i currently have a dish 1000 pointed at 119 with 110% signal, 110 with 100% signal and 129 with 50% signal. i have a spare 500 dish i can mount higher on my house to try to get better signal on 129. my question is which dish should i mount at the higher spot on the house to try to get a better signal for the 129 , the 1000 or the 500? pajer
129 Satellite, which dish?
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go with the 500 and you'll get a better signal but it won't be much more then if you move the 1000 up there. it just depends on how many dish's you want on your house. if you want a good signal buy a 30 inch dish for the 129
From what I've read, people in the northeast have a problem with "continously picking up 129." So this may not help you, but I think I would first give it one more try; by re-adjusting your dish so that you get a stronger signal on 129 and a weeker one on 110. Possibly even trying with the strongest on 129 and see if you still have 110. If you lose 110, or its not strong enough, back up a little - keeping 129 the strongest.
Before moving anything, make marks of the current settings as a reference point to go back to, and you'll be able to possibly pick a happy median.
Although "dnsguy is correct," it's not the height that matters. With CB and other various radio communications, height may make a difference in signal quality, but with sat tv, you either have a line or sight between your dish and the bird, or you don't. The 500 is lighter and easier to work with than the 1000 and especially the Superdish 121, so if you need to go higher, then use the lighter 500.
If you decide you need two dishes, then think about this...
If the 500 is a DishPro Twin for 119/110 mount it correctly and use it for 119 and 110. Then use the Dish 1000 to pick up 129 adjusting it for maximum signal, even if when you are finished, it has no signal for 119 and 110.
As dnsguy said, a bigger dish is better, and the 1000 is bigger than the 500, so you should be able to make do with what you have.
Before moving anything, make marks of the current settings as a reference point to go back to, and you'll be able to possibly pick a happy median.
Although "dnsguy is correct," it's not the height that matters. With CB and other various radio communications, height may make a difference in signal quality, but with sat tv, you either have a line or sight between your dish and the bird, or you don't. The 500 is lighter and easier to work with than the 1000 and especially the Superdish 121, so if you need to go higher, then use the lighter 500.
If you decide you need two dishes, then think about this...
If the 500 is a DishPro Twin for 119/110 mount it correctly and use it for 119 and 110. Then use the Dish 1000 to pick up 129 adjusting it for maximum signal, even if when you are finished, it has no signal for 119 and 110.
As dnsguy said, a bigger dish is better, and the 1000 is bigger than the 500, so you should be able to make do with what you have.
Pajer, I am not familiar with your area as I live on the west coast north of Seattle. At my home during the first week of Feb, 06 Dish 1st installed the D-1000 but could only get a reading in the range of the 50's for the 129 satellite and I would lose most of the channels in the 15 Voom HD lineup every 30 to 45 minutes. Dish then tried re-pointing to bring in a stronger signal on the 129 sat but it was of little help. They then came out and installed a D-500 dish as a designated 129 satellite dish only. I gained between 10 and 15 points over the D-1000 dish. It helped somewhat but I still get some Voom HD channels dropping from the 70's into the 30's then unlocking the signal but regaining the signal after a couple of minutes. Some of the people around my area have went to the 1.2 meter dish which seems to do the trick from losing signal lock.
During this period of time I took measurements of my D-1000 dish along with the measurements of my D-500 dish for comparison as follows:
D-1000........18"H X 23"W
D-500....22 1/4"H X 20 1/2"W
During this period of time I took measurements of my D-1000 dish along with the measurements of my D-500 dish for comparison as follows:
D-1000........18"H X 23"W
D-500....22 1/4"H X 20 1/2"W
After reading this thread, I am still a little confused. If someone wants to get the best possible signal strength for 129 and has both a 500 and 1000 dish with a Dual LNBF they can use as a stand alone install for 129, which dish would be the better way to go? Does it really make a difference between the 500 and the 1000, both using an I adapter so the LNBF is centered?
BTW, I am on the west coast near San Francisco.
BTW, I am on the west coast near San Francisco.
I'm here in the Mississippi Delta. I have a D1000 and I had to peak 129 to get 75%, this dropped 119 and 110 alittle. I 've seen better with a 2 dish setup tho, 129 on a Dish 300 and dish 500 with 110/119.
I have a dish 1000 JUST for the 129 sat and it gets strengths from the mid 70s to the mid 80s and even some 90s depending on the time of the day. The 129 sat is wobbly and constantly firing thrusters to keep it repointed to the same spot. I have the dish 500 peaked in the 100's on both 110 /119 with the exception of some spotbeams of course. I ran the dish 1000 lnb into the dish pro plus twin and it all comes into the house on one cable and a dish pro seperator. It works for me just fine.
Well if I was to go the 2 dishes way, which configuration would be better: put 119/110 on the 1000 and the 129 on the 500, or vice versa?
ralfyguy said:
Exactly the question. I currently have 110/119 on a 500 and 129 on a 1000. I also have a spare 500, so I could go with any combination I thought would give the best results, such as two 500's or 110/119 on a 1000 and 129 on a 500. I just don't know if a 500 or 1000 gives better results for 129 and since the signal strength on 129 is so all over the map, doing the swap from the 1000 to a 500 might not prove anything.
