Signal strength problems after upgrade

[n3qnj]

A couple of weeks ago, a nice friendly Dish tech came out to our house and "upgraded" us to a new single dish which now picks up 61.5, 72 and 77.

Not long after he left we started getting "Partial Signal Loss" and sometimes even "Full Signal Loss" messages on a perfectly clear day.

While talking to Dish tech support on the phone, we did a check switch and the signal strength on the 61.5 satellite was 57. They said that sounded low.

A tech came out today and realigned the dish. I now have a 60 on my 61.5. Doesn't seem like much of an improvement. I decided to check the other two and on 72 and 77 I have signal strength in the 40s.

If 57 was low - - - is being in the 40s low?

I guess my question is, what's normal? I don't want my TV to go out when a spring drizzle blows over my house. A blizzard or a nasty thunderstorm... ok I can deal with that.

Any insight would be great. I'm an IT network engineer, so feel free to be technical with me.

Thanks.

 

[TheKrell]

Depending upon the transponder, 40's may be normal. My signal strengths are mostly between 40-60 on EA, and I almost never lose signal. Your SS was probably higher on WA because most of their transponders are still QPSK. I start losing lock when my SS is down around 12 or so.

 

[MattG@DISH]

Depending upon the transponder, 40's may be normal. My signal strengths are mostly between 40-60 on EA, and I almost never lose signal. Your SS was probably higher on WA because most of their transponders are still QPSK. I start losing lock when my SS is down around 12 or so.

I agree. EA is known to show a lower signal strength on the point dish screen than WA (as TheKrell said 40-60 is normal on EA), but your signal shouldn't be going out in light rain and whatnot.

 

[DishTechPA]

If you are getting a signal loss on a clear day I would say your problem is not coming from dish alignment. Your signals sound normal for EA. I would say either the lnb or a cable related issue.

 

[TheKrell]

By the way, Dish has as many as 32 transponders at each orbital location. So you don't just want to report a signal strength of 57, but rather you want to check each transponder individually. If you are on a problem channel, then go to the Check Switch screen (menu 6-1-1) and see which transponder it is having trouble with. If you are losing lock, then I'll bet the SS is in the teens.

 

[Teehar]

What model receiver do you have?Do you have more than one receiver connected?The reason I ask is I'm curious to know if its dual tuner and is using a dish pro separator.

 

[mike123abc]

Eastern arc looks lower because most of the transponders are running in 8PSK. WA 110/119 is mostly QPSK. 8PSK has more bits per second than QPSK so there is more error correction needed, so the signal looks lower.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Anything 50 or higher is more than sufficient to not lose your signal unless it is raining very ,very ,hard and fast. I installed my own eastern arc dish back in 08 when they first came out and re installed it again after Hurricane Ike. I rarely lose my signal strengths unless it is raining cats and dogs. I also had a side sat dish for 110 sat when I had HD distants from L.A. from AAD. I get the following strengths on my eastern arc dish using the diagnostic readings: Notice how much higher the side sat dish is than the eastern arc dish 1000.4.

77 sat

13 - 50
16 - 54
20 - 55
21 - 51

72 sat

15 - 63
17 - 61
19 - 62
21 - 62

61.5 sat

10 - 54
14 - 61
29 - 64
31 - 57

110 sat add on dish (1000.2 with single lnb)

14 - 77
15 - 77
16 - 78
21 - 73