Bad signal on Nimiq 6 at 91West

Hi guys,

Just trying to get a dish aligned for in-laws as signal is very poor. Seems they have done a better job than me and I only make it worse.The switches are probably spent after sitting in the weather so long but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

For now, I have the Bell ExpressVu dish with the two LNBs, 91 on the left 82 on the right when looking the way the dish is pointing. I have disconnected all the gear and gone directly from the receiver (Bell 3100 - one input only) to one of the outputs of the 91 LNB with a single ~70ft length of RG-6. I also have a sat finder which I have connected in line at the LNB end while aligning, to help. I cannot for the life of me get it to go past 50-55% signal on the receiver. Where I have it now, the signal finder indicates a drop in signal if I flex the dish to the left or right, or up or down, and likewise with the skew. The TV is watchable but glitches every now and then and of course you can forget about it if a light rain cloud floats over.

Is there anything I could be doing wrong? Any quirks to finding Nimiq 6? I have tried a different LNB and a different coax cable, both showed no increase nor decrease in quality.

Any help much appreciated!
Josh

Well I figured out if I move the dish to pretty much anywhere but the pole that it's mounted on, I can get perfect 100% signal. Is this common for there to be 'dark' spots around the place? The pole is cemented into the ground by the edge of the lake looking straight across it. I can rest the dish on a rock on the ground and get 100% signal quality but if I put it back on the pole or even hold it near the pole I can't get more than 55%...

Strange...?

I think I might have asked the dumbest question in the forum... I think the dish is looking through tree branches. I'd have never guessed it was looking that high, even accounting for the reflection angle due to the offset angle of the feed horn. But I decided to cut a wedge of wood at the elevation angle I was given from a website and sight along it - its a heap higher than I'd have ever guessed. Possibly looking through the tips of some branches. It would make sense anyway I'll do some gardening... And let you know.

Thanks for replies!

I hacked away the branches and realigned. Sure enough 100%. lol