Direct TV connection problem

I have had Direct TV for a couple of years now. Most of the time, it's great. My problem is this: I have two receivers and therefore, two lines run from the dish and two sensors out at the dish. My downstairs receiver has always gotten good reception. So, the box must be good, the line must be good, and the sensor at the dish must be good. My upstairs receiver is another story. Every once in a while (more often than is just merely annoying) I can only get reception on odd transponders. That is, half the channels work. This is an odd occurrence in my mind because I have always thought of wiring and related issues as either being connected or not connected, but never only half-connected...but I digress....
I have tried the following:
1) dug up the lines from the dish to the house and checked for any damage;
2) switched the lines at the dish, which should eliminate the sensor at the dish from being the source of the problem;
3) checked all connections along the cable to the upstairs unit;
4) putting a signal amplifier partway along the cable to the upstairs unit in the event that the length of cable had something to do with it;
5) cursing, and lots of it, especially when I want to watch something important on the bigger TV...

Any suggestions for testing this would be greatly appreciated.

 

I would have guessed swapping the cables would have had the problem shift to the 2nd TV. Like you say then, it doesn't appear to be the lnbf.
Is the cable RG6 and not RG59??

Now try swapping the receiver locations - if the problem follows the rcvr you've got a bad receiver which is not flipping between polarities.

fred

 

Unfortunately because the cables go different directions, I can't actually switch the cables. I can only eliminate the sensor and the receiver. I will try switching the receivers, though, that slipped my mind...

 

Yeah, that would be my guess, the tuner/receiver. You've pretty much eliminated any other possibility.

Good luck!