# What signal strength to look for?......



## Jeff1960 (Jul 5, 2010)

Probably a dumb question, but here goes.

I am getting my install for DirecTV tomorrow, so I want to be ready. I have been told to pay special attention to what my signal strength is for SD ( 101 ) and HD ( 99 and 103 ). So what are the numbers on these satellites that I should look for to tell whether I have optimal signal strength?

Thanks in advance.


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## NR4P (Jan 16, 2007)

Hi Jeff and welcome to dbstalk. :welcome_s

Generally speaking you should see signal strengths in the 90's although an occasional mid 80's on some of the national transponders is OK depending where you live but in the south US. I'm in Florida, mine are generally all upper 90s with an occasional upper 80. The 99 and 103 continental are where the HD channels are. If those are good, then the rest are OK.

Don't worry about the spot transponders. Meaning the 99s and 103s since most of those won't apply to you. If you get your locals in HD, you are good.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Jeff1960 said:


> Probably a dumb question, but here goes.
> 
> I am getting my install for DirecTV tomorrow, so I want to be ready. I have been told to pay special attention to what my signal strength is for SD ( 101 ) and HD ( 99 and 103 ). So what are the numbers on these satellites that I should look for to tell whether I have optimal signal strength?
> 
> Thanks in advance.


:welcome_s

While every location has its own nuances...a "rule of thumb" is that you should get signal levels of about 90 or higher for solid HD reception.


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## jdspencer (Nov 8, 2003)

And don't worry about the spot beams on the 101 sat.
These are 4, 12, 18, 20, 26 and 28.


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## xceebeex (Jun 17, 2010)

jdspencer said:


> And don't worry about the spot beams on the 101 sat.
> These are 4, 12, 18, 20, 26 and 28.


Ah OK, that makes me feel a little better. I just had mine installed on Friday and noticed that those stations (at least I think those are the ones) in the low-mid 70's, but everything else is in the mid to upper 90's with quite a few of them even at 100.


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

I might as well use an open thread for this tangentially related problem. I am having problems with a large (80 receiver) WB system at the headquarters of a cable TV company. I may be losing some of the 99 degree transponders. This is a year old system that, I am told, has worked flawlessly for over a year, with a Sonora polarity lockers, and proper amplification and splitting to the five WB 16s.

When I signal test, all my Kus are over 90%. When I test for 99(s), I only get transponders 2(65%) 4 (95%) and 6 (90%). All the other 99(s) are zero.

When I test for 99(c), all fourteen are zero.

When I go into the check set-up screen, I get big red Xs for 99 odds AND evens, even though I have three 99 evens spotbeams, with strong signals on two of them.

I get all sixteen 103(ca) transponders, but none of the 103(cb) transponders, which are all zero.

I've replaced the LNB with a new one and connected my spectrum analyzer directly to the dish, but it is peaked perfectly.

Any ideas? Anyone know which transponders I am supposed to be seeing signal on and using in metro Washington DC?

I'm going up to the roof to see if the 99 deg signal path might be partially obstructed.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

AntAltMike said:


> I've replaced the LNB with a new one and connected my spectrum analyzer directly to the dish, but it is peaked perfectly.
> 
> Any ideas? Anyone know which transponders I am supposed to be seeing signal on and using in metro Washington DC?
> 
> I'm going up to the roof to see if the 99 deg signal path might be partially obstructed.


press and hold {INFO} on the receiver and run the system test .. This should tell you what is wrong.


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

Spooky. As best as I can determine, the 99 degree signal path is just a dite obstructed by a big, C-band dish in front of it. If I gradually misaim the dish by a few tenths of a degree, I can tweak up the 99 but at the expense of 103. What I think is happening is that by very slightly misaiming the reflector, I can get the 99 signal to bounce off part of the oval that it doesn't ordinarily bounce off, and that helps me clear the obstructing C-band reflector. 

I clamped another dish onto an "I" beam and got a clear shot at 99/101/103 and got all the desired HDs, but from there, it couldn't hit 119, which cost them their 119 Spanish channels. I have been told that they are all duplicated on 99 or 103, but this receiver was forced to try to get them from 119, standard definition Spanish channels, because the LNB selections were just "multiswitch" and I think SLM-5. I don't know if my choices were so limited because the receiver could sense what I had for an LNB, or perhaps this was an older receiver that was programmed before the SLM-3s came out and maybe if I did a reset and got new software, I could have chosen an LNB that would get the Spanish signals from 99/103, but it was 100 degrees out and I didn't feel like screwing with it any longer. 

I told the company that maintains this headend to have someone put in a non-pen mount elsewhere on the roof tomorrow and to move the dish to where it has unobstructed shots at evverything from 99 to 119.


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## Jeff1960 (Jul 5, 2010)

OK, I hope you guys bear with me.

I got DirecTV installed a few days ago.


On the 99(c) satellite my signals range from 82-95.

On the 99(s) satellite my signals are mostly in the 80's and 90's with a 51 and 71 thrown in.

On the 103(s) satellite I have a lot of 0's, and a wide range of numbers from 47 up to 94.

On the 103 (ca) satellite, all of my reading are in the 90's. 95+ on all.

Do these numbers seem OK? Any problems that you can see?


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Jeff1960 said:


> OK, I hope you guys bear with me.
> 
> I got DirecTV installed a few days ago.
> 
> ...


The two (s) satellites are spot beam sats so having readings all over the place are normal there. 103(ca) looks fine (where's 103(cb)? and 99(c) is probably OK, how many TP's are in the low 80's?


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Seem good to me. The "s" sats are local spot beams, so only two of those are even going to be important to you, if you know which two they are. While I tried for a long time to get my 99c to be above 90, for some reason, its just weaker here than the two satellites at 103c which I also get all 90s on. I was never able to get rid of the one or two sub 85 readings on 99c without screwing up the other satellites.


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## prospect60 (Aug 26, 2006)

Jeff, those numbers sound OK. The 99s and 103s are spot beams and only a few TP on each of those sats should have 90+ depending on your location.

The 99c and 103ca look good to me so I would assume the 103cb and 101 sats should be low to high 90's for the vast majority of TP as well.


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## Jeff1960 (Jul 5, 2010)

prospect 60......Yes, on the 101 satellite I show all 90's and 100's. The lowest is 96. On the 103(cb) satellite I show low 90's and high 80's.


Thanks for your feedback by the way.


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