Peaking a Dish

[zippyfrog]

I am on Western Arc, and my dish needs to be re-peaked. Signal is fine on 110 and 119, but my 129 is right around 10-15 and I am getting the "partial signal loss tuning to SD equivalent message" quite frequently. I have done this before but I can't seem to find the information on what is the order to peak. Isn't there a specific order for satellites and transponder number I should be on as I peak the dish for best results?

 

[dwarren2]

If your getting partial signal loss, do a System Info to check for lnb drift. That could be a problem.

 

[navigates]

c/p form installation manual.

Figure 1. DISH 1000.2 Antenna Installation Overview
1. Find Azimuth/Elevation/Skew angles for your location (instructions on page 3 and tables on page 10).
2. Find a location for the dish antenna with a clear line of sight and a sturdy mounting surface (page 3, step 1).
3. Mount the mast, making sure it is absolutely vertical (page 3, steps 2 and 3).
4. Assemble the dish antenna, setting the skew and elevation angles in the process. Use additional skew bolts for
skew angles greater than 110 or less than 70 (page 3, steps 4-6).
5. Mount the dish antenna on the mast and point the dish to the azimuth angle (page 4, step 7).
6. Run cables between the dish antenna and the receiver(s), leaving a service loop around the Mast Clamp (page 5,
step 1).
7. Using a peaking meter attached to the DPP 1000.2 LNBF PORT 1, peak the dish on 119°W using transponder 11
or higher for maximum strength. Tighten all bolts (see Table 1) and re-confirm maximum signal (page 5, steps 2-
5).
Note: The 1000.2 Three-LNBF Bracket with three DP Dual (or DP Single) LNBFs can be used in place of the
Integrated Adapter Bracket and DPP 1000.2 LNBF.
8. Connect the receiver cable(s) to the DPP 1000.2 LNBF PORT 1 (and PORT 2 and PORT 3, as necessary)
(page 6, step 6) and receiver. Some restrictions apply when connecting Legacy receivers. See page 7.
9. Run Check Switch test and confirm 110°W, 119°W, and 129°W reception (page 6, steps 7-9).
10. Take a software download, if you didn’t already (page 7, step 10).
11. Run a Check Switch test and confirm 110ºW, 119ºW, 129° reception (page 7, step 11).
12. Install additional receiver(s), if necessary (page 7, step 12).
13. If applicable, connect a second satellite dish to the DPP 1000.2 LNBF’s LNB IN port (page 8, steps 1-4).

 

[navigates]

If your getting partial signal loss, do a System Info to check for lnb drift. That could be a problem.

Agreed. That too can be a problem.

 

[Jim5506]

Since you already have signal on all three lnbs, first mark the pole and the bracket with a scribe or some sort of marker. Mark also the skew setting and the elevation setting so they could be restored if your foul things up.

Check the skew setting on the back of the dish (rotation of the dish along an axis pointing to the satellite), if it is by the book number for your zip code - don't change it, if it is not slightly loosen the lock nut that holds it and adjust to Dish Network specs. tighten the skew bolts of loosened.

Loosen the bolts along the pole and lift the dish off the pole.

Check the pole for ABSOLUTE verticality with a bubble level on two sides 90 degrees from each other - adjust the pole if necessart until it is truly vertical.

Replace the dish on the pole and realign the previous marks, slightly tighten the bolts (but not too much) and observe signal strengths.

Now if signal tweaking is still needed, move the dish an extremely small amount to the right and observe signal strength, if it goes up repeat, if down undo and go left - repeat until maximum signal is found - tighten bolts on the pole but not too much - no warping is needed.

Last thing to adjust is elevation - slightly loosen the elevation bolts and move the dish assembly up a tiny bit and observe signal strengths, if the y go up, repeat, if not undo and go down until maximum signal is achieved.

Repeat the azimuth and elevation adjustments until peak performance is achieved.

You may need to de-tune 110 and/or 119 in order to get best signal on 129, try to keep all three at the same general level.

