poor signal strength on sat 110, 119, 129

drjudoal · #1 (**permalink**) 06-12-2007, 10:35 AM

I have a vip622 receiver and two dish 500's, one aimed at sat 110 and 119 and the other aimed at sate 129. All go through switches so that only one cable feeds the receiver. I am frequently getting loss of signal usually on sat 129 and 110. Signal strength in clear weather is often low, ~50. Dishnetwork support has been less than helpful. A tech came out several months ago to install the superdish and new switches eliminating one feed. He installed new cables. However, the problem does not go away and any sort of overcast or clouds result in signal degredation or loss. I am thinking of installing in-line amplifiers. Will this help and are they installed between the switch and the LNB? Many thanks.

additional: previously I had just the dish 1000 or dish pro for all 3 sats but the tech changed it out for the current set up. Before I got the vip622, I had a single dish 500 with an older hd dvr and had no reception problems.

pmb1010 · #2 (**permalink**) 06-12-2007, 12:36 PM

I really dont know anything about Dish equipment, or their switches and the like, but can offer this..

"it worked good before". That kind of takes out line of site issues to the sats, but sometimes trees grow or branches get moved from snow etc.
You really need to verify visually, you have good unblocked line back to the sats. As you mentioned they broke up your single to multiple dishes, might mean your line is obstructed and that was the tech's way to help alliviate that problem. He also might have botched up one of the connector ends and it's not a good connect, causing signal losses.

You mentioned amplifiers. Well, amplifiers must have something to amplify. If you have marginal signals, you need to do something to "collect more signal". Maybe, you could try a bigger dish. I had a friend in MA that had DIrectv, and they put 30" dish on his roof to help his problems. That helped him.

drjudoal · #3 (**permalink**) 06-13-2007, 10:18 AM

the 2nd dish did not significantly improve the signals. They are generally low in times of overcast skies. Additionally, some of transponders on any satellite have very good signal levels when others are low, so LOS does not appear to be an issue. Thanks for your suggestions.

pmb1010 · #4 (**permalink**) 06-13-2007, 03:03 PM

Not all transponders on satellites have the same signal strength (at least with typical FTA stuff I'm used to). It varies a lot.
Could be true with Dish, I don't know. Maybe someone else can comment on that one.

Well, good luck and come back and let us know ultimately what the issue is/was, most of the regulars that post here are FTA and not Dish stuff experts.

boroda1 · #5 (**permalink**) 06-13-2007, 07:20 PM

The signals, beamed at uour area, called "spotbeams", they are stronger, than from transponders, beaming at whole continental US

boroda1 · #6 (**permalink**) 06-13-2007, 07:28 PM

personally, if I had have HD TV, I would install a bigger dish for 129 sat

pictureon · #7 (**permalink**) 06-19-2007, 03:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drjudoal

I have a vip622 receiver and two dish 500's, one aimed at sat 110 and 119 and the other aimed at sate 129. All go through switches so that only one cable feeds the receiver. I am frequently getting loss of signal usually on sat 129 and 110. Signal strength in clear weather is often low, ~50. Dishnetwork support has been less than helpful. A tech came out several months ago to install the superdish and new switches eliminating one feed. He installed new cables. However, the problem does not go away and any sort of overcast or clouds result in signal degredation or loss. I am thinking of installing in-line amplifiers. Will this help and are they installed between the switch and the LNB? Many thanks.

additional: previously I had just the dish 1000 or dish pro for all 3 sats but the tech changed it out for the current set up. Before I got the vip622, I had a single dish 500 with an older hd dvr and had no reception problems.

Do you have the same problem on both TV's? You might have a bad separator. Most of the time the short cables that connect the separator to the receiver ports are the problem (cheap material).

drjudoal · #8 (**permalink**) 08-01-2007, 10:23 PM

The inline amp didn't work! There was no change is the single levels. Dishnetwork wants to charge me $100 to send a technician out to investigate when the original technician didn't fixt the problem. Will a large dish or pair of dishes help with the weaker transponders? If so, what is available? Thanks.

pictureon · #9 (**permalink**) 09-09-2007, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drjudoal

The inline amp didn't work! There was no change is the single levels. Dishnetwork wants to charge me $100 to send a technician out to investigate when the original technician didn't fixt the problem. Will a large dish or pair of dishes help with the weaker transponders? If so, what is available? Thanks.

DPP requires more power to operat than the regular DP lnb's. So it does require higher quality cable and connectors. Dishnetwork is required to upgrade your cable if it does not meet their standard for DPP. I would call DN and ask to speak to a Supervisor. Explain to them that you had this problem after their tech upgraded your system. Tell them that you will cancel your service if this is not fixed. Try that.

StevenS · #10 (**permalink**) 09-10-2007, 10:12 AM

I am aware of some problem spots around the country and you could be in one of those. It may be one or several issues adding to the degradation of the signal. As stated by some one else are there any trees that since have grown to partially block the signal? I think you may need to look at several things individually. First. Did you purchase the equipment yourself? If not then contact DNW again and request to speak with a senior tech or supervisor about the installation.

If you purchased the equipment yourself then there are a few things you can check. After checking the site lines, how long are your cable runs. If any are over 200ft. then you can put an in-line amplifier at midpoint of the run to help. Remember you can only amplify what you have.

If you are good there then try putting the old receiver back on and see what you get. If you have a signal strength meter or know someone who does check the signal strength right at each dish. Inspect all connectors to see if they are tight and well fitted.

Basically you want to isolate each componant and check them. The dish and lnb, the cable, the switch, the receiver, the television.

If everything checks out then you might be at the fringe of a weak area. If you do find problems correct them on at a time. Sometimes a weak signal can be cumulative between bad connections, slight out of alignment, some branches and long cable runs.

Sadoun · #11 (**permalink**) 09-10-2007, 10:29 AM

To me it looks like you have the following issues:

1- Dish500 (aimed at 110 119), is not aligned correctly.
2- Dish500 aimed at 129 is too small. I recommend a 24" dish or bigger

dsatellitez · #12 (**permalink**) 09-23-2007, 11:50 PM

Go back to the 1000.

StevenS · #13 (**permalink**) 10-31-2007, 10:29 AM

Using a second Dish 500 is an incorrect application for orbital location 129. The Dish500 is specific to 110 and 119. You have a couple of options. You can go to a Dish 1000.2 (110,119,129) or you can use a 24" Dish aimed at 129 and a DP 34 switch to combine the Dish 500 and second dish.

MrBillM · #14 (**permalink**) 10-31-2007, 12:58 PM

The signal strength on individual transponders (at least on 110-119) DOES vary quite a bit. Normally, this would not be a problem. None of the systems I've set up have read less than mid-high 80s on the stronger transponders so the weaker ones don't become a factor. A clear weather signal strength in the 50s is guaranteed to result in unacceptable signals in cloudy weather.

kobilka · #15 (**permalink**) 10-31-2007, 11:03 PM

abstractions:trees,powerlines[megnetic field].the dish 500 instalation for the 110/119 w is poor. For the 129w use 75 or 90 cm dish.Lastly you need a good signal meter.I use a "SUPER BODY" never let mi down,it cams with DVD instractions.the best is you go back to dish 1000. good lack...kobilka

cshsrh · #16 (**permalink**) 01-08-2008, 01:24 PM

You should have the 1000 reinstalled and the DishPro dual used for 129 replaced. These lnb's give intermitent signal loss at variable times and read only half the transponders on their way out. Also try another check switch test as Dish issued a signal meter software upgrade that also resulted in a similar problem. You will also notice that a signal strenght that used to read 110 will now read around 75.