Having a hard time still with 119.

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igator99

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Feb 16, 2006
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I'm getting great strength from 101 & 110 in the high 90's but 119 is proving to be real tricky. I've fooled with the tilt and elevation without luck. The signal meter jumps wildly from 50 - 70 all the time. The pole is in cement and everything is tight. I thought about branches higher up but this morning there is no wind and it is still jumping up and down. How can I find out which transponder is beaming the locals in New Orleans? What else can I do?
 
I just checked the tables a few minutes ago:

4 - WWL - DirecTV 119W TP 23
6 - WDSU - DirecTV 119W TP 23
8 - WVUE - DirecTV 119W TP 23
12 - WYES - DirecTV 119W TP 23
26 - WGNO - DirecTV 119W TP 23
32 - WLAE - DirecTV 119W TP 23
38 - WNOL - DirecTV 119W TP 23
49 - WPXL - DirecTV 119W TP 23
54 - WUPL - DirecTV 119W TP 23

I'm about an hour west of N.O. but that TP is screaming. The highest I've seen on my Genpix... 138% with 20.7db SNR!

TP29 is the Baton Rouge locals.
 
I had the SAME exact problem...I had directv come out and take a look,...and they couldn't figure it out...

I also wondered if it was some branches that looked to maybe partially obstruct my dish, but it didn't explain why on a perfectly still day, my signal on 119 would go anywhere from 0 - 85% I tried alot of things, and then finally I said what the heck on a particularly bad day when I had 0 signal strength, and started moving some branches around,...I found one that I tethered down a bit causing my signal to spike back up to 85% and its never fluctuated since...

its strange because it made no sense that the signal would fluctuate the way it did, even when the branch wasn't moving at all...even the directv folks didn't quite understand it...plus, none of my other satellites (101, 110) were effected either...but for some reason, it fixed the problem

long story short, don't underestimate what a seemingly harmless branch might do to your signal...see if you can tether some wire around it and pull it in such a way as to improve your signal...either that or cut it back...
 
The typical 22 degree offset single LNB dish will throw most people off on the look angle, throw in the 3/5 LNB head and it's hard to tell where that thing is pointing.

Grab a compass... don't have it near metal and find 228 degrees. The satellite is a 42 degree angle from the ground...almost a 45. Do you see any trees?
 
The typical 22 degree offset single LNB dish will throw most people off on the look angle, throw in the 3/5 LNB head and it's hard to tell where that thing is pointing.

Grab a compass... don't have it near metal and find 228 degrees. The satellite is a 42 degree angle from the ground...almost a 45. Do you see any trees?

Yes there are two possibilities. One on a freakish branch of a tree about 40 feet up and some on a tree close to the dish. I'm going to try and trim the one by the dish thanks a bunch for all you guys help and advice.
 
I just checked the tables a few minutes ago:

4 - WWL - DirecTV 119W TP 23
6 - WDSU - DirecTV 119W TP 23
8 - WVUE - DirecTV 119W TP 23
12 - WYES - DirecTV 119W TP 23
26 - WGNO - DirecTV 119W TP 23
32 - WLAE - DirecTV 119W TP 23
38 - WNOL - DirecTV 119W TP 23
49 - WPXL - DirecTV 119W TP 23
54 - WUPL - DirecTV 119W TP 23

I'm about an hour west of N.O. but that TP is screaming. The highest I've seen on my Genpix... 138% with 20.7db SNR!

TP29 is the Baton Rouge locals.
Thank YOu. You know more than than the tech people at D*. I asked them if they could switch me to transponder 29 since it comes in stronger than 23. I live close to the BR metro line. The nice lady I talked to didn't know that transponders meant different locals. BTW They said New Orleans HD was scheduled for mid April on the 99 which I should get with no problem.
 
Thank YOu. You know more than than the tech people at D*. I asked them if they could switch me to transponder 29 since it comes in stronger than 23. I live close to the BR metro line. The nice lady I talked to didn't know that transponders meant different locals. BTW They said New Orleans HD was scheduled for mid April on the 99 which I should get with no problem.

