What's a good signal strength?

[hometheaterman]

I remember back when I had my Dish 500 my signal was always in the high 90's. Since I got a Dish 1000 several years back it's always been lower, but I can't remember how long. I've not had issues for years, but today I noticed that I kept losing signal. I decided to check my signal and sure enough it was in the 50's. So I tried to tweak my Dish enough to get it working again. My signal is now in the 70's on 119, but still only 54ish on 129. What should it be and what else should I try? I moved it around slightly and it never got any higher just lower. I did notice if I don't loosen any bolts, my dish will slightly move like there is play in the mount or something. Is this normal? I've installed Dish 500's and earliers, but never messed much with a Dish 1000 or Super Dish.

 

[boba]

Have you read the message on your signal strength screen? It tells you that the strength reading has been changed,70s is now the equivalent of the old 90-100.

 

[boba]

I stand corrected my 625 no longer shows the message

 

[hometheaterman]

I didn't see that message on my 722. So if I'm getting between 70-75 on 119 I'm doing pretty good? What about the 50's on the 129 satellite?

 

[Dah-Henny]

Anything above 50 is good.

 

[3HaloODST]

I didn't see that message on my 722. So if I'm getting between 70-75 on 119 I'm doing pretty good? What about the 50's on the 129 satellite?

50's for sat 129 isn't horrible. Might could get a little better, depending on your location and LOS.

For comparison: I get a good signal on sat 129 and on TP 17 I get 59-60.

70-75 on 119 is a good signal.

The signal meter changed about 3 years ago, so the numbers will be lower. Doesn't affect your actual signal strength, the results are just displayed differently on the signal strength meter than they used to be.

I believe around 90 is equivalent to the old 125 which still shows on the signal meter. 125 used to be the absolute max, but I believe now around 90 is the max.

As for the DISH 500 vs DISH 1000 thing, not sure about the original 1000, but my 1000.2 can get just as good, and better signal strength than my 500 did. Granted, my 1000.2 is better peaked, and at a different location, I still think that the 1000.2 can have comparable signal-receiving capabilities as the 500.

 

[hometheaterman]

So I'm once again having this problem. I don't know if my Dish is shifting or what. Anyway, it worked great for a few days and then today, I started having my signal drop in and out. So I checked my signal strength and it was down in the 50's on 119. I went out to my Dish and tried to peak it again. The best I could get it was low 50's on 129, and on 119 on transponder 11 I got signal around 71-72. On satellite 110 transponder 11 I got signal around 68-71 this time. If I switched to transponder 12 on 110 it dropped down to about 15 on the signal strength meter.

I just can't get it any better than that this time no matter what I do. Is there any tips or tricks to peaking this thing to be a little better?

 

[3HaloODST]

I would use TP's 14, 15, 16, & 21 for 110 & 119, and 17, 18, & 21 for 129.

What are your signal strengths on those TP's?

Your skew may be slightly off. Is your mast completely plumb? What kind of trees do you have in the area? Particularly in the SW?

129 is a bit lower in the sky so it may be affected more by atmosphere/obstacles than 110/119.

 

[teh_duke]

Alignment sounds fine if you are reading in 70's. Highest signal seems to be TP 21 on 119 (around here its between 80-85).

You could also have a LNB going out if signal suddenly drops. Could also be a line issue (connections with rust/corrosion or damaged cable, or even ground mismatch).

Check the lines make sure everything is good. Run a system check with Menu 6-1-3 and see if it comes up with LO Drift (seen in the "Details" section after running).

 

[whatchel1]

teh_duke seems to be pointing you in the right direction. It sounds a lot like the LNB is going bad on 110 sat.

 

[hometheaterman]

I'm wondering that too, but once I aligned the Dish again it's working again and has been for a couple of weeks now. So it's making me wonder if the Dish just somehow got knocked out of alignment twice in a few weeks.