What are Good Signal Numbers on EA

[bobvick]

What are considered to be "good" signal numbers on Eastern a Arc? I have been having periodic outages when it is not raining directly in me, but I can see that it is to the south and eastward direction that the dish points, I assume this is the problem. Anyway, all of my signal strengths run from the mid 40s to the mid to upper 50s. Is this considered good? I am in Northwest Alabama.


Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[ChadT41]

Those are doable. I personally recommend if possible, to hit 65+, but you should experience an issue anytime that satellite and affected transponder are above 35. If it drops below 30, even for just a couple seconds, you will see pixelation during that time. That's why I say recommend 65+. It usually is enough to battle rain fade. There are more factors, like location and things that may be in your way, along with environmental interference(airports etc)

 

[bobvick]

Nope, nothing in the way, no microwave interference or anything, waay out in the country. Probably just an inexperienced lazy installer. If I hadn't sold my SuperBuddy I would fix it myself. If it keeps having problems I will call them for a repoint.


Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[ChadT41]

That's the route I would go. Likely, it is just a repeak, and could be caused to shift as well, depending in install location, and time it's been there. I had a few customers that had it mounted into the wood, that warped after years of rain and heat, and it threw the peak off. Just throwing that out as well.

 

[3HaloODST]

The signal is actually good until 10 or below. Then it's out. Having higher signal strength on clear days gives more leeway before the signal drops below the threshold. 45 is about the minimum acceptable, 55 is good, 65 is great.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

 

[bobvick]

I did a chat with Dish tech support. They agreed that based on where I live, with the potential for frequent rainfade (afternoon storms sometimes nearly everyday in the summer) that the dish did to be looked at and likely needed peaked. They are sending someone out on Friday evening. We shall see, maybe they will send a good installer that can peak the dish.


Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[mitchflorida]

How much does it cost to have them come out and repeak the dish?

 

[3HaloODST]

Without the Protection Plan, $95. With the Protection Plan, $0-$15. If you don't currently have the Protection Plan, you can instate it the moment you schedule a tech visit. It will then be $7/Mo for the Protection Plan. You must keep the Protection Plan for a minimum of 180 days in order to avoid a $25 cancellation fee.

If you have your receiver(s) Internet/phone connected, the receiver(s) will send periodic status reports to Dish. It will alert them to any excessive signal issues you may have. Dish will then call you and send out a tech, free of charge, no Protection Plan required.

 

[boba]

Without the Protection Plan, $95. With the Protection Plan, $0-$15. If you don't currently have the Protection Plan, you can instate it the moment you schedule a tech visit. It will then be $7/Mo for the Protection Plan. You must keep the Protection Plan for a minimum of 180 days in order to avoid a $25 cancellation fee.

If you have your receiver(s) Internet/phone connected, the receiver(s) will send periodic status reports to Dish. It will alert them to any excessive signal issues you may have. Dish will then call you and send out a tech, free of charge, no Protection Plan required.

Didn't it go up to $8 in June?

 

[JSheridan]

Didn't it go up to $8 in June?

Yes it did. And service calls with protection plan are now $10.

 

[3HaloODST]

Dang it. So hard to keep up with all these price hikes.

 

[bobvick]

They tried to charge $50, I told them I had the protection plan and it was just supposed to be $10 or $15. I said "what good is the protection plan for if I a going to have to pay you $50 every time I need something" anyway, they quickly decided since I had the PP they could "waive" the $50.


Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[ChadT41]

Is it being moved or just repeaked? $50 would be a custom work order fee not covered under PP for relocation. Plus up to $10 for tech visit cost with Pp. Possibly free if you are a "rated" customer. I'll assume you are. Please don't ask what I mean by that.

 

[bobvick]

Not being moved, just peaked. Has a perfect LOS from horizon to horizon where it is.


Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[Sebring Computers]

Here in central Florida we usually get around 65 with clear LOS on 61.5 and 72.7. Birdog was pegged 99% on 61.5 and the tv only shows 65. I'm a new authorized dealer so haven't had the demo very long to see how resilient it is to rain fade.

