# Single Dish for 129 - Best way to go?



## Canondave (Feb 1, 2006)

Best Way to go?

I'm looking for advice on my two options. I have a Dish1000 installed and a Dish500 sitting in the shed.

With the current setup, after peaking for hours, the best I can get is: :nono2: 

110 - 74pts (on trans 21)

119 - 82pts (on trans 21)

129 - 61pts (on trans 21)


Should I use my extra 500 for 110 & 119 and then the 1000 for 129 only? (LNB on center position)

Or should I peak the 1000 for the best 110-119 and use the 500 for 129? (using "I" adapter)

Pro's and Con's of each option?

Thanks


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## DP1 (Sep 16, 2002)

Well unless theres something weird about the Dish 1000 pan that would make it exempt from the notion that bigger is better when it comes to gain and such when just looking at a single slot, it only seems logical to me that one would use that dish for 129. I just dont see how it could be worse than using the 500 dish. And thats the weakest sat of the bunch.

Unless you were in a situation where you werent seeing numbers that you'd like to see on 110/119 with a 500 for whatever reason in the first place. Then I might flip flop em. But if your 110/119 numbers used to be perfectly fine...


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## Cokeswigga (Jan 25, 2005)

I would love to see a comparison of

129 on a D500
vs.
129 on D1000

and 
110/119 on D500
vs.
110/119 on D1000

If you want to do this first, please do it! I would love to see the numbers. As I have the same prediciment :

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=53879

I will be trying this myself, But I have to wait until I have a nice day, and nobody is at home.


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## pajer (Jan 9, 2004)

just thinking out loud here, but i noticed on a dish 1000 when you are looking at the birds from the rear of the dish the lnb's are from left to right the 129, 119, and then the 110 on the right, even though the birds are lined up in the sky as 110,119, 129 left to right. would it make a difference for the better or for the worse if you were to flip-flop the 129 and 110 lnb so that it is 110, 119 129 left to right?


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## Cokeswigga (Jan 25, 2005)

pajer said:


> just thinking out loud here, but i noticed on a dish 1000 when you are looking at the birds from the rear of the dish the lnb's are from left to right the 129, 119, and then the 110 on the right, even though the birds are lined up in the sky as 110,119, 129 left to right. would it make a difference for the better or for the worse if you were to flip-flop the 129 and 110 lnb so that it is 110, 119 129 left to right?


Think of it like a mirror, since the signal reflects off the dish, the signals cross paths right before the lnb and switch sides


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## rbyers (Jan 15, 2004)

I can't compare the D1000 to the D500. But, I do have 2 D500s, 1 for 110/119 the other for 129. I'd have to check the 110/119 SS, but know that it's mostly well over 100. The SS on 129 varies from 67 to 83 depending on the transponder. I get all of the Voom channels quite well, and haven't observed any rain fade during the Dec/Jan/Feb storms.


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

Had a Dish 1000 installed a few weeks ago. Most 129 transponders had a strength of about 65. The highest was about 76. This was in the Los Angeles area. Just had a Dish 500 installed (so much for Charlie's one dish solution) dedicated to 129. Signal strengths increased 10 to 15 points for 129. The lowest is now about 76 and had a few transponders close to 90. Clearly the crippled bird at 129 does not have guts to provide adequate signal strength for 129 with a Dish 1000.

If anyone with poor signal strength on 129 is willing to have an additional Dish on their roof, get a separate Dish 500 for 129 and use a Dish 1000 or 500 for 110 and 119. If you can only have a Dish 1000 and need 129, good luck.


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## DP1 (Sep 16, 2002)

Be interesting to see if your reboot issues subside some, Jerry. Not thats theres any proof of it but I wonder if once in a while if the unit is on a tp with marginal sig strength if that might trigger one. Seems like OTA ss might have done it to guys sometimes.

Unless you already know you were tuned to 110/119 with both tuners more often than not when they occured.


