# 129W Signal Strength



## baudo219 (Jan 21, 2007)

Hello all. I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area, particularly Corinth, TX (about 25 miles north of dallas-76208), and recently had a DISH 1000 install on February 8. I have since encountered an issue with the signal strength on 129W. My 110W and 119W signal strength range from 90-100, but 129 is holding steady from 55-65 on ALL transponders. Is this something that I could easily fix myself by adjusting the satellite (which I am a little apprehensive about doing) or would it be better to contact DISH to have a tech come out and tweak it a little. Or is this something that is normal? My HD channels have horrible reception, but my HD OTA channels look fine. All of the VOOM channels are having problems as well. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

I had the same problem after my install. I initially had a Dish 500 pointed to 110 & 119 and a separate dish pointed at 61.5. The installer removed the 61.5 dish and installed a Dish 1000. My 129 signal strength was like yours. I contacted Dish and they sent out a tech who put the 61.5 dish back up and pointed it to 129. I have one more dish than I wanted but now I'm getting signal strength in the upper 80's. Dish was very accommodating and willing to do what it took to make it right.


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## Red Dwarf (Aug 25, 2002)

The problem on the West coast is even worse. Even with a seperate dish 500 pointed at 129 I was in the low 60s to high 50s. I changed it out to a 31" dish and got a 30 point boost. 
As a side note I just had my Dish Pro Plus LNB replaced by Dish under the Home protection plan. The tech at 1st refused to work on the problem because "I had modified the installation." After a call to the office I convinced them the 31" dish had nothing to do with the problem and I had used their LNB. So they finally fixed the problem.


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## ChuckA (Feb 7, 2006)

In Dallas with my single Dish 1000 the transponders on 129 range from the 60's to the 90's. Most are in the 80's. 110 and 119 are in the 90's/100's. So, I would think your dish could be peeked better for 129 unless your site has something in the line of sight.


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## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

Red Dwarf said:


> ...I changed it out to a 31" dish and got a 30 point boost...


I switched to a Winegard 30" dish. The extra 30 points makes a very big difference here. With the worst of rain fade, my lowest signal only falls to the mid 60's (with the Dish 500 or Dish 1000 would fall to the 30's).


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## whatchel1 (Jan 11, 2006)

I have a .8 meter Channel Master Dish on 129 and get most all stations well. I do get pixelation on the Kansas City OTA's via sat at times.


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## Guitar1969 (Oct 19, 2006)

I had the same problem on my inital install in Dec - My 129swere mainly in the low 50s and 60s. I would just call Dish and have them do it since they didn't do their job to begin with. When you call, be ready to give them all the signals on all the transponders, and tell them the results your getting.

Since I had mine fixed its been greast(except for the audi issues)


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## himini (Feb 13, 2007)

I typically have signals in the 50s and 60s on 129 when it's clear, and sure enough I had HD channels dropping out when it rained heavily the other night. But when I went through the various transponders one time, I noticed that a few of them had very high signals. Does this mean that the low signal strength on most transponders is normal? Does this have something to do with spot beams?

Scheduling an installer to come out here has always been problematic, so I want to make sure that there truly is a problem first; after all, it could have been a coincidence that I lost the satellite signal the other night. Can anyone explain the deal with the transponders, or give me an idea on how high my signal strength should be on, say, transponder 27 for example? Should _all_ of them be high? I live in the outlying Sacramento area. Thanks for any help or suggestions.


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## Dishguy2001 (Feb 10, 2007)

Granted if you have locals on the 129 you must keep it but in Upstate SC our locals went from the 61.5 to the 129 then to 119 sats.

All HD programing that is not on the 119 sat is on the 61.5 sat. your can check which channel is on which sat and tranponder by going to that channel then pressing menu-6-1-1 it will show you what it is on normally. but the 61.5 sat always comes in clear and you can run a cable to the in port of a DPPlus or to one input of a 34 switch or keep the 129 and add 61.5 with the 44 switch


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## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

himini said:


> I typically have signals in the 50s and 60s on 129 when it's clear, and sure enough I had HD channels dropping out when it rained heavily the other night. But when I went through the various transponders one time, I noticed that a few of them had very high signals. Does this mean that the low signal strength on most transponders is normal? Does this have something to do with spot beams?
> 
> Scheduling an installer to come out here has always been problematic, so I want to make sure that there truly is a problem first; after all, it could have been a coincidence that I lost the satellite signal the other night. Can anyone explain the deal with the transponders, or give me an idea on how high my signal strength should be on, say, transponder 27 for example? Should _all_ of them be high? I live in the outlying Sacramento area. Thanks for any help or suggestions.


Welcome to DBSTalk himini. 129 Signal strength issues, especially on the west coast, more so the more north you are, are an ongoing problem. If you search through the Dish forums here you'll find countless threads on this problem. Basically 1 - 2 times an hour the signals for 129 drop off, for us up here in the Pacific Northwest it can be 40 - 50 points on some transponders. If you don't have a high enough starting strength you get dropouts on those channels. The only 'fix' for this at this time is to put a separate and/or bigger dish pointing at 129.


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## himini (Feb 13, 2007)

Thanks so much for the help, Rob. I did start seeing lots of references to the problem after a little more searching. I guess I'll be calling them to request a dedicated dish for 129. I was sad to find out that legacy LNBs wouldn't work with the DishPro switches because I do have an old dish I wanted to try out on my own. Getting an installer to come out here before the 12th of Never isn't easy. Thanks again!


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## david803sc (Jun 22, 2006)

Does Dish have any plans to replace the satellite at 129?

If not do they have any plans to launch new sats this year? and if so for which orbital location?

Is the 118.75 a new satellite or an old one they moved there?

David


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## mganga (Dec 4, 2006)

himini said:


> Thanks so much for the help, Rob. I did start seeing lots of references to the problem after a little more searching. I guess I'll be calling them to request a dedicated dish for 129. I was sad to find out that legacy LNBs wouldn't work with the DishPro switches because I do have an old dish I wanted to try out on my own. Getting an installer to come out here before the 12th of Never isn't easy. Thanks again!


its me, himini! himini!


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