Sorry - gotta disagree. Easiest to pull the DP Dual from the D1000 and use THAT on the D500. For maximum gain, get an I-Adapter for the D500.SmityWhity said:
OR (and I like this), go the other way (closer to what S-W says), but use the D1000's DPP-Twin on the D500, not a standard Twin. The configuration would be to move the DP-Dual from the 129 spot it's currently in over to the 119 (center) hole. No I-adapters needed.
The more I think about it, the more it makes the most sense. For ease of wiring purposes, pull the existing D1000 off it's mount and drop the D500 in it's place (pipe is the same size), then put the D1000 pan in the best place for 129 and run a jumper back to the DPP-Twin on the D500.
Yeah - dumb me, I should've thought that up months ago!
SimpleSimon said:
Yep that is what I did about two months ago. It works fine for me since both dishes are now peaked just for their respective satellites. I get 100s on 110/119 sats and mid 70s to mid 80s on the 129. The elevation and skew are different for the 129 than the 110/119. I used a sat meter to tweak it and get the strongest signal for all three sats. This might explain why the Dish 1000 is weak on all three satellites. You have to sacrifice a little strength on all three just to get all three on the one dish .
That is signals I also get with my 1000 setup. So it's not worth it for me to go and do the 2 dish setup.MikeD-C05 said:
In addition to what SimpleSimon says.... If a stronger signal is still needed for 129, and although there are more things to consider, but would the following work?
Remove LNBF cluster from Dish 1000, replace with a I-bracket and a DP Dual LNBF. Would this put it in the center giving more gain to the single satellite location?
Remove LNBF cluster from Dish 1000, replace with a I-bracket and a DP Dual LNBF. Would this put it in the center giving more gain to the single satellite location?
I do not believe there would be any difference using the center position on the W-bracket for 129 on the 1000 than using an I-bracket, both are centered on the dish. I used my existing W-bracket's center position, however the W-bracket is slightly longer than an I-bracket and since fractions of inches are important here, I wonder if I should change and use my available I-bracket.
Taking readings of both brackets would be the proper thing to do, however we all know the signal strength on 129 varies so much and so fast, it would be hard to quantify the results.
Taking readings of both brackets would be the proper thing to do, however we all know the signal strength on 129 varies so much and so fast, it would be hard to quantify the results.
ralfyguy said:
But what are the strengths on your 110 and 119 satellite? IF they are lower than the 100s, then it might benefit you to do two dishes ( dish 500 + dish 1000) to prevent rain fade on your main satellite programming. Or in my case the spotbeam strengths for my locals was much lower and had some break up , untill I did the two dish setup. Now I get a good strength in the high 80s and mid 90s on my hd locals and sd locals respectively.
I doubt you can use a D500 I-adapter on a D1000. IIRC, the D1000 arm is wider.
In any event, Big D has it nailed - the fact that the I-adapter is a different length than the W-bracket IS significant. The D500 & D1000 have different curvatures, and therefore different focal lengths.
Even a simple Twin is a compromise. The apparent distance between the 110 & 119 slots varies by latitude. I forget which is which but far north( or south - dunno which) has focus points closer together or farther apart than the other direction.
I remember a discussion here many months ago where this was laid out for me with diagrams and everything, but I have no clue where it is.
In any event, Big D has it nailed - the fact that the I-adapter is a different length than the W-bracket IS significant. The D500 & D1000 have different curvatures, and therefore different focal lengths.
With the types of dishes we're talking about, you are 100% correct. It IS possible to design dishes and LNB mounts that allow for the proper tuning of each and every bird, but that's NOT what we're working with here, or with D* multi-LNB dishes.MikeD-C05 said:
Even a simple Twin is a compromise. The apparent distance between the 110 & 119 slots varies by latitude. I forget which is which but far north( or south - dunno which) has focus points closer together or farther apart than the other direction.
I remember a discussion here many months ago where this was laid out for me with diagrams and everything, but I have no clue where it is.
Well that is pretty good then. I guess you are all set with the dish 1000 till the new 1000.2 comes out. Then I'll bet you'll want to try that one and see if there is any increase in strength.
Determining line of sight to 129
I would like to upgrade to a VIP622 and Dish1000. I currently have a 721 and Dish500. I have the dish mount about 8 feet up off the ground on the back of my house. Is there any way to determine from the location of where my Dish500 is currently installed if I could have good line of sight access to 129 for the Dish1000?
I'm trying to determine if the Dish1000 will work for me. I'd rather avoid hanging another dish off my house.
Mike
I would like to upgrade to a VIP622 and Dish1000. I currently have a 721 and Dish500. I have the dish mount about 8 feet up off the ground on the back of my house. Is there any way to determine from the location of where my Dish500 is currently installed if I could have good line of sight access to 129 for the Dish1000?
I'm trying to determine if the Dish1000 will work for me. I'd rather avoid hanging another dish off my house.
Mike
