# Sat 129-L.A. Area



## aszulc (Feb 5, 2004)

My 622 was installed on 04/13. Local channels on HD 600+ and other channels using Sat 129 shows low signals causing pixlating and freezing the 622. I called support and reported the problem. They sent a teck out. He said that the dish on my roof could not be adjusted and that the problem was caused by Sat 129 and the 622. Supposedly Dish network is working on fixing the 622 and the satelite and that the problem of low signal would be fixed within a week. Should I believe this story? Does anyone else have the same problem?


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Yes.. Tough to get a good signal out of 129. I was doing ok until tonight. My strength on 129 trans 08 was in the low 60s tonight. I got the no signal warning a few times and got some pixelization on Apprentice. I am in North Orange county. 

What are you getting on your 129? 

As for fixing the strength on 129, I am not sure. As for fixing the 622, Dish is continuing to work on improving the 622 with software updates.


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## aszulc (Feb 5, 2004)

The strenth on that trans varies below 50 to 58. I am in Woodland hills which is in the San Fernando Valley


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## Red Dwarf (Aug 25, 2002)

One fix is to get a sperate dish for 129 instead of using the Dish 1000. Buy a "I" adapter and a Dish 500. I went with a 32" Dish and I'm getting about 90. I'm in the Pasadena area.


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## aszulc (Feb 5, 2004)

Red Dwarf said:


> One fix is to get a sperate dish for 129 instead of using the Dish 1000. Buy a "I" adapter and a Dish 500. I went with a 32" Dish and I'm getting about 90. I'm in the Pasadena area.


Red Dwarf

They did not install the dish 1000. I have 2 500. I am assuming the installer used a "I" adapter.


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## Cokeswigga (Jan 25, 2005)

I installed a 2nd D500, I used the 3-way adapter with the DP Dual on the center horn on the D1000 Dish to pull in 129

and the D500 as installed for 110/119
and the D500 as installed for 148

I still want to move the D1000 to 110/119
and use the 500's for 129 and 148, I've just been too lazy to do it.

But when I was using the D1000 for 110/119/129 I was loosing 129 too much


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## Rick_R (Sep 1, 2004)

Here in Simi Valley I get between 60 and 62 on 129 using a Dish 1000. I get an ocassional glitch maybe once an hour for 1/2 second. When E10 is fullly operational I think they said they would move satellites around putting a better one at 129.

Rick R


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## aszulc (Feb 5, 2004)

Rick-R

Any ideas as to when E10 will be fully operational? I get between 48 and 59 on TR 3-8-18. They are coming again Friday to check my system. The main office said that it should'nt be that low bur the teck that came last Monday said it was ok and normal because of the 129 Sat. I dont think he wanted to go on the roof to make an adjustment.


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## Red Dwarf (Aug 25, 2002)

E10 isn't going to help. You need a bigger dish to improve those numbers.


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## Rick_R (Sep 1, 2004)

E10 will not help but it will free up a satellite that is currently at the 110 spot. I believe it was E6 that they said they will move from 110 to 129. They are currently moving channels onto E10. Then they will take about a month or so to move it to the 129 spot.

Rick R


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

So when E6 moves over, can one expect the signal strength to improve?


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## acnownzu (Mar 4, 2004)

If I'm in Calabasas/Woodland Hills area, do you guys recommend a Dish 1000 for 100/119/129 or 2 Dish 500s?


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## David_Levin (Apr 22, 2002)

Rick_R said:


> I believe it was E6 that they said they will move from 110 to 129.


I haven't herd this (beyond general speculation). Where did you hear this?


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## Red Dwarf (Aug 25, 2002)

acnownzu said:


> If I'm in Calabasas/Woodland Hills area, do you guys recommend a Dish 1000 for 100/119/129 or 2 Dish 500s?


Two 500s


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## leefarber (May 10, 2004)

I too have been having huge problems with 129. I'm in Hollywood in a large apartment complex. The installer put in a Dish 1000 for 110 and 119 and a separate Dish 500 for 129. He had a lot of trouble getting 129 to lock, and finally couldn't do any better than around 50. But now the HD locals that come in through 129 are horrible. Break-ups, pixellation, the works. It even ruined the last minute of this week's "Lost"!

So I've got the installer coming back out tomorrow to see what else can be done. Any idea when they'll make 129 stronger? I understand there was a problem with the alignment of the satellite.


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## acnownzu (Mar 4, 2004)

What HD channels, besides the locals, are on 129?


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## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

acnownzu said:


> What HD channels, besides the locals, are on 129?


All the MPEG4 National channels, which at the moment is some of the Voom channels, ESPN2HD, and Universal HD. Others will follow. You can check out The Echostar Knowledge Base, http://ekb.dbstalk.com/ for a detailed list of sats and the channels on them.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

leefarber said:


> I too have been having huge problems with 129. I'm in Hollywood in a large apartment complex. The installer put in a Dish 1000 for 110 and 119 and a separate Dish 500 for 129. He had a lot of trouble getting 129 to lock, and finally couldn't do any better than around 50. But now the HD locals that come in through 129 are horrible. Break-ups, pixellation, the works. It even ruined the last minute of this week's "Lost"!
> 
> So I've got the installer coming back out tomorrow to see what else can be done. Any idea when they'll make 129 stronger? I understand there was a problem with the alignment of the satellite.


