New HD install, signal strength

[usmaak]

Hi,

I've been with Dish since September. Last weekend we bought a new HD tv and this weekend, Dish came out and installed a new vip722. In the process, they replaced the Dish 500 we got back in September with a Dish 1000.

When they installed the 500, they connected some sort of signal meter to it and tuned it that way. They tuned it three different times. Each time, sat 119 peaked at 61, and sat 110 peaked at 70.

Today they manually tuned the dish using sat 119 as a reference. They had one guy on the roof and the other talking him through it on a cell phone, from in front of the TV. Manually tuning the 1000, 119 and 110 both peak at around 80.

But I was just looking at the signal strength of 129, which if I'm not mistaken carries most of the HD signals. I went through every single transponder. The highest one had a strength of 40, and the lowest was at 12.

My question to you is, are these normal signal strengths for satellite 129? I'm afraid that I'll lose my HD if we get a passing shower with these signals.

Thanks

BTW, I am in the Chicago area.

 

[dartonviper]

sounds normal for a 1000.2 on the modified meter

 

[usmaak]

sounds normal for a 1000.2 on the modified meter

That seems pretty poor. With our 322 receiver, we get drops when we get thunderstorms to the SW, and our signal on 119/110 was 60/70. How well will a signal of 25 hold up to any kind of weather?

Is there some other dish or install option that I should have asked about to maximize our signal on 129?

 

[Kru83]

That seems pretty poor. With our 322 receiver, we get drops when we get thunderstorms to the SW, and our signal on 119/110 was 60/70. How well will a signal of 25 hold up to any kind of weather?

Is there some other dish or install option that I should have asked about to maximize our signal on 129?

129 in chicago are should be around 50s. if you want you can get someone or your self setup 129 on 2nd dish with dp dual. and put it into the 1000.2 input port. and run check switch,

 

[usmaak]

129 in chicago are should be around 50s. if you want you can get someone or your self setup 129 on 2nd dish with dp dual. and put it into the 1000.2 input port. and run check switch,

I wonder if Dish would be willing to do that if I asked.

 

[Kru83]

I wonder if Dish would be willing to do that if I asked.

may be i dont know.....alot of times dish will just setup trouble call ticket for the installer to come back out. and he will not setup the 2nd dish. do you know the installers number may be you can call him and pay him something on the side.

 

[usmaak]

may be i dont know.....alot of times dish will just setup trouble call ticket for the installer to come back out. and he will not setup the 2nd dish. do you know the installers number may be you can call him and pay him something on the side.

Yea. He actually gave me the number yesteday and told me to call if I had any trouble with pixellation, so he could come back and tweak if needed. That was pretty cool of him, I thought.

 

[jeepers94]

I am in southern Wisconsin,and had my dish installed 2 months ago.I have a low reading of 42 and a high of 62 on 129.Most are 52-56. I have a 722 and a 222.
Your 110/119 strengths seem very good. Mine average about 70-72.

 

[usmaak]

I am in southern Wisconsin,and had my dish installed 2 months ago.I have a low reading of 42 and a high of 62 on 129.Most are 52-56. I have a 722 and a 222.
Your 110/119 strengths seem very good. Mine average about 70-72.

Yea. Mine used to be around 70. This time they tuned it by hand and got those higher numbers. But it seems like it might be at the expense of 129. This morning I checked all the HD channels to see how they came in. I couldn't get any channels on 129, transponders 27 and 6, because the signal strength was so low on those two transponders. Something like a signal strength of 8 on both of them.

 

[whatchel1]

Not the same

That seems pretty poor. With our 322 receiver, we get drops when we get thunderstorms to the SW, and our signal on 119/110 was 60/70. How well will a signal of 25 hold up to any kind of weather?

Is there some other dish or install option that I should have asked about to maximize our signal on 129?

Can't compare the signal strength on a 322 to a 622. They are just different units and don't match. And yes the SS on the 622 for this guy is way too low.

 

[usmaak]

Can't compare the signal strength on a 322 to a 622. They are just different units and don't match. And yes the SS on the 622 for this guy is way too low.

When I look at the signal for the three satellites on the 722 and the 322, they have exactly the same signal strength.

 

[dishcomm]

Hi,

I've been with Dish since September. Last weekend we bought a new HD tv and this weekend, Dish came out and installed a new vip722. In the process, they replaced the Dish 500 we got back in September with a Dish 1000.

When they installed the 500, they connected some sort of signal meter to it and tuned it that way. They tuned it three different times. Each time, sat 119 peaked at 61, and sat 110 peaked at 70.

