# Please look at your 129 Transponder 30 Signals.



## OinkinOregon (Feb 19, 2006)

If you would please watch your 129 Transponder 30 signal and report your findings please watch for at least 20 minutes. When the transponder 30 drops to it lowest level, switch over to Transponder 6 and report the difference. Also please post where you live.

Dish swears there is nothing wrong with this Sat. but there are many of us suffering with lockups on the Rave channel which transmits through Transponder 30.

My signal drops as low as 36 from a high of 72. I can switch transponders to 06 and it will be in the 60's. I wish I knew more about Sats. but it seems to me that the 129 trans 30 rotates out of position and I lose lock.

I thank you for your time.


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## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

All of my transponders drop about 30 - 40 points every 20 - 45 minutes. Consistently. Way too many people are having problems with this for it to be an install problem. Something has either got to be wrong with the satellite or that location is just really bad for at least the west coast.


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## brettbolt (Feb 22, 2006)

Rob Glasser said:


> Something has either got to be wrong with the satellite or that location is just really bad for at least the west coast.


I should have my 2nd dish for 129 on Friday or Monday, so I'll try it with my 501 receiver and report my results here. Will try it on a 622 as soon as I receive it.


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## DP1 (Sep 16, 2002)

Well as another data point, here in Colorado on my "unofficial" Dish1000 I've been monitoring tp 30 on 129 for almost an hour and it's consistently stayed at about 70 (high of 72 low of 68).

So that 30 degree drop thing might be more isolated geographically, even if just generally low sig strengths might be more widespread.


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## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

DP1 said:


> Well as another data point, here in Colorado on my "unofficial" Dish1000 I've been monitoring tp 30 on 129 for almost an hour and it's consistently stayed at about 70 (high of 72 low of 68).
> 
> So that 30 degree drop thing might be more isolated geographically, even if just generally low sig strengths might be more widespread.


That's what my numbers look like too, but I keep getting that massive drop. The drop doesn't manifest itself on 110 or 119, just 129 transponders.


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## olgeezer (Dec 5, 2003)

Transponders on all 3 sat locations vary. Best signal 119-119 110-98 129-87.
Worst signal 119-98 110-83 129-69 Topeka Kansas pole mounted by dummy (Me) 6:30 P.M. (forgot the number 30)


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## sbuko (Jan 10, 2006)

Below is what I am getting on each transponder off of 129.

My receiver is a 942.
My dish for 129 is a Dish 300 that I "aimed" myself using a SAT meter.

1 - 86
2 - 85 (did not lock though)
3 - 84
4 - 85
5 - 89
6 - 96
7 - 88
8 - 81
9 - 95
10 - 97
11 - 85
12 - 96
13 - 88
14 - 88
15 - 92
16 - 89
17 - 87
18 - 88
19 - 85
20 - 89
21 - 88
22 - Receiver would not allow testing 22
23 - 89
24 - 91
25 - Receiver would not allow testing 25
26 - Receiver would not allow testing 26
27 - 92
28 - Receiver would not allow testing 28
29 - Receiver would not allow testing 29
30 - 88
31 - 93


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## jbaker8679 (Jan 12, 2006)

as long as it doesnt drop below 30 on any transponder signals you all will be ok trust me i am a tech. So dont worry unless you start loosing chanels and you screen get surching for sat signal


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## trjam1257 (Dec 20, 2004)

Here in North Carolina, signal is about 70 to 80 on 129.


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## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

So my strength maxes out at about 71 on transponder 30. However, I happened to be looking at the signal on transponder 30 tonight in the "point dish" screen when it dropped and recovered. Was quite interesting to watch. First the strength is 71, then it fluctuates down into the upper 60's, then all of a sudden drops down to 36 and loses lock. The, a few seconds later it starts going back up, 1 - 2 points every couple of seconds like clockwork, slowly back up to 71. It never regains "lock", but as soon as I change transponders and go back to transponder 30 it's locked again, I'm guessing the screen just didn't update that it had locked back on.

How could this possibly be a problem with the installation???? 

I'm going to post this on my poll thread on the general dish forum as well.


