Signal Strength #2

[l33txp]

Had to start a new thread.. other one was too old to respond too.. but here is an image of what I can do testing the signal and changing satellite and transponder settings... how do I make that permanent?? The settings it defaults too gives me anywhere from 75% - 85% signal strength and I tend to lose the HD signal at the slightest change or breeze....

 

[Jimbo]

You cannot change a transpondor ...
Channels are assigned to a particular transpondor.

Jimbo

 

[jjnemoiii]

Sounds to me, I could be wrong, but I think you need a slight dish re-aiming. after that, make sure the bolts areb tightened, so it won't move in the wind.

 

[jdc2006]

101 and 119 will trick most people into thinking they have great signal strength. 103 is going to be the sat you need to look at for HD. It really needs to read in the mid 90's on a clear day. If the dish is off most of the time the 101 and 119 signal will still read high but the 103 and 99 will read low. This is because the actual signal of the 119 and 101 have wide peaks while the 103 and 99 have slim peaks. A picture would explain this a lot better. Think of it like a Wide Mountain with a Slim Mountain directly in front of it, Both the same height. Think of peak signal being the peak of each mountain. Because of the wide mountain (101,119) You can peak slightly left or right of the Peak Mountain Top and still have great strength. Take that signal located on the left or right of the wide mountain and transfer to the slim mountain and you can see how fast signal quality will fade. Once you leave the peak of the slim mountain the signal drops almost straight down. In other words a properly aligned Slimline will have the 101, and 119 peaks at the "Peak" of the mountain top therefore automatically peaking the 103 and 99. Most installers shoot blind on the 103 and 99 meaning most meters won't show signal on these sats yet. So we are having to max peak 101 and 119 then fine tune dish to bring the signal to that mountain peak described above. Once this is done the 103 and 99 will also Peak on the slim mountain. 99% of the time the dish is only off by 1 inch or less but that counts ALOT and can mean literally miles off the target in space.

 

[jdspencer]

l33txp:
I replied in that other thread that you need to get the dish re-aligned. And keep your brother-in-law away from the dish once it is.

As stated above. The TPs carry a certain number of channels, there is no way to lock in to one TP. The receiver knows which channels are on which TPs and thus selects that TP.

 

[sonydude1966]

I don't know about needing mid 90's on a clear day for 99 and 103. I'm in the mid 80's and haven't had any rain fade yet (knock on wood). It was pouring rain when I checked the 103 signals and it got down to 38 and all the channels still worked and I noticed no difference. I can always get up on the roof if I start having problems, but mid 70's and 80's on a clear day shouldn't really be a problem, should it? Sure, 95+ is great, but aren't we being a little OCD shooting for mid 90's so much? If the OP is having signal loss when it's windy, I believe jjnemoiii may be correct in having him check the bolts.

 

[Jimbo]

I don't know about needing mid 90's on a clear day for 99 and 103. I'm in the mid 80's and haven't had any rain fade yet (knock on wood). It was pouring rain when I checked the 103 signals and it got down to 38 and all the channels still worked and I noticed no difference. I can always get up on the roof if I start having problems, but mid 70's and 80's on a clear day shouldn't really be a problem, should it? Sure, 95+ is great, but aren't we being a little OCD shooting for mid 90's so much? If the OP is having signal loss when it's windy, I believe jjnemoiii may be correct in having him check the bolts.

I shoot for 90's on everything, now that doesn't mean I'm gonna get 90's on every transponder, You may have the majority in the 90's and a few stragglers in the 80's, thats no problem, you also may have a few that are much lower that are that way because they are not servicing your area.

fwiw, right now at night with cold clear weather 19* My low on the 99(c) is 92, 99(S) is 86 for transponders servicing my area.
On the 103(s) they are all over the place, but I can be assured that transponder 2, 15 and 24 would be the ones that service my area, they are 100, 95 and 96.
103(c) is a low of 88. all other signals are in the 90's

Jimbo

 

[sonydude1966]

I shoot for 90's on everything, now that doesn't mean I'm gonna get 90's on every transponder, You may have the majority in the 90's and a few stragglers in the 80's, thats no problem, you also may have a few that are much lower that are that way because they are not servicing your area.