Today they manually tuned the dish using sat 119 as a reference. They had one guy on the roof and the other talking him through it on a cell phone, from in front of the TV. Manually tuning the 1000, 119 and 110 both peak at around 80.

But I was just looking at the signal strength of 129, which if I'm not mistaken carries most of the HD signals. I went through every single transponder. The highest one had a strength of 40, and the lowest was at 12.

My question to you is, are these normal signal strengths for satellite 129? I'm afraid that I'll lose my HD if we get a passing shower with these signals.

Thanks

BTW, I am in the Chicago area.

those are low even for your latitude..
I find it incredible that the installers were working without a meter.. That's unprofessional to not have the propper Equipt to perform an install.
a 12 signal even on the modified scale is about 20 -30 pts low...Of course it depends upon the transponder...129 reads lower than other other birds typically the 119 reads the highest. Check 119 transponder 11...should read at least 60-70....110 TP 11 should be about 10 pts lower...129 will see signals on the modified scale from around 35-40 up to a high of 55- 60
Anyone else in the Chicago area on here that can help out?..I am giving numbers that are a bit low for my area in NC to give a point of reference.

 

[dishcomm]

Yea. He actually gave me the number yesteday and told me to call if I had any trouble with pixellation, so he could come back and tweak if needed. That was pretty cool of him, I thought.

Take him up on his offer...The sigs are low...

 

[usmaak]

those are low even for your latitude..
I find it incredible that the installers were working without a meter.. That's unprofessional to not have the propper Equipt to perform an install.
a 12 signal even on the modified scale is about 20 -30 pts low...Of course it depends upon the transponder...129 reads lower than other other birds typically the 119 reads the highest. Check 119 transponder 11...should read at least 60-70....110 TP 11 should be about 10 pts lower...129 will see signals on the modified scale from around 35-40 up to a high of 55- 60
Anyone else in the Chicago area on here that can help out?..I am giving numbers that are a bit low for my area in NC to give a point of reference.

It's not that he didn't have the equipment. He said that the equipment they have isn't good for 129. He said that they'd be getting some new meters next week or the week after.

 

[Dgenx321]

LMAO?

All you needs is a "w" bracket and a signal meter.

129 is no diffrent than 110 or 119, just alot weaker.

 

[usmaak]

LMAO?

All you needs is a "w" bracket and a signal meter.

129 is no diffrent than 110 or 119, just alot weaker.

Thing is, he got a better signal by doing it manually this time, at least on 110/119. I don't know if the better signal is because of the 1000.2. If it isn't, then the meter that they're using isn't all it's cracked up to be anyway.

 

[dishcomm]

It's not that he didn't have the equipment. He said that the equipment they have isn't good for 129. He said that they'd be getting some new meters next week or the week after.

He may have a had a programmable meter that did not accept the 129 orbital slot..
But I still think it's lame to be unprepared. When something breaks or goes down in the middle of the day, a good tech always has a backup plan. Anyway. I recommend a call to have a tech come out and re peak the dish.

 

[rich88]

I think I know what he is talking about. Whenever I peak a Dish 1000, it seems like though the SS on my Sat Buddy is peaked, there's a "give" where I can move the Dish a little bit each way and the SS on my Sat Buddy doesn't go up or down.

When I do a check-switch, it always reads all 3 sats, but the SS is just a bit low, and the only way I can "truly" peak the dish is to do it the old-fashioned way by turning the dish and then checking the SS screen on the receiver until I get the SS up to where I know it should be.

I didn't have this problem with the Aspen sat meter, but it bit the dust and I got the Sat Buddy in exchange from the warehouse.

 

[usmaak]

He may have a had a programmable meter that did not accept the 129 orbital slot..
But I still think it's lame to be unprepared. When something breaks or goes down in the middle of the day, a good tech always has a backup plan. Anyway. I recommend a call to have a tech come out and re peak the dish.

Another possibility. He had a trainee with him and the trainee did the LNB installation. I've gotten several switch errors, so it's possible that he did something wrong up there.

Whenever I call dish because of problems, they always send tech from the same shop. I've had five visits so far, and I think I've met them all.

I called them today to have them come out and realign the dish, and I have an appointment for this coming Saturday. We had severe thunderstorms roll through the area and of course dish went out while they were to the SW. 110 and 119 came back quickly, like they usually do. I had a signal strength of 66 on 110, and not a single blip on 129. It was completely and totally dead. So yea, I want them to fix this, or HD isn't really worth having. It would be good to see the national championship game on HD.

Jeepers94, are your readings on 129 with a separate dish, or are the on the 1000.2?

 

[jeepers94]

I have the 1000.2