[foojay]

I was having issues with small rain showers and overcast skies causing my signal to drop out. I posted my signal levels in another thread and was told my 99 and 103 need to be tweaked. Well here are the results. The tech said 99 and 103 are difficult if not impossible to adjust and that they just key in on the 101 satellite. Not a cloud in the sky today.

101:
1-8: 98 98 94 96 96 100 96 100
9-16: 96 98 94 94 96 100 94 100
17-24: 96 90 96 94 96 100 96 100
25-32: 96 98 96 74 98 100 96 100

110:
1-8: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 92
9-16: NA 92 NA 96 NA NA NA NA
17-24: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
25-32: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

119:
1-8: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
9-16: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
17-24: NA NA NA NA NA 83 52 98
25-32: 0 100 100 49 100 63 100

99a:
1-8: 72 83 74 87 72 0 72 85
9-16: 70 81 72 85 0 83 NA NA
17-24: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
25-32: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

99b:
1-8: 21 38 20 0 30 0 NA NA
9-16: NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
17-24:0 0 72 0 27 34 0 0
25-32: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

103A:
1-8: 94 49 74 76 69 NA NA
9-16: NA NA NA NA NA NA 83 92
17-24:0 54 0 94 0 0 0 0
25-32: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

103B:
1-8: 83 85 0 81 78 81 0 80
9-16: 81 83 76 81 81 85
17-24: 0 NA NA NA NA 0 NA NA
25-32: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

 

[tkrandall]

I was having issues with small rain showers and overcast skies causing my signal to drop out. I posted my signal levels in another thread and was told my 99 and 103 need to be tweaked. Well here are the results. The tech said 99 and 103 are difficult if not impossible to adjust and that they just key in on the 101 satellite.

Your 99a and 103b (the conus beams) signals can likely be improved into the 90s.

The tech is wrong. They are not hard to adjust at all, it just takes competency and some care. They do typically use 101 to peak things (per DTV procedures because Ku is what most meters have) ) but that is not to say you can't improve on those results by using the receiver's 99 and 103 meter readings.

 

[foojay]

Here's what the 99 103 levels were before when it was overcast

99a:
1-8: 85 89 85 92 83 89 0 90
9-16: 83 87 83 89 87 89 NA NA
17-24: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
25-32: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

99b:
1-8: 0 41 27 0 36 23 NA NA
9-16: NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
17-24: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
25-32: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

103A:
1-8: 0 54 89 78 89 72 NA NA
9-16: NA NA NA NA NA NA 87 89
17-24: 0 52 0 94 0 0 0 0 0
25-32: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

103B:
1-8: 81 0 81 81 81 0 80 78
9-16: 81 78 78 78 80 78 NA NA
17-24: 0 NA NA NA NA 0 NA NA
25-32: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

 

[foojay]

Looks to me like he made the 101 better but the 99 and 103's are worse off. Great.

 

[tkrandall]

looks like he made 99a worse.

 

[MIAMI1683]

Here's what the 99 103 levels were before when it was overcast

99a:
1-8: 85 89 85 92 83 89 0 90
9-16: 83 87 83 89 87 89 NA NA
17-24: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
25-32: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

99b:
1-8: 0 41 27 0 36 23 NA NA
9-16: NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
17-24: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
25-32: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

103A:
1-8: 0 54 89 78 89 72 NA NA
9-16: NA NA NA NA NA NA 87 89
17-24: 0 52 0 94 0 0 0 0 0
25-32: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

103B:
1-8: 81 0 81 81 81 0 80 78
9-16: 81 78 78 78 80 78 NA NA
17-24: 0 NA NA NA NA 0 NA NA
25-32: NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

He's very wrong. My levels are all 94+ on the 99C and the 103C. Call them and tell them you're still dropping with baisic clouds. Rain fade issue. Get a lead tech out. If you have the PP call them and tell them. He will get back charged or not paid for the job. They will resend someone out too. FYI...during Fay last week I had about 3 minutes of Rain fade through the storm over 4 days.

 

[foojay]

so what issues are the fact that my levels are now worse gonna cause, besides the obvious.

 

[foojay]

Also what channels are on the 99 and 103's?

 

[tkrandall]

99a and 103b have all the nationally broadcast HD channels, except the versions in the 70s.

 

[compnurd]

99a and 103b have all the nationally broadcast HD channels, except the versions in the 70s.

Are you still getting drop outs?

In all honesty having 90-95 on our 99/103 Conus or having all 80's isnt going to make a whole difference.

Both people will probably drop at the same time

 

[foojay]

Are you still getting drop outs?

In all honesty having 90-95 on our 99/103 Conus or having all 80's isnt going to make a whole difference.

Both people will probably drop at the same time

No idea on dropouts or not, it is partly cloudy here today, I'll let you know when it rains again.

 

[compnurd]

All of mine are mid 80's to low 90's. During a normal rain event they will drop about 10-15 points but no picture issues. if it gets like wrath of god stuff, they just 0 out

 

[Grentz]

He's very wrong. My levels are all 94+ on the 99C and the 103C.

You are lucky you can get 94+ on yours, but you are in florida as well...I have noticed for some reason my relatives systems there can get higher numbers on the Ka sats.

For me up in the midwest it is peaked at low 90s on 99 and 103.

 

[foojay]

So I guess I'll wait till it rains or gets cloudy and see what happens and then if it screws up (and with lower levels than before) which I'm sure it will. I'll have them roll a truck for the 4th time.

 

[foojay]

Wow it's cloudy here, no rain 99b levels are

ESPN on 206 has intermittent screen freeze and pixelation

1-8 0 38 18 0 27 0 NA NA
9-16 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
17-24 0 0 72 0 0 25 0 0
25-32 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

 

[bluemoon737]

Wow it's cloudy here, no rain 99b levels are

ESPN on 206 has intermittent screen freeze and pixelation

1-8 0 38 18 0 27 0 NA NA
9-16 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
17-24 0 0 72 0 0 25 0 0
25-32 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

These are spot beams and the values here are of little use (and likely to drop quickly during rain or other weather issues) except for maybe one which might be feeding your locals.

 

[K4SMX]

What type of dish do you have, an AT-9 (older model, "sidecar") or AU9-S (Slimline)? What brand of LNB do you have (the label is on the inside face of the LNB)?

 

[foojay]

What type of dish do you have, an AT-9 (older model, "sidecar") or AU9-S (Slimline)? What brand of LNB do you have (the label is on the inside face of the LNB)?

I'm a new customer (2 months) slimline dish, no idea of brand of LNB.

 

[K4SMX]

Two months, huh? Well, welcome to Ka mpeg4 HD reception. From your numbers, it looks like you're experiencing normal rain fade on these HD satellites from a somewhat less than optimal starting signal strength level.

You'll find that your receiver will be able to maintain signal lock to much lower numbers than the Ku SD satellites, but the signals get to those numbers faster and more often. Whereas your Ku SD signals might start to pixelate in the 50's, you can usually still watch the Ka HD's down into the 30's. But when your Ku's are in the 50's, your Ka's may well be at or near zero.

It is what it is. You could give yourself a bit more margin with better alignment. But when the big ones pop up in the late afternoon in the LOS to the satellites, you're going to have a temporary loss of signal on the HD channels, even with perfect alignment. When T.S. Fay went through here the other day, I lost them for an hour and a half, which is very unusual. They were all at zero, while I still had reception on my SD locals. Normal outages are less than 10 or 15 minutes. My Ka's are normally all in the mid-90's.