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## dale2345 (Mar 19, 2005)

Rob Glasser said:


> So my strength maxes out at about 71 on transponder 30. However, I happened to be looking at the signal on transponder 30 tonight in the "point dish" screen when it dropped and recovered. Was quite interesting to watch. First the strength is 71, then it fluctuates down into the upper 60's, then all of a sudden drops down to 36 and loses lock. The, a few seconds later it starts going back up, 1 - 2 points every couple of seconds like clockwork, slowly back up to 71. It never regains "lock", but as soon as I change transponders and go back to transponder 30 it's locked again, I'm guessing the screen just didn't update that it had locked back on.
> 
> How could this possibly be a problem with the installation????
> 
> I'm going to post this on my poll thread on the general dish forum as well.


Rob,

I have noticed the exact same thing with my Dish 942/Dish 1000/Dish 500 setup. Dish even sent a tech out here (for the 3rd time since November) and he replaced the LNBF on my Dish 500/sat 129 in case it was degrading or cycling. No change in the satellite signal at all. He also temporarily connected a long cable through my door from the DPP44 to the back of my Dish 942 to see if my wiring might have been the problem. No change here either.

The Tp 30 signal strength does not cycle like something locally got in the signal path. I wonder if there is something wrong with this "old" Dish satellite and it is cycling in output power periodically.

I wonder if a larger dish antenna (24" or 30") would give a strong enough signal so that even during these rapid large power fluctuations the signal would remain barely high enough to retain lock?


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## OinkinOregon (Feb 19, 2006)

dale2345 said:


> Rob,
> 
> I have noticed the exact same thing with my Dish 942/Dish 1000/Dish 500 setup. Dish even sent a tech out here (for the 3rd time since November) and he replaced the LNBF on my Dish 500/sat 129 in case it was degrading or cycling. No change in the satellite signal at all. He also temporarily connected a long cable through my door from the DPP44 to the back of my Dish 942 to see if my wiring might have been the problem. No change here either.
> 
> ...


I will tell you tomorrow if a 24 inch Dish makes a difference. The installer is coming out tomorrow to install this larger dish. He has already told me that this has not worked at his office in Eugene, but it is what Dish wants him to do so they will do it.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I've been using 61.5° for HD but decided to swap it out for 129° to see what's there. I'm east of Chicago by a hundred miles or so - and am getting 129° on an old Dish500 with a DishPro LNB. The signal on TP30 has been sitting steady on 80 for the past few minutes.

I hope E* is able to do something about 129° - I am accustomed to seeing 100-125 on my signal strength meters - a satellite that delivers 80 on a good day isn't good.

And while I wrote this the Signal Strength drifted and is now at 82-83.


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## OinkinOregon (Feb 19, 2006)

James Long said:


> I've been using 61.5° for HD but decided to swap it out for 129° to see what's there. I'm east of Chicago by a hundred miles or so - and am getting 129° on an old Dish500 with a DishPro LNB. The signal on TP30 has been sitting steady on 80 for the past few minutes.
> 
> I hope E* is able to do something about 129° - I am accustomed to seeing 100-125 on my signal strength meters - a satellite that delivers 80 on a good day isn't good.
> 
> And while I wrote this the Signal Strength drifted and is now at 82-83.


I found this link while researching this online.

"3 TWTA had been replaced by spares as of Sep 2001. One of the 3 momentum wheels was lost in Jul 2001. The satellite is victim of solar arrays degradation. As of 31 dec 2002; 3 solar array strings have been lost (out of 96, 92 are required for full power). As of Jun 2003, 4 solar panels have failed."

http://www.tbs-satellite.com/tse/online/sat_echostar_5.html


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## Larry Kenney (Aug 19, 2005)

Here are my levels for 129 on a ViP 622 using a Dish 300 from San Francisco:
(these were taken about a week and a half ago when I first got my 622)

01 --- (no signal)
02 --- (no signal)
03 74
04 65
05 64
06 87
07 73 
08 65
09 --- (no signal)
10 86
11 72
12 81
13 67
14 72
15 75
16 66
17 72
18 71
19 72
20 67
21 61
22 --- (no signal)
23 73
24 --- (no signal)
25 --- (no signal)
26 --- (no signal)
27 73
28 --- (no signal)
29 --- (no signal)
30 73

I have only lost signal once and that was during a very heavy downpour.