They can't just switch you to TP29 unless you "moved" to BR but that would get you the BR locals instead. TP23 and TP29 both come in very strong and I'm north of BR, they are almost the same exact strength. You should get both of those TP at the same strength too. A tree isn't going to block on TP on 119 and leave the others intact.

They probably won't tell you what TP's the locals come off but I can see where the locals are currently by viewing the unencrypted data on the tables from their signal.

You still need to get 119 though if you have the HD pack:

72 - ES2H - DirecTV 119W TP 28
76 - DSHD - DirecTV 119W TP 32
79 - HDN - DirecTV 119W TP 28
 
They can't just switch you to TP29 unless you "moved" to BR but that would get you the BR locals instead. TP23 and TP29 both come in very strong and I'm north of BR, they are almost the same exact strength. You should get both of those TP at the same strength too. A tree isn't going to block on TP on 119 and leave the others intact.

They probably won't tell you what TP's the locals come off but I can see where the locals are currently by viewing the unencrypted data on the tables from their signal.

You still need to get 119 though if you have the HD pack:

72 - ES2H - DirecTV 119W TP 28
76 - DSHD - DirecTV 119W TP 32
79 - HDN - DirecTV 119W TP 28

You know what is really strange is I get those with no problems. The transponders go from 0 - 97!
 
If I could join this discussion and get some answers/comments, I would greatly appreciate it. I had the 5 LNB slimline installed by D* in Jan as an upgrade to HD from my SD installation that I had for several years with no problems. I was assured that I would have no problems with tree blockage. Last week when the leaves sprouted, I lost chans. 72,76,79 on the 119 sat. Tech came out and said one tree was blocking the 119 location and he was not getting any reading from it (confirmed by signal meters on the box). I'm getting my other channels clearly through a clearing between trees where the foliage is lower. Towards the east of that clearing heavy foliage with higher elevations. To the west there is that one tree.

Reading this post and the others it looks like I might be OK with the new HD programming. Can I get a rough idea by looking at the signal meters (from the receiver) at the 101 sat and/or 99? What should they currently be?

When I first noticed that I had lost 119 by tuning to 72, I got a very heavy pixelated picture with no details at all. I know I checked the strengths on 119 and I saw one 42 and one 52. After a call to D* and an instruction to reset I started getting the "searching for sat" signal and the signal strengths were 0. All of this in the same day. Is there any significance in this?
 
If I could join this discussion and get some answers/comments, I would greatly appreciate it. I had the 5 LNB slimline installed by D* in Jan as an upgrade to HD from my SD installation that I had for several years with no problems. I was assured that I would have no problems with tree blockage. Last week when the leaves sprouted, I lost chans. 72,76,79 on the 119 sat. Tech came out and said one tree was blocking the 119 location and he was not getting any reading from it (confirmed by signal meters on the box). I'm getting my other channels clearly through a clearing between trees where the foliage is lower. Towards the east of that clearing heavy foliage with higher elevations. To the west there is that one tree.

Reading this post and the others it looks like I might be OK with the new HD programming. Can I get a rough idea by looking at the signal meters (from the receiver) at the 101 sat and/or 99? What should they currently be?

When I first noticed that I had lost 119 by tuning to 72, I got a very heavy pixelated picture with no details at all. I know I checked the strengths on 119 and I saw one 42 and one 52. After a call to D* and an instruction to reset I started getting the "searching for sat" signal and the signal strengths were 0. All of this in the same day. Is there any significance in this?


I don't know the answer to your question, but I have one of my own. Was your first dish a 3 lnb type? If so, you should be able to get 119 from the same place. I suspect your new dish is not properly set up.
 
Raoul: thanks for the reply. I believe my first dish was the 2 LNB. I'm not sure but it was installed 8 years ago back in the USSB days. What puzzles me is that the leaves were just starting to come in on this tree, there were lots of gaps in between. Can a few leaves block the signal completely whereas the bare branches was not a problem all winter long? Are there techniques to dial in these sat's in difficult situations that perhaps the second tech does not know? Should I look for another instal company?
 
Raoul: thanks for the reply. I believe my first dish was the 2 LNB. I'm not sure but it was installed 8 years ago back in the USSB days. What puzzles me is that the leaves were just starting to come in on this tree, there were lots of gaps in between. Can a few leaves block the signal completely whereas the bare branches was not a problem all winter long? Are there techniques to dial in these sat's in difficult situations that perhaps the second tech does not know? Should I look for another instal company?