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

DP1 said:


> Be interesting to see if your reboot issues subside some, Jerry. Not thats theres any proof of it but I wonder if once in a while if the unit is on a tp with marginal sig strength if that might trigger one. Seems like OTA ss might have done it to guys sometimes.
> 
> Unless you already know you were tuned to 110/119 with both tuners more often than not when they occured.


That idea has occurred to me. At least some of the reboots have been when watching Uni HD. I'll be keeping an eye on the reboots now that I have a better signal from 129. My gut feeling is that the reboots aren't related to 129's low signal strength, but we'll see what happens.


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## Red Dwarf (Aug 25, 2002)

The cheapest bet is the 500 with an "I" adapter








They cost about $8 and put a single LNB in the middle of the 500. 
I went ahead and installed a larger dish!









My signal strength here in So. Cal is 93 on transponder #10


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

Red Dwarf said:


> My signal strength here in So. Cal is 93 on transponder #10


Just checked trans 10 on 129 with the Dish 500. It's reading 91.


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## dkjohn (Feb 22, 2006)

This a newbie ? but does the transponder always go to the stongest signal in other word when you change the channel does it look for the strongest transponder on its own.


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## DP1 (Sep 16, 2002)

Given channels are always on given transponders. Like say RAVE is on 30 and RUSH is on 3. So when you select a particular channel, the receiver switches to the transponder that the channel is located on.


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## dkjohn (Feb 22, 2006)

Can you change the transponder and make it stick if you get a better picture on a certain one.


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

dkjohn said:


> Can you change the transponder and make it stick if you get a better picture on a certain one.


No. As DP1 mentioned, a given channel is assigned to a given transponder. You can't move a channel to different transponder. To do that you'd have to change the frequency of the channel. Dish can move a given channel to a different transponder, but you can't.


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

dkjohn said:


> Can you change the transponder and make it stick if you get a better picture on a certain one.


Think of your local broadcast TV. You get perfect reception on ch 5 but want to watch a show on ch 12 which comes in snowy. You're stuck until Dish moves channels around to ease compression (fewer channels) or make stat mux easier (a different mix of high and low action channels). See http://ekb.dbstalk.com/43#2.


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## GravelChan (Jan 30, 2005)

I think you guys are missing dkjohn's question. For instance, Rave is on both 61.5 and 129, right? So if I was receiving both of these sats which one does the receiver pick? Is Rave assigned a different channel number for each sat?


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

GravelChan said:


> I think you guys are missing dkjohn's question. For instance, Rave is on both 61.5 and 129, right? So if I was receiving both of these sats which one does the receiver pick? Is Rave assigned a different channel number for each sat?


I don't think that is what he is asking. It appears he doesn't quite understand that channels are assigned a specific transponder (frequency) on a given satellite and that only Dish can change this assignment.

Regarding the duplicated HD channels on 129 and 61.5, I believe they have the same channel number. Older software apparently couldn't deal with this very well if you're seeing both birds, but the newer software can. Apparently there is an algorithm or some process the software uses to determine which bird the receiver will use to view one of the duplicated channels, but no one seems to know what that is or if the user can chose which bird it want to receive that channel from.


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## dkjohn (Feb 22, 2006)

GravelChan said:


> I think you guys are missing dkjohn's question. For instance, Rave is on both 61.5 and 129, right? So if I was receiving both of these sats which one does the receiver pick? Is Rave assigned a different channel number for each sat?


You nailed what I was trying to say exactly. I have just gotten into HDTV on dish but it seems like they are slow to respond to complaints and the customer service reps are clueless they just answer the phone I have not tried the HDMI connection yet will do it tonight but component looks fantastic although some program seem to be just a little bit better than SDTV I have a 42inch Plasma 1024x768 with the Vip 211 box.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

GravelChan said:


> I think you guys are missing dkjohn's question. For instance, Rave is on both 61.5 and 129, right? So if I was receiving both of these sats which one does the receiver pick? Is Rave assigned a different channel number for each sat?


Rave is given the same number on both satellites. I'm not sure if anyone has figured out the picking order for channels like that (same number - multiple sats). But one thing for sure --- the customer doesn't pick between satellites and transponders - the receiver does that for you.

