Will a bigger dish boost my Spotbeam signal?

[donfmorrison]

I have a Dish 500 with a Dish Pro Twin LNBF. My 119-T15/16 and 110-T15/16 signals are all over 100 so am getting a great view of the bird; however, my spot beam (S20 T04 on 110) is only at about a strength of 50. I am, notably, about 50 miles outside of the intended spot beam area. If all the stars align, my locals come in just fine. My question is this:

I know that a bigger dish is not a guarantee to get a better signal, but if I am able to get the 110-T04 signal to strength 50 by adjusting my Dish 500, wouldn't a bigger dish be able to pull down a better signal from the spotbeam? Any suggestions as to which dish I need to get the job done?

Don

 

[mbarnes]

First, yes, a bigger dish typically gets more signal. Another question though is are you really in the 'local's' market? While the spotbeams are tight, they are not really that tight. Supposedly, the spotbeam should be centered to give adequate coverage for the intended market. If you are 50 miles outside of the spotbeam footprint, it does not seem likely you are actually in the market area for the 'local' stations.

If you indeed ARE in the designated geographical market area of these 'locals' I would complain not only to Dish, but I would write letters to the various stations you are not able to receive. I mean actual pen and paper, not emails or phone calls. Broadcast stations are typically required to keep on file listener/viewer complaints and comments. Be sure to emphasize the fact that if you can't view the stations clearly, you won't watch them and you won't be able to patronize their advertisers. Believe me, the stations have a lot more clout in getting the beam patterns adjusted than viewers do.

 

[Mr Tony]

however, my spot beam (S20 T04 on 110) is only at about a strength of 50. I am, notably, about 50 miles outside of the intended spot beam area. If all the stars align, my locals come in just fine. My question is this:

oxymoron there

If its your intended spotbeam, the signal will be more

But yes a bigger dish will help. As an example, TP23 is the LaCrosse, WI locals. On a D500 I get it at 50 signal in Minneapolis. When I had a 18" dish aimed just at 110 it was up to 75.

so yes a bigger dish (or a single dish aimed just at 110) will help.

 

[dishrich]

I know that a bigger dish is not a guarantee to get a better signal, but if I am able to get the 110-T04 signal to strength 50 by adjusting my Dish 500, wouldn't a bigger dish be able to pull down a better signal from the spotbeam? Any suggestions as to which dish I need to get the job done?

Don

Actually, it should help - I know this, because I did the same thing w/D* to get Chicago locals to come in with better strength by using a 3' dish for just the 101 bird. (I still use the oval dish for the 110/119 D* birds & use an external switch for combining all 3) When I was using a D* oval dish, the Chicago x-ponder would fluctuate from around low 50's during the daytime, to around low 60's during the evening. During the daytime, the signals would pixelate pretty bad. After installing the larger dish, the same x-ponder comes in around the mid 70's - while it is NOT as stong as the CONUS beams, I now have NO more pixelating. However, if we get a fairly bad rainstorm, the Chicago locals are the first to go. But, since this is not a very frequent occurance, it's not a big deal - not to mention I get my "real" locals on cable anyway.

Also, when you peak your dish, make sure you do your peaking on the spotbeam that contains your locals. Since both E* & D* use multiple birds in the same orbital slots, you want to peak on the weakest ones, which, in this case, is the local spotbeam(s).

 

[donfmorrison]

Another question though is are you really in the 'local's' market?

If its your intended spotbeam, the signal will be more

I should have been a little clearer about my situation. Sorry for the confusion.

This dish is installed at a lake house and I am trying to use it watch the local stations in my home residence's local market. I am just toting the receiver back and forth when I go to the lake. The Dish representative said that this was not violating any terms of service, so I think I am okay to this.

yes a bigger dish (or a single dish aimed just at 110) will help.

Where would I get pointing information for aiming a single dish at 110?

 

[SmityWhity]

Where to get dish pointing information?

Some Dish satellite receivers may not be able to give as much info as others when it comes to dish pointing, I do not know what the capabilities of each are, except for my "EchoStar 2000" and ViP 622.

However, try the "Point Dish" screen, usually "Menu, 6, 1, 1" and then select your Zip Code, then for Dish System, select "300" and then for Satellite, select "110". It will give you the Azimuth and Elevation, but the Skew will be N/A since the Dish 300 does not have a skew adjustment. If you were to use a Dish 500 solely for 110, then you would set the skew to 90 (which = 0 degrees).

If you are going to buy a larger dish used for something else, such as FTA, then you need to make sure you have the right LNBF.

Good luck.

 

[donfmorrison]

Thanks for the info Smity!

