Peaking signal on 5 LNB Dish??

[Ron Tobin]

Yesterday I finally replaced my 3 lnb dish with a slimline dish. I had no difficultly in getting readings in the 90s on 101, 110 and 119. However, I'm having trouble with 103. On 103(a) I get no readings and on 103(b), my readings are in the 50s and 60s. I don't have any signal level meters and am relying on the D* signal level screen in the setup menu. Accessibility to the dish is quite easy, as it's mounted on stucco and on ground level.

Any suggestions, please?

 

[iwc5893]

Did you dither the dish?

Also, you didn't mention anything about the 99 sat. What DMA are you in, and are you getting all of your channels that you are supposed to?

The 103a is a spotbeam satellite, and you may not see signal from it unless you live in it's coverage area. Your signals do seem a bit low for the 103b.

 

[Ron Tobin]

Did you dither the dish?

Also, you didn't mention anything about the 99 sat. What DMA are you in, and are you getting all of your channels that you are supposed to?

The 103a is a spotbeam satellite, and you may not see signal from it unless you live in it's coverage area. Your signals do seem a bit low for the 103b.

Dither? Did I miss that in the directions? I have no measuring eqt. available to me.

I'm in the Tampa DMA.

 

[skinnyJM]

Since you just installled a slimline 5 LNB dish, do you have one of the newer HD receivers? (H20, HR20, H21, HR21)
The older HD receivers, such as the ones used with a phase III dish, will not work correctly with the newest satellites (such as 103).
If you do have a newer HD receiver, are the "b-band" converters attached to the sat inputs on the back of the receiver?

 

[Ron Tobin]

Since you just installled a slimline 5 LNB dish, do you have one of the newer HD receivers? (H20, HR20, H21, HR21)
The older HD receivers, such as the ones used with a phase III dish, will not work correctly with the newest satellites (such as 103).
If you do have a newer HD receiver, are the "b-band" converters attached to the sat inputs on the back of the receiver?

I have an H20 with the B band converter attached.

 

[Bob Nielsen]

Since you have a signal on 103b, you are aimed pretty close (dithering should have gotten you closer, but is a pain to do without a meter). I suggest that you try peaking the signal on 103b (some receivers now show it as 103c), using just the fine tuning screws (it will not take much movement to see a change). You should get numbers in the 80s or 90s.

 

[Ron Tobin]

Since you have a signal on 103b, you are aimed pretty close (dithering should have gotten you closer, but is a pain to do without a meter). I suggest that you try peaking the signal on 103b (some receivers now show it as 103c), using just the fine tuning screws (it will not take much movement to see a change). You should get numbers in the 80s or 90s.

I'll give that a try. Thanks.

 

[Ron Tobin]

I made the fine tuning adjustments and now 14 of the transponders are between the 80s and 90s and my lowest ones are transponders 9 & 13, with readings of 73 and 74, respectively. And all it took was slight fine tuning of the azimuth and elevation.

 

[dfergie]

I see you are getting signal... have you tried the red button reset?

 

[Bob Nielsen]

I made the fine tuning adjustments and now 14 of the transponders are between the 80s and 90s and my lowest ones are transponders 9 & 13, with readings of 73 and 74, respectively. And all it took was slight fine tuning of the azimuth and elevation.

Good! The Ka band beam is much narrower than Ku, which is why the instructions talk about dithering (it wouldn't have been possible to peak on Ka when there were no signals available).

 

[cebbigh]

When I check sat signal on 103(c) I get the following numbers:
1-90 2-83 3-84 4-80 5-88 6-86 7-84 8-82
9-88 10-85 11-88 12-84 13-89 14-87 15-na 16-na
17-94 18-na 19-na 20-na 21-na 22-92 23-na 24-na
25-na 26-na 27-na 28-na 29-na 30-na 31-na 32-na

I think I get all HD the stations I'm suppossed to and the numbers on the transponders (where I see numbers) are strong. But I've always wondered what na means? Are they just spaceholders for future use?

