61.5 Signal really low .......

[miguelylucy]

Hi I am new to the forum but i've lurking around for months it a a very informative forum and I thank everyone for their help and understanding .... ok so the question... Ive been experiencing really low signal on the 61.5 bird at to the extreme that I no longer have HD locals but the weird thing it only in a few transponders the weakest one is 17 wich is on 9 signal strength but 16 is 56 so what gives should I just wait or should i try go get a better signal... any help would be appreciated ....

 

[bbtkd]

Hi I am new to the forum but i've lurking around for months it a a very informative forum and I thank everyone for their help and understanding .... ok so the question... Ive been experiencing really low signal on the 61.5 bird at to the extreme that I no longer have HD locals but the weird thing it only in a few transponders the weakest one is 17 wich is on 9 signal strength but 16 is 56 so what gives should I just wait or should i try go get a better signal... any help would be appreciated ....

The obvious answer is that unless something like a tree is blocking it, you may need to get it repeaked. Has it ever been right? If so, what changed? Is this a single or multi sat dish? If multi, are the others working OK?

 

[TheKrell]

Note this earlier thread. I think they attempted to go to spotbeams on 3 more transponders, but ran into trouble and rolled everything back. That's a WAG; I don't really know what's going on. I noted in that thread that almost all of the spotbeams went down in power rather dramatically. There is still plenty of signal on transponders for my own DMA, but some transponders (such as 1) are really really low and fluctuate around 12-20 on the new meter.

Have you "moved" perchance? If so, you could be on the fringes of a spotbeam. The even transponders are all conus, so you could move all over the US and not get yourself into trouble. Not so if your locals are on a spotbeam.

 

[miguelylucy]

It was working find until yesterday .. and nothing has changed .. I have three separate dishes 119, 110 , 61.5 the 119 and the 110 are perfect .. I tried a few things... I changed the lnb .. verified the switches and even connected it directly to the 622 and it was still the same .... any Ideas.... I read somewhere that E* was having problems with the 61.5 sat ... especially 17, 19, 21, TB but I don't have anybody to compare is every body getting a good signal from tb 17 on 61.5 bird ????

 

[TheKrell]

Transponder 17 is carrying NY locals, and it's one of the transponders that went down in signal strength to about half of what it was before. It's hovering around 30 right now, and I'm in northern VA. My receiver doesn't say 17 is a spotbeam now, but that doesn't mean it isn't in fact in spotbeam mode already.

So, how far are you from NY?

 

[garys]

The same thing happened Friday night. I am watching the NY HD channels tonight, but I haven't seen any dropouts, although there was a couple while trying to watch the NHL game this afternoon on them.

 

[miguelylucy]

Transponder 17 is carrying NY locals, and it's one of the transponders that went down in signal strength to about half of what it was before. It's hovering around 30 right now, and I'm in northern VA. My receiver doesn't say 17 is a spotbeam now, but that doesn't mean it isn't in fact in spotbeam mode already.

So, how far are you from NY?

I am a little far I am in PR ... so do you think its going back to normal strength any time soon

 

[TheKrell]

Indeed that is a bit far from NY. It's still unclear whether your reception problem is due to a spotbeam coming on, or rather switching antennas e.g. from the all-conus Echo 3 to a conus antenna on Rainbow 1 which has a different pattern, or just reducing power on one bird or the other for some technical reason.

Some people have speculated that NY HD locals were eventually going to a spotbeam so as to free up a conus transponder for national HD on 61.5. Others discount that idea since so many people have "moved" to get the NY locals, and a spotbeam would mean they're out of luck. I would guess that it's never going to go back up to what it was before, at least not until Dish gets another satellite up there to replace or augment Echo 3.

That said, right now and possibly forever, you may have no recourse other than to get a bigger dish.

 

[miguelylucy]

Indeed that is a bit far from NY. It's still unclear whether your reception problem is due to a spotbeam coming on, or rather switching antennas e.g. from the all-conus Echo 3 to a conus antenna on Rainbow 1 which has a different pattern, or just reducing power on one bird or the other for some technical reason.

Some people have speculated that NY HD locals were eventually going to a spotbeam so as to free up a conus transponder for national HD on 61.5. Others discount that idea since so many people have "moved" to get the NY locals, and a spotbeam would mean they're out of luck. I would guess that it's never going to go back up to what it was before, at least not until Dish gets another satellite up there to replace or augment Echo 3.

That said, right now and possibly forever, you may have no recourse other than to get a bigger dish.

hmmm... I think I will have to "Move" somewhere else because I already have two 6 feet dishes and a 4 feet one for the 119 the signal use to be great but all of a sudden it just droped and I checked the alignment, cables , switches and equipment and all seems to be find so I guess I am out of luck... any Idea on where to "Move" ??

By the way thanks for your help...

 

[miguelylucy]

anyone ????

 

[Bruuce]

I lost my signal to 61.5 late last week. My locals would come in, but Monsters HD and Cinemax HD would lose the signal. I have my tech here right now and he thinks it is some trees blocking the view but I think otherwise.

 

[miguelylucy]

any word from the tech Bruuce ??

 

[Bruuce]

Well, he said it was because some of my trees blocking the way but when the first installer came out, I had a signal of 50 or so, so I dunno if the trees are to blame. I decided to not get the locals from Dish since they are causing me so much trouble and am trying to get my locals via rabbit ears.

 

[miguelylucy]

are any Hd locals Avaliable trhough ConUS beam besides New York ....... ??? sorry for the newbie question .. I am learning everyday....

 

[nlk10010]

Sorry to resurrect this thread but I noticed last night some anomalies on TLC HD and checked and my signals on 61.5 Tp17 and Tp19 are really down (even with the new meter). Tp17 shows 39 and Tp17 shows 47.

Are others in the NYC area showing numbers like this or did the crappy install of my 61.5 dish come home to roost? BTW, my dish is mounted all the way up on my chimney and the only things that could be blocking the signal are clouds!

Thanks for any updates.

 

[TheKrell]

Well, I'm glad you resurrected this thread. In the first place, nobody answered Miguel's question above. In the second place, transponders 17, 19, 21, and 23 may in the future be placed into spotbeam mode, though my receiver doesn't say "spotbeam" as yet. Nevertheless, we're seeing a pattern on the ground consistent with spotbeams right now.

Transponders 17 and 19 (and 21 and 23) all went down dramatically in signal strength a week or more ago for me. My own spotbeam (tp 13) reads 75-81 here in northern VA. But the others listed above, which may in the future be put into spotbeam mode, all hover around half that: 25-30. IMHO 40-47 is usable, but you probably need to get your dish peaked.

Of course Miguel is getting nothing in Puerto Rico.

 

[nlk10010]

Well, I'm glad you resurrected this thread. In the first place, nobody answered Miguel's question above. In the second place, transponders 17, 19, 21, and 23 may in the future be placed into spotbeam mode, though my receiver doesn't say "spotbeam" as yet. Nevertheless, we're seeing a pattern on the ground consistent with spotbeams right now.

Transponders 17 and 19 (and 21 and 23) all went down dramatically in signal strength a week or more ago for me. My own spotbeam (tp 13) reads 75-81 here in northern VA. But the others listed above, which may in the future be put into spotbeam mode, all hover around half that: 25-30. IMHO 40-47 is usable, but you probably need to get your dish peaked.

Of course Miguel is getting nothing in Puerto Rico.

OK. Thanks. I'll search around for a competent tech; normally I wouldn't bother but on TLC-HD last night I saw sporadic "dissolves". Bothers the c**p out of me.