Some quick testing:
*DPP44 with 129° on Input 3 and 61.5° on Input 4*
Tune to mirrored Voom channel then press Menu-6-1-1 to get to signal strength screen.
(Signal strength screen defaults to the current channel's transponder and satellite and is a good way of telling where you are getting the feed from.)
Signal used is from 61.5°

*DPP44 with 61.5° on Input 3 and 129° on Input 4*
Signal used is from 61.5°

Apparently E* is favoring 61.5° - at least on my receiver. (I don't have access to 148° so I can't speak to what my receiver would choose between those two.) In any case, it's not something the user can choose.


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## Red Dwarf (Aug 25, 2002)

So if one is better on one satellite or the other the end user can't choose. Why not get them different channel numbers? Isn't there a difference in resolutions for the same channel on different satellites?


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## MikeP (Mar 15, 2003)

I tried using a 24" dish to pick up 129, and kept getting stuck on the 119 signal. According to my compass, it looks like I'm aiming for 129. I'm in the 92660 zip code, pointing the dish toward 186 degrees and a 48 elevation. I called Dish tech support and the guy told me I could ONLY pick up 129 with a Dish 1000. I know this isn't correct based on what I've read here. 

Should I use a larger dish than the 24"? Also, I only have a 301 receiver right now, but I should have a 211 by mid week. Is 301 capable of detecting 129?? Thanks!


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Red Dwarf said:


> So if one is better on one satellite or the other the end user can't choose. Why not get them different channel numbers? Isn't there a difference in resolutions for the same channel on different satellites?


There should be no difference between the feeds on 61.5° and 129°. There are a couple of feeds (SHO and HBO) on 148° that are reported to be at a higher bandwidth than their replacements on 110° - they have their own numbers 9430 and 9440 respectively.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

MikeP said:


> I tried using a 24" dish to pick up 129, and kept getting stuck on the 119 signal. According to my compass, it looks like I'm aiming for 129.


Perhaps your compass is magnetic and the aiming numbers you have are not. Go 9° or so to the west and down a little from a good lock on 119° and you should get 129° (barring any local obstructions).


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## moman19 (Oct 22, 2004)

Although my Dsih 300 works well picking up 61.5, I'm having issues with transponder 30 when I swing it over to 129. Any suggestions.

I live in St. Louis. Signal strength is about the same on both with no obstructions. Is a 300 too small?


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## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

moman19 said:


> Although my Dsih 300 works well picking up 61.5, I'm having issues with transponder 30 when I swing it over to 129. Any suggestions.
> 
> I live in St. Louis. Signal strength is about the same on both with no obstructions. Is a 300 too small?


Welcome to the club. A lot of people are having problems with 129, and especially transponder 30. Here is a poll I posted on the general Dish forum a couple weeks ago: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=53697

At this point I have to hope it's a problem with the Satellite and they'll be able to fix/replace it.


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## Canondave (Feb 1, 2006)

WOW  

I got my D500 with "I" adapter installed and peaked for 129.

20 point boost on every transponder compaired to D1000.

Low 80's now.

Yes, even on transponder 30.

Was well worth the trouble.


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

I wonder if the azimuth is the culprit on the dish 1000? 

When I installed mine I had problems with the signal being low. I adjusted my azimuth by trial and error and I got a 75-85 signal on the 129 satellite depending on the transponders they were on at the time. OF course my strengths on the 110 and 119 satellites dropped down to 85- 90 strength. But I get no break ups over video unless it is severly raining at the time. ON the transponder 30 on the 129 sat I get a 76 -77 strength solid. 

I followed the directions that came with the dish 1000 and did exactly what it said for elevation and skew. The azmuith is the only thing I couldn't adjust by the manual since the dish doesn't have it marked clearly like the skew and the elevation. I also used a electronic satellite finder that made my job much easier.


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## Canondave (Feb 1, 2006)

Now time to work on the D1000 now.

Does anyone know if the "Y" adapter off of a Dish500 will fit on a D1000 in place of the "W" one.

Will centering the 110 & 119 LNB's on the D1000 help much ya think?


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