Larry


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## DP1 (Sep 16, 2002)

James Long said:


> .
> 
> I hope E* is able to do something about 129° - I am accustomed to seeing 100-125 on my signal strength meters - a satellite that delivers 80 on a good day isn't good.


I'm one whose never gotten too caught up in the numbers of it for various reasons. I've never cared if my numbers show 85 as opposed to 115. Part of it is just cause where I live it's not like once a week we're talking measurable precipitation. Can go weeks on end without any. Another reason is because I tend to cobble stuff together sometimes so I cant expect the best sig strengths anyway.

Stoopid long cable runs.. sometimes with splices. Not usually bothering to use a bigger dish even if it would obviously help like in the case of the BEV 82 bird from where I'm at. Simply strapping an lnb to the to the side of the Dish500 I use for 82/91 to get 101 into the house for my ala carte D* NFL-ST package.. etc. In some of those cases we're talking way low (or well lower than they could be) signal strengths but I made my own bed.. and I get away with it cause thats just for "auxillary" programming that I just watch here and there. Obviously if the setup was truly problematic I would do something about it.

But anyway I agree that this 129 thing isnt good. Because even when setting it up "right" the strengths arent high enough in too many places. Certainly not when factoring in a margin for error. Not to mention these dropouts for those folks way up north and west.

Obviously if I'm gonna get a 622 it *will* be the receiver I use and rely on the most and to see some tp's be in the 60's no matter what I might do isnt cool. Especially *if* some of the glitches in the receiver could be tied to borderline signal strengths. Guess if 129 is too much hassle I'll just keep using 61.5 which is fine. But obviously 129 would be more desireable for the HD Locals for recording options. Or determine how to get all 4 birds in the mix if possible I guess.


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## precon1 (Jan 4, 2004)

I am having problems with HD 129 too. It locks up and then a reboot is required.
Vancouver, WA.


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## OinkinOregon (Feb 19, 2006)

I was fortunate enough today to have a line of sight clear enough to rein in the 61.5 Sat for my HD channels. I get a steady 80's signal on the odd transponders and get steady upper 60's on the even transponders. I hope that it is possible for you to get this Sat. if you have problems with the 129.


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## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

OinkinOregon said:


> I was fortunate enough today to have a line of sight clear enough to rein in the 61.5 Sat for my HD channels. I get a steady 80's signal on the odd transponders and get steady upper 60's on the even transponders. I hope that it is possible for you to get this Sat. if you have problems with the 129.


Over, unless they decide to put HD locals for your area on 129. Glad to see you could get 61.5. Hopefully those low 60's transponders won't cause you problems in bad weather.


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## lujan (Feb 10, 2004)

I spoke with my installer yesterday (the 921 because I don't have the 622 yet). He is going to install the 622 after 4/1 and we were talking about the low signal for 129. He said that as long as he gets a consistent 50 on transponders 27 and 30 for 129, there shouldn't be a problem with pixilation and dropouts. Anyone out there agree or disagree?


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## Cokeswigga (Jan 25, 2005)

I had a D1000 installed,
and then I found a D500 for $30 so I put that up, used the D500 for 110/119, and the D1000 for 129 only here are the before/after numbers:

Xponder-D1000/110/119/129-D1000/129
1-63-71
2-64-75
3-66-74
4-62-70
5-63-71
6-78-87
7-70-79
8-60-66
9-76-82
10-78-86
11-66-74
12-77-82
13-64-70
14-67-76
15-71-79
16-63-71
17-62-68
18-63-74
19-64-72
20-63-70
21-62-69
22-N/A
23-67-74
24-60-68
25-N/A
26-N/A
27-65-74
28-N/A
29-N/A
30-65-75
31-64-78


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## DP1 (Sep 16, 2002)

lujan said:


> I spoke with my installer yesterday (the 921 because I don't have the 622 yet). He is going to install the 622 after 4/1 and we were talking about the low signal for 129. He said that as long as he gets a consistent 50 on transponders 27 and 30 for 129, there shouldn't be a problem with pixilation and dropouts. Anyone out there agree or disagree?


