RCA Oval Dish Problem...

Really nothing to worry about. In several hundred oval dish installations I have always seen the 119 bird a little lower than the 101. Usually about 10 points lower to be exact. You do not get any better picture if the signal meter shows 40 or 95. It's digital, either it works 100% perfectly or it does not. Of course I never settle for 40 on the meter, usually I get depending on the receiver something like 75 or so on the 119, and 85 on the 101.


In the Los Angeles area where I work thunderstorms like those that occur in the midwest are very rare. The only possible problem with signals weaker than say about 60 would be possible brief rain fade during heavy downpours. I have seen this twice personally during 5 years as a Direct TV subscriber.


The only way to get around the slight limitations of the Direct TV oval dish is to use (2) 24" dishes, one for the 101, the other for the 119. Then use the tone multi-switch and combine the 2 together. I have never felt the need, but you should get hammered with mid 90's or better signal on both satellite locations. Really the only need to go through this much work is if you get regular thunderstorms....otherwise just watch TV, ok?

If you do a search on the multiswitch you will probably get a good reply to your question. Briefly, the voltages have to do with the polarity of the signal from the satellite. Satellite signals are sent "polarized" the way polarized filters and sunglasses work. That is, the signal wave is sent in only one plane. This allows two signals to be sent 90 degrees to each other on the same frequency doubling the information that can be sent. The LNB gets a signal from your receiver telling it which "channel" you want to watch. It then switches the polarity as necessary to show that signal. The receiver tells the LNB which polarity to use by sending it a voltage signal. Since there are two different satellites you're looking at, and since you may have multiple receivers trying to look at channels with different polarities, you need a way to get the correct polarity signal to the LNB and the correct signal to your receiver. The multiswitch accomplishes these voltage changes and signal selections.


SMK