Satellite > HughesNet Satellite > Signal Strength & Condensation

Signal Strength & Condensation

Yes this will bring your signal strength WAY down!
Just having moisture dropplets after a good storm on mine will drop me a good 3-5 points.

I don't know exactly how to take the front plastic off the LNB. I think you will have to rip the caulk off and recaulk it after getting the water out.
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HOME:AOL Plus 7.0 (Grey Dish) Satmex5 1170MHZ, Custom built-Athlon 1.4@1.6/Geforce 3, Dual Boot- WinXP/Mandrake 8.2, 2 other client machines/connection shared with AnalogX Proxy 4.12. WORK: Comcast Cable (1500/1500Kbps).

reply to cdecarlo
Hello cdecarlo,

Don't pull anything apart yet. How long have you had the system? Did you buy it new? It may still be under warranty and you can get it replaced. You most definitely have a problem! You shouldn't have any water in there at all! It may not have been sealed properly when it was manufactured. I would suggest you look at your documentation see who you are supposed to call about this.

Best Regards,
Chris
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Direcway SRS, 990 transponder,100 mbps Ethernet Network using ICS, Host WIN 98 SE, 3 Clients running Win98 SE, Proxy ON

reply to Sonicus
Yes....absolutely definitely positively do not touch it - YET. There were defective units sent to the warehouses last spring (2001). There's a very good chance that you've got metal shavings inside there as well. If HNS had any integrity at all, they would have tracked them down by serial number and recalled the lot. But they're content to bank your money and wait for the complaints to come in.

If possible, take a photo for physical evidence. Record all pertinent serial numbers. Open a trouble report with tech support. If you've been issued a replacement IRU since commissioning, that number won't help, give them the original IRU number (to narrow down manufacturing/shipment date).

Having said all that, it might be as simple as a missing (or incorrectly sized) O-ring. If it's water only (no metal shavings) any DRS user with a little mechanical skill can fix that problem with a screwdriver, an allen wrench, some Vaseline, and the right sized O-ring. But let's cross that bridge when/if we come to it.

//greg//
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Dual boot W2K/WinME - SRS G11/1370H - 4.0.1.28A - proxy switch - RSL70/ISO39 - Gateway 205.177.62.91 - DNS 198.77.116.8 - RWIN 474280

reply to Sonicus
deathkeeper,

The transponder mentioned in CDECARLOs post suggests a white dish system. yours is gray, and uses different hardware. White dish feedhorn windows don't look anything like their gray dish counterparts, and are installed by the manufacturer using a heat-shrink procedure.

Having sad that, if there are any visual clues that suggest you have glue or caulk on your own LNB lenses, somebody may already have attempted a "field repair" on it. Hopefully it was not you.

//greg//

[text was edited by author 2002-07-23 08:42:13]

reply to cdecarlo
My dish was bought new, there have been no modifications made to it. The front plastic over the LNB looks like it was put on with some type of clear adhesive. This is bearly visible though, and is no way blocking the LNB's view. My signal strength is perfectly fine(at 104).

reply to cdecarlo
I do have the white dish system and it was bought brand new about 3 months ago. There is definitely water inside the LNB assembly. I will contact the dealer I bought the dish from to see what thier policy on such things is.

cdecarlo

I think it's just a matter of differing terminology, but the LNB is at the opposite end of the waveguide from the feedhorn. Being on the "uphill" end of the assembly, it's very unlikely there's any water in the LNB. It's a sealed unit anyway.

And unless the installer inadvisably removed them, there should be a pair of polarization filters in between the feedhorn and the LNB. They're installed specifically to minimize condensation in the first place - not to stop water that's already accumulated. But the simple fact they are there at all should also help keep the LNB dry.

There were some real bad systems fielded;
miserable attempts to drain and repair feedhorn windows,
aluminum shavings in the feedhorn, the joints, the waveguide sections,
bad advice about peeling off polarization filters,
missing and/or wrong sized O-rings,
incorrectly machined gasket channels,
missing machine screws and/or lock washers.
Most of this popped up last year, but there still could be some of these klunkers still floating around in the distribution system.

//greg//
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Dual boot W2K/WinME - SRS G11/1370H - 4.0.1.28A - proxy switch - RSL70/ISO39 - Gateway 205.177.62.91 - DNS 198.77.116.8 - RWIN 474280

reply to cdecarlo
Sorry...you are correct. The water is inside the feed horn and NOT the LNB. I have sent a message to the customer service where I purchased the system to see if there is any kind of warranty on such things....if not I will disassemble to feed horn / waveguide assembly to drain the water and check the O-Ring seals.