 

[ChadT41]

That's so weird that they wanted to charge $50 then. Hmm. I'm baffled. Only thing I can think of, they may have misunderstood, and thought it to be a custom work order. Or the likely answer. Some agents try and get around invalid truck rolls by scheduling custom work orders compared to trouble calls. Can't have an "invalid custom work order". That's all I can think of.

 

[bobvick]

Well, they came yesterday to try and repoint the dish. He tried peaking on EA first, and couldn't get any better than what I originally had, so he decided to get a WA dish and LNB and install it. He got the dish peaked good, signals in the 70's however, there was a problem. I have three Hoppers and for some reason, with that WA dish, the Hoppers could only see 119 and 129, they never did see 110. He had 119 on port 1 of the DPP44, 110 on port 2 and 129 on port 3. We even tried a back up brand new DPP44 that I had to make sure it wasn't the switch. Still got the same results. All I could think is, he never did try hooking up the 4th port on the WA LNB to the switch. I know that it is supposed to be for an input, but I wonder if it has to be hooked up to the DPP44 with the Hopper to disable some sort of internal switch?
We finally ended up going back to the 1000.2 EA dish and everything is working like it was, no better, no worse. I know with that 1000.2 EA DP Twin LNB, if ALL 3 outputs are not hooked up to the DPP44, it will only see 72 and not 61.5. Even though there are only two satellites and 72 is out of the port 1 and port 3, all three still have to be hooked up.
I guess I will just have to live with poor signal strength if I am going to have three Hoppers. Wish there was some way I could figure out how to have a dedicated dish on 72 and a dedicated dish on 61.5 and I would just get me another meter and set it up myself like that.

 

[boba]

Well, they came yesterday to try and repoint the dish. He tried peaking on EA first, and couldn't get any better than what I originally had, so he decided to get a WA dish and LNB and install it. He got the dish peaked good, signals in the 70's however, there was a problem. I have three Hoppers and for some reason, with that WA dish, the Hoppers could only see 119 and 129, they never did see 110. He had 119 on port 1 of the DPP44, 110 on port 2 and 129 on port 3. We even tried a back up brand new DPP44 that I had to make sure it wasn't the switch. Still got the same results. All I could think is, he never did try hooking up the 4th port on the WA LNB to the switch. I know that it is supposed to be for an input, but I wonder if it has to be hooked up to the DPP44 with the Hopper to disable some sort of internal switch?
We finally ended up going back to the 1000.2 EA dish and everything is working like it was, no better, no worse. I know with that 1000.2 EA DP Twin LNB, if ALL 3 outputs are not hooked up to the DPP44, it will only see 72 and not 61.5. Even though there are only two satellites and 72 is out of the port 1 and port 3, all three still have to be hooked up.
I guess I will just have to live with poor signal strength if I am going to have three Hoppers. Wish there was some way I could figure out how to have a dedicated dish on 72 and a dedicated dish on 61.5 and I would just get me another meter and set it up myself like that.

DISH used to have 24" "D" tube dishes and I believe Winegard used to offer a 30" "D" tube dish, if still available combine them with a Dish Pro LNB and the DPP44 switch you already have.

 

[bobvick]

I wonder if I contacted a DIRT member if there is anyway they could help. I wonder if the contractor that Dish uses has some Dort of advanced tech they could send out that cold resolve the problem. I don't really think I should have to put up with frequent rain fade (sometimes it is not even raining at my house, just off to the south and east in the direction the dish is pointing.)


Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[boba]

I wonder if I contacted a DIRT member if there is anyway they could help. I wonder if the contractor that Dish uses has some Dort of advanced tech they could send out that cold resolve the problem. I don't really think I should have to put up with frequent rain fade (sometimes it is not even raining at my house, just off to the south and east in the direction the dish is pointing.)


Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

Don't just wonder contact DIRT to get your answer.