Maybe if when he gets that consistent 50 it's during a pouring rainstorm.


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## pdxsam (Jun 20, 2004)

Anyone seeing weird stuff with 129 today? I've had great, well great for 129, signals here in Portland. Today my signal strength is down 20 points across the board. The transponder Gallery is on is registering at 49 when it consistently was in the mid 60's. Transpoder 30 is registering 53 when it was nearly 70.

It's a nice day here in Portland so I'm at a loss as to why it's happening.

Sam


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## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

pdxsam said:


> Anyone seeing weird stuff with 129 today? I've had great, well great for 129, signals here in Portland. Today my signal strength is down 20 points across the board. The transponder Gallery is on is registering at 49 when it consistently was in the mid 60's. Transpoder 30 is registering 53 when it was nearly 70.
> 
> It's a nice day here in Portland so I'm at a loss as to why it's happening.
> 
> Sam


Holy Cow, your not kidding. I just tried to view some 129 channels and I'm getting signal lost messages, checking Point Dish screen and most transponders are in the 30's and I can't get a lock. Definetly a Satellite issue going on.

Ok, their coming back now, transponder 30 is now back up to 47, but not climbing. Someone needs to take this bird out back and put out of it's misery. *Sigh*

Edit: Now back up to 52. Also wanted to know it's a nice calm Sunny day up here in Seattle too, no weather issues. Now at 54. Power slowly coming back online or something.


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## Mike Johnson (Jan 16, 2005)

I am also noting changing signal readings on 129 here in South Dakota. On average, using a 24-inch dish, my signal has been running around 75. I decided to order a 30-inch dish, which I installed today. I peaked the dish on transponder 17, which is where the "You have a Dish 1000" message is broadcast. I was able to max out the signal at a reasonable 96, which I was happy with. After putting my tools away, I found that the signal had dropped to a dismal 56. After about 30 minutes or so, the signal has slowly risen again to around 90. Weather is generally good today, with very light cloud cover.

I do agree with the idea that the numbers really don't matter that much as long as you can get a lock. But none of my other feeds from 61.5/110/119 vary a much as 129 does. It must be a issue with Echostar V. Maybe it's not staying in center of box very well. I wish I didn't have to bother with 129 as 61.5 works great for me, but unfortunately some of my locals are on 129.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

OinkinOregon said:


> My signal drops as low as 36 from a high of 72.


Here's my stats using a Dish1000 on 129W TP30 from 97304 for 13:30-13:51PST on 3/4/06:

started at 66 and slowly moved up until it was bouncing off of 73. Between 13:45 and 13:50, it spiraled down to 47 and lost lock a couple of times. At that point, TP6 was reading 70.

Here's the numbers for 13:55PST as quickly as I could run through them:

01 - 67
02 - 81
03 - 67
04 - 81
05 - 77
06 - 83
07 - 81
08 - 68
09 - 80
10 - 83
11 - 67
12 - 83
13 - 67
14 - 83
15 - 83
16 - 83
17 - 77
18 - 78
19 - 68
20 - 82
21 - 76
23 - 70
24 - 73
27 - 68
30 - 72
31 - 73


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## Cokeswigga (Jan 25, 2005)

At the risk of asking something stupid, 
but might it have somethings to do with solar/magnetic/radiation interference?


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## pdxsam (Jun 20, 2004)

Cokeswigga said:


> At the risk of asking something stupid,
> but might it have somethings to do with solar/magnetic/radiation interference?


Come to think of it it was about 1:05 or so Pacific time when this happened and I remember when I was glancing at the outage chart they were generally around 4pm eastern.

You are probably on to something!


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## DoyleS (Oct 21, 2002)

My transponder 30 reads 73-73 on a Dish 300. I have not seen the drop in signal that others have talked about but I haven't watched it for 20 minutes. Did about 5 minutes with variations of 1 point. When I peaked the dish this morning, I picked up about 4 points. The installer pretty much had it spot on when he turned my 148 dish. 

