Signal levels in Hawaii

[swyman18]

Hello,

New to DirecTV and the site... I've been doing a lot of reading and wanted to get your guy's opinion.

I had my installation a couple of weeks ago here in Hawaii, and am enjoying it so far. They installed the large 1.2m dish, and two HR22 HD DVR's. I don't have HD tv's yet, but they said the HD recievers are all they had, which is fine by me. I plan on getting at least one new TV next year.

I have heard that it is somewhat difficult to get as good a signal strength in Hawaii as the mainland, due to our position in relation to the satellites, hence the need for the larger dish. My signal levels are as follows:

101 - low 90's
99 - high 70's to low 80's
103 - high 70's to low 80's

I believe just my local channels come from the 103, and since I'm not using the HD channels , everything else comes from the 101.

Do you think these are decent signal levels considering my location, or should I be getting much higher? I'm guessing the dish was peaked to get the best signal from the 101, which is fine for now. When I get an HD tv, should I have them re-align to get a better signal from the 99 and 103, or is that perhaps not possible given my location?

Thanks for reading, and giving your thoughts... love the site!

 

[jtwex]

Based on this guys signals, you appear to be in the ballpark. I'm not sure how he nailed his spotbeam's so well, but take a look.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-forum/155830-hawaii-ohua-direct-tv.html#post1601876

 

[swyman18]

Interesting, thanks. I see he's using the AU9 dish, do you know if that is larger or smaller than the 1.2m? I'm gussing by his picture, it's smaller.

 

[jtwex]

Yes, it's smaller though he modified it. I think with your mild rains in the off season you will be fine, you'll just have to see how it works during the rainy season. I know those signals are too low for the midwest, but in your case you have to take what geometry gives you. Generally, the HD's fail first followed by the sd 101 stuff.

 

[Bob Nielsen]

The AU-9 is elliptical, 32.5 x 22.5 in.