New D* sub: How's my signal strength?

[Bear]

I finally finished getting my install completed this weekend, and to my surprise, I think I did pretty good aiming the dish. My Sat-A signal strength bottoms out in the 40's for one transponder, but most are in the mid-to-high 70s or low 80s. Sat B strength is in the mid-to-high 90s, but Sat-C is only like 40 - 60. Given that the core HD programming is on Sat C, is this worth a service call? How much better can I get?

My dish is strapped to our chimney, so I'm not sure if that would be a surcharge or not (it seemed to disqualify me from basic installation) beyond the basic fee. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Bill

 

[jdspencer]

If the low TPs on the 101 Sat (A) are 4, 12, 18, 20, 26, or 28 then you are okay. These are the spot beam TPs that supply locals to different areas of the country. The spot beams on Sat B are 23, 25, 29, and 31. You definately need higher strengtrhs for the 110 (Sat C) however. I get mid 80's to mid 90s on Sat C. If you get Sat A and Sat B as high as possible then Sat C should be also.

 

[charper1]

I get A:92 - 95 B:91 - 93 C:89 - 92

I would get your dish tweeked for sure.

 

[Bear]

Thanks! I'll monitor it for a bit to see what the signal strength looks like, and then get it aimed if Sat-C stays low.

Later,
Bill

 

[branchbouncer]

In Northern Va I get A-92-95 B-96-98 C 96-97 of course this is on a quiet day sky wise,but it takes a very rainy day for us to go down and even then it is not long before it locks back on to signal

 

[cbearnm]

My favorite little tool for tweaking (especially in a hard to reach area) is called a Sat Beeper. About $20 on eBay. The beeper hooks up inline close to the LNB. Set the receiver on the alignment screen and the tone will increase as the signal peaks out.
Great to get an audio feedback as you are moving the dish. Work on the horizontal to peak, then elevation, then rotation.
I lock in the 90s with this and it's set and forget. (Tighten up with the beeper to make sure the setting don't drift.)
Cheaper than a house call and a neat little tool. You can help friends out, if you are so inclined. Gets me 12 packs for doing it.

--edit, Jumped on line, here's one (I'm sure they have more)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=15070&item=5730798049&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

PS; like the name, Bear. It's my family name, although I would probably be called that anyway