Jimbo

You're a lot better than the techs I've had out. I am around mid 80's, a few 70's. They look at me strange when I ask them if maybe they could try for higher signals strengths for 99 and 103. I just let it go after a couple of attempts, knowing if I have problems I can go up there and move it around a little on my own. It sure would be excellent if D* could get the meters out to the techs that show 99 and 103 signals. They sure do get 101 right though. I am 95+ on mostly all of those transponders.

 

[Jimbo]

You're a lot better than the techs I've had out. I am around mid 80's, a few 70's. They look at me strange when I ask them if maybe they could try for higher signals strengths for 99 and 103. I just let it go after a couple of attempts, knowing if I have problems I can go up there and move it around a little on my own. It sure would be excellent if D* could get the meters out to the techs that show 99 and 103 signals. They sure do get 101 right though. I am 95+ on mostly all of those transponders.

I am not sure if there are any meters out there that actually read the 99 and 101 yet.
Maybe the Birdogs and Accutrac, but I seem to remember people telling me that they did not identify the actual sat number ....
When they get a meter out that says YES you have D*'s 99 and D* 101 ect. and are at a reasonable price, then I would seriously consider buying one, till them, I work by feel and signal strength.

Have you considered calling a LOCAL installer company to see what they might be able to do for you.
D* works by the job, they work by the hour... big difference sometimes.

Jimbo

 

[sonydude1966]

I am not sure if there are any meters out there that actually read the 99 and 101 yet.
Maybe the Birdogs and Accutrac, but I seem to remember people telling me that they did not identify the actual sat number ....
When they get a meter out that says YES you have D*'s 99 and D* 101 ect. and are at a reasonable price, then I would seriously consider buying one, till them, I work by feel and signal strength.

Have you considered calling a LOCAL installer company to see what they might be able to do for you.
D* works by the job, they work by the hour... big difference sometimes.

Jimbo

I called one place and was told for $50 for a half an hour time, he'd go up on the roof and move the dish around till the strengths were better. I believed he mentioned the birddog was around $700 and he didn't want to pay that much. I haven't called anyone else since I haven't had any problems with drop outs.

That's why I was questioning if you really need 90's, when mid 80's and some 70's on a clear day seems to work for me. Even in the pouring hard rain when my sigs go down to high 30's, nothing seemed effected. I can't imagine a harder rain then when that happened. Super foggy nights will get me down to the mid 60's on some, again, with no drop outs.

Just from my experience in southern CA, mid 70's and 80's on a clear day don't seem so bad. The OP was saying he was getting drop outs in the mid 70's when I don't get that on the high 30's in a rain storm, so maybe it's something else going on for him?

You are obviously an experienced person with dishes, and I highly doubt most people get 90's/high 80's across the board like you. I really don't think it's needed to be that high to be problem free. And I hope I didn't just jinx myself by saying that.

 

[Jimbo]

I called one place and was told for $50 for a half an hour time, he'd go up on the roof and move the dish around till the strengths were better. I believed he mentioned the birddog was around $700 and he didn't want to pay that much. I haven't called anyone else since I haven't had any problems with drop outs.

That's why I was questioning if you really need 90's, when mid 80's and some 70's on a clear day seems to work for me. Even in the pouring hard rain when my sigs go down to high 30's, nothing seemed effected. I can't imagine a harder rain then when that happened. Super foggy nights will get me down to the mid 60's on some, again, with no drop outs.

Just from my experience in southern CA, mid 70's and 80's on a clear day don't seem so bad. The OP was saying he was getting drop outs in the mid 70's when I don't get that on the high 30's in a rain storm, so maybe it's something else going on for him?

You are obviously an experienced person with dishes, and I highly doubt most people get 90's/high 80's across the board like you. I really don't think it's needed to be that high to be problem free. And I hope I didn't just jinx myself by saying that.

Sonydude,
Personally, with YOUR set up, I would leave it alone, it sounds like your set up great. If your not losing any channels, why screw with it !

I lose channels when it gets around 40, but that is very rare, extremely hard rain, bad snow storm ext., then I turn over to the locals anyways to see what else is going on with the weather.

The object is the higher the better. A digital signal will give you either a perfect picture or next to nothing (pixalation) or nothing. there is no in between, like the old , turn the antenna to the left and hold it there stuff, try moving the aluminum on the antenna type stuff of the old days.
It's either and there perfect or it's not

Now the 99 and the 103 sats are a little different, they work on a much narrower beam, there fore they can go out easier ..... one KA and one is KU frequency , the 101, 110and 119 vs the 99 and 103.

