Signal Strength Issues

[wayneb64]

I have a Dish 500 (I believe) with three LNBs for 110, 119, and 129. I have spent hours trying to get the dish aligned, and have removed all tree limbs etc from the area. I get like 115% on 119 and its rock solid. I could not find an alignment that got either 110 or 129 above 80, so I settled on an alignment that was getting me 75-80 on both 110 and 129. My 129 signal is very steady and ranges from 75-80 mostly with occasional spikes as high as 88 and as low as 65, but I have not seen it lose signal or hit the 50's.

The problem is my 110 signal. Its mostly 75-80, and I have seen it spike up into the high 80's, but it frequently loses all signal or will drop into the 50's for a few seconds. That is causing those annoying signal loss popups (can I disable them?) along with audio/video dropout when watching TNT-HD.
I have to believe my alignment is ok as the signal is decent most of the time. Are we talking solar flares here? Most confused, any help appreciated.

Thanks,
Wayne

 

[SmityWhity]

A Dish 500 would be 2 locations - 119 & 110; unless you were using it as a Dish 300 for just 1 location.

The SuperDish is 119, 110, and then either 121 or 105.

The new Dish 500+ receives 119, 110 and 118.7; and can have another LNBF to receive 129 (then its a Dish 1000+)

You probably have either a Dish 1000 or a Dish 1000.2, both receive 3 orbital locations - 119, 110 and 129.

I get like 115% on 119 and its rock solid. I could not find an alignment that got either 110 or 129 above 80, so I settled on an alignment that was getting me 75-80 on both 110 and 129.

It sounds like you may have it adjusted. Recent software upgrades have changed what the meters display.

However.... You may be on the edge of the 129 footprint and will have problems as other have reported.

The only thing I can suggest, is get your best picture, after you start with a PLUMB mast, and then only adjust the Elevation and Azimuth (east/west) making adjustments no more than 1/64" movement at a time.

What part of the country are you in, and what receiver model do you have?
Someone may be able to give you more info.

 

[Hall]

If you're getting that high of a reading off of 119' but 110' is as low as you're seeing, you have a setting wrong. As already suggested, check the plumbness of the mast. I'll bet the skew is wrong. What does your receiver tell you to use for your zip code ?? Post what city you live in and maybe others in the same city can tell you what their setting is.

 

[wayneb64]

I live in Cedar Park, TX 78613.
On the point dish page I only have 300, 500, and Super for the Dish System choices. Its set to 500.
Its telling me Azimuth: 203, Elevation: 50, Skew: 116.
My dish has a pair of LNB's for 110,119 and an extra single for 129.
On the System Info page It says ViP622 DVR-HD, Software L405.
At the moment signal came up green for 119, 110, but red for 129.
Sometimes 129 is green however.
It also says Device: DPP Twin, Twin(1), Twin(2), Dual(3).

Not sure what you mean be the plumbness of the mast or how to check it.

 

[wayneb64]

Well I may have just solved the problem, or lessened it anyway. I had thought when trimming my trees that the 129 was giving me the troubles, but since I know 110 is I took another look at the tree on the other side and saw many possible branches that where in the way. Signal strength popped up after trimming them and now I see a wopping 96% on 110, 103% on 119, and only 85% on 129. I may need new software I guess to let the receiver know I am using some kind of 1000 dish. There is also a super dish setting thats turned off on the check switch page. I have tried turning it on before but it just made my levels lower.

 

[Hall]

...and now I see a wopping 96% on 110, 103% on 119, and only 85% on 129.

You're done. Those are "normal" numbers for a 3-satellite dish.

The dishes are designed in a way that you peak it to the satellite they specify, in this case, 119'. When you do that, 110' and 129' are lined up kinda automatically. Can you fine-tune it further ? Sure you can but it's often not needed.

 

[Dgenx321]

129 is great in the 80's.

aka 129 sucks.

lol

 

[SmityWhity]

I live in Cedar Park, TX 78613.
On the point dish page I only have 300, 500, and Super for the Dish System choices. Its set to 500.
Its telling me Azimuth: 203, Elevation: 50, Skew: 116.
My dish has a pair of LNB's for 110,119 and an extra single for 129.
On the System Info page It says ViP622 DVR-HD, Software L405.
At the moment signal came up green for 119, 110, but red for 129.
Sometimes 129 is green however.
It also says Device: DPP Twin, Twin(1), Twin(2), Dual(3).

Not sure what you mean be the plumbness of the mast or how to check it.

We are all happy that you figured out your problem and got it solved.

As Hall said, you're done; however, here is some additional info that I think might help you in the future to understand your receiver and if you decide to move the dish or something.

In general, the selections on the Point Dish screen are not functional settings, i.e., they are not settings that affect the performance or operation of the 622; they only provide information to you. Once you are set up and running, you can change the Zip Code, Dish Type, etc..., and it will not affect your signal.

With the Zip Code for the location of the receiver/dish entered, it will provide you the settings for your dish antenna for certain satellite locations and/or dish types, such as a Dish 300, Dish 500, SuperDish 121, or a SuperDish 105.

For the Dish 1000, Dish 1000.2, Dish 500+/Dish 1000+, you need the installation manual to get the correct settings.

Once your dish is correctly pointed/tuned, you can run a Check Switch and it will run through either a few tests, or many tests. If you are using a SuperDish 121 or 105, or a + Dish (Dish 500+/1000+), you should select the box for SuperDish, which will cause it to run additional tests for the FSS satellites (118.7, 121 & 105).

PLUMBNESS. For any dish antenna that is designed for receiving 2 or more satellite orbital locations at once, plumb is very very important. If your mast is not plumb, you will probably not tune in all of the satellites at one time. Check the plumb in all directions. Set the Skew and then do not touch it. Then you will only have to worry about the Elevation and Azimuth; which should be adjusted in very very small increments, and give the receiver 8-10 seconds to respond.

Signal Strength. With software version L409 (which was pull back) and version L441 currently being pushed to the ViP622, the signal strength meter has been reprogrammed (electrically recalibrated) to show weaker signals. So your signals are going to drop.

This morning my 622 with version 441 showed a strength of 19/20 for 129/TP-1, and 21 for TP2.

 

[tsduke]

Why hasn't E* added the 1000 to the point dish screen?

 

[Hall]

They don't need to. As I said earlier, it's effectively a Dish500. Peak your Dish1000 at 119' just like you'd do with a D500 and 110' and 129' will come in automatically.

 

[mdwatt]

They don't need to. As I said earlier, it's effectively a Dish500. Peak your Dish1000 at 119' just like you'd do with a D500 and 110' and 129' will come in automatically.

They will come in. But you may need to peak the dish for the 129. When peaking on 119, I've found that sometimes you need to move the dish a little to the left after you've peaked for 119, to pick up the 129 a little better. That also depends on how plumb your mount is. If you mount isn't level, then that throws off the entire alignment.