WA SAT Signal Strength Hopper 3

[jdolotina]

Hello everybody. Enjoying the Hopper 3 much better than the DIRECTV Genie. However, I am having some terrible dropouts during a moderate storm, and pixelation on occasions even during clear weather. I checked my sat signals just a few minutes ago with clear skies and this is what I have...

SAT 110 TP13= 43
SAT 119 TP13= 59
SAT 129 TP17= 59

I have had Dish in the past, but I don't remember the signals being this low. If anything, I remember 129 being lower than the other two Sats. Also, I remember receivers of different makes had different levels as well. So I am really looking for some H3 signals to compare against mine. Thanks for the help!


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[jdolotina]

I spoke with tech support yesterday and had an interesting conversation regarding signal strength. She mentioned a signal needs to be above 25 on the Hopper 3 meter in oder to be considered good. Decent signal level was at 45 on the meter and anything over 60 was considered really good.

Something that I also found interesting was that she mentioned if your dish moves slightly in bad weather, that running a check switch would "hone" the satellite signals back in and to the values you had before the storm moved the dish. To my surprise, running a check switch caused my 110 sat to move into the high 50s similar to the other two satellites. However, I looked today and 110 is back in the 40s and received no storms or high winds to move the dish. Not sure if it is some sort of trickery or a bug of some sort, but just find it odd that 110 is much lower than the other two satellites.

 

[JSheridan]

I spoke with tech support yesterday and had an interesting conversation regarding signal strength. She mentioned a signal needs to be above 25 on the Hopper 3 meter in oder to be considered good. Decent signal level was at 45 on the meter and anything over 60 was considered really good.

Something that I also found interesting was that she mentioned if your dish moves slightly in bad weather, that running a check switch would "hone" the satellite signals back in and to the values you had before the storm moved the dish. To my surprise, running a check switch caused my 110 sat to move into the high 50s similar to the other two satellites. However, I looked today and 110 is back in the 40s and received no storms or high winds to move the dish. Not sure if it is some sort of trickery or a bug of some sort, but just find it odd that 110 is much lower than the other two satellites.

A check switch can't 'hone' anything. That is complete BS.

The only way to align the dish is to align the dish with a meter.

 

[jdolotina]

A check switch can't 'hone' anything. That is complete BS.

The only way to align the dish is to align the dish with a meter.

I figured that much. I guess it's in there to get customers to think they fixed it. Like I mentioned, today the signal is back in the low 40s on 110.

My satcom days in the military we had nothing of the sort, unless the dish had a servo drive and auto track. Nothing like that on the dish outside my house...

 

[JSheridan]

I figured that much. I guess it's in there to get customers to think they fixed it. Like I mentioned, today the signal is back in the low 40s on 110.

My satcom days in the military we had nothing of the sort, unless the dish had a servo drive and auto track. Nothing like that on the dish outside my house...

Check Switch is there to sync the receiver with the LNB and dish type so the receiver knows what's connected to it and how to control the polarity switching, etc.

As you probably know microwave signals are usually a bit higher at night due to cooler, drier air between you and the satellite.

When you say your 110 signals are in the 40's, is it like that on all transponders or just a few? Are other transponders lower or higher?

 

[jdolotina]

All transponders are in the 40s just on 110.


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[JSheridan]

All transponders are in the 40s just on 110.


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We're all Eastern Arc here so I don't know if that's currently a good level for 110 for you and your area. Maybe somebody in your area with a Western Arc dish can comment for a comparison.

 

[356B]

Hello everybody. Enjoying the Hopper 3 much better than the DIRECTV Genie. However, I am having some terrible dropouts during a moderate storm, and pixelation on occasions even during clear weather. I checked my sat signals just a few minutes ago with clear skies and this is what I have...

SAT 110 TP13= 43
SAT 119 TP13= 59
SAT 129 TP17= 59

I have had Dish in the past, but I don't remember the signals being this low. If anything, I remember 129 being lower than the other two Sats. Also, I remember receivers of different makes had different levels as well. So I am really looking for some H3 signals to compare against mine. Thanks for the help!


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I have roughly the same numbers you do, WA, that said I'm in Northern California. I'm not seeing any anomalies currently. In the winter I have seen drops due to snow. Are there any trees, shrubs, etc. that the wind could manipulated to interfere? Have you spoken with the provider/installer?

 

[jdolotina]

No trees or shrubs to obstruct LOS. That makes me feel better that your numbers are roughly the same even in California. I don't seem to notice much pixelation anymore. Could have just been the hopper working out its kinks for those first few days.

Ran another check switch just to see if the number would change at all. 110 went to high 50s peaking at 60 for about a minute and then drops again to the low 40s. Starting to think it's a bug. There's no way it can be at 60 and then just drop almost 20 with no change to the Dish or weather outside...


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