Signal Levels going up and down, up and down......

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johnny q

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Nov 7, 2005
54
0
Bergen County, NJ
Hello all, my first post and I am hoping someone can help shed some light on what may be wrong with my system, as the Dish support people refuse to even listen to me unless I tell them my signals have dipped below 70.

I have been a Dish customer since 2001, and consistantly received strong
signals, 117 to 125 on Satelitte 119 and 105 to 112 on Satelite 110.
Recently, I noticed that my signals have degraded on Sat 119 to the 80's and 90's. Oddly enough, Sat 110 has not changed, and gives me higher signals than Sat 119, historically the opposite was always true!!

But I am further convinced that something has become unstable based on what I have seen recently: During light (I mean LIGHT) to medium winds, when checking my signal strength, the signal goes up and down dramatically, all the way to 125, down to the 70's, back up to 125 etc, etc. Again, this seems to only be on Sat 119,and is particularly bad on transponder 13 (VH1) Sometimes the bar empties out and I lose my signal entirely. Even when there is no wind blowing, I'll check the signal, it will shoot right up to 120, then sink slowly to the 90's and stay there.

There are no new trees or obstructions blocking the dish. I am concerned
that the Dish may have loosened and needs to be re-installed and aligned.
Problem is, the Dish support hotline refuses to send anyone out unless I
report signals less than 70, and tries to explain away my problems by saying
it must be something terrestrial, bad weather and/or an obstruction I am not
aware of.

Any suggestions as to what action to take? I cant believe Dish wont send anyone to check it, cause this cant be normal! :confused:

JQ
 
Well that would really sound like a tree to me. Signals going up and down in the wind means there is a tree moving around in your line of site.

It's possible the dish has come loose. Have you gotten up to look at it and see if it is?
 
Dave nye said:
Well that would really sound like a tree to me. Signals going up and down in the wind means there is a tree moving around in your line of site.

It's possible the dish has come loose. Have you gotten up to look at it and see if it is?

No - its mounted to the chimney, at the absolute highest peak of the house. I'm a chicken.. :no

I agree it sounds like tree branches too, but nothing has changed since 2001, the foliage is exactly the same, (the dish is pointed right between two trees) and if it was an obstruction, why no difference in Sat 110 signal levels, and why no fluctuation on Sat 110 ??

JQ
 
I would wager that the mount is loose and moving in the wind. It also sounds as though the dish has moved some as well since 119 is now lower that 110 which is opposite to your original observations.
 
dfergie said:
Welcome to SatelliteGuys...It does sound like something is loose.

Any suggestions how I can convince Dish to send someone to look at it, re-aim etc?? They continue to explain it away with weather and obstructions and insist that unless the signals get lower than 70, everything is the way it should be!

JQ
 
johnny q said:
Any suggestions how I can convince Dish to send someone to look at it, re-aim etc?? They continue to explain it away with weather and obstructions and insist that unless the signals get lower than 70, everything is the way it should be!

JQ
FInd a local dealer for service, Dish is going to charge you anyway if they send someone in.
 
johnny q said:
Any suggestions how I can convince Dish to send someone to look at it, re-aim etc?? They continue to explain it away with weather and obstructions and insist that unless the signals get lower than 70, everything is the way it should be!

JQ
You can see your signal strength screen, can DISH? Tell a little white one the worst they could do is charge you a service call. :)
 
My money is still on one of those trees. He says the dish is pointing between two trees. Remember the dish does not point directly at the satellites, the signals come in at an angles. If you are behind the dish looking up at the sky in the direction the dish points, the tree to your right would be the one causing the interference. 110 does not fluctuate so I would rule out the loose mount theory.
 
btw, not accusing you of having poor judgement about those trees. Just today I set a hastily set a superdish on a pole only to realize a tree way the hell off to the right was killing 119. I then moved the pole back about 80 feet from the house just to be safe. Damn trees, kinda liked em years ago.
 
bweiteka said:
My money is still on one of those trees. He says the dish is pointing between two trees. Remember the dish does not point directly at the satellites, the signals come in at an angles. If you are behind the dish looking up at the sky in the direction the dish points, the tree to your right would be the one causing the interference. 110 does not fluctuate so I would rule out the loose mount theory.

Had a similar problem 2 years ago. Electric company was in area trimming trees around their wires. Paid them to trim off a few branches and my problem went away immediately.
 
Johnny It sounds to me like trees.
Now lets take a different aproach.
How many Receives do you have?
Is it the same on all of them or just one?
What type of dish do you have 500 with 2 LNBFs on it and silver switches or a 500 Twin The LNBF is all one piece?
 
bweiteka said:
btw, not accusing you of having poor judgement about those trees. Just today I set a hastily set a superdish on a pole only to realize a tree way the hell off to the right was killing 119. I then moved the pole back about 80 feet from the house just to be safe. Damn trees, kinda liked em years ago.

I agree that it sounds like branches, if it were not for the fact that nothing has changed since the installation of the Dish in 2001, the trees are huge and probably stopped growing 50 years ago. I had a Dish tech visit the house about 3 months ago for an unrelated problem, and he commented on how my Dish was mounted in the perfect spot, shooting right between the two trees with a clear view of the sky. 3 months later, everything (the setup, location etc) is the same, in fact, now the trees have no leaves, and now the problem starts?? So, I'm not 100% sure its time to break out the chainsaw! :)
 
rowemance said:
Johnny It sounds to me like trees.
Now lets take a different aproach.
How many Receives do you have?
Is it the same on all of them or just one?
What type of dish do you have 500 with 2 LNBFs on it and silver switches or a 500 Twin The LNBF is all one piece?

2 receivers, same problem on both.

500 Twin The LNBF is all one piece.

JQ
 
The only time a tree will stop growing is when it dies (ask at your local nursery). If the signal from 110 doesn't change the dish could not be moving, the both are on teh same dish. Also if the signal strengh hasn't changed on the 110 The dish has not moved. Only 2 other options, you have a sw21 hanging on the dish and the connector is almost gone which will require someone going up to the dish, or tree branches are blowing in the signal path. Trees also change during the year when they loose there leaves the branches change there location (ever pick-up a lot of leaves they can be heavy).
 

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