Signal Strength

bootlegger

Member
Original poster
Nov 5, 2009
7
0
Colorado
I have Shaw Direct in Denver area. On most channels I have good signal strength for example TSN. But there are others like TSN2 that will not come in, and signal strength says "39". I have tried to tune many times, but no go.
 
39 is about the base reading the LNB will put out when it's not aimed correctly - maybe your skew is off and you're getting F1 but not F2.

Let us know your receiver and we can check some signal strengths to confirm.
 
If you meant TSN HD works and TSN2 HD doesn't it's probably a switching/LNB issue. TSN is R/V polarization, TSN2 is L/H.
 
Well......

299 is from Anik F1R with vertical polarity
730 is from Anik F1R with horizontal polarity
350 is from Anik F2 with vertical polarity
700 is from Anik F2 with horizontal polarity

What this says to me is that you're receiving both satellites with approximately equal strength, but for some reason you are not doing well on the horizontal polarity from either satellite. That is also consistent with your reported strengths on TSN HD & TSN1 HD. It would seem to rule out a dish pointing problem.

That also supports Jables's theory that there is some kind of switching problem.....now we need a tech-savvy poster to interpret what all this means.....
 
Yeah, OK - so you're not getting H polarization channels. IIRC, Shaw uses 22 KHz tone for switching sats and 13V signalling for Vertical, and 18V for Horizontal. You seem to get both sats, so the tone is being generated - but the polarization switch isn't happening. So, either your receiver is not generating the right voltage, the cabling is bad and not delivering the voltage, or the LNBF is bad and not recognizing the signal to switch polarization. If you've got an open output on your dish (and I assume you do) try Jumbo's suggestion first - maybe it's just one bad output on the LNBF.

Let us know how it goes. And if I'm remembering wrong feel free to shout me down :)
 
stacked vs unstacked?

queston:

what is your set-up? do you have a Shaw direct dish (60e or 75e) or do you have two generic circular dishes? this sounds like a "stacked vs unstacked" scenario
 
what is your set-up? do you have a Shaw direct dish (60e or 75e) or do you have two generic circular dishes? this sounds like a "stacked vs unstacked" scenario

Also it would be helpful to know:

1) Did your 500 receiver ever work with your current dish setup, or is this problem something that began suddenly with a dish setup that previously worked correctly?

2) When your receiver was most recently authorized by Shaw, was it with your current dish, or another dish configuration?

3) If your dish is a 60e or 75e, is the LNB the kind in a single grey case with two overlapping white "eyes" and four outputs, or is it the kind that looks like 2 cans in a "y" configuration?
 
It is a DSR500 HD Receiver.
As to questions above
1. The receiver did work with previous dish, which was "y" configuration. I replaced with new dish a few months ago with lnb described in question 3.

I don't understand the "stacked vs unstacked scenario", if you could explain that would be great.
 
As of a year or two the 500 receiver is obsolete for HD. Everyone had to upgrade to the 505. Yes, it was HD capable at one time. But not now!

Catamount
 
If you had a "y" dish before, they are stacked LNB's. The newer quad LNB is unstacked with a built-in 22khz switch. You would need to contact Shaw Direct to change the LNB code for your receiver.

Catamount
 
I don't understand the "stacked vs unstacked scenario", if you could explain that would be great.

Simply put.....

Your Shaw programming consists of channels that come from one-or-the-other of two satellites; hence the two "cans" on your old LNB, and hence the two "eyes" on your new LNB. When you select a channel, the firmware in the receiver contains a "map" that knows which satellite that particular channel comes from, and selects the proper "can" or "eye" from which to draw the signal. The older style "Y-LNB" uses one map; the newer style LNB uses another. It appears from all the info you provided that you are trying to make the new LNB function using the map that existed with your previous dish. This is a no-go.

Therefore, as Catamount pointed out, you need to contact Shaw (or have your broker call Shaw, if applicable) and have Shaw send the proper channel map for the new quad LNB to your receiver. This can be done instantaneously by a Shaw CSR and requires no interaction on your part, other than making contact with Shaw. When this has been done, you should receive all channels in your package that (1) are not HDef and (2) have not been upgraded to 8PSK. Items (1) and (2) are not able to be decoded by your legacy receiver. To get all the channels in your package, you would need to upgrade to one of the following receivers: DSR-209 or DSR-319 (for SDef reception only) or a DSR-5xx or DSR-6xx (for SDef & HDef reception).
 
you will be able to get vertical only channels right now with the wrong setup.

Stacked LNB's takes the Horizontal channels and puts them at a higher frequency and makes them vertical..hence the "stacked" term. Positives with stacked systems are if you were looking just at 107.3 to add receivers you use a satellite grade splitter. One line down the house to the splitter then to the receivers
Unstacked has specific horizontal and vertical polarities and you can not use splitters in the setup
 
I am having a similiar issue, but with the 8psk on my pansat 9500HD? I have a 4dtv as my master and a 9200 HD pansat as a slave. On Galaxy 16 for example, I get signal strenghts up 88, but yet I am unable to pull in any 8psk at all. In fact, no signal shows up when i attempt to search for 8psk channels or if i manually enter the TP/channel. My pansat 9200HD has a 8psk kit installed, but I have never been able to pick anythning up with it. I think that its faulty and was thinking of buying a new receiever or a new 8psk board, but before doing so I wanted to get some sort of feed back.

Here is some info:

I have a 8 foot black mesh dish.
I have a 4DTV as my master and the 9500HD pansat as a slave. Both recievers work fine (except for the issue with the 8psk on the 9500HD).
When I bought the 9500HD reciever the 8psk card was already installed. I have removed the card and reinstalled it several times, and that made no difference. I can pick up other SD channels just fine.


How hard is it to pick up 8psk signals?

Is there anyway to know that the reciever is actually picking them up, but there just isnt a good enough signal to fully pull in a good picture? In otherwords, is there any way to tell if the card itself is bad?

Just out of curiosity, would a 6 fook dish be able pull in 8psk signals at all? I have a 8ft, but I was thinking about getting another 6ft.

Any and all info is appreciated.

Thank you in advance.
 
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)