# lost signal when blender turned on



## gitarzan (Dec 31, 2005)

Why would my fathers 722 lose OTA signal and satellite signal when a blender is turned on in their kitchen?


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## DNSFSS (Apr 4, 2008)

gitarzan said:


> Why would my fathers 722 lose OTA signal and satellite signal when a blender is turned on in their kitchen?


Check your outlets and make sure that all is wired correctly. I've seen that happen with microwaves. Try to plug the blender in somewhere else with an extension cord and see what happens, maybe a different outlet in the kitchen (or where ever the blender is....)


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## puckwithahalo (Sep 3, 2007)

I had a customer once that lost signal for 5 minutes every time she ordered a pay-per-view. She had been calling in for several months. I finally sat her down and asked her to go through step-by-step what she did when she ordered a Pay-per-view. What we figured out was that every time she ordered a pay-per-view, she would pop pop-corn in the microwave, and lo and behold, the dish was on the other side of the wall from the microwave. Luckily she could just move the microwave to another counter, and the issue went away. 

Sort of unrelated, but I love that story. I agree, I suspect an outlet problem or an issue with the blender that is feeding "noise" into the electrical lines (yes, I know, very technical)


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## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

It could be that the blender is putting our so much RF noise or AC noise that it is interfering with his receiver. A LOT of the small appliances are made in China and there are a lot of design shortcuts. Some of the appliance makers submit one model to get UL approval and then ship another model (with the UL label) to the U.S. as an approved model. And it does not matter what the name brand is, MANY of the "name brand" manufactures do it.


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## tedb3rd (Feb 2, 2006)

If you look closely, I bet the blender is manufactured by DirecTV.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

I went to a service call that 3 other techs had been to before me, and no one could solve the problem. Use of the microwave, blender, or any other device with high RF output would scramble the sat signal and send the receiver into macroblocking hell.

The original tech had barreled into the built-in RG59 line in the attic, which ran down in the walls of the two-story house to the living room. This internal line couldn't be replaced, as it was stapled internally and the wall on the downstairs where the outlet was had a landing above it, so it wasn't a continuous wall.

The customer refused to believe that the cable was damaged (my bet was that it was pierced by a staple), because it worked with analog cable before. I finally ran a loose cable directly from the dish to the receiver and showed that the problem went away. He finally relented and let me run the cable around the top of the ceiling (the only available cable path), and he covered it with crown molding.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> Use of the microwave, blender, or any other device with high RF output would scramble the sat signal


Sounds like NagraStar (Dish's security system) should get together with some small appliance companies.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

I bet the blender is pointed at the wrong sat!


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## kucharsk (Sep 20, 2006)

My Whirpool microwave, which has tested fine for leaks (but is from 1995), totally wipes out TBS HD when it runs.

SD channels and some other HD channels are unaffected.


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## mhowie (Sep 30, 2006)

My dishwasher and home furnace (when either kicks on) both interfere with my OTA signal- run through my 722- for a few seconds. I have assumed it has something to do with all being on the same electrical circuit and related AC voltage sag.


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## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

kucharsk said:


> My Whirpool microwave, which has tested fine for leaks (but is from 1995), totally wipes out TBS HD when it runs.


That is likely because noise is being induced into the electrical line and just happens to "in the range" that effects TBS HD. And if you check you will likely find other channels (that are on the same transponder as TBS HD) are effected. The problem is due to one of two things, a design shortcut (most likely) or a faulty filter (in the power supply). The problem can be fixed by using an external power line filter. If you use one just make sure that it has a power rating higher than your microwave.


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## Yes616 (Sep 6, 2006)

I hope the OP'er isn't using the dish as the bowl for the blender.. 

OK.. Someone had to say it so it might as well be me.


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

tedb3rd said:


> If you look closely, I bet the blender is manufactured by DirecTV.





HobbyTalk said:


> I bet the blender is pointed at the wrong sat!





Yes616 said:


> I hope the OP'er isn't using the dish as the bowl for the blender..
> 
> OK.. Someone had to say it so it might as well be me.


Guys, I know your being funny, But how does this help the op?


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## CorpITGuy (Apr 12, 2007)

My OTA if tuned to the local Fox affiliate does the same thing when my central heat/air kicks on.


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## arxaw (Jul 13, 2003)

gitarzan said:


> Why would my fathers 722 lose OTA signal and satellite signal when a blender is turned on in their kitchen?


Weak signal being overcome by impulse noise interference. Or an OTA preamp picking up impulse noise and amplifying it, overpowering the OTA signal.

Is it worse on some OTA channels than others?


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## BR88 (Dec 10, 2008)

I'm sure someone will argue why you shouldn't do this, but it should fix the problem:

Use a 2 to 3 Prong adapter on the 722. (The little power adapters that eliminate the 3rd (ground) prong on the outlet that you see in old houses with only 2-prong outlets)

I do not know why this works, but every situation I have ran into when either the receiver would lose signal when an appliance is turned on or when the receiver does a 38 count as though it were not connected to a DP or DPP LNB, the 2-to-3 prong adapter makes the problem go away.

Also note, for some reason this trick does not work as well if the receiver is plugged into a surge protector. Make sure the ground adapter is plugged directly into the outlet and the receiver plugged directly into the adapter.

Again, I know this is not the best solution, but it is the quickest and easiest. It is similar to situations where I have seen a system not work for no reason until you disconnect the ground wire from the ground block (completely ungrounding the system) and it fixes the problem.

Oh, one last not, double check and make sure the outlet is not wired hot-neutral reverse as this will always cause oddball intermittent problems and also creates a very dangerous system to work on.

Hope that helps


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## arxaw (Jul 13, 2003)

BR88, in the cases where this helped, were the dish, antenna, coax entry point grounded to the main electrical ground point, or to a separate ground rod?


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## BR88 (Dec 10, 2008)

arxaw said:


> BR88, in the cases where this helped, were the dish, antenna, coax entry point grounded to the main electrical ground point, or to a separate ground rod?


I believe it was always on cases where it was grounded with the electric grounding, be it either to the meter box itself or to the ground wire from it.

I am sure that it was a problem caused with an electrical problem in the houses wiring itself. However, since satellite receivers seem to be so noticeably sensitive to electrical problems that would go unnoticed on other electronics, every time the customer has an electrician take a look at their electrical they can't find any problem.


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## diospyros (Nov 14, 2005)

Someone I work with was recently testing his new digital TV converters. He found that the signal meter varied wildly: jumping up and down between 20 and 80%. Essentially, this meant his picture was constantly popping on and off.

After much investigation and experimentation, he discovered that he was getting ghosting from a nearby set of metal wind chimes. When those were removed his signal settled in at one measurement.

If the OP's problem is only on OTA, then the metal blades could conceivably be jamming the digital signal by causing it to vary at a high rate. I do know this is 
really a stretch -- just throwing it out there.

There's going to be a lot of very unhappy people come February, if digital does not work anywhere near as well as analog. Granted, something 92-93% of American homes have pay TV, but a lot of kitchen and bedroom TVs are simply not going to work for a number of reasons, converters or no.


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## arxaw (Jul 13, 2003)

diospyros said:


> ...If the OP's problem is only on OTA, then the metal blades could conceivably be jamming the digital signal by causing it to vary at a high rate. I do know this is really a stretch -- just throwing it out there.


More likely impulse noise interference and/or a ground problem. A volt meter measurement on the ground when the blender is turned on would probably prove this.



> There's going to be a lot of very unhappy people come February..


I think it may be a wash.

For many (but not all), DTV works much better than analog ever did and they get more watchable channels.


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