[gregftlaud]

Ok, well the installer left an hour ago. He was here 3 freaking hours. Got here 1.5hrs late. Dvr in bedroom is fine. Living room ......well....i'm watching tv fine but when i go to check signal strengths on the SWM transponder 1 and 2 are sitting at 0. Everything in the bedroom is 95-100.

Could this be the problem? Ok he fished my wiring thru the attic in my apartment down inside the walls to outlets. The fish to the bedroom he did with new wiring. The fish he used for the living room ..........well he didnt have to do much fishing with that b/c from splitter he used existing cable that was already there and down the wall and out a hole that was installed by comcast cable. He did change out the end pieces but he didnt use brand new wiring for the line in the living room. And not sure how old the cable tv coax that was already there is.

Btw, is it ok also to plug you SWM power inserter into a power strip? He said that directv tells him that it's not but he told me it's ok. I have mine plugged into a APC battery backup/surge protector. I guess though if that was the issue the signal strengths for the SWM on the bedroom DVR wuld be messed up too.

Living room is the HR20-700 with the issue. Bedroom with no issues is an HR21-700

 

[NR4P]

Yes you can plug power supply into power strip or ups. Mine goes to a UPS.

SWM readings of zero are normal when you have multiple H/HR's on a swm system.

 

[Alebob911]

What is the actual problem with your HR20-700? SWM readings?

 

[gregftlaud]

Ok, but on my living room DVR boy the signal strengths are fluctuating alot. Esp on the 103 sat. Some in the 80's then they will jump to the 90's. I even saw on transponder jump down to 45 for a second then back up to 90. Seems like a cabling issue of some kind b/c like i said the dvr in the bedroom 95-100 signals......and stable/holding. No fluctuating.

Also he has the SWM power inserter where the living room dvr (hr20-700) is with the line running from SWM power inserter into the DVR (signal into IRD) then of course the other line going out to power the SWM.

And yah also transponder 2 and 3 on the SWM signal strength are sitting at 0.

 

[djrobx]

If you're watching TV fine, what are you having a problem with?

0 signal strength on a SWM "transponder" usually means another receiver is using that channel.

 

[Alebob911]

Is there any issues while watching TV? Like others say, 0 for the SWM channels are indicating they are in use by another receiver. As far as the 103, you could be seeing spot beam signals and that will show lower signals on transponders that are not pointed to your area. They may even show 0's. If your able to watch TV without issues then i'd say things are good.

 

[gregftlaud]

No issues with watching TV but i'm concerned with the signal stengths. The 101 seems to be fine with most in the mid 90's but the 99 and 103 are mostly all in the upper 80s (and i'm not talking about the spotbeam (s) ones). The low signals are on the 99c, 103ca, 103cb.I've read past posts in here that say signal strengths should optimally be in the mid to upper 90's.

The installer tried to tell me that the SWM splitter lowered signal strengths but if that was the case the bedroom DVR wuldnt have signals all 95-100.

I mean i paid the guy for all the parts. He shuld have run a new cable to the living room just like he did the bedroom instead of using an existing cable run laid down by comcast cable.

He said he would come back tomorrow to put a new line in but crap the guy was here for hours he did more yacking than working. I dont mind a bit of chit chat but if he wouldnt have talked so much the job would have taken like an hour b/c the dish was already in place all he had to do was run lines into my apartment and then install the power insterter and splitter

 

[Alebob911]

Well if he's coming back tomorrow have him peak the dish and you should be good to go. I'm not sure that SWM lowers signal levels. They are completely different signals from the actual sat signals. If you paid him for the work, don't let him leave until your 100% satisfied with want you want and paid for.

 

[veryoldschool]

0 signal strength on a SWM "transponder" usually means another receiver is using that channel.

Should one want to check the SWiM "channels", put ALL RECEIVERS on the same setup screen for the SWM channels. There should be no zeros.
As a receiver exits the setup menu, the other receivers still on the screen will show a zero or 2 as the receiver that has left setup acquires a channel or two for its tuners.

