Satellite Problems

[techgy]

When we experienced similar blackouts during general conference a few years ago, we got remarkable improvement by wiping the satellite receiver element cover with a handkerchief. Dust and hard water deposits had created a thin film that was interfering with the signal.

Thanks for the suggestion 1slim_jim and welcome to the Tech Forum. It's something to check, however, the engineer who came to the building was pretty thorough. He went out to the dish and checked, although I don't know if he actually wiped anything off. The signal was extremely high to the point where he was impressed. So my feeling at this point is that it was the loose connector. However, I'm also not opposed to cleaning the LNB area of the dish.

[russellhltn]

Lucky you. Ours bumps around 9.0. Sometimes a bit lower. I think the yellow light comes on around 8.8 or so. We used to be up around 11 or so. Not sure what happened.

[StevePoulsen]

[quote="techgy"]During last night's Marriage broadcast to units in California we experienced some severe reception problems.It started about 20-30 minutes into the broadcast when the screen went black (no audio/video). The only thing we had was an error message "Error Mode" or words to that effect. A few seconds later it all came back on. Then over the balance of the broadcast we had intermittent reception problems where the picture and audio would freeze for a couple of seconds then come back. We had the "error" screen a few more times as well.[/quote]

If the signal was intermittent there are 2 possibilities as to your problem, but both are solvable the same way.

If the broadcast was encrypted, then the glitch is because the receiver was not getting it encryption key due to a low signal level.

If the broadcast was not encrypted, then the signal level was so low that the receiver could not get all of the information to decode the stream into it’s a/v components.

Either way the dish needs to be examined for obstructions, and damage, if none are found you (the FM group) should hire a qualified A/V contractor to re-aim the Satellite Dish.
On a side note keep track of the error messages, they are all diffrent and will help in determining what your exact issue is. (I know it's tool ate for hta now, but in the future...)

[StevePoulsen]

I think the yellow light comes on around 8.8 or so. We used to be up around 11 or so. Not sure what happened.

Over Time the satellite dish will start to settle and lose it's shape as that happens, Eb/No will decrease. But good news it can be fixed. Usually with some basic hand tools, a little patience, and some know how. I would let your FM group know the signal level is degrading, and they can decide who they should call to fix it (string the dish), or have it replaced.

[StevePoulsen]

Since the problem is said to be the length of the cable, a good preamp placed close to the dish may be the solution.

Let your FM know, they can order these directly from CHQ, and their fairly cheep.