S and Q with Red or green module

[Queen59]

I see lot of posts for S and Q signal, people having difficulty getting high signal. Now a days DL HD come with pre install green module, atleat in my case, mine S & Q varies on some channels from 36 to 95% but on 118 sat it stays about 76%. HD channels come ok too. Question is if the module is factory board then I should not get any HD but I do, second does it really make difference with red module? In my set up I did not get blue signal on TURBO but it got good signal on QVB. Can some pro/mod settle this? Thanks

[Glatt]

You need 21500 and 8psk 2/3 to get HD!

[dishuser]

You need 21500 and 8psk 2/3 to get HD!

they said they get hd

[pugsycan]

Personally I have seen both boards being used and both worked fine Did my buddies luck out and get good boards? good possibility These boards are very cheaply made (my opinion only) and there are good and bad in all of them Now for S & Q if your Q is 36 but pic is not blocking or dropping out then I would think it is just a poor meter on the STB
I see lot of posts for S and Q signal, people having difficulty getting high signal. Now a days DL HD come with pre install green module, atleat in my case, mine S & Q varies on some channels from 36 to 95% but on 118 sat it stays about 76%. HD channels come ok too. Question is if the module is factory board then I should not get any HD but I do, second does it really make difference with red module? In my set up I did not get blue signal on TURBO but it got good signal on QVB. Can some pro/mod settle this? Thanks

[Queen59]

Thanks for your time to answer. I think its just the way S &Q will be. I looked at the DN receiver and called my installer he told me that signal strenght is reduced by the receiver for instance a signal of 49% would actually be above 90%, so may be thats what DL HD is also doing also on some channels and not all channels will show high S &Q. Even at low S & Q channel still come. Thanks

[Terryl]

"S" and "Q" signals are derived by calculations done via software in the receiver, the "S" is derived from what is called "RSSI", (Received Signal Strength Indicator) the RSSI is a voltage detected from the tuner, it is the input level of the down-converted signal from the LNB, and not from the level of the signal from the satellite.

"S" can be as low as 20% and you can get a good picture.

The "Q" signal is different, it is derived by a special program that measures the amount of FEC (Forward Error Correction) used to correct any missing data bits in the down-linked digital signals.

Any noise or loss of signal that affects the digital TV signal data bits causes the FEC to start working to correct it, this loss of data is called BER (Bit Error Rate) the normal indication for BER is in the 10 to the minus 12 to 13 range for a good signal and 10 to the minus 11 to 10 for a bad signal, the BER and FEC are combined and calculated for an "S" indication of 99% for the 10 to the minus 13 BER, (good signal no data loss) and 40% or less for the ten to the minus 11 to 10 BER.(bad signal, extremely pixelated or no picture at all)

So some tuners will work at an "S" of 30 to 40% and a "Q" of 50 to 60%, others will work at a lower rate, others won't.


The only way to raise the "S" signal is to use better coax, RG-6 quad with the pure copper center conductor, or for long runs (over 150 feet) use RG-11.

The only way to get a better "Q" (better then 65%, as this is digital and it doesn't matter, 80% is good)(unless you have weather fade problems) is to fine tune the dish, use a bigger dish, or a new or higher quality LNB.

And the less stuff you have between your LNB and receiver the better, if you have a switch with a metal case and it's outside by or close to the dish, you don't need a ground block, the metal case of the switch can be used to ground the systems coax shield.

However if your in a lightning prone area, a good lightning protector for the coax is recommended, remeber a ground block will not protect the center conductor and receiver from lightning, all a ground block does is ground the coax shield, a good lighting protector protects the center conductor and will limit the amount of lighting getting inside to the receiver.(and other things)



Sorry too much coffee again......................................My fault...

[Queen59]

Thank you for the in depth detail, it make sense now, I was thinking to tweak the dish just a little, see if it increases S & Q