signal strength guide exists?

1399 Views 19 Replies 9 Participants Last post by joe diamond, Jul 22, 2008

gitarzan

Discussion Starter · Jul 21, 2008

Is there a customer guide or 'how to' for verifying proper signal strength based on model receiver and location. I would like to be able to know if transponder 23 on satellite 110 is okay to be in the teens.

1 - 20 of 20 Posts

evan_s

· #2 · Jul 21, 2008

23? According to the transponder to channel map at http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=121279 there is no transponder 23 on 110. 110 only has transponders 8, 10 and 12. 23 on 110 should be an NA.

Transponder 23 on 101 and 119 both seem to be conus from the looks of the list and should be much higher than the teens.

gitarzan

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 21, 2008

evan_s said:
23? According to the transponder to channel map at http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=121279 there is no transponder 23 on 110. 110 only has transponders 8, 10 and 12. 23 on 110 should be an NA.

Transponder 23 on 101 and 119 both seem to be conus from the looks of the list and should be much higher than the teens.

okay, busted, didn't expect to get challenged but I should no better. I sort of made that up from memory. How about Transponder 23 on 119? It bounces around from 15% to 24%. Are there some channels I can not get because of this? What's conus? I just had DirecTV allign my dish Saturday after getting a new roof on Thursday. The tech barely checked on my receiver and that was only after I asked. Should I take his word that allignment is proper? What simple steps can a customer do to verify proper signal?

evan_s

· #4 · Jul 21, 2008

Conus is continental US or a national channel.

As far as transponder 23 on 119 it shows as "398 C398". I'm not 100% sure but i think that is probably guide data since it's a single thing taking up the entire transponder and even mpeg2 hd channels don't take up the entire transponder. I'm sure someone else will jump in if i'm wrong about that.

gitarzan

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 21, 2008

evan_s said:
Conus is continental US or a national channel.

As far as transponder 23 on 119 it shows as "398 C398". I'm not 100% sure but i think that is probably guide data since it's a single thing taking up the entire transponder and even mpeg2 hd channels don't take up the entire transponder. I'm sure someone else will jump in if i'm wrong about that.

Transponders are just communications channels, right? Why would signal strength vary so much from transponder to transponder on the same satellite?

evan_s

· #6 · Jul 22, 2008

transponders are basically transmitting antennas. For Sat tv they use 2 types, Spot beams and ConUS. Conus are designed to be larger and cover the entire country. Spot beams are much smaller and are used to deliver local channels. There is no reason for california to be able to receive local Nj channels. Spot beams are used because you can use the same transponder frequency multiple times for different spots as long as they don't over lap. This allows sat companies more effective bandwidth with out actually using more frequencies.

http://www.scottandmichelle.net/scott/dtv.html shows a good graphical example for sd spots on 101 but the info might be out of date.

Because a specific spot frequency may or may not be aimed at your area the strength can and will vary quite a bit based on location.

BattleZone

· #7 · Jul 22, 2008

Each transponder is like a radio station. Even though the sat has a bunch of them, the individual amplifiers that feed each one will be a little different, and age/equipment failure can cause lower signal strengths.

Another issue is that you're dealing with more than one physical satellite in most orbital locations. One example is the local channels; they come from a special "spot beam" satellite that uses tightly focused beams that allow the same transponder frequencies to be reused a number of times across the country. This is what allows there to be so many different local channel feeds on so few transponders. But not all transponders are in use in every area, so it is normal for some TPs to be low or off in your area, and others to be low or off in their area. If you aren't in the beam, you won't get that TP. Here's a spot beam map for DirecTV's 101 spot beams (it's older and may not be 100% up to date, but you'll get the idea):

And in some cases there are two satellites that share the load for the CONUS (nationwide) TPs, usually one doing odd TPs and the other doing evens.

So, there are many reasons for different TP signal strengths in any one place.

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beavis

· #8 · Jul 22, 2008

evan_s said:
Conus is continental US or a national channel.

As far as transponder 23 on 119 it shows as "398 C398". I'm not 100% sure but i think that is probably guide data since it's a single thing taking up the entire transponder and even mpeg2 hd channels don't take up the entire transponder. I'm sure someone else will jump in if i'm wrong about that.

Pardon my ignorance but where do you get the "398 C398"?

gitarzan

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 22, 2008

evan_s said:
transponders are basically transmitting antennas. For Sat tv they use 2 types, Spot beams and ConUS. Conus are designed to be larger and cover the entire country. Spot beams are much smaller and are used to deliver local channels. There is no reason for california to be able to receive local Nj channels. Spot beams are used because you can use the same transponder frequency multiple times for different spots as long as they don't over lap. This allows sat companies more effective bandwidth with out actually using more frequencies.

http://www.scottandmichelle.net/scott/dtv.html shows a good graphical example for sd spots on 101 but the info might be out of date.

Because a specific spot frequency may or may not be aimed at your area the strength can and will vary quite a bit based on location.

