Signal Problem with Bell System

[RHOL02]

I am a subbed Bell Customer. Installed my system myself almost a year ago. Starting about five months ago I get what I call mini blackouts. Sporadically the TV picture will freeze, the sound will drop out, the picture will get all pixellated. Then the screen will go black for about a second. Then it all comes back and works fine again till the next time. This may happen several times per hour and then sometimes not at all for hours. Happens in all kinds of weather, even on bright sunny days with no wind. Tried a new reciever. No change. Tried the other connector on the LNB. No change. First RG6 coax I used was the whole 100 ft that came in the kit. It came in two pieces, a 25Ft and a 75 Ft, so I had to join them with a coaxial Female-Female connector. Last weekend I ran a whole new cable with no joins. It seems to have lessened the problem, but not completely. I get good signal indicated -- high 70's to high 80's on all transponders. There are no trees blocking the signal. I havent yet tried re-locating the dish so I can get a shorter run to my 2700 ird. Could it be that my dish is slightly off the sattelite? I was hoping someone out there could tell me what I might have missed.

[smack]

I'm guessing you still have some flavor of cable problem.

Did you install the grounding block? The ones supplied with the kits are total CRAP. If you used it, try putting a double-female barrel connector in place of the grounding block (just for testing the signal path). If that clears it up, then buy another block; Home Depot has 'em, just about any electronics kinda store will have 'em.

Does the cable from the IED/receiver go all the way to the LNB, or is there a "pigtail" from the LNB with an adapter to connect to your cable? (try the cable all the way to the LNB if so).

Is the mount stable? Is the pole/mast/surface that the dish is mounted to able to move in any direction (more than ~1/16th of an inch)? Is it possible that with the heating/cooling of that pole/mast/surface, it is expanding/contracting...building up tension then suddenly letting go (shaking the dish)?

Are there any severe bends (less than a 4-6" circle) in the cable? Did you have to apply a lot of pull to get it through from inside to outside (i.e., possible you broke the center conductor, and it usually touches, but the heat/cool cycle, wind, vibration, etc causes it to momentarily lose the connection)?

Is the IED/receiver in a closed place? Do you have enough ventilation room around the box? Does your kitty like to lay on the nice warm box (i.e., heat problem)?

Would it be possible that the power outlet that the IRD/receiver is plugged into is shared with some other high-demand electrical device? LIke maybe a power dip "confuses" the electronics of the IRD/receiver enough for it to lose sync / stop processing frames? (try another outlet that is NOT on a high-demand circuit).

That's about it, off the top of my head, I'm guessing it's one of the above.

FWIW

Scott

[RHOL02]

Thanks for responding.
The Grounding Block? No I did not ground the dish, not yetanyway. My household ground rod is way over the other side of the house. I went to get a rod to shove in the ground near to where the dish is mounted, But wasn't able to come up with something I thought would be suitable that wouldn't cost nearly $50. I was going to use some #12 copper wire to ??somewhere?? instead of the aluminum wire that came with the kit. But I haven't done that yet. I thought that grounding the dish was mostly to protect your ird and TV,VCR etc in case of a lightning strike. Can an ungrounded dish cause signal problems such as I am seeing??

[RHOL02]

I now have two RG6 cables hooked to my Dual LNBF.
Both go all the way from the LNB to my 2700 ird. But I only hook one at a time to the ird. One cable is really two cables joined together with a coaxial f-f connector. The other is a single continuous piece of RG6 with weatherproof F connectors crimped on.
Actually, just before the cable goes into the ird, I do have one of those surge suppressor devices that is supposed to filter/suppress noise and surges from all the various inputs. Telephone, Cable, Antenna, AC power. I have been connecting the RG6 from the Dish to the appropriate jack on the suppressor. Then there is a short 5 foot cable that goes from the suppressor to the ird.
I will see if connecting the dish directly to the ird helps.