# Signal strength on the 722?



## pjmystic (Nov 15, 2007)

I got hooked up this weekend and am not completely happy w/ my picture at times as it tends to go in and out a bit. We haven't had any bad weather either. 

Can someone tell me what I'm looking for in terms of signal strength? Or a test to know if I have a good signal? I'm assuming it's in the Menu under System Setup somewhere but once I get there, I wouldn't know what a good signal strength would be.

Thanks.


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## ChuckA (Feb 7, 2006)

Look under Menu 6-1-1, point dish. The signal strength will be different for different sats. They recently changed the scale so the numbers now are lower than they used to be. You should see a green, yellow or red color indicating how strong the signal is. If you see the 129 sat, it has much lower signal numbers than 110 or 119.


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

pjmystic said:


> I got hooked up this weekend and am not completely happy w/ my picture at times as it tends to go in and out a bit. We haven't had any bad weather either.
> 
> Can someone tell me what I'm looking for in terms of signal strength? Or a test to know if I have a good signal? I'm assuming it's in the Menu under System Setup somewhere but once I get there, I wouldn't know what a good signal strength would be.
> 
> Thanks.


Are you seeing your picture problem on specific channels? Mostly HD? If it's mostly HD, check your strength on satellite 129. Different transponders will show different strengths. Go to a channel that you're having problems with and then go to the Point Dish screen. This will give you the signal strength of that particular channel. As noted, satellite 129 will show a slightly lower strength than 110 or 119. Report back on your findings.


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## pjmystic (Nov 15, 2007)

Thanks to both. It's mainly on HD channels yes. I'm at work so I won't be able to do a test until tonight but will report back my findings.


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## dbrakob (Apr 26, 2006)

I live in Oregon and recently my Dish got bumped around in a windstorm. I was having periodic dropouts of 110 and 119. When I did the PointDish screen it was at 30 (just barely green) and when I had dropouts it was around 22. They came and realigned the dish and now it is at 60. Still seems low but NO dropouts in 3 weeks which has included some pretty dramatic rain storms. Hope the numbers help a little.


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## pjmystic (Nov 15, 2007)

110 signal strength around 57
119 signal strength around 75
129 signal strength around 30

These seem to vary slightly depending on what channel I'm on. Does the channel matter? (Just re-read TulsaOK's post and I see that channel does matter.) These numbers seem pretty low to me, especially the 30. Are there some low end acceptable numbers?

If you look at the Help screen on the Point Dish screen though, it says "_The signal strength eter has been modified with a recent software upgrade for improved performance. This change may cause the signal strength to apear lower than in the past. The actual signal received has not changed, and the operation of your receiver will not be affected."_

Thoughts?


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## lujan (Feb 10, 2004)

pjmystic said:


> 110 signal strength around 57
> 119 signal strength around 75
> 129 signal strength around 30
> 
> ...


Yes, the 30 seems pretty low to me. The signal strength will also depend on what transponder your on as well. If you change the transponder, the signal will change even on the same satellite.

I think the reason for the "Help" message is because E* changed the OTA signal strength meter a while back from 0 - 125 to 0 - 100. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.


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## pjmystic (Nov 15, 2007)

Any other thoughts?


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## racton1 (Nov 7, 2007)

pjmystic said:


> Any other thoughts?


When I had my DVR 722 installed with the DISH 1000.2, the tech said to add 30 or 40 points to the signal strength, especially for Sat 129. The best he got while he was here was 64. It has since gone down to 40 or so. He said he has installed dishes in the middle of a field with no trees and hadn't been able to get a good signal on sat 129.


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## bartendress (Oct 8, 2007)

racton1 said:


> When I had my DVR 722 installed with the DISH 1000.2, the tech said to add 30 or 40 points to the signal strength, especially for Sat 129. The best he got while he was here was 64. It has since gone down to 40 or so. He said he has installed dishes in the middle of a field with no trees and hadn't been able to get a good signal on sat 129.


While the 'add 30 or 40 points' deal sounds like some level of BS... I have several TP's on 129 showing 30 on the meter and I've yet to drop a signal.

In fact, the FOX network feed into the E* _uplink _is less stable than the channels I get from the TP's on 129. (Their signal loss during the BCS games was pathetic, IMHO.)


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