marbilupton
north carolina
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I just recently had a new roof mounted Winegard Minimax Satellite Antenna installed and I purchased a Dish Network 211 receiver to use with it.Where I am here in Pensacola, Fl now, when I activate the system I get a lot of "complete signal loss" and "partial signal loss" messages. However, there are some programs we can watch by going to the guide and selecting one. However, when I use the remote to go up or down to the next station, I get the signal loss message again and I have to go to the program guide to go to another channel. Is this because I have a partially blocked antenna, or is there something wrong with it?
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fredbon
Pacific Northwest or SoCal
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Depending which satellite the viewing station is beamed from, you could be partially blocked by trees. Dish uses satellites at 110, 119 and 129 degrees.
I believe your 211 owner's manual should have section containing aiming angles for your location. Use a cheap magnetic compass to check for objects in your line of sight.
Trees are the biggest enemy of roof mounted domes.
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offthewall
New Jersey
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marbilupton wrote:I just recently had a new roof mounted Winegard Minimax Satellite Antenna installed and I purchased a Dish Network 211 receiver to use with it.Where I am here in Pensacola, Fl now, when I activate the system I get a lot of "complete signal loss" and "partial signal loss" messages. However, there are some programs we can watch by going to the guide and selecting one. However, when I use the remote to go up or down to the next station, I get the signal loss message again and I have to go to the program guide to go to another channel. Is this because I have a partially blocked antenna, or is there something wrong with it?
Do you have a clear view of the southern sky? I use an iPhone app called DishPointer that easily shows me if I have a clear view. If you go to the installation/point dish menu on your 211, you can see the signal level for each sat. It should indicate at least "good" ( about 50%).
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vtbigdog
VT, GA
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Is the Dish box the same one you used in your house? If so you need to run the Check Switch. To do that click on Menu 6-1-1 and Select the Check Switch button and hit TEST.
If this is not the same box you used in the House, the issue may lie with the use of the 110,199 and 129 satellites. These are considered Western Arc Satellites and are lower on the horizon and more prone to interruption from trees, etc. You should be using the Eastern Arc Satellites. This will require setting the DIP Switches in the satellite to different settings. You can do this yourself by turning off the power to the satellite dish, removing the dome using a philips screwdriver and resetting the dip switches to the Eastern Arc.
Look on the botton of Page 10 of your manual. This is how the DIP switches should be set. Once you reinstall the dome, turn it on and let is seek until it stops making noise. Then turn on your receiver and let it acquire the Guide. Then hit Menu 6-1-1 and make sure satellite 72 is using an ODD Transponder. Then run the Check Switch Test again.
This should resolve your issue as the Easter Arc satellites are in a different direction and much highter in the sky. I am in Brunswick, Georgia and it works great. I also have the local HD channels running through my batwing and into the back of the Dish box and can access them with the same remote.
Let me know if you have any questions.
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vtbigdog
VT, GA
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Another dumb question....do you have your levelers down? A little movement of the coach can cause the dome to completely miss the satellite 20,000 miles away.
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roam1
Pensacola Beach
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vtbigdog wrote:Is the Dish box the same one you used in your house? If so you need to run the Check Switch. To do that click on Menu 6-1-1 and Select the Check Switch button and hit TEST.
If this is not the same box you used in the House, the issue may lie with the use of the 110,199 and 129 satellites. These are considered Western Arc Satellites and are lower on the horizon and more prone to interruption from trees, etc. You should be using the Eastern Arc Satellites. This will require setting the DIP Switches in the satellite to different settings. You can do this yourself by turning off the power to the satellite dish, removing the dome using a philips screwdriver and resetting the dip switches to the Eastern Arc.
Look on the botton of Page 10 of your manual. This is how the DIP switches should be set. Once you reinstall the dome, turn it on and let is seek until it stops making noise. Then turn on your receiver and let it acquire the Guide. Then hit Menu 6-1-1 and make sure satellite 72 is using an ODD Transponder. Then run the Check Switch Test again.
This should resolve your issue as the Easter Arc satellites are in a different direction and much highter in the sky. I am in Brunswick, Georgia and it works great. I also have the local HD channels running through my batwing and into the back of the Dish box and can access them with the same remote.
Let me know if you have any questions.
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supermod38
Central NY
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marbilupton wrote:I just recently had a new roof mounted Winegard Minimax Satellite Antenna installed and I purchased a Dish Network 211 receiver to use with it.Where I am here in Pensacola, Fl now, when I activate the system I get a lot of "complete signal loss" and "partial signal loss" messages. However, there are some programs we can watch by going to the guide and selecting one. However, when I use the remote to go up or down to the next station, I get the signal loss message again and I have to go to the program guide to go to another channel. Is this because I have a partially blocked antenna, or is there something wrong with it?
if you check the instructions you will see that they recommend going to the guide to change channels rather than us the up and down arrows.
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vtbigdog
VT, GA
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Concerning the channel changing, the reason they say to go to the guide to change channels is because every time you change the channel the satellite dish may have to go to another satellite, since the Minimax can only look at one satellite at a time.
The good news though is that with the Eastern Arc almost all HD channels are on satellite 72 so going to other channels by arrowing up or down works as it would in your home. In fact, what I do is to turn on the satellite dish, let it find the satellites and when I get a picture I then turn off the satellite completely. Here are the HD channels that are on a different satellites:
61.5 Satellite
All Local Channels in your home area.
115 Style
186 National Geographic
218 VERIA
Satellite 77 is not used in the USA, or not that I can see.
I have the 200 channel packageage with HBO and Starz
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johnsonbert
Houston, TX-Ironwood, MI
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Also, with a single head dome that has to move from sat to sat, you should not use the arrow up and down to change channels.Go to the guide, locate your channel then choose it and you should hear the head relocate to another sat if it needs to. On ours, after turning it on and it locates the sats, I physically check in the aim dish screen for 110, 119 and 129 to make sure all three have a signal. In Florida, you would have to use the eastern arc sats as someone mentioned earlier. Checking the switch is something that you should not have to do very often. I have checked switch on our dome twice in the last year. Hope this may help, Happy Trails Bert
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vtbigdog
VT, GA
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Johnsonbert,
The channel changing may be true with the western arc, but it is not accurate with the eastern arc satellites. All of the channels are on the same satellite so the up and down arrows will work just as they do in your stick home
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