Star choice troubles in Dallas

[Steve Barton]

We have had Star choice in Dallas area for years troube free but have noticed lately certain channels or broadcasts blanking out for brief periods. Kind of like when you lose signal during a storm. It does not affect all channels (IE - discovery is always fine) but history channle gets it frequently.

We have a 7 year old Motorola receiver with a 24" dish which has worked flawlessly until recently. Signal strength has not changed over the years and it hovers around 50%.

Anyone else seen this or has Star Choice made changes that may affect the older receiver.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Green Frog]

I had problems after the new software downloads for the HD receivers. I had had no problems for years, and after the new software for downloaded, the sound/picture started to drop all the time.

I ended up setting up two 36" dishes and the signal went way up and it took care of my problems. Somehow, the weaker signal that had been ok for years, no longer produce a stable picture after early August.

 

[Satellite Expert]

We have a 7 year old Motorola receiver with a 24" dish which has worked flawlessly until recently. Signal strength has not changed over the years and it hovers around 50%.

This is a bit of a tough one since you only have 1 receiver. It could be receiver, LNBf, wiring connectors, or water/rust in cable.

Perhaps someone with SC in the Dallas area could pm you. The best way would be to try your receiver on their setup in order to eliminate it as the problem. There have been no changes to SD broadcasts on F1R.

 

[toujoursdan]

When I lived in Dallas my strength was closer to 63%. You might want to check your dish's alignment and see if maybe it was wandered a bit or there is some other kind of interference.

 

[Steve Barton]

Thanks for the feedback. I had already checked all the cables and the dish has a clear line of site off of the roof with no trees in the way. I have done a little tweaking with the dish and have got signals just under 60 but am still getting the problem. There is definitely a change in the signal since the August time frame as I am seeing an increase number of broadcast where the display looks like a 4x3 or 16x9 format with small black areas at the top and bottom of the screen. Since I have eked out a slightly higher signal I am seeing more pixelation rather than the screen just blanking out so I may try Green Frog's advice with a larger dish to see if I can the signal level up higher.

Green frog - any recommendations on the type/brand of dish?

Thanks all.

 

[julesism]

if the video display/format is different/changing, I kinda doubt it has anything to do with the signal but either a setting on the SC box or on your TV. also, usually the picture quality will not change regardless if the signal is a steady 55-60 or 90-100. usually, you either have it or you don't. of course the higher the better since it will help out with rain/clouds or objects that could block/degrade the signal or move the dish around. with all that said, i have never seen SC in action. I go by with what I have seen/know with DirecTV, E*, and Bell Expressvu. perhaps something is going haywire with the LNB or the box. Hopefully you can get to the root of the problem and sort it out! i used to live in Dallas. If I was still up there, I'd swing by and help ya out! Let us know how it goes!

 

[dish_dtv]

What receiver do you have?

Steve:

I live in the Dallas area too. Unfortunately, I am a *C wannabe right now. I am going to sign up with *C only in Nov/Dec. However, I have been doing some reading up (mostly on this Forum). People like IceBerg and MikeKohl (owner of Global Communications) have been of great help educating newbies (including me).

First of all, I suspect that 24" (60 cm dish) is definitely too small for Dallas, especially after *C's migration to 8PSK last month. Also, you mention a 7 year receiver? Is that HD-capable? For Dallas, it should be 75cm (30") or better still (36").

As for a good 36" dish, I would suggest the 85 cm Dish from Patriot (30" tall x 36" wide). If you have not checked Global Communications' website yet, please do. It is an excellent source of information on *C.
The Canadian Solution
STAR CHOICE Reception Information

If you are needing both 107.3 and 111.1 programming, I would suggest 2 of the Patriot dishes (that's what I am going to get). If it is just the SD (107.3), go with 1 Patriot dish.

Hope this helps. If you have any specific Dallas-area questions, please send me a PM.

Good luck!

 

[icstephen]

I am in Georgia and have both the 75E and 2 recently installed 36" dishes I get about 50 -55 on the 75E with an EBNO of 5.5-6.5 and have allot of trouble on cloudy & rainy days, on the 2 36" dishes I am getting between 75-90 depending on TP/sat and with EBNO's between 8.8-10. the 75E is on an sd receiver and is pretty stable 95% of the time (if it rains forget it) but have had no problems with the 2 36" dishes as of yet...I will say however that I get a lower signal on the HD channels (I had heard there was a fair drop in signal quality when they switched to 8psk on the hd channels).

I would if I was going to set up a system in TX (or in the southern US) go with the 2 larger dishes...you WILL be allot happier if you're doing hd, however if you are only doing sd (dsr 317, etc) and live in a dry area (not many rain days a year) or if the SC is a secondary service then you might be able to get away with the 75E. I am using 2 fortec dishes (I got them from Sadoun they are fairly inexpensive, however they are a bit flimsy...although they get the job done...but if you have the money you might go with a sturdier antenna depending on your budget).

Also if you are using the 2 dishes you will need a 22 KHz switch for each receiver (if you plan on doing both satellites) where you wont need one with the 75E. Hope that helps and good luck.

 

[Green Frog]

I have the same 2-dish set up in SoCal, and have excellent signal (9.5-10) on the SD channels and lower (6.9-8.0) on the HD channels.

I could never get the 75E to have strong signal on both stats.

 

[i_sifton]

Dallasite

Steve,

I am located in Frisco which is probably fairly close to you, but have ExpressVU instead of SC.

However, because SC operates in the linear KU band, I would STRONGLY recommend that you upgrade to a 31" as it should solve your signal loss problems. I had to switch over to one for Nimiq 3 when they started using it for a few of the sports channels.

When I was tracking my C band dish recently, I could see Anik F1 in my Spec analyzer as strong as G4r so I suspect that it is a dish size issue.

We have had Star choice in Dallas area for years troube free but have noticed lately certain channels or broadcasts blanking out for brief periods. Kind of like when you lose signal during a storm. It does not affect all channels (IE - discovery is always fine) but history channle gets it frequently.

We have a 7 year old Motorola receiver with a 24" dish which has worked flawlessly until recently. Signal strength has not changed over the years and it hovers around 50%.

Anyone else seen this or has Star Choice made changes that may affect the older receiver.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Hankster]

I'm in Houston and have the 75cm dish, and usually have a signal around 65% with it and it's in clear most of the time. Every once in a while, when we get a high cloud banked thunderstorm, I'll get pixelation--same thing when updates download around 2 AM. I found out since I will use my DVD recorder to record blocks of TV overnight sometimes. I run *C and Dish in my house and they both work great.

Most of the Experts say that the 60 cm is too small for the Southern US. 75 cm and the 90 cm Patriot are considered better. Since you're further north than I am, a 70 cm should work just fine for you.

 

[Anole]

$50 for 36"

This is no news to the folks over in the FTA section of the forum:

McGuyver and his $50 deal on AzsureShine 36" @ 3ABN:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/102541-good-place-buy-dish.html#post973266

Same place has lnbs which should work.
Connect with a $5, 22khz switch. (do your own shopping on that)

That'd only run one receiver, so if you want more ... there are a number of solutions.


I gave similar advice in this BEV thread, so give a read for more info:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/canadian-satellite-services/102268-bigger-dish-expressvu.html