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Originally Posted by radiobob
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Here's the question du jour: recognizing that different transponders operate at different power levels, some signals are rock solid while others on the same satellite (or one only a couple of degrees away) are marginal or unusable...is this still just an alignment issue?
For example, Gospel Network on AMC6 (72W) is so strong it makes my teeth hurt. I've honestly never seen 75% signal and quality before. On the other hand, Ohio News on SBS6 (74W) is unwatchable with 71% signal and 2-5% quality (clearly we need more bits to get pix).
Likewise, on G10R (123W), the Pentagon pumps out 76% sig/35% qual and KFDF is 73% sig/23% qual, while KTWO is 76% sig/0% qual and nothing comes in on the 11720 cluster of stations. The Viewsat seems to need about 10-15% quality level before the dropouts become too bad.
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Some of the channels you mention are channels that a lot of people have problems with. For example there was a whole thread over in the Satforums forum about the 11720 MUX you mentioned. And for some reason, I have always had problems with anything on SBS6, even before a tree blocked it. It is a VERY OLD satellite (1990), and tends to have weak signals on it. I used to get Ohio News OK though, before the trees grew up and blocked both SBS6 and AMC6. I just cut the AMC6 tree, and haven't looked to see if it helped SBS6 or not... I hope so.
Also, some receivers have problems with very narrow signals, like the KTWO, particularly if your lnb drifts much. My Fortec receivers are only rated down to 2000 on the SR, and that signal is 2222, so check the specs of your receiver to see if it can handle low SR values. Also, some lnbs drift a lot, and you might completely miss a narrow signal like that. One of my old LNBs typically drifted 2-3 MHz often related to temperature, and when trying to tune one of those narrow digital signals, sometimes I'd just have to keep trying and eventually the receiver would lock on, and the afc would then follow the drift. Most lnbs aren't that bad, but most drift close to 1 MHz, and that KTWO signal is only 2 MHz wide, so if your lnb drifts, you can see that it might be a problem.
But anyway, before doing anything drastic to your tuning, one thing you might try, if you happen to have a TIVO..... What I do, when I have marginal reception on some signal, and want to determine whether it is due to alignment or if it is just that the signal is weak, I tune to the signal and put up the signals strength meter, and have it recording on my TIVO, then go outside and make very slow movements to the dish, pushing up, down, right, left, in all directions, being careful to hold it in each orientation long enough for the receiver's meter to respond. Then I go inside, and watch to see what the effect was on the TIVO. If all I see is the signal getting worse (usually the case), then I figure that the signal is just weak (for me, usually because a tree has grown in the way), and there is nothing I can do about it. BUt if I see improvement, then I know that I've lost my alignment (in my case usually because of spring freeze/thaw cycles), and need to tweak something. So before you resort to tweaking alignment, check to see if you can get improvement by push/pull.