Jimbo

 

[outerub]

I shoot for 90's on everything, now that doesn't mean I'm gonna get 90's on every transponder, You may have the majority in the 90's and a few stragglers in the 80's, thats no problem, you also may have a few that are much lower that are that way because they are not servicing your area.

fwiw, right now at night with cold clear weather 19* My low on the 99(c) is 92, 99(S) is 86 for transponders servicing my area.
On the 103(s) they are all over the place, but I can be assured that transponder 2, 15 and 24 would be the ones that service my area, they are 100, 95 and 96.
103(c) is a low of 88. all other signals are in the 90's

Jimbo

Jimbo, how can I determine which HD transponders service my area ?

 

[raoul5788]

Jimbo, how can I determine which HD transponders service my area ?

Check the links on this page:http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv...tv-full-transponder-maps-data-12-28-08-a.html They have the transponders listed that are local to your area.

 

[Jimbo]

Jimbo, how can I determine which HD transponders service my area ?

Check the links on this page:http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv...tv-full-transponder-maps-data-12-28-08-a.html They have the transponders listed that are local to your area.

Thanks raoul :up

I normally look at the highest SS , the lower ones will be areas that are outside of your spot beam. Usually you'll see a few that are in the 80-90's while the rest are much lower.

Jimbo

 

[jjnemoiii]

I can always get up on the roof if I start having problems, but mid 70's and 80's on a clear day shouldn't really be a problem, should it?

Like Jimbo said, you should be alright. BUT, since we don't know where the OP lives, getting on the roof might be a problem sometimes. I'm in Wisconsin, and some areas of my roof have 9+ inches of snow right now, and we sometimes get wind chills of 30+ below zero. Can you imagine walking though that much snow on a peaked roof with strong winds and its that cold? When I set mine up I peaked it for whatever satellite my analog generic type winegard meter used, and my signals are almost up to Jimbo's level.

 

[sonydude1966]

Like Jimbo said, you should be alright. BUT, since we don't know where the OP lives, getting on the roof might be a problem sometimes. I'm in Wisconsin, and some areas of my roof have 9+ inches of snow right now, and we sometimes get wind chills of 30+ below zero. Can you imagine walking though that much snow on a peaked roof with strong winds and its that cold? When I set mine up I peaked it for whatever satellite my analog generic type winegard meter used, and my signals are almost up to Jimbo's level.

That's some pretty tough weather you got there alright. We've gotton down to 30 degrees here in southern CA, brrr.

 

[outerub]

Thanks fellas. With a little cross-sheet studying I found that HD locals for my area are provided by transponder #15 on the 103 Sat. I'm certain that more investigation will yield more helpful info.

Regards,

UB.

 

[Jimbo]

Like Jimbo said, you should be alright. BUT, since we don't know where the OP lives, getting on the roof might be a problem sometimes. I'm in Wisconsin, and some areas of my roof have 9+ inches of snow right now, and we sometimes get wind chills of 30+ below zero. Can you imagine walking though that much snow on a peaked roof with strong winds and its that cold? When I set mine up I peaked it for whatever satellite my analog generic type winegard meter used, and my signals are almost up to Jimbo's level.

The D* techs love me if they have to come out, I set my Slimline on a 16' pole, buried in the concrete, right next to the house and it sits about 3 foot above the roof line and it goes onto a flat roof.
They set up the first Slimline I had and I have set up all the rest.

Jimbo

 

[jjnemoiii]

The D* techs love me if they have to come out, I set my Slimline on a 16' pole, buried in the concrete, right next to the house and it sits about 3 foot above the roof line and it goes onto a flat roof.
They set up the first Slimline I had and I have set up all the rest.

Jimbo

Jimbo, just curious, how deep is your pole, and how much cement? mine is 3-4 feet, with 200-300# cement. Had a tech here yesterday to replace LNB, he said they dig 1.5 feet, pound down 6 more inches, and use 1/2 bag of cement, no more.
Also, in another recent thread I can't seem to find anymore, you were curious about cold weather issues With LNB's. Tech said D* has one type (one output on LNB) from one manufacturer they are having cold issues with, but they should get new ones by the end of this month.

 

[l33txp]

I will work on this.. thanks for all the info!!! Probably just schedule a call to have it realigned...