Hughes e86 signal drop - It is more..

[Mxyzptlk]

I have had the hughes e86 now for about 2 months.. I posted awhile back of a signal drop off problem which today is still not resolved.

Problem: For one second, the signal will drop to zero and cause the following: Pixalization/screen freeze/Sound drop (loud tweak)/HD channels as well. I have checked/rechecked connections/LNB/Realligned dish/ground/it should work.. and well it could be some weird cable (I have not replaced them all yet) but keep reading below...

This happens on an extremely random basis, sometimes twice a minute sometimes not for 3 or 4 days. Here is what I have gathered.

This is not singled out to me. Others are having this problem according to the posts I have read on other forms (about 9 original posts and 35 different replys=owners)

This does not seem to be a wide spread problem. It seems to be with the initial *older* units that orginally shipped. This coincides with the no program guide bug.

Unfortunatly these units (e86) are relatively new so you might be affected!

Hughes is not aware of the problem (signal/glitch problem). They blame it on the local setup which is certainly a reasonable arguement. However.. I think it is the receiver.

Interference with other sh*t - Sure I have a ton of crap with lots of different cables touching one another as I have a home theater system just like you do! They all go through the same holes but are shielded with their own conventional skins. This should be ok since I do not buy crap cables

With local digital channels I get similar conditions. I have a strong rooftop antenna (radioshack vr-190 - about 30 miles from transmitters) and at times EVERY channel signal strength is 100.. awsome. The times I get it is when I disconnect the cable from the receiver for 30 secs and reconnect. Unforunatly it does not last. I begin to get similar drop outs even on local channels (although not to zero)

I hooked up my 4th generation Hughes and did not experience any glitch problems (could not test HD)

Because of the bone heads at Directv/Hughes not testing the IRD upgrade (no program guide bug) I get another unit in about a week. I hope this solves these problems, but I am skeptic.

This is certainly a new age in receivers and help is tough to come by whether it be on forums or the companies themselves.

Do not get me wrong. I love the technology. It just seems they arent testing quite enough in order to get to market.. and we consumers are going to pay in the price of a headache.

On the other hand... HUGHES WAS very professional and satisfactory as far as taking care of the no program guide problem (replace unit). And the tech did work with me for about a half hour to diagnose the glitch problem. This is nice to see and makes the price I paid for the unit worth it. I have always enjoyed hughes and hope to continue to do so.

I will reply to this message when the new receiver is in posession.

Mxyzptlk

[wmcoman]

I am emu with an e86 and have been noticing that since day one the program guide for the 119 sat will lose info after about 4 hrs ie; description will become to be announced. Any thoughts?

[mylnym]

Mxyzptlk, unfortunately, I cannot assist on your signal drop-off problem but I, too, have a unit with the 'no program guide' bug. Could you direct me to discussion on this phenomenon? Is there a fix other than replacing the unit? Problematic for me, since I live in Canada, no dealers here.

Just after I posted the above, I realize I have a similar problem.

I have a diplexed RG6 cable entering the house and I diplex the output to both the SAT IN and IN FROM ANT connectors on the IRD; the IFA connector is used for my analog CATV signal (which I split to a VCR and the HDTV). Anyway, I'm able to add all my CATV channels to the guide, can tune and view them, no problem. When the local DTV channels are added to the guide, however, those with channel numbers corresponding to the CATV channels cause the CATV channels to be deleted - they show up in the Locals list, but they cannot be selected (ticked) or re-scanned into the guide and they cannot be viewed anymore. I assumed it was a matter of analog signal strength, but eliminating the CATV splitter does not fix the problem.

It seems these early units were not really ready for market; far too many problems. With the lack of HDTV channels (2), I'm almost ready to back up to the D45; anyone have one cheap? :-)

[Mxyzptlk]

mylnym

I am not sure as I do not have a cable in, however I could be related to your program guide.

Keep investigating....

As promised here is the update

Received the new receiver once again. At the same time I purchased a Wingard 9095 UHF antenna. Valid HU in bin...

When I made the antenna switch from the radio shack V190 I checked the signal strength of the LOCAL channels... I am about 15+ miles away

I got an eractic signal ranging from 77 to 100 percent. I have seen this before.

I then disconnect the local channel cable in and unplug the IRD (IMPORTANT!) I reconnect everything and plug back in

100% across the board.. All local channels are screaming...


Until... after X amount of time I start to get interference. I am going to blame this on something I have local as far as connection.. But the cables should be good... Should be is not a solution here.

It just seems odd that after I switch from Dtv to local and back again over x amount of time that the signal begins to degrade...

I am working on this and will post my results

NOTE: All DTV channels are coming in fine including the hiDef stuff as well..

Mxyzptlk