DirecTV No Signal

[Jofenech]

Hooked up directv with receiver from home in RV worked perfectly in my driveway, at campground aprox 40 miles from home, no sat.

Signal, clear view of the sky no obstructions, but no signal, got home, raised and aimed dish turned on TV, everything works perfectly.

Any advice out there ?

Thanks Joe

[kaypsmith]

Is the dish on the roof of the RV?

If so, is the dish an automatic signal finder? If the same coax was used in both places, and was not unhooked, the possibility that the elevation was a little off could be the culprit.

Or if the coax was unhooked then rehooked at the campground, possibly the center conductor was not making contact properly. I had a same situation on my last outing, I unhooked the coax then reseated it, and it came back to life.

Also, did you go through setup, on receiver at the new location? If so, the possibility that wrong dish setting may have occurred, ie round versus slimline, or vice versa.

Hope you find the answer, Kay

[BillAdams]

More info needed.

[ticat900]

Is the dish on the roof of the RV?

If so, is the dish an automatic signal finder? If the same coax was used in both places, and was not unhooked, the possibility that the elevation was a little off could be the culprit.

Or if the coax was unhooked then rehooked at the campground, possibly the center conductor was not making contact properly. I had a same situation on my last outing, I unhooked the coax then reseated it, and it came back to life.

Also, did you go through setup, on receiver at the new location? If so, the possibility that wrong dish setting may have occurred, ie round versus slimline, or vice versa.

Hope you find the answer, Kay

What difference if automatic or not.OP knows how to get signal?

Using same dish and same receiver you do not need to reset the receiver as the settings do not change in the same RV 40 miles apart

The only thing I can say is he was in a area(setting) that had a weak or no signal available. all it takes is a tree branch and it wont work

been there and done that.

[Jofenech]

It is a manually aimed roof mounted dish. Nothing disconnected, I thought it might have been a bad conductor as well, I did go through receiver setup , but no luck. There was absolutely no obstructions at the campground. Even tried to change the zip code, with no success. Set it to direction and angle as receiver asked, then tried to vary from that, never got anything but 0 on any transponders. When I got home I set dish to 135 deg. And 42 deg and received good signal on all transponders instantly. Do you all think a bad conductor is still a good possibility?

And I did confirm it had proper dish configuration.

Thanks for your help.

Joe

[kaypsmith]

With all the above info, maybe an obstruction, but sounds like that you know if all is clear. I would have an extra coax in case this happens again just to try replacement. Could be a break in the conductor of your present coax, which vibration while moving could open, and or close. Only other thing that I can think of, is the possibility of the lnb going bad.

Again good luck,

Kay

[desertdeals69]

Any metal buildings nearby?

[Jofenech]

No metal buildings . Does the chance of an intermittent short in coax sound like a possibility ?

[BillAdams]

I would seem that you just were not able to get it pointed properly at the campground since you were able to get it working when you returned. I can't explain why you had problems away from home other than possibly your compass was off at the new location or you made some incorrect assumptions. It's really hard to trouble-shoot problems with a manually pointed antenna as you are the only one who knows what you did.

I would check the cables on the roof at the LNB and ensure the center conductor inside the end connector (F-connector) is shiny cooper colored. When you re-install put a dap of di-electric grease as well to ensure it stays that way. Visually inspect the coax cable for wear as well but don't be concerned about minor cracking. If that all appears well then I doubt you have an issue with the antenna itself.

[Jofenech]

I used compass on my phone for initial starting point, and went from there, how likely is it that I would get a zero signal, I am definitely not above messing things up. After using what I thought was a rational approach I then went into random (not so rational) mode, still with zero signal

Really appreciate the help

[Jofenech]

Just a thought .. I based all of my calculations on the compass in my cell phone, cell service at our campsite was in and out, could compass reading be wrong ? I have little if any sense of direction myself so I was going strictly off of phone ?.

[ticat900]

Just a thought .. I based all of my calculations on the compass in my cell phone, cell service at our campsite was in and out, could compass reading be wrong ? I have little if any sense of direction myself so I was going strictly off of phone ?.

Ok now your saying you base your set up on cell phone compass readings?? I have never seen or heard of that(learn something every day) I would have to say you have answered your own question. I use the built in signal finder as the best method on roof mounts or you can insert a signal meter and then fine tune using receiver signals

[Jofenech]

I plan to get the meter, sounds like it would be helpful. But I guess a bit of my confusion comes from the fact that I use the same method in my driveway and at campground, works at home not at campground.

Is there a particular brand of signal finder you would recommend ?

[billbaldwin]

I have had the same problem. Moved my dish a couple of feet......problem solved.

Everything else was the same. I have noticed that having things plumb is the key to everything else.

Just off a little and you can search for hours.

bill

[BillAdams]

Cell phones have notoriously bad compasses so you should start there is a good compass. Not expensive, just good. Camping World and most RV parts dealers sell the Winegard compass and signal meter. The nice part about having a signal meter in-line is that it gives an instant reading of signal while there is a delay between finding a satellite and the receiver showing a signal. The meter still won't tell you that's it's the correct satellite (unless you spend a lot more money) but you will know when you are in the right area and go from there.

[Jofenech]

Thanks good to know that, it's another avenue to explore. I think I am going to replace coax, at least it will remove one maybe from the situation .

[Jofenech]

Thanks Bill and Bill. I will pick up a conventional compass and signal meter.

[desertdeals69]

You can get an app for your smart phone and it will locate all of the satellites and use the camera to see if it is clear line of sight. Did you have the pole perfectly straight up and down? If you did you don't need a compass as the elevation will be the same when you swing it around.

[BillAdams]

The phone apps you describe is only as accurate as the phone compass so while it will give you a good idea of where the satellites are you can't use it to find a tiny gap in the trees.

Also, he mentioned that he has a roof mounted manual antenna so no "pole" is involved.

[Jofenech]

Would leveling the motorhome account for leveling the pole for a roof mount dish? This has been great, I have learned the little I might have been doing right, and the many things I may be doing wrong.

Hopefully I can use these things to an ultimate success.

[Jofenech]

I plan to pick up a signal meter, and a standard compass, although I know the compass on my phone was roughly correct at the camp sight, I want to remove any doubt. At my level of electronic knowledge roughly correct is not enough, I need all the help I can get.

[BillAdams]

The meter will help the most since it will give instant reading even if you are moving the antenna too fast.

Pay attention to the elevation as well as sometimes when you turn the azimuth the elevation setting can change as well making locating the satellite nearly impossible.

If your antenna has the Digital Magic box you should easily be able to see if the elevation remains steady.

[desertdeals69]

The phone apps you describe is only as accurate as the phone compass so while it will give you a good idea of where the satellites are you can't use it to find a tiny gap in the trees.

Also, he mentioned that he has a roof mounted manual antenna so no "pole" is involved.

A level roof is the same thing. I used a fellows iPad with the app and where I was trying there were trees at the fringe of 99 and 119 so I moved to a different spot and everything worked perfect.

[BillAdams]

A level roof is the same thing. I used a fellows iPad with the app and where I was trying there were trees at the fringe of 99 and 119 so I moved to a different spot and everything worked perfect.

If you say so. Level roof you say and then you say trees were blocking. The apps don't give perfect info, just good guidelines.

You refer to a tripod and you are absolutely correct if that were the situation. This just happens to not be that situation.

The OP has the info he needs.

[Jofenech]

O K . Picked up standard compass and signal meter, pulled motorhome to the far end of my property where I could not previously find a signal, in about 30 seconds I had great signal, and was good to go.

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THE ADVICE !

Joe