Signal strengths..what is good?

[sNaKeYeZ]

Thanks for everyone's advice to me on this forum. I have a local installer coming out tomorrow to upgrade my Dish 500 dish to a SuperDish and my receiver from a 3900 to a 311. I'm excited.

I was wondering, however, if they'll have to move from my current dish's mounted position? I have my Dish 500 mounted on a pole in concrete in front of my home, about 5' off the ground.

I checked my signal strengths on my current setup. I have only one receiver hooked up and always have.

Nice, sunny, cloudless day outside right now.

119 T19: 94
119 T20: 98
110 T20: 85
110 T21: 50
61.5 T29: 0
148 T19: 91

Do these strengths look good? Good enough that the SuperDish could possibly be mounted to the same pole in the Dish 500's place? There are some pine trees in the front yard about 50 yards away. The Dish 500 is aimed just about to the top of them (the yard slopes downhill all the way to the trees). A dish could be mounted to the side or top of the house to get just above the tops of the trees, but it would be aggrevating for the installers. For all I know the Dish 500 could get even better reception where it is if it were re-aimed.

I've been plagued by the "Info not available" crap on my 3900 receiver since day 1. I've never known if it was due to the 3900 or to signal strength. I'm hoping a new receiver & dish will fix this issue.

 

[Mr Tony]

what are they for TP11 & 12?

I am assuming you have a dish at 148 and not one at 61.5?

 

[sNaKeYeZ]

Ok man, checked it all again.

119 T11: 98
119 T12: 102
119 T19: 93
119 T20: 98

110 T11: 51
110 T12: 80
110 T20: 71
110 T21: 50

148 T11: 97
148 T12: 0
148 T19: 93

How's that?

I only have one Dish 500 dish out there....

 

[mdonnelly]

I tweaked my Dish 500 yesterday (18 months since it was installed), and gained 20 points on both 110/119. I had been losing the signal with heavy cloud cover and/or light rain.

Before (on my 811):
110 T11 = 70
119 T11 = 89

Now (on my 811):
110 T11 = 92
119 T11 = 111

Are those reasonable numbers for central Oklahoma?

 

[Mr Tony]

mdonnely
those look good
anything near or over 100 is good

snake
looks like 110 satellite is pretty low. My 110's are aorund 100. Hopefully the tech can change that when he installs the SD

 

[sNaKeYeZ]

Thanks Iceberg!

I suppose it's all relative right? I mean, your signal to 119 relative to 110? The installer just tries to get the best of both because you only have a single dish to aim?

What I mean is, the installation LOCATION wouldn't provide a decent 119 signal and a bad 110 signal, it would be based upon the ALIGNMENT of the dish, right?

I hope I'm making sense here...

 

[Mr Tony]

Most of the time they try for 119 as better signal, since most progarmming is on there.

As an example, my numbers are (kind of going off memory)

119 TP 11-116
119 TP 12-108
110 TP 11-101
110 TP 12-94

This is using a 301 and a Dish500 Legacy.

Just a heads up on the SD....the 121 or 105 (depending on what you are getting) will be lower reading (about 60-75) than 119 & 110 due to 121/105 being lower powered.

 

[sNaKeYeZ]

Ouch, that kinda sucks...when my signal on 119 drops below 75 or so is when a storm is about to knock my picture off.

Sounds like local channels might be hard to watch during bad weather...

 

[Mr Tony]

actually, the low powered will go off about the same as the regualr. I have StarChoice, which also uses low powered satellites and it actually holds up same time or longer than Dish before going out during rain sotrms

 

[hometheaterman]

Doesn't picture drop at like 40 or 50?

 

[sNaKeYeZ]

I don't know exactly. I just know that the last chance I get to check my signal before it goes is around 70 for 119 channels.

The storm probably moves in very quickly.

Just ignore me, I'm a n00b.

 

[sNaKeYeZ]

Ok guys, got the new SuperDish and 311 receiver installed this morning.

Here's my signals now to compare with:

119 T11: 111
119 T12: 112
119 T19: 111
119 T20: 111

110 T11: 110
110 T12: 114
110 T20: 111
110 T21: 115

148 T11: 0
148 T12: 0
148 T19: 0

new:
105 : the T my locals are on is at 83

I'm happy! Yay! Odd thing is...the SuperDish is pointing in a whole other direction than my old Dish 500 was. I guess THAT is why my signal wasn't as good as it is now.

These guys know what they're doing. If anyone wants an installer for east-central Mississippi, I can recommend one!

Thanks!

 

[Mr Tony]

Ok guys, got the new SuperDish and 311 receiver installed this morning.

Here's my signals now to compare with:

119 T11: 111
119 T12: 112
119 T19: 111
119 T20: 111

110 T11: 110
110 T12: 114
110 T20: 111
110 T21: 115

148 T11: 0
148 T12: 0
148 T19: 0

new:
105 : the T my locals are on is at 83

Them good numbers
83 for 105 is DAMN good. Anything above 75 is really good

If your locals are on 105, what was the 148 dish for?

 

[sNaKeYeZ]

Iceberg, I have no idea what the 148 was for. It was just pulled in on my Dish 500 dish. ???

I thought it was odd that my SuperDish doesn't pull in 148 at all now. Doesn't matter, I don't need it anyway.

 

[Mr Tony]

Since I really didnt know where you were originally, I thought maybe your lcoals were on 148 (there are some cities with locals on 148)

 

[sNaKeYeZ]

Heh, Mississippi! There were no locals here in early 2001 when my Dish 500 was installed. The locals just went live about 9 months ago or so. The installer showed me the locals here all come in on 105, but now I've forgotten which T they were on. I just know that while he was showing me the signal was 83. He was very satisfied with that and said normally the signal isn't that good for the locals on 105.

However, I've been getting Fox out of Atlanta (and still am until the local station goes live in a couple of months) ever since 2001. I hate to see a local Fox station start up around here, I will miss Fox 5 Atlanta! I wish I could keep it.

 

[Mr Tony]

easiest way to see is to tune a local and then menu 6-1-1

That TP will showe on the screen

 

[sNaKeYeZ]

Wow, thanks for that. I really am a n00b.

All my locals are on 105 T 02, and it's still at 83 to 85 signal.

Yay!

Thanks!

 

[Mr Tony]

Thats what we're here for

 

[Mr Tony]

However, I've been getting Fox out of Atlanta (and still am until the local station goes live in a couple of months) ever since 2001. I hate to see a local Fox station start up around here, I will miss Fox 5 Atlanta! I wish I could keep it.

you might be able to keep it depending on your location. Cheyenne, WY was in the same boat. They had no NBC in their area so everyone got NBC from Denver. Here is the notes no that one (from TNGTony's chart)

"When the local NBC became available, the distant Denver NBC was no longer available with this package to new subscribers. Existing subscribers were allowed to keep this channel if they were outside the grade B signal intensity of the new low power NBC station"

so if you're far away from Meridian, you might be able to keep it