Galaxy10 problems ....

[kevinkevin]

Hi,

I am brand new to the forums, (OK I have lurked for a while)
and am thankful for all the handy help and info.

I recently re-installed some equipment. Had it sitting around a while.

So I have a traxis 2500, an Invacom Universal. Have a winegard and a stab90 (with adapter). Had it working about 2 months now.

So everything works perfectly - mostly. I am in OrangeCounty Ca (so a bit on the fringe perhaps.)

I have the system with G10 and amc3? pbs.
I was getting all the channels on G10 and then a 1-2 days ago, I am suddenly NOT getting much signal (37-40%) on one of the transponders - 11720 V listed as TP1 here .

We have had a couple really hot days the last few days.
Any chance that is related?
Any one else experiencing this?
Anyone see a possible fix.
Nothing else has changed at all.
I tweaked the dish a hair left and right to get a better signal, but though I got a few % points, still nothing going. I verified symbol rate, freq, polarity. All good.

Any help would be great!

thanks.

Kevin

 

[turbosat]

Are you getting good signals on the other satellites? How about night vs day signal readings? If you get big variation in signal levels (much better at night or when its cool) then I would suspect your lnbf might be getting weak. I'd lean toward the dish tracking first though. Check the pole your dish is on for plumb, with a level to make sure the pole hasn't shifted. If that's ok, I think I would try other sats from east to west and see if you still receive good signals on other sats/channels. I haven't noticed any drop in G10 signals lately here.
Time to take the rec and tv out to the dish and start checking things! Leave out any switches, hook direct to lnbf to see if that makes a difference on G10.
Then start verifying the other sats' signals.

 

[kevinkevin]

HI,

on other G10 transponders I am getting 77% signal and 49-52%quality. On the 11720 transponder I am getting 75% signal & 34%quality.

AMC3 76% signal and 49% quality.

Signal/quality same day or nite.

Honestly I don't know what #s I should be getting, especially in southern cal, but I know at least 40% and I get a solid signal.

I tuned the setup with the rec and tv outside and of course I got a few more %points. The 30' cable run to the living room only dropped a few points but nothing there has changed and the other transponders still are strong and fine.

Is this transponder quality just normally much lower anyway?

thanks

kevin

 

[boomer_106]

It's a little lower for me too Kevin. You say you tweaked the dish for left and right. Did you tweak the elevation also? I had lost 11720 altogether on my big dish but, tweaked it today and got it back. Like I say it's still a bit lower than 11800

 

[qwert1515]

The 11720 signal has dropped from 85% quality to 70% quality. The 11800 is still at 90%. (Pansat 3500 Signal meter)

 

[Mr Tony]

Here in MN the 11800 is very strong at 90+ on the Pansat 9200. 11720 is around 60 and thats on a 30" dish

 

[kevinkevin]

Well just tried the rec. Signal upto 40% and channels are back.

qwert1515 I see you are in Los Angeles and getting good signal at 70% quality.
What size dish are you using for that signal.

Iceberg, you are getting 90%Q on strong and 60%Q on weak in MN on a 30 inch.


With my winegard I'm getting 55%Q on the good transponders in the living room.
and NOW 40% Q on the bad transponder.

Outside I might get 60% max on the 10' run direct form the dish.
I use an 20dB satvision? inline amplifier between the 10' and the 30' run.

I will try to adjust my vertical on the dish, but nothing SHOULD have changed.

But trying to figure out why I am getting such poor signal overall.

Is my dish too small? what would cause such a quick change??

Any other suggestions.

The 30' run is in the garage and under the eves so very little direct sun for rot, or similar I would think.

Thanks for all help.

K-

 

[qwert1515]

What size dish are you using?

Have you adjusted the polarity?

Also what happens when you remove the inline amplifier? (Those things gave me nothing but problems, and usually they are not needed unless you have a really long cable)

Believe me when I say that you don't want to know the size of my dish I started out with a 33" dish, upgraded to a 36" dish and finally ended up with the 1.2 Meter dish......... (I learned my lesson after the 2nd dish)

 

[turbosat]

I'd throw that inline amp out, it's not needed for such a short cable. I run 115' and I have never needed any amps. Some members here have lots longer cable runs than that and don't need amps. Just use good cable and make sure your connectors are installed right and you should be ok, if you have your dish aligned for the best signal.

 

[Mr Tony]

Iceberg, you are getting 90%Q on strong and 60%Q on weak in MN on a 30 inch.

yeppers. Got about a 75 foot run from the dish to the receiver. Also have a 4x1 diseqc in the line. Now each receiver may read different. some read high, some read low. The Pansat 9200 seems to read about level from other boxes I've seen. Fortec Ultra reads high. Coolsat reads wacky (63 minimum, 82 max) and some read really low.

30" Winegard/Sadoun .4 dual LNB

 

[kevinkevin]

OK, thanks you guys.

Iceberg, I figured that could be an issue - different rec = diff readings.
The traxis readings seem like it could be that way for signal strength if I remember correctly.

Boomer, I decided to test elevation and at first I could only get a couple of points on quality. So I went up and really adjusted it and somehow got upto 52%!! - Some stations are still a bit sporadic at moments. But an improvement none the less. I had the thing as high as it would go I am sure when I installed it.? - oh well - better get used to it, huh?

So I figured I would get to the inline amp someday - so I made it today.

Here is what happened: Across the board, signal strength dropped 10-15%
but Quality went UP 3-5%. on the bad transponder on G10 I am now flux between 55%-58%.

What gives??

I can understand that signal and quality are inverse - must be a factor of signal-noise ratio??
But with signal strength going down so much and quality going up just a small bit comparatively, what is my net result?? Am I worse-off, equal, or misguided into thinking Quality is everything?

Thanks again!

kevin

 

[rv1pop]

From previous experience -- and lots of it. The inline amps are very temp sensitive. As temp goes up, noise goes way up. We used amps for long runs OTA in North Idaho, Schweitzer Basin, Outback Inn, somewhere around 1500 feet. They worked great in the wintertime when there would be ice and snow on the elements of the antenna, but when it got warm and no ice, we would take the amp out and signal would be ok. If we left it in with the sun, signal would be unusable. Of course, much different frequencies, but....

 

[truckracer]

G10R KU on 10' sami mesh with Corotor and Eagle Aspen 0.6 ku lnb: Pansat 9200HD receiver

88% quality 11800V
69-73% 11720V
99% 11903V
93% 11729H VBA
93% 12113V

 

[Tron]

Quality is all that matters, the signal meter just means that you are connected to the LNB. If you point the dish at the ground you may get a high signal reading. So, if you are sacrificing signal numbers for quality numbers, that is a good trade-off

 

[boomer_106]

G10R KU on 10' sami mesh with Corotor and Eagle Aspen 0.6 ku lnb: Pansat 9200HD receiver

88% quality 11800V
69-73% 11720V
99% 11903V
93% 11729H VBA
93% 12113V

I'm showing very similar numbers on my 10 ft mesh with corotor and pansat 9200