Issue with receiver at 2 spots

[Mr Tony]

This one comes from the hmmmmm category

I have 4 lines running off of a 4x4 switch with G4, G10, SBS6 & Nimiq1
-2 go to living room (15' or so from switch)
-one is in basement (25' or so from switch)
-one is in computer room...good 50 feet away

From LNB to switch is
G4-30'
G10-20'
SBS6-20'
Nimiq1-20'

The Viacast is in the bedroom and the signals seem low (now I know this thing reads low) but 11720 on G10 will not keep a stable picture and 11800 sometimes pixelates. So I thought it was the cable length. So I swapped the Viacast with the Pansat 1500 (put the 1500 in the bedroom and the Viacast in the living room)

Viacsat numbers went up on all signals (some up to 8 points) but here is where it gets weird...the Pasnat gets the SAME signal quality in both spots (again one 15 feet away and 50 feet away)

G10 11800-60
G10 11720-60
G4-75
SBS6 ONN-99
Nimiq1-60 to 75

Why would this happen? Does the Viacast not have a strong enough tuner to tune it in via long distances? Maybe thats why they were 40 bucks shipped on Ebay

 

[PSB]

Sounds like you got your monies worth! As you say it must not have as strong RF box/Gain settings!

Got to be the box!

 

[Mr Tony]

Thats what I figured...

I just hooked up the Satworks 3688 (amazed it actually works) and the signals on that are HIGHER than on the Viacast.

 

[123tim]

Wonder why the Pansat would read the same level at both locations?

 

[mikekohl]

More illogic. The Pansat 2500 actually had its quality meter damped DOWN from that of the 2300 (and I would guess the 1500). Forces you to work to get a truly good signal/quality reading. If your Pansat 1500 meter is not responding, it may be saturated one way or the other, but that kind of goes against what they did on later models.

 

[Mr Tony]

Wonder why the Pansat would read the same level at both locations?

Thats a good thing. it shows that regardless of distance, it still holds a good signal. The Viacast takes forever to bring in some of the chanenls (takes a while to "lock" on the signal)

 

[Mr Tony]

More illogic. The Pansat 2500 actually had its quality meter damped DOWN from that of the 2300 (and I would guess the 1500). Forces you to work to get a truly good signal/quality reading. If your Pansat 1500 meter is not responding, it may be saturated one way or the other, but that kind of goes against what they did on later models.

Mike
The 1500 is the "little borther" of the 2500. The 1500 lacks
-UHF capability
-S Video output
-on unit channel number

Other than that, its the same unit. I'll have to try the 2100 to see what that shows for quality.

 

[drhydro]

Iceberg,
I have noticed that my satworks 3618 seems to have a more sensitive tuner than my pansats. Last summer I posted some results of the sig quality on the pansat vs the satworks.

One thing I noticed right off was that the satworks could pull in a stable signal on g10 11720 (off of my 76cm dish), while the pansat could not lock the signal. Both recievers were set up in the same location.

So I could see how one reciever could have good sq, and the other one not so good. It could even be something as simple as one uses a better quality f connector/ soldering joints for satellite dish input.

 

[123tim]

Iceberg,
It could even be something as simple as one uses a better quality f connector/ soldering joints for satellite dish input.

Sort of what I was wondering. Almost (IMO) sounds like this could partly be an impedance matching problem? (more a question than an answer.)