"sanebutoverwhelmed" <sanebutoverwhelmed@gmail.com>
> After checking over the dish and connections to the box, I'd
> occasionally get a signal and occasionally not. It seems to be off
> more often than its on. It also seems to change status whenever we
> have severe weather, going from hot to cold, or calm to windy, or
> heavy rain etc.

Compare the channels against a listing (like www.lyngsat.com) and
look for common features: horizontal or vertical? High or low band?
Which satellite? (2a/2b/2d/eb) If h/v or satellite is the common
feature, the dish might not be aimed right - check the signal meter
in the service menu, either when you're having problems, or if you
obscure part of the dish with a damp cloth (make sure you can still
get some channels!). If it's high/low in common, then it might be
a broken LNB. Swapping with a known-good receiver (test each box on
each antenna) is usually an easy thing to try before spending money.

Just a brain dump - try any of the above at your own risk.
--
MJ Ray - see/vidu http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html
Free Sat FAQ: http://mjr.towers.org.uk/blog/2006/astefaq
Webmaster/web developer, statistician, sysadmin, online shop maker,
Workers co-op @ Weston-super-Mare, Somerset http://www.ttllp.co.uk/