I have been getting a lock on the signal the last few days even with it at 50 strength, so I am sure in bad weather we won't be able to get anything on that beam. That is ok with me, but perhaps not my wife...

My vacation is almost over, so I am about out of time to mess with it for now, but I will try pointing it at just 110 and see what happens. I assume that I will lose my channels coming from the bird at 119?

I will just mess with the pointing and see how good I can get it without losing all the other channels.

Thanks for the help!

 

[SmityWhity]

If you only have one dish, and intend to experiment before leaving for the city so that you can decide on a course of action for next time, then....

Before making any adjustments on the Dish 500, get a thin marking marker and mark your current Azimuth, Elevation, and Skew. This way when you get it all screwed up , or just get in a hurry to wrap it up, you can easily put everything back and will only have to make minor adjustments on the Elevation and Azimuth (the skew will be close enough if put back on the mark).

Your first experiment would probably be to put foil over the 119 LNBF, then using Point Dish, set it to 110, and whatever transponder your locals are on, and try peaking it for maximum gain. Then remove the foil, do a check switch, and check the rest of the programming, particularly those on Sat 119.

On the following, you will lose everything from the 119 Sat.
Your second experiment would probably be to set the Skew to 90 (zero degrees), then set the Elevation for a Dish 300 for Sat 110 for your lake Zip Code. (Note: The Elevation and Azimuth will be a noticable difference than the marks you previously made.) Put the foil over the 119 LNBF, then using Point Dish, set it to 110 and whatever transponder your locals are on, and try peaking it for maximum gain. Remove foil and check your signals. (Actually, to check, it doesn't matter if you remove the foil or not.)

I suspect you will find a slight increase in signal, but probably not as much as you are hoping for.

Then, return everything back to the marks you previously made and peak it (slightly).

NOTE: On all of the above, when peaking, you should try moving it about 1/32 to 1/16" each time, but need to give the receiver about 15 seconds to recognize the change.

A larger dish should work, but I don't know if one within a reasonable size will give you the signal strength you're looking for.

 

[oseely]

Thanks to several of you who have pretty much convinced me that a one meter dish will solve my marginal spot beam intensity problem. I centered on the transponder 3 spot beam when it was running around 39 and it went up to 46 -- just under locking in.

Still, I'd like to give the one-meter solution a try at minimal cost. I've put out the word here in the mountain village that I'm in the market for a used one meter dish, but where would any of you go to pick up one cheap or for free? Many thanks,

Oliver

 

[SmityWhity]

I would image you could find something in the LA/LB area and bring it with you. If nothing on eBay in that area (to reduce shipping cost), or in the yellow pages, maybe you could PM someone in Southern CA, I think HoBoJo may be down that way.

I think you should be able to find something locally, but check the vendors at the top of the screen, like DishStore and Sadoun, and see what their prices and shipping charges are, and maybe it'll be within what you feel you are willing to pay for the (limited) amount of use you will be using it.

Good Luck.

 

[hobojoe]

i am in so-calif! i'm checking for him now and i'll post later. lots of people giving up the "c" band dish's.

 

[cj9788]

What kind of LNB would be needed for a 1 meter dish?

 

[Smith P.]

same as original ; could be legacy, could be DP

[funny question]

 

[dishcomm]

First, yes, a bigger dish typically gets more signal. Another question though is are you really in the 'local's' market? While the spotbeams are tight, they are not really that tight. Supposedly, the spotbeam should be centered to give adequate coverage for the intended market. If you are 50 miles outside of the spotbeam footprint, it does not seem likely you are actually in the market area for the 'local' stations.

If you indeed ARE in the designated geographical market area of these 'locals' I would complain not only to Dish, but I would write letters to the various stations you are not able to receive. I mean actual pen and paper, not emails or phone calls. Broadcast stations are typically required to keep on file listener/viewer complaints and comments. Be sure to emphasize the fact that if you can't view the stations clearly, you won't watch them and you won't be able to patronize their advertisers. Believe me, the stations have a lot more clout in getting the beam patterns adjusted than viewers do.

You must live in a zip code that is part of a DMA but lies outside of the physical boundaries of that DMA.....use this link..http://ekb.dbstalk.com/TVMarkets/....
and this one as well....http://www.scottandmichelle.net/scott/dtv.html...
These should be helpful to you....good luck....
BTW looks to me like unless you are in the far northwest corner of the TX panhandle or near El Paso, you should nto be having extreme problems due to being outside of the spotbeam footprint....Anyway...Check the links out...

 

[hobojoe]

nothing used right now. i would check with ebay and our sponsors

 

[Beckhamfam]

I use a 30" Winguard dish that works great to get weak signals. You can usually find them on E-Bay, I got mine for about $34, I picked it up so there was no shipping. Good luck.