83W AMC 9

[guapoharry]

Have you tried a different receiver?

Your dish is not motorized, correct?

On 83W, how well do you get 11775H?

When RTN went to 83W, I had to set up a fixed dish specifically for it. After people reported the improvement on RTN, my motorized dish could get it.

Fixed dish: (87cm)
11775H - 90-91%
RTN - 86-88%

Motorized dish on 83W: (90cm)
11775H - 87%
RTN - 69-70%

For whatever it's worth, here is a little story about my journey to get RTN.

 

[Blindowl1234]

Wow I wish I got readings on RTN like the rest of you have. Usually between 35-41 on the 30" Winegard. I may have tree issues as I can't go below 79w as it stands now. I'm just happy I've got a decent reliable signal I can watch. Blind

 

[guapoharry]

On the Coolsat 5000/6000, the threshold is 63. For quality values below that amount, the receiver will not lock.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Have you tried a different receiver?

Your dish is not motorized, correct?

On 83W, how well do you get 11775H?

When RTN went to 83W, I had to set up a fixed dish specifically for it. After people reported the improvement on RTN, my motorized dish could get it.

Fixed dish: (87cm)
11775H - 90-91%
RTN - 86-88%

Motorized dish on 83W: (90cm)
11775H - 87%
RTN - 69-70%

For whatever it's worth, here is a little story about my journey to get RTN.

I have not tried a different model, but I have tried three or four different Coolsat 5Ks.

My dish is motorized (a PowerTech DG-280). I have also tried an SG-2100 , a DG-240 and a DG-380 and three other DG-280's. I am using USALS motor positioning logic. I can go manual with DiSEqC 1.2 and step the motor/dish east or west and I find that it i right on the center as it is.

11.775 H is coming in at 76% signal level and 87-88% quality. My sat ID banner shows NBC News Channel on this TP.

Radar

 

[AcWxRadar]

Wow I wish I got readings on RTN like the rest of you have. Usually between 35-41 on the 30" Winegard. I may have tree issues as I can't go below 79w as it stands now. I'm just happy I've got a decent reliable signal I can watch. Blind

Blind,

You have a different receiver though. The scale for your signal meter is different than it is for our receivers. On your meter, 35-37% is likely equivalent to my 63-66%.

Radar

 

[glen4cindy]

I'm getting this at 60%.

 

[SatPhreak]

Other receivers vary a lot. Even your subscription DN and DTV receivers read differently. The DTV receier has a scale of 0-120% instead of 0-100%. Why? I cannot explain that one. I think they do it to fool the customer. It makes the signal strength look better, I guess. Kinda like grading your term paper on a curve. A grade in your class on your paper of 92% looks better than the true and accurate grade of 77%!

I believe it is to fool the customer, Echostar receivers go to 120%(LOL how you can get above 100% is marketing only), but BellTV receivers which are exactly the same except for the software only go to 100% max.

All receiver do have a different theshold, the Viewsat I used to have would lock with 12-15%, but my Pansat and Visionsat need about 25-30% to lock. These values were on the same channel with the same undersized dish and switch/cabling aimed at 123W.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Fixed dish: (87cm)
11775H - 90-91%
RTN - 86-88%

Motorized dish on 83W: (90cm)
11775H - 87%
RTN - 69-70%

Guapoharry,

Your motorized dish is 14cm larger than mine and your signal quality is only slightly above mine. Sometimes I can detect 69-70%, but it is usually around 66-67% and sometimes undetectable (below 64%).

The other day, it was really warm and sunny here. My brother and I looked over my dish and tried playing with the azimuth, elevation and LNBF focal distance and polarity settings. We could not improve the signal, only decrease it.

Because of the angle of the sunlight, we did notice something that may prove to be the problem. When standing at a certain position and looking at the surface of the dish reflector, it appears that there is a bow or warp to it near the upper left mounting bolt. You can not feel anything with your hand, but you can see it from the front of the dish when it is in the right light. It is extremely hard to detect, but it is also very close to the "HOT" zone of the dish itself.

I judge the "HOT" zone to be 1/2 way in between the two upper bolts and about 2 inches below.

If this is the reason for my problem, I will be able to confirm it quite easily. I could replace just the reflector plate first (easiest) and see what results I get then. If that doesn't improve anything, then I will install a completely new dish with all of the brackets and everything. I already have two new dishes (Winegard DS-2076) still in the box in the spare room. I bought them for a couple of people to install, but they were both layed off work and so I have them now.

It sure would be nice to find a resolution to this problem. Sometimes while messing around with it all, I notice that I suddenly have a fair signal (at least sufficient to be viewable) but in a day or so it is back to up and down and in and out again.

When the weather turns up, I will experiment further and let you guys know if I find a solution.

Thanks for all your replies.

Radar