Improve signal quality

[sat_man]

Hi,

I have a new Technomate 7755 receiver and I am trying to realign it to improve signal quality. When I use the remote to nudge the dish right or left the receiver signal strength / quality bars reflect the changes and I aim for the best signal strengh / quality available. I was still not satisfied with the 80 percent signal strength on hotbird so I switched to moving the dish up and down to find the best position. However to my disappointment the receiver signal quality bar did not change when I moved the dish from the top to the bottom of the mount play. My old Humax signal bars used to reflect any movement but the Technomate does not appear to. Is there a signal quality registering meter that I can buy. My current one only shows signal strength which I am happy with (90 percent). I find it hard to understand why the receiver signal quality bar does not move when I move the dish significantly up or down. I had to settle for the best signal quality that I could find (still 80 percent) As I was happy with the right / left movement to find the best strength / quality I need to be able to see any changes when I nudge the dish up or down. Any suggestions? I get a good picture on stronger channels but pixellation on weaker channels.

Thanks Brian

[Jimdefruit]

sat_man, dont worry about signal strength. The important thing is, are you getting a stable picture.

The signal strength indication is just that and it depends upon the receiver metering electronics as much as anything.

What is 100%, it is meaningless. I get a perfectly good picture with a signal strength of 60%. If it was shown as an actual electronic quantity then it might mean something.

The signal strength indication on your receiver is just as useful as a meter and in fact tells you a lot more because it gives the details for each individual channel that you scan.

[BGonaSTICK]

I'm totally with Jim - numbers mean nothing, and every receiver is different.

Just maximise the quality reading, even if it seems to have a flat spot at the top, where moving the dish doesn't affect quality. Signal strength is secondary once you have your dish reasonably well aligned.

Go back to your original 'signal quality' thread and work through all the tips to increase quality again.

With that dish you should be able to tweak things to avoid any pixelation on Hotbird at your location.

STICK

[sat_man]

Thanks, I will do the checks again. I am better off that when I had my old humax but tha lack of sensitivity on the key signal quality when I move the dish up and down about a foot with no change in the receiver signal strength meter is annoying. I expected the signal quality to change so that I could home in on the best possible setting. Never mind I will persevere with my new receiver. My neighbours thiink that I am a permanent fixture on my garage roof with all the time I spend on it hanging onto my dish.

Thanks again Brian

[BGonaSTICK]

It sounds suspiciously like the quality meter in the receiver isn't showing what it should. Try it on different frequencies/channels, and/or try swapping back to a different LNB. Give the receiver a few seconds to settle between dish movements, or just change channels and then switch back again.

Try on high band, low band, horizontal and vertical polarisations. Try tuning on one of the channels that break up and see if you can ascertain the optimum position based on the actual picture you receive. At the end of the day, if you can get a stable picture on the weakest transponder in the worst weather, that's all that matters.

Good luck.

[diapason]

This may be an obvious comment after all that good advice shown above, but I dfound that I could improve signal quality by adjusting the upward angle of the LNB as it pointed to the dish. I then also found that rotating the LNB in its holder also had an effect. For instance, I rotated the LNB anticlockwise a little for 28.2E and it required to be almost level for 19.2E and a tiny bit the other way for 13E. This may, of course, be nothing to do with your problem but I found the playing about with these two angles had a bearing on the case.

[satsid]

hi diapason,a small scew of a lnb can help as the clark belt is curved from each side from 1w wether east or west.a classic is art cards at 13e also i know guys use this a lot for as well 30w.this will work if signel is low & dish size just enough for the birds.a 5% improvment can mean the difference wether you watch or not.
sid

[satsid]

hi gent just to add here i have a Technomate 1500,now the on the front where it goes green & red for signel.a lot of people make the mistake that its the level for strenth,but its not its the quaility that shows.this is why the signel will not go as low as other receivers & show a pic.this needs to be higher from quaility,i guess the Technomate 7755 is the same.but dont hold me to this as i dont have the 7755 tm.this got me once a long while back lol.
sid