Watching White Springs just fine with 0 Q?

[WEC4104]

I realize that the Signal and Quality meters vary from one receiver model to the next. On my Viewsat Ultra, if I'm watching a newsfeed or a G10 RTN channel I can generally get as low as 18-20 on the Q before I notice the picture breaking up.

Last night I motored over to White Springs, a satellite which is historically one of my weaker ones. Initially I got nothing. A quick bump of the motor's east/west controls and I was watching White Springs. The picture and sound were fine, but I took a look at the meters to optimize the positioning. The Q was reading ZERO! Maybe every 20 seconds or so it might blip to 2 or 3, but most of the time it was flat lined at zero. I watched the movie for another 15 minutes or more and the picture was absolutly fine. No pixeling, no freezing, sound was okay too. If I hadn't seen the meter, I would have thought I was getting a strong S&Q. (S was around 55-60 as I recall)

I've heard of folks with good S&Q not getting audio or video, but not vice versa. Anyone know why White Springs' broadcast would survive a very low Q when others do not?

 

[Mr Tony]

The FEC (Forward error correction) is 1/2 which means you have LOTS of room for error

7/8 is the worst as you need a nuts on signal and a bigger dish...most channels are 3/4

 

[WEC4104]

Interesting. I've always just been punching in the appropriate FEC without ever knowing how the numbers affect the ability to receive/process the signal. Now I understand. : Always learning something new.

 

[Mr Tony]

Lyngsat shows what the FEC is for each channel or mux of channels.
here is for white springs
Galaxy 27 at 129.0°W - LyngSat

 

[aegrotatio]

Your receiver's processor is working so hard to process the error correction into the feed that it does not have enough processing time left to satisfactorily update the signal indicator screen.
The signal indicator takes a lot of processing power to display, believe it or not, and it runs at a rather low priority on your receiver.
The fact that it is blipping up occasionally is because of this.
I've had good success putting a 20db inline amplifier just after the LNBF so that whatever weak signal you're getting doesn't get unduly suppressed by cabling, switches, and splitters.

 

[JohnH]

My Coship has a few times not indicated any quality, but has received quite well.

 

[qwert1515]

The FEC (Forward error correction) is 1/2 which means you have LOTS of room for error

7/8 is the worst as you need a nuts on signal and a bigger dish...most channels are 3/4

To add on to what Iceberg said:

A FEC of 7/8 means that 7 packets are sent and the 8th is the correction packet. (Lots of data, Less Correction)

A FEC of 1/2 means 1 packet is sent and the second is the correction packet. (equal amount of data and correction)

 

[WEC4104]

Yes Iceberg, Lyngsat has been where I have been finding the FEC values I have been entering. I just never realized how they impact the receiver performance.

I completely buy into the explanation that the 1/2 factor allows for more error, so I am able to watch shows with a very low Q.

However I am not completely sold yet on aegrotatio's idea that my processor is maxed out. I think the blips I am seeing are only the natural fluctuations in S or Q that that are inherent to receiving any radio signals. When I am locked onto a strong satellite signal the Q might float between 88 and 92. When I am on White Springs it be 0-4.