# Direct TV hardware problem - help needed **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 5, 2001, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direct-tv-hardware-problem-help-needed/91494 "2001-11-05T00:10:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kpm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@kpm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kpm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2001, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direct-tv-hardware-problem-help-needed/91494/1 "2001-11-05T00:10:28Z")
I live in an area where I need the slightly bigger oval dish to get my local channels. My local channels quit working (all the cable channels like CNN,ESPN, etc. work fine) The local channels are on a different sat. - 110 degrees where everything else is on the 101 degreee sat. The degree number is where you need to aim the dish. Anyone else have this problem and how did you solve it? I tried to replace the 4 way switch on the dish and that worked for a while but now the local channels are not working again. Is there anything else to check or replace? I have 2 receivers and at first 1 is OK and 1 had the problem. Now the second receiver is having the problem sometimes too. Direct TV is not that helpful, they say maybe a LNB is bad. ---
**Author:** ![kpm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@kpm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kpm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2001, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direct-tv-hardware-problem-help-needed/91494/2 "2001-11-05T14:42:03Z")
I forgot to add that this problem seems to crop up during warm weather - cold weather makes it go away. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2001, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direct-tv-hardware-problem-help-needed/91494/3 "2001-11-05T14:57:56Z")
Try switching transponders. It should be one of the on-screen options in the setup menu. I had a similar problem with transponders 1 & 2, but it cleared up when I swithced to transponder 4. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2001, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direct-tv-hardware-problem-help-needed/91494/4 "2001-11-05T16:49:16Z")
Here in the Raleigh-Durham area you have to have the oval dish plus other extra inside equipment to get local channels. It just wasn’t worth it to me. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2001, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direct-tv-hardware-problem-help-needed/91494/5 "2001-11-05T16:54:51Z")
Here in the Raleigh-Durham area you have to have the oval dish plus other extra inside equipment to get local channels. It just wasn’t worth it to me. ---
**Author:** ![kpm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@kpm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kpm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2001, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direct-tv-hardware-problem-help-needed/91494/6 "2001-11-05T17:12:42Z")
I live in the RDU area. You don’t need extra equipment inside, you just need a receiver that can handle more than 1 satellite but that is not an extra cost. ---
**Author:** ![Sledman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Sledman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sledman)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/direct-tv-hardware-problem-help-needed/91494/7 "2001-11-05T20:40:42Z")
Just a thought and not really sure if this will apply or not. How long are the coax(RG6 or whatever) cables? You may just need an in line amplifier if the signal for the local channels is weaker than that of the regular dish channels. I needed an in line amplifier at our new house for one receiver and not the other… Took some head scratching too because we were using the one that needed an amp to position the dish. 94 signal strength and then no picture… However this was for the regular satellite channels local channels are done via an indoor powered antenna. Good luck