2 and 3 lnbs both get 119, so that answers my question. A few leaves can block the signal, but it shouldn't stop all of them, that is, when they move, you should get some signal. Can you move the dish to a better location? A few feet can make all of the difference.
 
(Edited: I'm still not sure what lnb I had. I think it was the dual output lnb which means I was only getting 101)

I went from a good picture to 'searching for sat' in a couple of days. When I looked out at the tree that they now saying is in the way, the leaves were just starting to come in, in fact they have not yet, a week later reached full bloom. I don't know anything about all of this but I understand for digital signals have a threshold below which they don't work. The tech who came out yesterday, changed the lnb's, moved the dish around, looking at his meter and said that he couldn't find 119. I feel the instal company doesn't want to do anything custom, because they have to eat the cost because they screwed up in the first place and D* probably pays them next to nothing. I think we can move towards the west and find a place, but it would have to come off the roof on to a pole. I suppose I will have to hire someone with an incentive, I don't have the knowledge or the ability.

Also, I just watched the videos that you guys have supplied (DTV training material) and it's helped me a lot to understand. I do know that the guys who installed my dish did not go through all the fine tuning that the training video shows. Maybe the slimline is easier to install?
 
Last edited:
(Edited: I'm still not sure what lnb I had. I think it was the dual output lnb which means I was only getting 101)

I went from a good picture to 'searching for sat' in a couple of days. When I looked out at the tree that they now saying is in the way, the leaves were just starting to come in, in fact they have not yet, a week later reached full bloom. I don't know anything about all of this but I understand for digital signals have a threshold below which they don't work. The tech who came out yesterday, changed the lnb's, moved the dish around, looking at his meter and said that he couldn't find 119. I feel the instal company doesn't want to do anything custom, because they have to eat the cost because they screwed up in the first place and D* probably pays them next to nothing. I think we can move towards the west and find a place, but it would have to come off the roof on to a pole. I suppose I will have to hire someone with an incentive, I don't have the knowledge or the ability.

Also, I just watched the videos that you guys have supplied (DTV training material) and it's helped me a lot to understand. I do know that the guys who installed my dish did not go through all the fine tuning that the training video shows. Maybe the slimline is easier to install?

Sounds like you and me are having the same problem. I'm getting 119 but obviously there is a branch on a tree waving in the wind making my signal jump from 40 - 90. Still watchable but annoying. I was thinking about buying a large 1 dish dual LNB system and finding the perfect spot in my backyard. How would I configure that with the slimline running into the house? Is it possible?

Also I've been checking my H-20 and it seems I'm getting six transponders on 103.
I have nothing on 99 but my locals are not up yet. Does this sound good for the future nationals? I appreciate all input. With you guys guidance I have done what Bruister & Ass said was impossible. I'm getting 95 plus on 110 & 101 with the Slimline.
 
Sounds like you and me are having the same problem. I'm getting 119 but obviously there is a branch on a tree waving in the wind making my signal jump from 40 - 90. Still watchable but annoying. I was thinking about buying a large 1 dish dual LNB system and finding the perfect spot in my backyard. How would I configure that with the slimline running into the house? Is it possible?

Also I've been checking my H-20 and it seems I'm getting six transponders on 103.
I have nothing on 99 but my locals are not up yet. Does this sound good for the future nationals? I appreciate all input. With you guys guidance I have done what Bruister & Ass said was impossible. I'm getting 95 plus on 110 & 101 with the Slimline.

The H20 doesn't show 99 as being there. Apparently there is some kind of software glitch. It will work fine, though.
 
The H20 doesn't show 99 as being there. Apparently there is some kind of software glitch. It will work fine, though.

Sorry it shows 99 but all transponders are n/a. I guess that is because my locals are not being spot beamed yet? Thanks for the response.
 
Sorry it shows 99 but all transponders are n/a. I guess that is because my locals are not being spot beamed yet? Thanks for the response.

Maybe they have updated the softwate. Mine failed when it tested for 99. The box was so unstable I returned it.
 
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