 

[Ron Tobin]

When I check sat signal on 103(c) I get the following numbers:
1-90 2-83 3-84 4-80 5-88 6-86 7-84 8-82
9-88 10-85 11-88 12-84 13-89 14-87 15-na 16-na
17-94 18-na 19-na 20-na 21-na 22-92 23-na 24-na
25-na 26-na 27-na 28-na 29-na 30-na 31-na 32-na

I think I get all HD the stations I'm suppossed to and the numbers on the transponders (where I see numbers) are strong. But I've always wondered what na means? Are they just spaceholders for future use?

I believe "na" is not available.

 

[cebbigh]

I believe "na" is not available.

Agree na means "not available" but my question is if they are just not in use and will be activated later? Does everyone else gets na on those tp's.

 

[Bob Nielsen]

Now that some spotbeams have been activated on Directv 10, they are showing up as 103(s) rather than 103(c). I suspect that the if a transponder frequency is used for a spotbeam, it will show as NA on the corresponding CONUS beam frequency.

 

[Ron Tobin]

Now that some spotbeams have been activated on Directv 10, they are showing up as 103(s) rather than 103(c). I suspect that the if a transponder frequency is used for a spotbeam, it will show as NA on the corresponding CONUS beam frequency.

Bob: Is there a list as to which 103 transponders are CONUS?

 

[cebbigh]

Now that some spotbeams have been activated on Directv 10, they are showing up as 103(s) rather than 103(c). I suspect that the if a transponder frequency is used for a spotbeam, it will show as NA on the corresponding CONUS beam frequency.

Here is my readings on 103(s)

1-0 2-0 3-69 4-0 5-0 6-0 7-na 8-na
9-na 10-na 11-na 12-na 13-na 14-na 15-0 16-0
17-93 18-0 19-0 20-0 21-0 22-0 23-0 24-0
25-na 26-na 27-na 28-na 29-na 30-na 31-na 32-na

I had read before that the spotbeams would show up as 0's. 103(s) also has a number of na's. And I also see na's on the 110, 119, and 99(s).

Of course the main thing is that I am getting all the channels I am supposed to get. Very pleased to say no problems with picture breakup which was driving me crazy with the 129 sat when I was with dish! It's just the tech in me that wants to get a handle on the numbers.

 

[BluegrassGuy1976]

Simply put, if your Ka/Ku mast is level, and you MAX out the 101 and 119, and I mean MAX IT OUT, like mid to upper 90's, the other sat's will fall in place. I have an HR20 and my first line of transponders 1-8 on the 101 all read between 95 - 100 on a clear day. 119 is the same way. When you peak the 101 and 119 you are actaully peaking the 103 and 99 as well at the same time. A good way to tell if your mast is level if you don't have a bullet level handy, you should be able to loosen the tilt nuts, and rotate the tilt the entire length of the dish and NOT lose signal on the 101 as the dish is actually centered on the 101. Just a tip.

 

[levibluewa]

Cebbigh - CHEERS !!!

No picture break-up here either !!!!

 

[cebbigh]

No picture break-up here either !!!!

I posted the 103 c and s so might as well post the rest. Curious if your numbers are in the same ballpark and if you see the na's on the equivalent tps?

101

1-85 2-90 3-84 4-0 5-83 6-96 7-85 8-95
9-16 10-92 11-85 12-0 13-85 14-96 15-82 16-97
17-82 18-100 19-84 20-0 21-86 22-97 23-86 24-96
25-85 26-57 28-85 29-100 30-88 34-96 35-83 36-96

110

8-95 10-88 12-95 (all the others show na)

119

11-94 23-0 24-88 25-66 26-95 27-92 28-95 29-0 30-95 31-92 32-95
(all the others show na)

99 (s)

1-0 2-100 3-0 4-100 5-0 6-0 (all the others show na)

Great to hear no picture breakup for you too! And the other side of the equation, I'm really enjoying my hr20-100 and hr21-700 since the last software. Someone on another thread clued me into the boolean search string HD NNOT PPV to search movies excluding the PPV's. That has been my biggest wish as far as the software. Now if only they'd get the same contract for listings with Tribune that Dish does (to show ratings and a little more program detail)...