[Patent geek]

I've started noticing the frequent but brief signal losses on 129 that others have reported (although I watched the signal strength on several transponders for a long while and couldn't spot a number lower than 58--maybe the duration of the dropout is shorter than the update frequency of the meter).

In looking at the signal lists on EKB, it seems to me like the vast majority of HD channels on 129, and certainly the only ones I really care about, are duplicated on 61.5. (I have AT250 plus whatever Essentials is now.)

Since I've got a 61.5 wing dish for HD locals, I'm really not sure why I need 129 at all. Where am I going wrong here?

 

[Stewart Vernon]

Signal strengths aside... the only reason to "need" 61.5 vs 129 (or vice-versa) would be if your locals are on one satellite but not the other OR if your RSN is on one but not the other. About 99% of the HD is the same on both satellites.

 

[Patent geek]

Interesting. Thanks.

Then the obvious followup question is: is there any elegant (i.e., software) way to force the receiver to default to 61.5 for that 99+%? My SD locals are on 119, so it seems 129 does practically nothing for me.

I'm assuming I could somehow disconnect the 129 LNB and reset the receiver, but I'd rather save that as a last resort.

 

[BattleZone]

Cover your 129 LNB with tinfoil.

 

[Stewart Vernon]

Yeah, pretty much the only reliable ways are covering the LNB with foil OR taking it out of the mix entirely. Depending on your roof configuration it might not be possible to take 129 out of the mix without replacing the whole setup... so I think most folks in your situation have gone the foil route.

It would be nice if there were a way to configure the receiver to either ignore a connected satellite OR at least prioritize one location over another. I understand that having it make "intelligent" decisions about the best signal strength are probably more complicated and unreliable to be worth the programmer coding effort... but if the customer knows 61.5 is better than 129, it would be nice to just have a setting to select that and make it always go there or at least always go there first if you have both connected.

 

[ssmith10pn]

Just an FYI I experienced in the past.

If you have a dish 1000 and a wing dish for 61.5 and a DPP44 switch with 61.5 connected to port four 61.5 will prioritize over 129.

If you have a dish 1000.2 with the built in switch and a wing dish plugged into the built in port then the only time it will grab a transponder off of 61.5 is if the channel isn't on 129.

My current configuration is like the one above because my 44 switch burned up and it was cheaper just to replace the 1000 with a 1000.2
Tomorrow I will cover up the 129 LNB and run a switch test and see how it works.

 

[Patent geek]

Thanks for the tips.

Just an FYI I experienced in the past.
My current configuration is like the one above because my 44 switch burned up and it was cheaper just to replace the 1000 with a 1000.2
Tomorrow I will cover up the 129 LNB and run a switch test and see how it works.

My configuration is also 1000.2, which is too bad since I found another thread about the DPP44 port priority tweak and got excited for a moment.

Please let us know how your experiment worked.