Minimax Stationary Unstable

[raniphillips]

We have an RT8000S satellite attached to a Dish receiver in our Host pick-up camper. When we park for the night and set up the satellite for the current location, it seems to be a crap shoot whether it will find 110, 119 and 129 via SW64. If we do lock on the satellites in the evening, the next day some or all the satellites are gone and we can never see SW64 again. What do you suggest we do? This is extremely frustrating. We even replaced the coax this spring. That appeared to work temporarily. Now it is goofy again.

(Note that we have a carryout variety in our other trailer parked at a local lake. I have to admit that it goes goofy occasionally as well.)

[Winegard Tech Help]

raniphillips,

Once you have SW64 installed in the checkswitch with all three satellites, you will not want to run the checkswitch test again as the only thing that can happen is you can lose the proper switch.

A few questions for you:

Is this happening in multiple situations?
What model Dish Network receiver are you working with?
Where in the country are you having these issues?

Get back to me when you can and we can try to figure out what the issue is.

[raniphillips]

The reason we do another checkswitch is because we lose the all the satellites and haven't moved the RV. We do turn the Minimax overnight because it spends most of the night searching and disturb my husbands sleep.

Our installer told us to set the local zipcode and select Dish300 (defaults to Dish500) prior to turning on the Minimax and doing the checkswitch.

This happens throughout the US and in Canada. We even replaced the receiver with the same (Dish 311) we use successfully in our bedroom at home. My husband ran a coax directly from the receiver to the Minimax. Once we validated SW64, etc., he replaced the previously installed coax with the new cable. Also he used the recommended rooftop coax guide (prevents kinking the coax). That seemed to work briefly. Now we are back to instability.

We have experienced instability at Kitty Hawk, NC, Batesville, MS and at home in west central Illinois.

Thanks for the prompt reply. I look forward to your suggestions. We leave for Colorado 5/4.

[Winegard Tech Help]

raniphillips,

The DP311s have an issue selecting the correct checkswitch. This could be what is causing your problems. To resolve this, do the following:

1. Power up the receiver (not the satellite antenna)
2. Press menu, 6-1-1 to access the point dish screen
3. Highlight the checkswitch option on the right hand side
4. Disconnect the coaxial cable connected to “satellite in” on the back of the receiver
5. Highlight and select the “test” option on the screen
6. Let it run through 38 tests. At the end, when prompted by the screen, select the “save” option.
7. Reconnect the coaxial cable.
8. Select the cancel or done option on the bottom of the screen
9. On the screen titled “Point Dish”, configure it to show satellite 119 and transponder 11
10. Power up the antenna
11. Wait for the antenna to lock on and display a green signal on the screen with the message “Locked – Echostar 119 West”
12. If it is an in-motion roof-mounted unit, allow the unit 6-8 minutes to finish the conical search (washing machine noise) and proceed when the unit is completely quiet. If it is a stationary unit or a Carryout, proceed immediately.
13. Highlight and select check switch on the right hand side
14. On the installation summary screen, there will be two options labled “Superdish” and “Alternate”. Highlight both of these and press select, thus inputting a checkmark in the box next to each.
15. Highlight and select test again. This time it will run through 50 tests.

After finishing the tests, you should see six boxes with satellite 119 (odd/even), satellite 110 (odd/even) and satellite 129 (odd/even) and a switch that reads SW64.

If you get this, you are up and running. Cancel out of every screen you see and give the receiver time to acquire the satellites and download the program guide

In terms of the receiver changing the switch overnight, make sure to power down both the satellite and the receiver. Otherwise it may attempt to change the switch when attempting to update software.

[raniphillips]

Thank!!! I'll try this next week went we are preparing for our Colorado trip. I'm also going to call Dish. I've had the same receivers for 9 years--never a good thing!!

[raniphillips]

OK--we followed your recommendation. We got SW64 and all 3 satellites, odd and even. However, the receiver has been downloading the guide for 40 minutes and counting. Am I correct in assuming that software updates are also downloading as well? How long is TOO long?

Thanks in advance for the reply!!

[Winegard Tech Help]

Rani,

It sounds the receiver is frozen. Go ahead and unplug it for about 30 seconds and plug it back in and let it acquire and attempt to download.

Getting SW64 with all three satellites is a great sign though, it confirms the receiver is configured and saw all three satellites.

[raniphillips]

I cancelled the download and up popped Dish channels!! I agree--getting SW64 is 99% of the battle.

Thanks for all your help!!

[Winegard Tech Help]

raniphillips,

No problem, glad to hear everything is up and running.

If you need future assistance, either come back to the forums or contact technical service at 800-788-4417.

Enjoy the Minimax!