Which Transponder?

[Mechanic]

I have two RCA 222 IRDs one shows transponder 11 when you go to the signal meter, the other shows transponder 2. The one I watch the most is on transponder 11 and I was getting a signal of between 64-75, and some picture freze. I then reset my dish while on transponder 11 and got the signal up to 75-81. Now with the signal meter screen on, on the IRD thats on 11, if I apply power to my second IRD, the signal drops to about 45 on the first IRD, with no power (unplugged) on the second IRD, my first IRD get a signal of 75-81. Whats my problem. I have tried changing transponders while on the signal strenth screen, then backing out of this screen, but when I go to this screen again it is always on transponder 11. Is my dual LNB bad or am I doing something wrong. Can you tell the IRD which transponder you want to use or does the IRD decide which transponder it uses.

[TVgratis]

The IRD selects a transponder based on the channel you tune to. Here's a
MAP OF TRANSPONDERS

1. 112 151 185 208 265 327 329 620 638 812 814 822

2. 116 142 150 229 231 273 282 358 530

3. 110 113 152 202 296 521 623 641 808 811 841 863

4. 254 260 264 350 351 366 370 917 936 938

5. 106 115 117 368 382 526 624 626 651 838 839 840 860 904

6. 207 252 399 523 532 607

7. 108 134 183 200 240 278 380 594 608 802 816 817 818 903

8. 263 313 909 910 911 912 914 915 937

9. 114 121 290 355 522 606 645 647 856 857 858 864

10. 128 140 178 205 212 269 333 354 528 601 609 611 700

11. 100 145 201 244 325 362 388 593 605 629 819 823 824 865 905

12. 291 339 550 916 920 923 924 925 926

13. 120 243 331 386 630 754 821 825 828 861 906

14. 130 165 170 233 300 527 596 800

15. 109 125 353 529 632 649 829 833 842 862

16. 292 317 372 402 595 918 919 9921 935

17. 138 168 249 280 301 634 639 652 804 805 830 831

18. 944 945 946 947 952 974 975 976 977

19. 122 148 180 242 315 335 637 813 834 836 843

20. 307 404 598 953 954 979 980 981 983

21. 135 299 311 375 384 643 720 806 859 889 902

22. 171 191 250 253 600 613 702 951

23. 111 118 190 204 220 309 356 533 603 610 636 699 753

24. 502 507 514 537 757 958 992 993 994 995

25. 119 203 218 246 248 377 653 654 735 901

26. 505 508 547 941 942 959 970 971 972 973

27. 105 107 155 160 245 247 390 520 628 900

28. 503 513 539 540 940 943 960 961 962 963

29. 182 206 256 360 531 621

30. 504 512 544 549 929 930 988 989 990 991

31. 258 364 381 383 387 389 597 955 956 964 965 967 968

32. 501 538 542 927 928 984 985 986 987

Check your cable connections to make sure they are tight and not corroded. Cable should be RG-6 and no splitters. You might need to swap out the LNB to eliminate it being defective or borrow another IRD to temporarily swap out.

[Mechanic]

TVgratis, Thanks for the transponder map. I aimed my dish on transponder 11 thinking that was the the transponder that my IRD was using, by doing so it also lowered the signal on most of the other transponders. I'm going to re-aim the dish to get the signal up on all the other transponders and see if that does not fix the signal loose problem when I power up the other IRD. All connections are clean and tight and I'm not using any splitters. Thanks again.

[TVgratis]

Since the RCA222 IRD signal meter allows you to check signal strength on all 32 transponders the easiest way to align dish is to set the meter on transponder 2 and adjust for max strength. All of the other transponders should fall into place for the best average strength. You might want to consider a separate inline signal meter.
Be careful of any trees or other overhangs in the vicinity as it can be difficult to determine the exact signal path. Also make sure the arm supporting the LNB is not misaligned.

[Mechanic]

I'll give transponder 2 a try this week end. Is transponder 11 the defalt transponder on my IRD? Everytime I go to the signal meter it's always on transponder 11, I change it with the remote and when I come back to it, it's back on 11. Thanks for your help.

[TVgratis]

My observation with the RCAs is that there is no default transponder, a transponder is assigned based on the channel/transponder map. My experience with RCA 222,515,523 IRDs and the signal meter has been that the transponder selected when entering signal meter function is either, after cold boot set to "1", or set to whatever number was set last time the function was used. So unlike cellular's opinion, my tests have shown that the signal meter for a RCA does not have a channel tuned/transponder correlation. Which brings up a question - how do you determine the channel/transponder assignment with a RCA IRD? The map was given to me several months ago and I was not aware that DTV can change the assignment.
I've never seen an IRD behave like yours by always jumping to transponder 11. And both of your 222's do not do the same. Strange...
Another thing you might check if you can. There is a service menu that is entered on a 515 or 523 by pressing the info and down buttons on the IRD at the same time. I'm not sure how to do this on a 222 since there are only 3 buttons on the top: power, chan up, chan down...but there must be a combination to get service menu. On the service menu there is a function "Channel Map" which looks like it gives you the ability to map channels to certain transponders. I'm not sure what this would normally be used for, maybe you know, cellular? If you go to this function make sure nothing is set.

[Edited by TVgratis on May 18th, 2000 at 07:22 PM]

[Mechanic]

I went to the transponder map in the service menu and when you click on it you can see which channels are on each transponder by clicking up or down it shows all 32. This may be helpful if you are having a problem with a certain channel, you could go to the menu and find out which transponder is supplying the signal and then fine tune your dish to that transponder. Thanks for the help guys.

[TVgratis]

Yes, Mechanic I see how the Service Menu - Channel Map function works now, press Select for one channel at a time up or down depending on whether the + or - is highlighted. I wasn't sure if anything could be changed so I was cautious, but now looks like a display only function. Good luck on finding your problem.

Thanks cellular, it looks like DTV does change the mapping as spot checking the table in my prior post I found inaccuracies.

[Edited by TVgratis on May 20th, 2000 at 12:35 PM]