I've heard of spot beams and that some satellites have more spots then others. So maybe transponder 23 on 119 is a spot beam and not continental US?

gitarzan

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jul 22, 2008

IIP said:
Each transponder is like a radio station. Even though the sat has a bunch of them, the individual amplifiers that feed each one will be a little different, and age/equipment failure can cause lower signal strengths.

Another issue is that you're dealing with more than one physical satellite in most orbital locations. One example is the local channels; they come from a special "spot beam" satellite that uses tightly focused beams that allow the same transponder frequencies to be reused a number of times across the country. This is what allows there to be so many different local channel feeds on so few transponders. But not all transponders are in use in every area, so it is normal for some TPs to be low or off in your area, and others to be low or off in their area. If you aren't in the beam, you won't get that TP. Here's a spot beam map for DirecTV's 101 spot beams (it's older and may not be 100% up to date, but you'll get the idea):

And in some cases there are two satellites that share the load for the CONUS (nationwide) TPs, usually one doing odd TPs and the other doing evens.

So, there are many reasons for different TP signal strengths in any one place.

So the dish must be aimed at some median point between the satellites in the same orbital position? Do the installation techs do this or they just point it at the strongest signal?

AntAltMike

· #11 · Jul 22, 2008

The transponder 23 broadcast from the 110 slot belongs to DISH Network. I have no idea how the signal strength indicators on newer DirecTV receivers might register that signal, but on the older ones it said N/A (not applicable?)

DirecTV only owns transponders 28, 30 and 32 in the 110 slot, but its LNB shifts them to the intermediate frequencies that otherwise would be transponders 8, 10 and 12.

As I recall, transponders 23, 25, 27 and 31 on 119 are DirecTV spot beams.

gitarzan

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jul 22, 2008

AntAltMike said:
The transponder 23 broadcast from the 110 slot belongs to DISH Network. I have no idea how the signal strength indicators on newer DirecTV receivers might register that signal, but on the older ones it said N/A (not applicable?)

DirecTV only owns transponders 28, 30 and 32 in the 110 slot, but its LNB shifts them to the intermediate frequencies that otherwise would be transponders 8, 10 and 12.

As I recall, transponders 23, 25, 27 and 31 on 119 are DirecTV spot beams.

My first post said transponder 23 on 110. It should have said TP 23 on 119. Sorry for the confusion. It has a signal strength in the teens and I don't know if that is good or bad.

AntAltMike

· #13 · Jul 22, 2008

gitarzan said:
My first post said transponder 23 on 110. It should have said TP 23 on 119. Sorry for the confusion. It has a signal strength in the teens and I don't know if that is good or bad.

And the answer seems to be that it is irrelevant for your situation. It is a spotbeam. If it was your spotbeam, meaning, the one that carries your standard definition locals, it would ordinarily be your strongest transponder. If you are getting your locals, then it is irrelevant to you.

beavis

· #14 · Jul 22, 2008

I think 27 is a CONUS beam, and 29 is a spot, IIRC.

P Smith

· #15 · Jul 22, 2008

beavis said:
Pardon my ignorance but where do you get the "398 C398"?

By using PC software [TSReader and other] and DVB-S PCI/USB card connected to dish.

AntAltMike

· #16 · Jul 22, 2008

I only remember for sure that only one odd-numbered DirecTV transponder on 119 is CONUS. That is the one that the receiver uses when it does the channel 490-494 transponder test.

Mertzen

· #17 · Jul 22, 2008

gitarzan said:
So the dish must be aimed at some median point between the satellites in the same orbital position? Do the installation techs do this or they just point it at the strongest signal?

The jus tpoint at the strongest signal. For all intents and purposes they are located at the same identical location.

paulman182

· #18 · Jul 22, 2008

gitarzan said:
My first post said transponder 23 on 110. It should have said TP 23 on 119. Sorry for the confusion. It has a signal strength in the teens and I don't know if that is good or bad.

Where are you in Kentucky? Here in the East, we get Charleston-Huntington locals, and I believe they are on TP 25. I do get good signal levels on several others, but I can't remember which ones.

gitarzan

Discussion Starter · #19 · Jul 22, 2008

paulman182 said:
Where are you in Kentucky? Here in the East, we get Charleston-Huntington locals, and I believe they are on TP 25. I do get good signal levels on several others, but I can't remember which ones.

Lexington. I normally watch local channels thru my AM21. The satellite SD locals do work.

joe diamond

· #20 · Jul 22, 2008

Mertzen said:
The jus tpoint at the strongest signal. For all intents and purposes they are located at the same identical location.

Exactly,

It is called "peaking" and you just slowly go back and forth thriugh the signal until you get the highest signal.....left right..then up and down. Tighten everything and check the picture. There was a time when #23 on the 119 was a suggested xponder to tune because it was common to the 101 and the 110 so I just got in the habit of using it.

Those numbers change all the time............BUT the light inside the icebox is often on when the door is closed...

Joe

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