the last two options.

Thanks in advance for you help!

[Cptnvideo]

I'm not familiar with Dish's technology but in the old days of single LNBs, the received signal was down converted to 950-1450 MHz. Since there is only one co-ax coming down from the antenna to the receiver, either the 3 LNBs have to be "stacked" or switched. I'm guessing switched since "stacked" would require a bandwidth of 450-1950 MHz. So switching is likely the issue and that could be a problem within the Hopper receiver.
Have you talked to Dish's technical department?

[Thunder_Mountai]

LouLawrence wrote:
Doing the manual selection pointing only proves that the center 119 LNB is working. It uses that one only even though you pointed at 3 different satellites. The LNB or cables from the LNB could be bad. Checking the cable(s) inside the arm down to the base would be a worthwhile project. You also need to disconnect each coax cable end (F connectors) and inspect for corrosion. Each end should have had a dab of dielectric grease to prevent this.
Turning power off to the Winegard controller does not shut down power to the antenna. The power for the LNB comes from the Hopper IIRC. Mine is connected to a DTV Genie.

Thanks for the reply. All my connections up top have been inspected and have dielectric grease applied.

[LouLawrence]

Doing the manual selection pointing only proves that the center 119 LNB is working. It uses that one only even though you pointed at 3 different satellites. The LNB or cables from the LNB could be bad. Checking the cable(s) inside the arm down to the base would be a worthwhile project. You also need to disconnect each coax cable end (F connectors) and inspect for corrosion. Each end should have had a dab of dielectric grease to prevent this.
Turning power off to the Winegard controller does not shut down power to the antenna. The power for the LNB comes from the Hopper IIRC. Mine is connected to a DTV Genie.