DirecTV Issue - Locals

[kevbeck122]

My grandfather has DirecTV with locals.  The locals come out of Wausau/Rhinelander.  When he got the locals, they installed another dish and pointed it at 72.5.  He told me that he's had problems with locals probably since spring.  Whenever it rains.. I mean even if the clouds are there and no rain is coming down, the locals don't come in at all.  I can get between 0 and 18 on the signal meter for the transponders, and all of them are at 0 when its raining more steadily.  We don't have any problems getting the standard channels from 101... signal was around 70-75 when it was just cloudy and 50-70 when raining.  

They want to send somebody out here for $70 and they didn't have any open appointments til August 23 apparently.. so I figured I might take a look at it to see if there's anything I can do.  Any ideas on what could be causing this?  Unless the dish got whacked out of alignment from hitting the pole it's on to get snow off this winter, I'd imagine the dish is still pointed good enough toward 72.5.

[bubbaridesfast]

What STB does he have? Those signal levels in the 70's in good weather is too low unless he has the H20.
If he doesn't have that box, I would guess the alignment is off, if he has the H20, then I think the most you can do is check to make sure all of the connections are water-tight. Water can get in the cable connections although unlikely when it's just cloudy.

You might try asking this on dbstalk.com, many more knowledgeable people visiting that site.

[kevbeck122]

He's got a D10 SD receiver.  

Now that it's pretty clear out, I get 80 for a signal on 101.. and low 40s on 72.5.  He lives in a pretty low area near Park Falls.  It's surround by trees, but I'd assume that's not the issue since I don't get any breakups when it's clear out.  I guess the only thing I can do is check the cable on the 72.5 dish.. I don't have a meter to check the alignment and the TV is too far away to use that.  He said this started sometime this spring, so it has worked fine in the past.  I'll check out dbstalk.com... thanks.

[kevbeck122]

Guess it's just going to have to be called in.. I don't have any ladders that get as high as the dishes.  Everything looks fine at the multiswitch, though I was able to just twist off the connectors easily with my fingers.  The cable coming from the 72.5 dish to the switch doesn't looks as professionally done as the original dish, so either that's the problem or it's not aimed good enough.