It may take an hour or so to carefully do this (a Dish tech may not have the time) but I peaked my old D1000 on WA 5 years ago and still had excellent signal on all three when Dish replaced it with a D1000.2 for my recent Hopper install.

Best Wishes.

 

[dwarren2]

Before you muck around with repeaking, do the Sys Info. If the lnb is bad, no amount of repeaking will fix it.

 

[zippyfrog]

Thanks for the info. I did a check switch and ran the tests and I got the response of "Good" and the signal was detected from all 3, so I don't think it is LNB drift. But still 10-15 on 129.

 

[Ray C]

That is low for the 129 satellite. If you are unable to tweak your dish to increase the signal strenth, please let me know and I can schedule a technician for you. Thanks.

Thanks for the info. I did a check switch and ran the tests and I got the response of "Good" and the signal was detected from all 3, so I don't think it is LNB drift. But still 10-15 on 129.

 

[zippyfrog]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I re aligned my dish and my signal strength on 129 is a lot better from what it was. Is there a listing somewhere of what my signal strength should be if the dish is properly aligned? I checked the different transponders and none of them are close to 125.

 

[Bobby]

They will never be close to 125. Dish went to a new scale many years ago and didn't change the scale on the receivers....

 

[Foxbat]

My System Status on my Dish 1000.4 (EA) now shows green for 77, yellow for 72, and green for 62.5. I called Dish and went into the Technical queue where I was told that because my area was forecast to have rain, I did not meet the criteria for a service call. I tried to tell the CSR that the sky to my SE was totally clear of clouds, the sun was shining brightly, and our local DTV station with NEXRAD radar showed no rain in a fifty mile radius, but that wasn't good enough.

My 72 signal is 17 to 18 on transponder 19. I vote that's too low, do others agree?

Edit: I just looked and 72/19 is reading 21. The 17/18 was from around 10 hours ago.

 

[zippyfrog]

They will never be close to 125. Dish went to a new scale many years ago and didn't change the scale on the receivers....

Thanks - I didn't know that. For my ConUS transponders, as I flipped through the transponders on 119, they are all above 75. 110 were all in the 60's with two in the low 70's. 129 my signal strength is 45-50, with the exception of a couple of even transponders are 35-36. Are those decent?

 

[papalittle]

Thanks - I didn't know that. For my ConUS transponders, as I flipped through the transponders on 119, they are all above 75. 110 were all in the 60's with two in the low 70's. 129 my signal strength is 45-50, with the exception of a couple of even transponders are 35-36. Are those decent?

about the best you are going to get.

 

[MikeD-C05]

My System Status on my Dish 1000.4 (EA) now shows green for 77, yellow for 72, and green for 62.5. I called Dish and went into the Technical queue where I was told that because my area was forecast to have rain, I did not meet the criteria for a service call. I tried to tell the CSR that the sky to my SE was totally clear of clouds, the sun was shining brightly, and our local DTV station with NEXRAD radar showed no rain in a fifty mile radius, but that wasn't good enough.

My 72 signal is 17 to 18 on transponder 19. I vote that's too low, do others agree?

Edit: I just looked and 72/19 is reading 21. The 17/18 was from around 10 hours ago.

IF you have the 1000.4 sat dish like I do , you should be getting around 60 - 62 on transponder 19 and 21 on the 72.7 sat. IF you are getting great signals on 77 and low on 72.7 , you need to have your dish re-peaked for the sweet spot between both 77 and 72.7 . It is called the azimiuth cam and you have to adjust it a little to either the left or right till you get the sweet spot and get good signals on both. I have between 64 - 78 on the 77 sat on all my transponders and between 56 - 68 on my 72.7 sat. I installed my own and I know how tough it is peak it for both sats. You might not even need the 77 sat any longer since they have moved just about all locals off of it to 61.5 sat . Maybe you can get them to upgrade you to the new eastern arc dual lnb that is just for 61.5 and 72.7, that goes on the 1000.2 sat dish. You can get greater signal strength on the two sats ,if you don't need 77 sat any longer. The 1000.4 sat dish is discontinued anyway.