..Doyle


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## OinkinOregon (Feb 19, 2006)

Rob Glasser said:


> Over, unless they decide to put HD locals for your area on 129. Glad to see you could get 61.5. Hopefully those low 60's transponders won't cause you problems in bad weather.


At least it is over for now. I think it will be at least 2 years before they get the locals for Eugene up and by that time (fingers crossed) the 129 will have been replaced by something that works. In the mean time I am enjoying the Rave channel and finally have been able to watch a concert all the way through without resetting my receiver.


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## bavaria72 (Jun 10, 2004)

Interesting. I'm having a 1000 installed tomorrow. I think I will leave my 61.5 up for a few weeks until things settle down.


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## dirtydan (Dec 15, 2004)

pdxsam said:


> Come to think of it it was about 1:05 or so Pacific time when this happened and I remember when I was glancing at the outage chart they were generally around 4pm eastern.
> 
> You are probably on to something!


The solar outage was right around noon on the west coast.


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## GravelChan (Jan 30, 2005)

Mike Johnson said:


> I do agree with the idea that the numbers really don't matter that much as long as you can get a lock. But none of my other feeds from 61.5/110/119 vary a much as 129 does. It must be a issue with Echostar V. Maybe it's not staying in center of box very well. I wish I didn't have to bother with 129 as 61.5 works great for me, but unfortunately some of my locals are on 129.


For the time being at least (as long as you also have 61.5) can't you point at 148 rather than 129 for the (I'm assuming Sioux Falls here) locals? I assume at some point our locals on 148 will be turned off but they will have to move/swap a bunch of dishes before they do. Maybe by then they will have 129 working better.

Come April 1'th (swap 921 for 622) I have intended to keep 148 for CBS-HD and add a dish for 129. Would I be better off aiming for 61.5 rather than 129? Other than the fact that my present dishes are on the west side of the house and 61.5 would have to be on the east side I have an absolutely clear shot to the SE.


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## moman19 (Oct 22, 2004)

I live in Missouri and decided to swing my 300 dish from 61.5 to 129. Although signal strength was in the high eighties, I could not receive the 3 VOOM channels on Transponder 30. Got error banner stating I had signal loss or obstructions (none). All other channels were OK. Swung back to 61.5 and all was fine. Checked all conections.

Using a 622 with legacy 300 & 500 dishes & switches. Signal did not waiver while I monitored.


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## dale2345 (Mar 19, 2005)

Rob Glasser said:


> So my strength maxes out at about 71 on transponder 30. However, I happened to be looking at the signal on transponder 30 tonight in the "point dish" screen when it dropped and recovered. Was quite interesting to watch. First the strength is 71, then it fluctuates down into the upper 60's, then all of a sudden drops down to 36 and loses lock. The, a few seconds later it starts going back up, 1 - 2 points every couple of seconds like clockwork, slowly back up to 71. It never regains "lock", but as soon as I change transponders and go back to transponder 30 it's locked again, I'm guessing the screen just didn't update that it had locked back on.
> 
> How could this possibly be a problem with the installation????
> 
> I'm going to post this on my poll thread on the general dish forum as well.


I have encountered the same exact problems that Rob posted here. I have tried lots of experiments; temporarily bypassing my DPP44 switch and running from the DishPro dual to my 942, bypassing the DPP44 and running from a Dish legacy LNB to my 6000 (wasn't being used). All of my tests ended exactly the same with periodic regular signal reductions to the 30's so that the signal is lost.

I received my 622 yesterday (for an April 1 install) and I also received a Fortec 80cm satellite dish I had ordered. I stripped the plastic covering for a DishPro dual LNB and mounted it on the Fortec LNB holder (round). The focal length of this dish is supposed to be 492mm (19 3/8"). Does anyone on the forum know where I measure this (from the front of the LNB to ??? on the dish itself)? Measured perpendicular to the LNB the nearest I can adjust it to the dish surface is 20 3/8 (510mm). I'm anxious to see how this works with my new 622.


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## moman19 (Oct 22, 2004)

Why bother? Either that bird is going to die or be replaced. You shouldn't need a 100 foot dish to pick up RAVE.


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