# Signal Loss on 61.5



## Mike109 (Jun 28, 2010)

Dish changed the LNB today in hopes of fixing my problem of "Missing beginning of programs" as mentioned in this thread.
http://www.dbstalk.com/topic/181758-missing-beginning-of-programs/

Long story short - About 2 weeks ago when I did a Menu>6>1>3 System Info, I got a Red "X" for the 61.5 satellite. 77 and 72 were Green. I thought maybe there was rain somewhere causing this because a day or two later I checked again & thought 61.5 had changed to Green. It could have changed to Yellow but don't think so because I was not concerned at that time. Either way I never had a problem receiving any program. Could I have just been lucky?

I already had a new 722k DVR coming & replaced it on 5-25-2013 & still had random instances of missed beginnings of recordings. I was now getting a Yellow 61.5 satellite signal strength.

Dish came out today & changed the LNB. But I still get either a Red "X" or Yellow for the 61.5 satellite. The tech did a Check Switch & unplugged the DVR a couple times, but to no avail. We checked numerous times & it's always either Red or Yellow.

The tech checked a few other Menu screens & said everything is OK & it may just take a while for 61.5 to reset. Obviously I don't feel confident that anything was fixed because going back a few months ago I always got all Green for all 3 satellites. Has something happened to 61.5?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

what tpns and what SS you have on each ?


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## Mike109 (Jun 28, 2010)

P Smith said:


> what tpns and what SS you have on each ?


What is tpns & where do I find it?

I presume SS is signal strength. If I go to Menu>6>1>1 it displays SS for Tuner 1 & 2 and 32 Transponders. Do you want readings from all of the Transponders?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

yes, please; one tuner is enough, but if you wish spend one more minute - go ahead


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## Mike109 (Jun 28, 2010)

Transponder #1 =49, #2 =57, #3 =63, #4 =65, #5 =53, #6 =52, #7 =52, #8 =48, #9 =53, #10 =66, #11 =55, #12 =54, #13 =52, #14 =54, #15 =53, #16 =42, #17 =67.

Then it gets interesting. Initially it looked like TP #18 and higher were all 0. But as I waited most of them changed in about 15 to 30 seconds. And frequently the "Transponder" heading changed to "Spotbeam".

Transponder #18 changed to "Spotbeam" and the SS was 52. I timed this & it took about 40 seconds for the change to occur.

TP #19 stayed at 0 for a minute.
TP #20 changed to "Spotbeam" and the SS was 48, and this also took about 40 seconds.
TP #21 took a while & eventually had a SS =10, however it remained labeled "Transponder".
TP #22 eventually changed to "Spotbeam" & SS =35.
TP #23 eventually changed to "Spotbeam" & SS =10.
TP #24 eventually changed to "Spotbeam" & SS =27.
TP #25 eventually had a SS =10, however it remained labeled "Transponder".
TP #26 appeared normal with a SS =32.
TP #27 stayed at 0.
TP #28 eventually changed to "Spotbeam" & SS =20
TP #29 eventually had a SS =2, however it remained labeled "Transponder".
TP #30 changed to "Spotbeam" and the SS was 50, and this took about 40 seconds.
TP #31 eventually had a SS =3, however it remained labeled "Transponder".
TP #32 appeared normal with a SS =46.

I was looking at this listing.
http://uplink.jameslong.name/chan615.html

I presume 18s55 means TP#18, Spotbeam 55. Would that be correct?
These are my local major networks which I get without any problem. Any idea why it takes 40 seconds for the SS figure to come up?

Putting some parts of the puzzle together it appears the Menu>6>1>1Transponder & satellite numbers are for the currently tuned in channel. Is that correct?

I was just doing the Menu>6>1>3 system info to see if anything changed. It has.
Now 77 has a Red "X", 72 is Green, and 61.5 is Yellow.

Ran it again & got 77 Green, 72 Green, and 61.5 Yellow.

No rain over my house but the weather map show some in the Midwest, so I'm presuming & hoping the Red 77 was due to rain somewhere.

But 61.5 used to be Green whenever I checked it, but not anymore. So I am concerned. Any thoughts would be appreciated.


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## RBA (Apr 14, 2013)

Contact DIRT and get a *"QUALIFIED"* technician out to service your system.


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## Mike109 (Jun 28, 2010)

Here's some interesting data. I compared a few of my SS to two other people, both on the EA. One is my neighbor which has an HD receiver only and a friend with a 722k about 20 miles away.

