One of my SWM transponders reports 0 - acceptable?

[flynn337]

I was having signal issues so they sent out a DTV tech. He aligned the dish, but I let him leave with one of the SWM transponders reporting 0. The rest reported 100 or high 90's. The one that reported 0 was the 2nd or 3rd or 4th - it jumped around as he was replacing the splitter, cable, etc. - I think it ended up being the 2nd when he left.

Since the overall signal was better (hard for me to verify, since he claimed that the signal at the dish, as opposed to at the HR23's, was what really was improved), I was happy and let him go. So far I haven't seen the same issues as before, but I haven't had enough time to be confident yet.

Is having a single SWM transponder report 0 acceptable? Should I be worried?

[David MacLeod]

its normal, iirc its due to nothing calling for the channel.
edit: see below, this is wrong.

[jpitlick]

I was having signal issues so they sent out a DTV tech. He aligned the dish, but I let him leave with one of the SWM transponders reporting 0. The rest reported 100 or high 90's. The one that reported 0 was the 2nd or 3rd or 4th - it jumped around as he was replacing the splitter, cable, etc. - I think it ended up being the 2nd when he left.

Since the overall signal was better (hard for me to verify, since he claimed that the signal at the dish, as opposed to at the HR23's, was what really was improved), I was happy and let him go. So far I haven't seen the same issues as before, but I haven't had enough time to be confident yet.

Is having a single SWM transponder report 0 acceptable? Should I be worried?

How many receivers/tuners do you have? Zero's indicate that particular SWM channel is in use by another tuner. Put all of your receivers on the SWM signal screen and you should see all the channels go to 100 or 90s. Exit the screen on one receiver and one or two should change to 0 depending on if it is a DVR or not.

[veryoldschool]

its normal, iirc its due to nothing calling for the channel.
"while it's normal", it really is because "that channel" is being used by another receiver/tuner.

"Simple test":
put each receiver on the SWM screen.
No zeros.
Exit the setup screen and go to another receiver still on the SWM screen. 1 or 2 zeros will now be displayed.

[David MacLeod]

yup, sorry. just checked it after posting and see 2 caught my mistake.
3 dvr's here 1 using both tuners and other 2 idle so I have 4 zeros which is correct.
3 for live tuner and 1 for the tuner recording.

[flynn337]

Good info, thanks. I'm a little worried that the tech didn't know that (because I asked and he essentially said he didn't know why it was 0).

I can't find a good "how to interpret the signal screens" FAQ on this board.

[rudeney]

"while it's normal", it really is because "that channel" is being used by another receiver/tuner.

"Simple test":
put each receiver on the SWM screen.
No zeros.
Exit the setup screen and go to another receiver still on the SWM screen. 1 or 2 zeros will now be displayed.

I'd still like to see some definitive documentation on this. It is just counter-intuitive to me that the SWM signal strength display would not simply show the status of each of the nine transponders mapped to the corresponding SWM channels.

[veryoldschool]

It is just counter-intuitive to me that the SWM signal strength display would not simply show the status of each of the nine transponders mapped to the corresponding SWM channels.
First off, I don't think the SWM channel is showing "any" transponder, but instead is showing the bit-error rate of the SWM "IF" channel.
"My SWM channels" are higher than most of my transponders.

[rudeney]

Yeah, I understand that the transponder signal strengths really are bit error rates, but it seems that those error rates would not be able to be improved by the SWM, so if yours are consistently higher, then there is something else at play here. One of these days, I am going to take the time to thoroughly test our theories on this by setting each tuner to a specific set of channels with a good recognizable range of transponder rates. Until then, happy SWiMming! :)

[evan_s]

I'd still like to see some definitive documentation on this. It is just counter-intuitive to me that the SWM signal strength display would not simply show the status of each of the nine transponders mapped to the corresponding SWM channels.

I assume that the receiver is just trying to scan all of the channels and can't scan that SWM channel because it is already in use by something.

[HoTat2]

First off, I don't think the SWM channel is showing "any" transponder, but instead is showing the bit-error rate of the SWM "IF" channel.
"My SWM channels" are higher than most of my transponders.

What do you mean by that concluding statement about "my transponders" VOS? That most of what you watch is HD programing on the Ka-lo (B-band) LNB down of 250-750 MHz in comparison to the SWM spectrum listed below?

Program Content:

Channel-8 1790 MHz

Channel-7 1688 MHz

Channel-6 1586 MHz

Channel-5 1484 MHz

Channel-4 1382 MHz

Channel-3 1280 MHz

Channel-2 1178 MHz

Channel-1 1076 MHz
*************************
Channel Guide infomation-974 MHz
Control Channel-2.3 MHz

[HoTat2]

Wait a minute, never mind I got. Higher in level not frequency...:)