 

[gregftlaud]

Why shuld he peak the dish? If there was a problem with dish pointing the bedroom dvr wuldnt be getting 95-100. I'm thinking that comcast coax cable he used for the living room dvr run is the issue. The dvr in the bedroom has fresh/new coax. He used the existing comcast cable run that comes out of the wall behind my living room tv/dvr b/c he thought it wuld save time. Looks like though it might be causing signal strength issues. That's the only thing i can think of. B/c of the two dvr's the only difference is the living room dvr has used cabling on it.

Oh yah and i did that SWM check. I put both dvr's on the SWM signal strength screen and all the tranponders that were showing 0 went back up to the 90's.

 

[spartanstew]

Mmmm, fresh cable.

 

[gregftlaud]

BTW, since now that i know it's ok to plug my SWM power inserter into an APC battery backup surge protector ..........what will happen when i unplug it then plug it back in? Will i have to restart my dvr's?

 

[Alebob911]

My experience is if you do it fast enough you should be ok.

 

[dsw2112]

BTW, since now that i know it's ok to plug my SWM power inserter into an APC battery backup surge protector ..........what will happen when i unplug it then plug it back in? Will i have to restart my dvr's?

No need to restart DVR's

 

[gregftlaud]

Well i turned off my dvr b/c i read on another thread on here that u have to power down ur dvr..........power down your PI wait a minute then power back the PI. Wait a minute then do one dvr at a time. Now getting 771a message.....cant communicate or something to that manner with satellite dish. UGH!!

Is this a typical glitch with SWM? B/c i google search 771a and tons of results came up. If that's the case this is what i'm going to have to go thru everytime i want to unplug my PI??

Geesh i think i want my slimline 5 dish back with 2 runs going to each dvr!!

 

[gregftlaud]

Well i killed two birds with one stone. I read on another forum that the closer the power inserter to the dish the better. Well my bedroom cable run is like 1/4 shorter than my living room run so i moved the power inserter to the SWM to the bedroom. No more 771a message AND signal strengths on my living room dvr have jumped up 10 points into the 90's where they should be.

 

[carl6]

Keep in mind, on the 99s and 103s satellites, those are all spot beams and you typically would not expect good signal except on one transponder that provides your local channels. Any/all of the others can be anything.

On the 101 and 119 there are also spot beams which could have zero, low, or other signal levels.

If you want to list all the transponders on all the satellites you have, we can go through and tell if you have problems or not. Otherwise, as others have suggested, if you are watching TV, don't worry about it.

 

[veryoldschool]

Well i turned off my dvr b/c i read on another thread on here that u have to power down ur dvr..........power down your PI wait a minute then power back the PI. Wait a minute then do one dvr at a time. Now getting 771a message.....cant communicate or something to that manner with satellite dish. UGH!!

Is this a typical glitch with SWM? B/c i google search 771a and tons of results came up. If that's the case this is what i'm going to have to go thru everytime i want to unplug my PI??

Geesh i think i want my slimline 5 dish back with 2 runs going to each dvr!!

Not sure what's going on there, but "just today" I pulling power, coax and reconnected many times and NEVER rebooted a receiver.

 

[wahooq]

a swm power down is usually fixed immediately......no need to reset the rcvrs...

 

[gregftlaud]

Again Carl i am not talking about the 99s or 103s spotbeams before i moved my PI to the run from the dish that was shorter i was getting 80's on the 101, 103ca, 103cb, 99c. But after i moved the PI to the bedroom with the cable run that is much shorter to the dish not only did that solve my 991a message but also bounced up my signal strenghts on 101, 101ca, 13cb and 99c from the 80's to the mid 90's.

Also Carl on a 3lnb SWM setup when u go check sat signal strengths it only lists the 99, 103 and 101 sats b/c the 3lnb doesnt utlize the 110 nor 116 sats.