I chose sat 72 because I seem to have more clipped recordings with it than other sats.
On transponders #16 & #32, I get 43-45 SS, neighbor gets 53, further away friend gets 37.

On 61.5, transponder 18, we all get 52 SS. This has our local networks.
However doing a System Info, I get either Red or Yellow, neighbor gets Yellow, further away friend gets Green.

All 3 systems were installed by the same dealer, & my 20 mile away friend & mine were done by the same installer.

I don't know if my neighbor's receiver gives different readings than a DVR gives, but the Menu interface looks the same. He's not sure how Dish connected the coax, but both of our townhouses are the same & have 4 way splitters that used to be connected to the outside & fed by Comcast. It's possible Dish just disconnected the cable outside & conncted the satellie feed which means he would have a 7dB loss on the input to his receiver. But that's a presumption. Either way he has a higher SS than I do, and I had Dish directly run the coax to the DVR. And the same for my 20 mile friend.

I'm not sure where to go from here. Does Dish normally adjust the dish favoring one sat over another?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

if required tilt (say pole/J is not plumb ) is not by book, then it is possible; quality of LNBF; how F-connectors done; coax cable/barrels wet inside; bad DPP switch; voltage at the switch is low; water in LNBF; ... I can go on further...


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## Mike109 (Jun 28, 2010)

Here's what I think might be happening. I used to get all 3 satellites showing Green in System Info. My friend 20 miles west of me still does. Both of us had EA 1000.4 systems installed by the same tech.

But now 61.5 in Sys Info is either Yellow or Red. A tech came out said it was an LNB problem & installed a new LNB & peaked the original dish but it made no difference. He looked at Check Switch & SS & everything was OK, but had no explanation why I had Yellow or Red for 61.5.

I looked at my neighbor's Sys Info & it also displayed Yellow for 61.5 on his EA 1000.4 system.

A second tech came out & said the Yellow or Red did not mean anything.

However my buddy 20 miles west of me stills gets Green, but my neighbor & I get Yellow or Red. Again I used to get Green.

A third tech came out & said there was a problem & peaked my 1000.4 dish again but it made no difference. He suggested trying the newer 1000.2 dish with the double LNB. I agreed. But again this made no difference on 61.5 but it did give me a stronger SS on 72.

I then wondered if I was on the fringe area of a transponder that I really was not supposed to receive. And since it was a weak signal it displayed as a problem.

From what I can determine all my locals are on 61.5, TPs 18 and 20. I looked at this coverage map.
http://jameslong.name/e615s.html

It appears TPs 18 and 20 use Spotbeam 55 for my Chicagoland area. And that TPs 19 and 21 use Spotbeam 54 for Michigan. However Spotbeam 54 looks like it comes right up to the eastern edge of Chicago. And I'm about 20 miles west of that.

If I go to Menu 6-1-1, TP 19 has no signal but TP 21 fluctuates between 9 to 14 SS which is Red to Yellow on the SS status bar. And this coincides with my Red or Yellow in System Info. Perhaps I am picking up a weak fringe signal from TP54 which then indicates a weak signal in Sys Info. Even though I'm not authorized to view the contents of TP21 my dish is still picking up the weak signal. Just like I do not subscribe to any foreign programming on sat 77 yet the System Info still shows I'm receiving its signal (or at least it did when I had the 1000.4 dish).

My friend 20 miles from me checked & on TP21 he gets a SS of 29 with a Green status bar. And that coincides with him getting Green in Sys Info.

Does that make sense so far?

What I don't understand is why my friend 20 miles west of me would get a stronger SS on TP21 than I do, yet he is further away from its Spotbeam 54. I was thinking he would get zero. Of course I could be getting a fringe signal from a different TP. Maybe TP28, Spotbeam 34. Or TP31, Spotbeam 12. IOW a Spotbeam that is west of me. I'll have to check this out.

And why when I go to Menu 6-1-1 Check Switch & look at details I get all Green indicators which mean everything is OK, yet System Info shows otherwise?

I started nosing around because of my "Missing beginning of programs" problem. However this happens on sat 61.5, sat 72, and OTA recordings.
http://www.dbstalk.com/topic/181758-missing-beginning-of-programs/

FWIW I have no problem receiving my locals on 61.5.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I would go with Spectrum Analyzer, third party receiver like Skywalker to investigate the problem ...but I'm too far from you.


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