522 and signal strength

[rickshobbies]

I wanted to ask if signal strenghts of 90 and 102 are considered good.

Also, if I ever need to, how do I perform a hard reboot? Hopefully it can be done without pulling the power cord out as my power strip is no in an easy to reach spot.

Regards,

Rick

 

[joemama]

That signal strength should be fine, you should see no problems.

The only way to do a hard reboot is to pull the plug. Soft reboot is done by holding the power button in for about 5 seconds. Aside from memory contents being totally lost, hard and soft reboot does the same thing.

 

[road_rascal]

What memory contents are lost? I've done a 'soft' reboot at least 4 times to my month old 522 and never lost anything. The favorites list, DVR, etc. were still there.

 

[SimpleSimon]

The difference between 'soft' and 'hard' is EXACTLY the same as with a PC. It has nothing to do with RAM memory contents (although joemama is technically correct there).

A soft reboot usually gets it done, but sometimes hardware in the box won't fully reset without pulling power.

As for signal strength, the numbers are meaningless without also knowing the satellite and transponder. TPs 11 & 12 are the 'standard' for 110 & 119. All 4 are needed to make a proper 'judgement'. That being said, if you're seeing 90+ on those 4, you're A-OK.

 

[rickshobbies]

It would have been nice if Dish has made the power cord removable from the back of the 522. It would make hard reboots easier. Hopefully the won't be required very often.

I suppose I should have given more details on the signals. They are as follows:

119 has a signal of 102 on TP 11
110 has a signal of 90 on TP 12

Hopefully I read that right!

Regards,

Rick

 

[viqventeur]

Does anyone know what the scale on signal level screen indicates. Do you use it to determine your signal strength percentage? (ex: 100/125 = 80%) Could you ever get a signal level at 125? What is the lowest signal you could get a lock on? Also, why is there a difference between the signal level on a 522 and a 311. I usually get a signal of 115 for the 119 on the 311, but the 522 I can only get to 100. Is it because of the dual tuner. Just curious.

 

[Pablo_New]

Does anyone know what the scale on signal level screen indicates. Do you use it to determine your signal strength percentage? (ex: 100/125 = 80%) Could you ever get a signal level at 125? What is the lowest signal you could get a lock on? Also, why is there a difference between the signal level on a 522 and a 311. I usually get a signal of 115 for the 119 on the 311, but the 522 I can only get to 100. Is it because of the dual tuner. Just curious.

The signal strength is what it is (no computation is needed). It goes above 100 because, I believe, newer sats were launched which were stronger than the older ones requiring a higher end on the scale. Highly unlikely to get an exact 125, but it really isn't necessary. You probably won't see any degradation in picture unless it goes below 50. To answer your last question, I'm just guessing, but it may be related to the distance between the sat dish and the receiver.