[djsmokyc]

I recently moved and I'm now having trouble with signal strength at my new apartment. I moved and re-aligned the dish myself, which could be part of the problem. I have more signal issues with rain fade than before, and I really only have issues with HD channels. FSMW (647) seems to have the most issues.

I live in St. Louis, MO, zip code 63108.

I have a Slimline 5LNB dish. It is currently only hooked up to a SD-DVR 80 and an HR21-100B. I only have two of my four receivers hooked up currently, so I am not using my WB68 multi-switch. I will be hooking those up soon, so that will have to get back into the loop.

The dish is mounted on a 6 ft pole which is strapped to my balcony railing with pipe clamps.

The cables runs to my HD DVR are much longer than they were in my old apartment. The runs to the HD DVR are about 80 ft, to a flat coax splice (to get under the door to my balcony), then about 10 ft to the dish.

This morning my girlfriend claimed she was getting a "Searching for satellite signal" message on TNT-HD 245, but got a clear picture on TNT-HD 75.

Here are my satellite strength readings, for both tuners. I don't see an obvious pattern, like all even's or odd's are zero, or that one tuner is much lower than the other.

I have a cheap $10 signal strength meter than I used to align the dish initially. It is only for KA band signals, I believe.

My question is would I benefit from buying a power inserter, like this one, or if I just need to work on aligning my dish more accurately.
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=HRPID1422

Satellite Strength Levels
Monday, September 1, 2008
1:20 PM CDT
St. Louis, MO 63108

Satellite transponders (32 total at 101º)
[Most of your standard definition channels are beamed from 101ºW]
Tuner 1
1-8 95 95 95 62 94 99 95 98
9-16 95 96 95 0 95 99 94 99
17-24 95 0 95 93 95 98 95 97
25-32 95 77 94 0 95 97 92 98

Tuner 2
1-8 95 95 93 62 92 98 95 98
9-16 95 96 95 0 95 98 94 98
17-24 94 0 95 94 95 97 95 97
25-32 94 77 93 0 95 98 92 98

Satellite transponders (3 total at 110º)
[Several HD channels are beamed from 110ºW]
Tuner 1
1-8 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 94
9-16 NA 94 NA 94 NA NA NA NA

Tuner 2
1-8 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 92
9-16 NA 92 NA 94 NA NA NA NA

Satellite transponders (11 total at 119º)
[A few HD channels, local SD channels, and Spanish package]
Tuner 1
17-24 NA NA NA NA NA 96 92 95
25-32 0 98 97 97 0 98 0 99

Tuner 2
17-24 NA NA NA NA NA 96 92 95
25-32 0 98 97 97 0 98 0 99

Satellite transponders (6 total at 99º(s)) [or 99º(b)]
[Local HD channels for some cities]
Tuner 1
1-8 0 0 28 0 34 0 NA NA
9-16 NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
17-24 0 0 46 0 0 0 0 27

Tuner 2
1-8 0 0 23 0 30 0 NA NA
9-16 NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
17-24 0 0 50 0 0 0 0 27
[Note: these can be very slow to appear]

Satellite transponders (14 total at 99º(c)) [or 99º(a)]
[New national HD channels]
Tuner 1
1-8 85 86 88 88 87 85 90 88
9-16 91 87 92 87 94 89 NA NA
[Note, these can be very slow to appear]

Tuner 2
1-8 85 86 88 87 86 85 90 88
9-16 90 86 92 88 94 89 NA NA

Satellite transponders (16 total at 103º(s)) [or 103º(a)]
[Local HD channels for some cities]
Tuner 1
1-8 98 92 99 0 99 42 NA NA
9-16 NA NA NA NA NA NA 85 0
17-24 0 0 0 92 35 0 92 87

Tuner 2
1-8 98 93 99 0 99 41 NA NA
9-16 NA NA NA NA NA NA 84 0
17-24 0 0 0 92 35 0 93 87

[Note, these can be very slow to appear]

Satellite transponders (16 total at 103º(c)) [or 103º(b)]
[Most national HD channels]
Tuner 1
1-8 92 82 89 82 86 80 86 82
9-16 86 81 87 81 89 83 NA NA

Tuner 2
1-8 90 80 88 81 85 80 86 81
9-16 86 81 87 81 88 83 NA NA

 

[RobertE]

Elevation is off just a tiny, tiny bit.

I'd suspect that the flat cable your using is reaching the end of its life.

 

[djsmokyc]

Elevation is off just a tiny, tiny bit.

I'd suspect that the flat cable your using is reaching the end of its life.

Thanks Robert. I'll try tweaking the dish this afternoon.

I've used that flat coax for about 4 years now. Is that longer than the expected lifespan?

 

[davring]

Thanks Robert. I'll try tweaking the dish this afternoon.

I've used that flat coax for about 4 years now. Is that longer than the expected lifespan?

They tend to be the weak link, especially when used in longer cable runs. Maybe try without it for a short test period.

 

[Mertzen]

Make sure to replace it with a high frequency rated one.

 

[Johnnie5000]

I've used that flat coax for about 4 years now. Is that longer than the expected lifespan?

Personally, I've never seen one last more than six months. Four years is really really good on that one little bitty cheap piece of wire.

These Eagle Aspen ones have always been good in my experience.