# 129 Satellite - Weak Signal



## pmsmith66 (Feb 13, 2003)

I have a 1000.2 dish and the signal strength off the 129 satellite is lowsy. At best, I'm seeing strength on channels I watch of around 54-55 and it often dips into the high 40's. This compares to strengths in the low to mid 60's on the 110 and 119 satellites. The result of this weak signal is that I'm struggling with pixelization fairly frequently (multiple times daily) on the HD channels off of the 129 slot. Many of my recordings are corrupted and some are missed entirely. For example, last night my wife wanted to kill me because Dancing With The Stars wasn't recorded on Monday night off the local ABC HD feed (005-00). The daily schedule stated "SIGNAL" as the reason for the missed recording.

Can I get some help from you guys regarding whether you believe the signal strength I'm getting SHOULD be enough to avoid the pixelization problems? I had a tech come out and he acted like this was the best strength I could expect to get. It's hard to believe Dish expects customers to accept this kind of weak picture. Ciel-2 is up and running...correct? I was hoping this would help my signal strength but no luck.

As background...I've had Dish at this home for the past 6+ years and never had issues until roughly 6 months ago. The problems have been increasingly worse. The tech moved my dish claiming possible line of site issues and it did no good whatsoever. The tech is stumped and has no suggestions. Any thoughts?

Just in case it helps:

129
Spotbeam 1 23
Spotbeam 2 43
Spot 3 34
Trans 4 0
Trans 5 50
Trans 6 0
Spot 7 15
Trans 8 26
Trans 9 0
Spot 10 28
Trans 11 57
Spot 12 37
Spot 13 56
Spot 14 64
Spot 15 61
Spot 16 62
Trans 17 52
Trans 18 50
Trans 19 48
Trans 20 51
Trans 21 64
Trans 22 48
Trans 23 49
Trans 24 52
Trans 25 49
Trans 26 51
Trans 27 51
Trans 28 53
Trans 29 50
Trans 30 48


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## dsp81 (Apr 12, 2008)

Do you have any obstructions in the line of sight for the 129 satellite? You can check the LOS for 129 using http://www.dishpointer.com.

If you are pulling good signal on 110 and 119, then the skew on the dish is probably pretty close. I actually had the same problem with a 1000.4 in Utah. I had good signal on 61.5 but weak signal on 72.7 and 77. Couldn't get it above 25 on 77 - no matter how I tweaked the dish. I ended up switching to 2 500's pointed at 110/119 and 61.5.

If you're up for it and you have MPEG4 capable equipment with new Smart Cards, you could try going with a 1000.4 dish instead of the 1000.2. Your locals are on both 129 and 61.5


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## dsp81 (Apr 12, 2008)

BTW - I have tested a wing dish pointed at 129 and got signal levels less than what you see and had no problems. Your locals are on Spot 13 and 56 was higher than any level that I got.


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

Your pointing is off just a hair, the signals should be a lot closer together and some just a bit higher.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

While your signals are *slightly* low, they're pretty close. Keep in mind that on the "modified meter", everything reads 35-40 points low, so you're seeing signals that are equivalent to 85-90 on most transponders. Unless your dish is moving around in the wind a lot, your issues aren't related to your signal strength.


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## pmsmith66 (Feb 13, 2003)

IIP said:


> While your signals are *slightly* low, they're pretty close. Keep in mind that on the "modified meter", everything reads 35-40 points low, so you're seeing signals that are equivalent to 85-90 on most transponders. Unless your dish is moving around in the wind a lot, *your issues aren't related to your signal strength*.


This is what I was concerned about. I'm not sure where to go from here. I'm using a DPP44 switch with Separators to feed 2 622's and 1 612. They all have the same symptoms. I'm also feeding an additional DP34 switch which feeds the basement and handles another 612 and a 508. The 612 off the 34 switch also has the exact same symptoms. Does anyone see a compatibility issue or something that I'm too clueless to see? The tech spent 2 hours here the other day and checked all connections and lines. My check switch runs just fine on all receivers. The quality of the picture is NOT acceptable so I have to get this figured out. I'm getting shrugged shoulders from the tech. Anything????


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## dsp81 (Apr 12, 2008)

I've read that some have experienced problems trying to cascade switches. Are you running three lines from the 1000.2 into the DPP44? Or a single from the 1000.2 to the DPP44.

You can also try to remove the switches and see if that's where the problem originates. You can feed 3 dual tuner receivers off the 1000.2. Try disconnecting the switches and run directly to the 622/622/612. If you don't have any problems, try hooking the DPP44 without the DP34 and run a test. Eliminate the possible problems.


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