Last minute of lost was not sat specific. The break up just at the time Michael fired the last shot was stream related. I got it on both my sats also.


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## lujan (Feb 10, 2004)

leefarber said:


> I too have been having huge problems with 129. I'm in Hollywood in a large apartment complex. The installer put in a Dish 1000 for 110 and 119 and a separate Dish 500 for 129. He had a lot of trouble getting 129 to lock, and finally couldn't do any better than around 50. But now the HD locals that come in through 129 are horrible. Break-ups, pixellation, the works. It even ruined the last minute of this week's "Lost"!
> 
> So I've got the installer coming back out tomorrow to see what else can be done. Any idea when they'll make 129 stronger? I understand there was a problem with the alignment of the satellite.


I thought people were only having this problem with the 1000 alone (pointing to three or more satellites)? I didn't think they were having the problem when you have a dish dedicated to the 129 satellite alone?


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## Jim Alan (Feb 7, 2006)

Ron Barry said:


> Last minute of lost was not sat specific. The break up just at the time Michael fired the last shot was stream related. I got it on both my sats also.


Ron, can you elaborate on what you mean by "steam related"? I am in Anaheim, with a D1000 and VIP622 and I also had the picture breakup when Michael fired the last shot.


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## KeithKN6K (Jul 15, 2003)

Ron Barry said:


> Yes.. Tough to get a good signal out of 129. I was doing ok until tonight. My strength on 129 trans 08 was in the low 60s tonight. I got the no signal warning a few times and got some pixelization on Apprentice. I am in North Orange county.
> 
> What are you getting on your 129?
> 
> As for fixing the strength on 129, I am not sure. As for fixing the 622, Dish is continuing to work on improving the 622 with software updates.


A close friend just upgraded to a 622 w/dish1000. After the installer left he was getting low numbers on 129 and some dropouts. The next weekend my friend and I repeaked the dish, changing the elevation slightly from what was originally done (probably using the numbers on the dish mounts). He is now getting between 70 and 75 on 129 up from around 52 to 60. D1000 must be carefully aimed for to get 129 correctly.


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## dendavis (Sep 13, 2003)

acnownzu said:


> If I'm in Calabasas/Woodland Hills area, do you guys recommend a Dish 1000 for 100/119/129 or 2 Dish 500s?


I just got my 622 installed this week (Anaheim). I asked the DISH installer about his experience with the D1000 and the 129 signal strength. He said they have a lot of problems with the low signal strength on 129 when a D1000 is set up, and they typically come back and add a dish for 129. I have a D500, which was upgraded with DPP LNB's when I got my 942 (last *OCTOBER!!!!!* thank you very much Charlie). Anyway, the installer turned my second dish that was getting 148, so it would get 129. My onscreen meter showed 74 for sat. 129.

Best wishes on a good signal


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## leefarber (May 10, 2004)

Jim Alan said:


> Ron, can you elaborate on what you mean by "steam related"? I am in Anaheim, with a D1000 and VIP622 and I also had the picture breakup when Michael fired the last shot.


I'm also wondering what you meant, Ron. I took quite a bit of flack from my "Lost"-obsessed fiancée when the signal broke up.

Back when we had the 921 and we were getting HD locals via OTA, she always asked me to record the SD broadcast of LOST in case the HD broadcast breaks up. I stopped doing that when we got the 622, but the signal breaks up almost as much as it did via OTA.

If the break-up just before Michael fired the gun was due to something other than the 129 signal, I'd love to know!

Meanwhile, I wonder if the tech will be able to improve the signal when he comes back tomorrow morning...:bowdown:


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Jim Alan said:


> Ron, can you elaborate on what you mean by "steam related"? I am in Anaheim, with a D1000 and VIP622 and I also had the picture breakup when Michael fired the last shot.


By stream related. I mean I believe that the corruption was in the encoding process and not the 622s. Ofcourse, I could be wrong but that is my take given that both receivers hicuped at the same point.

My rational is that Dish HD locals are pretty new and I believe they are still having to make some tweaks along the way. I have come to this conclusion over time because there are periods where I don't get any corruption and then there will be periods where it seems more frequent.

Since I recorded Lost on both my boxes, I spot checked my other recording and saw the pixelization in the same areas on both boxes.

Mind you just a theory. But the fact that more than multiple households got the same response I would rule out poor 129 signal.

The other possibility is a software bug in the decoding that is aggreviated by the HD local stream since I see this issue a lot more with the Dish HD locals.


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## aszulc (Feb 5, 2004)

I originally posted this link. It took me 2 service call to get a goof teck to twik the 500 129 sat. I now get over 60 on trans 08. I am happier now.


