Fixing Winegard Traveler on DirecTV

[Bill w/bus]

We fought problems with reception on various satellites and transponders for about 18 months. Sometimes we would receive even transponders and sometimes odd. Every so often everything worked. 

I thought the problem was in the Winegard antenna itself. Finally was in contact with a Winegard Tech, she was good, who was willing to talk through the whole problem. Solution was not the antenna assembly.  Then she had a discussion with several "old" techs in her office and explained the problem as a cable connection issue. 14V for even transponders and 18V for odd transponders. My question is: Why hadn't any contact explained that simple clue before?.  Called Mr Satellite in Nashville as we were going to be there a week for a submarine crew reunion. Setup an appointment for a Friday. Early morning phone call cancel the shop visit. The tech would come to us by noon, an emergency repair on a installed multiple TV system. Raised the antenna to be ready for the repair. Of course everything worked. Cancelled appointment. But we now had the tech phone number provided by the father. Several phone calls over the next few days fixed the problem. Replaced the cabling within the turret, replaced cabling from LNB(s) to turret head, removed and cleaned every connection and reconnected with dielectric grease. Magic happened. Everything worked as it was designed.

Passing this along to prevent someone else from having the same frustration. I have found that very few techs understand anything about the equipment they are servicing.   The merely replace stuff until the system is working. 

Bill

[OregonJim]

46 minutes ago, Bill w/bus said:

I have found that very few techs understand anything about the equipment they are servicing.   The merely replace stuff until the system is working. 

Bill

That's because we import everything these days, and it's cheaper to replace than repair.

The downside is that those who install/service these systems never gain any knowledge of how the system actually works, or how to repair it.  Everything is a just a chain of black boxes.  When was the last time you saw a TV repair shop?  Telephone repair shop? Stereo repair shop?  It's sad, a giant step backwards for domestic skill & knowledge, but true.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

Another way to look at this:

In my former life I was a mainframe computer repairman.  In my days, (70's, 80's) we got a chance to work on fixing mainframe computers everyday.  Then the technology of chips arrived and the computer stopped breaking so often.  It became harder for a technician to be good at fixing because the chances of working on problems became rarer.  Eventually the job became an installer.

So you can have your choice, have skilled repairmen because what you have fails often enough for practice or the relatively fail-free world of new technology.  You prefer that later but talk the former.

[OregonJim]

6 hours ago, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

Another way to look at this:

In my former life I was a mainframe computer repairman.  In my days, (70's, 80's) we got a chance to work on fixing mainframe computers everyday.  Then the technology of chips arrived and the computer stopped breaking so often.  It became harder for a technician to be good at fixing because the chances of working on problems became rarer.  Eventually the job became an installer.

So you can have your choice, have skilled repairmen because what you have fails often enough for practice or the relatively fail-free world of new technology.  You prefer that later but talk the former.

I see your point, but I just don't buy it.  I was also in the same line of work as you - I worked at DEC for several years in the early '80s repairing PDP-11's and peripherals like tape and disk drives.

Component level repair shifted from replacing single transistors to single chips, yes.  But it was *still* component level repair.  It was NOT replacing entire boards or subsystems.  That was my point.  The technician still had to read and understand a schematic and know DC and AC theory as well as logic.  I count that as a good thing.  If you want to move our collective knowledge overseas and become a nation of installers just because it's cheaper, that's a bad, short-sighted decision, IMO.  Things still fail, but few have the knowledge to troubleshoot beyond the "I dunno, let's replace this thing and see what happens" methodology.  We've also lost the feedback loop to the design engineers from the field that *used* to provide product improvements based on common failures.  "Cheap" comes at a price.

[Dutch_12078]

Modern multi-layer circuit boards, sub-miniature surface mount IC's and other devices don't lend themselves very well to field or even bench level repairs. A basic 0805 multi-layer capacitor SMT device for example, measures just 0.08 x 0.05 in. 

[OregonJim]

1 hour ago, Dutch_12078 said:

Modern multi-layer circuit boards, sub-miniature surface mount IC's and other devices don't lend themselves very well to field or even bench level repairs. A basic 0805 multi-layer capacitor SMT device for example, measures just 0.08 x 0.05 in. 

Yes, I'm aware.  I work on SMT circuit boards with components down to 0603 size..  The skills and equipment evolve with the technology.  It can be done, but few are doing it.

[Big5er]

I'd like to see a tech come to my house to fix that. How many of those can you replace in my living room?  I'm betting your circuit board repairs rarely happen in a living room cabinet where you do not have all of your test equipment already set up. How long would it take a computer repairman to diagnose which chip on my motherboard or video card is bad, then locate the right one out of the hundreds he must now carry and replace that chip? I'm betting slapping in a new motherboard or video card is faster, easier and a lot cheaper. 

[Jim & Wilma]

21 hours ago, Bill w/bus said:

Replaced the cabling within the turret, replaced cabling from LNB(s) to turret head, removed and cleaned every connection and reconnected with dielectric grease. Magic happened. Everything worked as it was designed.

We had same problem, one broken coax cable in the three coax bundle. We had no channels at all.  Problem was somewhere within/between Dish Hopper and Travl’r.  Wasn’t too hard to isolate though and that was before I got the Super Buddy.  Wonder how often that cable breaks?

Bill, curious, do you know what doelectric grease was used?

[Bill w/bus]

Purchased at Lowe's. 

Remember  'just a dab will do'.