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VOLBEAT
01-09-05, 07:43 PM
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I have Directv and recently did the HD upgrade, and so they came out and put up the triple lnb dish and gave me the new receiver. The guy put the new dish on the old mast(which I know was perfectly plumb and level when I did it a long time ago), and used a meter to dial in the signal. When he checked the strength on the tv, 2 of them were in the 80's and one of them was in the low 70's(can't remember which one). I use 101, 110, and 119, by the way. Anyway, he said the one that was low was the weakest one anyway, and in the 70's was fine. Now I've been told that you won't see a difference in picture quality from the 70's to the 90's, but when there is a big storm or other interference, you have less chance of losing the picture if you're in the 90's. Is this true? Another thing is I went up and checked the mast he put the dish on, and it isn't perfectly plumb and level anymore, but was also told that it's only real critical when doing the dish yourself the old fashioned way with getting your numbers by punching in your zip code on the tv,because those numbers won't work without the mast being perfectly plumb and level. So as long as the guy got it with his meter, am I o.k.? I'm just checking because we just got a new DLP 50' tv and I want everything perfect. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Steve Mehs
01-09-05, 08:11 PM
Welcome to DBSTalk Jim, :hi: What you have been told is correct, signal strength has no effect on picture quality, as long as it's above 32% you have a picture, a signal strength of 40 results in the same picture quality as if you had 100. The higher the signal strength the more immune you are to rain fade and you won't lose the signal quite as easily. Some transponders on 101 and 119 may be very low or be 0. This is normal as they are on the spot beam satellites for locals.

VOLBEAT
01-09-05, 09:30 PM
Thanks for responding Steve. So I guess the thing about the mast being perfectly plumb and level is only for the do it yourselfer without a meter right?