[jtb50]

I own a Hughes GCEBO receiver.My picture has not been very clear lately.I go into the menu to switch transponders to a stronger signal,but it goes back to the transponder i switched from when i leave the set up menu.Any suggestions how to keep the signal to where i set it at.Thank you.

 

[iqwertyi]

I don't think you can select the transponder manually. Transponder is "linked" to the channels you are watching. Therefore, when you change channels it changes transponder.

 

[jtb50]

Thank you for the reply.I was not aware of that.

 

[Brent01]

Here is a DirecTV Transponder Channel map I have found on another forum. I don't know how accurate it is but it will give you an idea of how the transponders function.

http://www.dbsforums.com/dbs/DTV101.htm

 

[jtb50]

Thank you Brent01,I didn't know channels were tied to transponders.

 

[Steve Mehs]

Quote:

From the EKB A transponder is the transmitter/antenna on the satellite. Typically a satellite will have around 32 transponders, although the owner of the satellite may not be licensed for all 32. Each transponder operates at a specific frequency, and can carry from 1 to 8 channels of TV and audio. Even and Odd transponders operate with opposite circular polarization to prevent adjacent "channel" interference. When you go to the installation screen, the transponder shown will be the one carrying the program you were last watching. You can not choose to have your program come across a different transponder. Several of the transponders on some of the satellites are operating at double power, and this accounts for some of the difference you are seeing. Other transponders might have different effective strengths at different geographical locations within their footprint. But there's not much point in being concerned, almost any strength over 50 gives you a perfect picture. Higher strengths just give you some margin against rain and snow fade.

 

[AntAltMike]

EKB stands for Echostar Knowledge Base. Each DBS MPEG2 transponder typically carries about a dozen standard definition programs, or several dozen audio programs. That is true for both Echostar and DirecTV DBS. DirecTV owns and operates all 32 DBS transponders available at its "core" 101 degree satellite slot. Each transponder broadcasts data within a specified, fixed band that is approximately 30Mz wide.


Not all DirecTV receivers begin their self test on the transponder that was most recently being watched. I think the Hughes "D" series and earlier being the transponder test on the transponder last tested. Maybe even the "E" series as well. I think all of the RCA and Sony begin it on the transponder of the program most recently watched.


Hughes has a neat test feature that many people never find. On all the models up to and including "E", it is called Cable Test. You go to the test screen, move the cursor two clicks to the right and select. It rapidly develops a table displaying the strength of all 32 transponders. On the GAEBO/GCEBO models, I think that feature might actually be called Transponder Test, but I don't have such a receiver handy to check at the moment.


Reversing the polarity of successively numbered transponders broadcast from the same satellite slot allows them to overlap and thus the DBS bandwidth at each satellite slot can be used twice with minimal cross polarization interference. I tend to think of 1, 3, 5 and 7 as adjacent channels, and they are similarly polarized.


Interference from identically numbered transponders broadcasting from what might be called adjacent slots is actually co-channel interference. With digital, circularly polarized signals, the difference in interference from adjacent satellite transponders that are similarly polarized versus from ones with reversed polarity is insignificant, and thus, adjacent circularly polarized DBS satellite slots have the same polarization plan as one another, whereas adjacent, linearly polarized, analog satellites benefit from having reversed or "flipped" polarity plans.

 

[Steve Mehs]

Yeah, but I was justing trying to give JTB an idea of what a transponder actually is, without me rambeling on.