Shaw 75e Signal Strength in Phoenix

[joshuals]

Yesterday I replaced my DSR-315 with a DSR-319 to prepare for the upcoming switch to 8PSK and also replaced my single generic ku-band dish with a Shaw 75e.

You might know I would choose the hottest day of the year (so far) to be on the roof, but I got started (very) early.

I was in hopes to simply mount the 75e on the mast for the old generic dish, but nope, the generic pipe was 1-3/4" OD and the 75e uses a 2", and there's not that much adjustment on the azimuth clamp. So rather than cobble it, I replaced the mast.

Fixing the base plate solidly to a stucco exterior house wall is :rant:!!!

After four hours of messing with the mount, and thanks to DishPointer (great invention!!!!) and having the old dish as a reference, I was on the satellite, by eye, before ever plugging in the receiver. Within 15 minutes I had the dish peaked "good-enough" until it gets cooler here.

Anyway..for anyone who might be wondering about the 75e working in this area of the country, I was able to get a signal strength max of 72 with Ecb/Nos at about +8.3 on channels 299, 301, 701, and 712. That's a little lower than what I had with the generic 85cm dish looking at F2 only.

If anyone else in this area who is using the 75e would post me their signal strength & Ecb's, I'd appreciate it.

 

[joshuals]

Response to Mellaby from another post:

Joshuals: What is your signal strength with the 75cm dish? I'm getting 7db on SD and about 4.5 on the HD's in Mesa. Occasionally last winter when the rains came I lost the HD's but the SD's were fine.

It sounds like your numbers are a little low. Have you tried tweaking your dish to maximize the EcbNo's on channels 299 & 712 ?

How long have you had your system in place?

Were the signals stronger when you first installed the dish?

It's possible it just time to peak the dish or that something may have grown into your line of sight that needs to be trimmed?

Are you able to adjust the dish yourself or will you need a technician?

When I was using the 90cm dish, I lost the S-Def signal (I don't have HDef) only in the heaviest of showers, and then only for a few minutes. In a general winter rain the signal was never affected. I'll have to wait and see what happens with the 75e when the rains come again. I live on the northwest side of the Valley, so you'll likely get wet before we do this summer, and I'll be leaving for Quebec soon, so maybe I'll miss the monsoon altogether.

Let me know how things come out......

 

[mellaby]

Sorry I forgot to mention my dish is 60 cm. The dish is peaked. I've been pretty happy with the reception so far. I just didn't want to invest any more money with SD (Home away from home plan) just to get the 75cm dish. I'm only there from Oct - Apr each year and there is very little rain.

 

[joshuals]

From what I understand, the 60e is marginal for this far south. It's probably doing the best it can for you with the numbers you mention....