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

Red Dwarf said:


> One fix is to get a sperate dish for 129 instead of using the Dish 1000. Buy a "I" adapter and a Dish 500. I went with a 32" Dish and I'm getting about 90. I'm in the Pasadena area.


Which 32" dish are you using (brand and model number)? I definitely need to get a larger dish for 129.


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## Red Dwarf (Aug 25, 2002)

http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Order/Dish...llite-dish.htm

The dish doesn't come with a Dish Pro LNB. It does come with a universal mount. Just break open the plastic cover on a Dish Pro lnb and the mount will take it. Be sure to have the LNB pulled back far as it will go in the mount for proper aiming. This Dish built like a tank and works great! The shipping on the unit is a bit pricy.


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## Andy64 (May 4, 2006)

I'm not in the LA area but have been having similar issues up here in the Portland area. When the tech left, the numbers on 129 were in the mid 50's. After a couple of days with breakup and signal loss, I got up there and used a spectrum analyzer to tweak the Dish 1000 for maximum signal on 129, 110 went down some but not bad. That gave me numbers in the mid 60's for 129. Less bad but still had a lot of breakups.

Yesterday I put the single LNB in the center slot on the dish 1000 and peaked it on 129 - now I get from the low 70's to low 80's on 129 (considerable variation depending on which transponder is being checked). I put the twin lnbs on my old Dish 500 and aligned them for 110 and 119.

So far, no breakups!

Hopefully Dish will do something with the 129 bird so I can get back to a single dish.


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## lujan (Feb 10, 2004)

Andy64 said:


> ...
> 
> That gave me numbers in the mid 60's for 129. Less bad but still had a lot of breakups.
> 
> ...


I only get around 64 for the signal strength on (129) tp's 27 and 30 where the locals are and I don't see any breakups?


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## Andy64 (May 4, 2006)

lujan said:


> I only get around 64 for the signal strength on (129) tp's 27 and 30 where the locals are and I don't see any breakups?


I don't know about the situation with the tp for locals, we attempted to watch a HD movie Tuesday night, made it through without any completely drop outs but had quite a bit of breakup during the two hours.

The signal quality on 129 seems to vary significantly over time. I read a post about a guy watching the signal fade by over 20 points - and eventually drop out completely. Looks to me like a signals in the mid sixties is almost good enough.


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## Red Dwarf (Aug 25, 2002)

It's good enough until it rains ;-)


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## Andy64 (May 4, 2006)

Red Dwarf said:


> It's good enough until it rains ;-)


Fortunately, it seldom rains here in Oregon <g>.

I assume that 129 will be the first to drop out when we have a combination of rain or snow in the dish plus whatever it is that causes the signal to drop down under "severe clear" conditions.

Hopefully (what else can you do but hope) Dish will do something to correct the situation.


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## Red Dwarf (Aug 25, 2002)

You can correct the problem at your end. Install a larger dish. I get readings in the 90s in Southern California.


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## dave1234 (Oct 9, 2005)

Andy64 said:


> Fortunately, it seldom rains here in Oregon <g>.
> 
> I assume that 129 will be the first to drop out when we have a combination of rain or snow in the dish plus whatever it is that causes the signal to drop down under "severe clear" conditions.
> 
> Hopefully (what else can you do but hope) Dish will do something to correct the situation.


It's true it doesn't rain much in Oregon so rain fade isn't a big problem, it just rains a little bit all the time.  

I finally gave up on 129 this week and pointed my second Dish back at 61.5. The signal strength went from the 50's on 129 to the 80's on 61.5. Fortunately I have a clear shot to 61.5 in my location.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

Here in Carlsbad, CA I am able to get 129 with around 80 +- 5. With all the rain we had it would really drop off. Never heard about the newer Bigger dishes, anybody have a link for them?


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

GrumpyBear said:


> Here in Carlsbad, CA I am able to get 129 with around 80 +- 5. With all the rain we had it would really drop off. Never heard about the newer Bigger dishes, anybody have a link for them?


If you get a chance, can you check the strength of transponder 8 on 129 and post the value? Thanks.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

Jerry G said:


> If you get a chance, can you check the strength of transponder 8 on 129 and post the value? Thanks.


Nice sunny day, today, and its 74-76 on Transponder8 currently


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## Red Dwarf (Aug 25, 2002)

GrumpyBear said:


> Here in Carlsbad, CA I am able to get 129 with around 80 +- 5. With all the rain we had it would really drop off. Never heard about the newer Bigger dishes, anybody have a link for them?


Try:

http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Order/Dishes/Free-to-air-satellite-dish.htm


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## madbrain (Dec 10, 2004)

I have a Dish 1000 in the SF Bay area (Santa Clara). On most days the signal on 129 is about 60 - 70, and there is no breakup. Yesterday there was a lot of rain. The signal went down to 51. There was a little breakup and channels were slow to switch. The receiver actually got confused and needed to be rebooted. But after it came back up, no more breakups ...


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