Why is 61.5 so picky as to dish setup?

[philhu]

Hi

I've installed a ton of d*, d*sh, etc at 101, 110, 119. The signal always comes in when you are close, then gets stronger as you lock into the location.

61.5 (I am in Boston). Is strength 0 until 1/4" from pointing at it. then goes to about 85. I move it up 1/16" of an inch, it goes to 95. Up another 1/16, signal goes down to 79-80. Very unforgiving.

Now I know it is a dvb frequency signal, so the properties should be the same for finding a signal as d*sh, d*, but it just seems so picky!

My signal has been 93 or so for weeks. The other day, it was in low 80's for a few days, got freezes in rain, etc. Moved the dish 1/16" of an inch down and it popped to 95. Why so picky?

 

[DarrellP]

Because the angle in the sky is so low, the signal is harder to spot in. It's worse with a bigger dish. You can actually tune in Dish and Voom to be received from the same dish at the same time. I used a Dish receiver to tune in the signal and didn't realize they were just a hair apart from each other and it knocked my Voom signal down 10 points. When I read here about the diffference, I went back up and realigned with a Voom stb and now I get 97. It's a real bitch tuning that sucker in though, if you fart while aligning it, you'll lose 2 points strength.

 

[riffjim4069]

I'm in Virginia and usually holds steady right at 96. However, I have always thought I should be receiving 97/98...even with the 18' dish. Hmmm. Perhaps I'll repeak the dish over the holidays.

 

[Bruce]

He is in Boston, the bird from there is not as low as say Portland, I did my own when the HD for E* was on 61.5, not a problem, just take it slow to give it time to lock.

 

[philhu]

Well, I repeaked. Took my time, went from 82 to 95. I moved it a total of 1/8" DOWN
DO not ask me how it got up a bit like it did. Should have seen me doing this when it was 6 degrees outside, 250' from my house in the dark! What a site!

Seems that my inclination was a bit too high. Now, in a major rain storm, goes to 85. In a snow storm, went to 83, so no blackouts!

 

[dankgus]

I used steel cable (1/16") and turnbuckles to keep my dish aligned. It was getting blown around at night sometimes and I would get a hiccupy signal. All is well now that the steel cables are pulling the dish tight into one spot. 95-96 signal on clear days. Yeah, 1/4" makes all the difference in the world when it comes to Voom.

--Dan

 

[riffjim4069]

I pulled out my Flux Capacitor the other day and think I discovered the problem with VOOM's weak signal at 61.5. Check out the following graphic.

 

[Bruce]

I did my own 61.5 Dish for E* back in 2000/2001 , I was on the roof , my son inside reading the signal meter on the TV, both using Walkie Talkies, took about 5 min.

Now the trick is, do it slowly, give it a chance to lock.
But I think might be the problem with installers is they are locking first on E*'s bird (say getting 90 on the signal meter with E*, but a little off with V*-getting 80) not knowing there are two up there.

 

[RocketRay]

I set up my old Primestar dish to pick up IAS 5 at 97 degrees, and while it was touchy, I had it locked down with a good signal in about 5 minutes. Called the wife with our cellphones; she was my meter. A friend of mine at work warned me it's a weak signal and hard to find, but it was surprisingly not so difficult.

I'm gonna have to remount my VOOM dish, though, cause the patio cover it's on right now will have to come down later this year.

 

[philhu]

I set up my old Primestar dish to pick up IAS 5 at 97 degrees, and while it was touchy, I had it locked down with a good signal in about 5 minutes. Called the wife with our cellphones; she was my meter. A friend of mine at work warned me it's a weak signal and hard to find, but it was surprisingly not so difficult.

I'm gonna have to remount my VOOM dish, though, cause the patio cover it's on right now will have to come down later this year.

What is IAS 5 at 97 degrees? Why would we want it?

 

[xrf1]

Intelsat America 5 (or Telstar 5). A lot of Arab, Asian, ... FTA channels.