dhadik
@direcway.com
| [HN7000S] Can't keep signal
I have had a problem for a while after lining up my hughesnet HN7000S (I move it almost every week to a new work site) of my signal dropping out. For example, this past Saturday I aligned to my Satalite (Satmex 5, long 113, freq 990) got a good sig strength (79-80), passed cross pol (85), did a restart and internet worked fine for about an hour. Then the Signal Strength drops below 32 and I lose connection for a couple of minutes. then the signal comes back and everything works fine for the next few minutes. The sky is clear with no blocking clouds or trees. In the past I have swapped cables and grounding wires maybe to moderate, but never lasting success. I have changed the dish out hoping to make a difference, but that didn't change anything. The only original item is the HN7000S modem. I keep suspecting some type of grounding issue, but can't figure out any other way to ground it. (I have both trans and rec. wires grounded to a ground spike driven about 10 inches into the ground.)
Anyone have any other ideas for me to try? |
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grohgreg
Dunno. Ask The Chief
join:2001-07-05
Dawson Springs, KY
2 edits | Well, a ten inch ground spike is completely useless - you may as well not ground it at all. The whole idea about grounding is that the outdoor electronics (ODU) and indoor electronics (IDU or modem) share a common ground resistance. That said, grounding impacts electrical safety and return reference. It has no impact on received signal strength. Your problem sounds more like local interference: police speed trap, somebody's radar detector not turned off, traffic control lights, overhead aircraft, etc
//greg//
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HN7000S/98cm Prodelin/2w Osiris/ProPlus - G16/1250H/Germantown - NAT 66.82.187.152/Gateway 66.82.25.10/DNS 66.82.4.12 and 66.82.4.8 - Firefox 3 - AV/Firewalled by NIS2009 |
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dhadik
@direcway.com
| reply to dhadik
"Well, a ten inch ground spike is completely useless - you may as well not ground it at all. "
Is grounding it dish itself not that important?
Your problem sounds more like local interference: police speed trap, somebody's radar detector not turned off, traffic control lights, overhead aircraft, etc
This problem happens almost every week even though I'm in different regions of the country, normally very small towns (many of which don't even have traffic lights). It is also very common for me to parked a few miles away from the closest town in countryside that has no seeming source of interference within miles. |
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tobicat
join:2005-04-18
Tombstone, AZ
2 edits | I don't know about the dropping signals. there are just too many variables. If you are running off of inverters I would be watching the voltage for fluctuations.
You missed the point on the ground rod. A 10 inch ground rod is for all practical purposes the same as no ground rod.
You need a much longer one or at least multiple ones. For 1 ft long ones I would guess five in a star pattern. A 4 ft one would probably bleed off static in most places which is what you are trying to do.
For what it's worth from here.
»masterslic.tripod.com/electritian.html
What is a ground rod?...
A ground rod is a metal shaft used for grounding. With plastic pipe now being used for water systems these rods are being used for services and other devices to be grounded. These rods are to be driven in the ground at least 8 ft. These rods when made of iron or steel shall be at least 5/8 inches thick. Non ferrous rods should be free of paint or any other non conductive material should be listed and not less than 1/2 inches thick.
Most codes call for a ground system of 25 ohms or less. While, as a practical matter, you can't get to zero ohms, you certainly can get to 25 ohms if the ground rods are properly installed. A single electrode consisting of rod, pipe, or plate that does not have a resistance to ground of 25 ohms or less shall be augmented by one additional electrode of any of the types specified above. Where multiple rod, pipe, or plate electrodes are installed to meet these requirements, they shall not be less than 6 feet apart.
The resistance of this code ground is intended to be 25 Ohms or less, but is rarely tested. To verify the resistance of ground, it is most often tested with instruments using the fall-of-potential method by a trained technician.
I am on 990 and its working fine so it's not the satellite.
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9000 spaceway III, 7000S SatMex 5 990, Dlink wirless |
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peve
Premium
join:2003-05-13
Edmonton, AB
 ·Unasat
| reply to dhadik
Did you recently purchase a radar detector? These can play havoc with satellite signal and need to be unplugged, not just turned off.
I have been deploying temporary dish installations for many years now and never had a grounding issue on those sites, in fact they weren't grounded as they moved every week to ten days.
The one grounding issue I ran into was a permanent install, when the wind started blowing across the dish (warm and dry) the modem would start dropping signal intermittently. Turns out the ground line had broken off from the grounding block.
I would re-check your connectors on the cables, perhaps a intermittent short in the receive cable or excessive flex in your tripod is allowing the dish to shift off signal.
PV
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1.2M iDirect 3100 Anik F2 V-Link Service - 1.2M SkyData G16 Galaxy Broadband Service |
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grohgreg
Dunno. Ask The Chief
join:2001-07-05
Dawson Springs, KY
2 edits | reply to dhadik
said by dhadik :
Is grounding it dish itself not that important?
Well, there are three mandatory outdoor grounds, all of which interact in the interest of electrical safety and signal integrity. They are:
(a) pole/mast ground
(b) TRIA ground (bond actually)
(c) cable block ground
Indoors the modem is grounded two ways
(a) power brick via 3rd prong on AC outlet
(b) modem itself via cable shielding (to cable block)
If you haven't grounded your cable, the wind mentioned above will generate an electrostatic charge across the dish - a charge which then rides the cable sheathing indoors. Result? Modem lockup. Repetitive solution: constantly restart modem. Permanent solution: use properly grounded cable block
I'm beginning to think you need to describe to us how you travel and why, and how you go about setting up each time you stop for a while. There are thousands of RV'ers and truckers that pack up and move their satellite connections all the time. It's sounding like you may have to adopt some of their techniques.
//greg//
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HN7000S/98cm Prodelin/2w Osiris/ProPlus - G16/1250H/Germantown - NAT 66.82.187.152/Gateway 66.82.25.10/DNS 66.82.4.12 and 66.82.4.8 - Firefox 3 - AV/Firewalled by NIS2009 |
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dhadik
@windstream.net
| reply to dhadik
peve: I don't have a radar detector, but my dish is about 10 feet from my wireless router. Would this cause a problem?
grohgreg: I am an evangelist and travel the country (mostly the windy Plains and Mountain states) in a 38' fifth wheel travel trailer. I have been using the hughesnet for at least 5 years now with only the occasional problem. This problem has occurred over the last couple of years. Sometimes it may only be a problem for a day or two, sometimes it makes it unusable all week. I know that I am in my satellite footprint. As far as grounding the dish would it work to attach a grounding wire to my trailer metal frame? I don't think I want to drive a four foot spike in the ground every place I go! (Let alone try to pull it back out again!) |
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dhadik
@direcway.com
| reply to dhadik
I just arrived home, and wasn't getting a signal. Signal strength was reading 30 or below. As an experiment I swapped cables that I was using for transmit and receive and immediately a strong signal came in. Is this proof that it is grounding problem? I don't know how long the signal will stay before the problem may start again. |
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dhadik1
@blackberry.net | reply to dhadik
Worked great for about an hour and a half. Then the signal started dropping in and out again. Frustrating! |
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grohgreg
Dunno. Ask The Chief
join:2001-07-05
Dawson Springs, KY
| reply to dhadik
As much as you set up and tear down, I'd say it's past time to replace BOTH cables.
As far as grounding, the same principle applies to mobile users; use a common ground for both IDU and ODU, and use a cable ground block. I presume you plug the modem into a standard receptacle inside the trailer. So first determine just where that receptacle is grounded. It may in fact ultimately be the frame. If true, that's where you want to ground the cable block too. Bond the TRIA to the mast, then ground the mast to the same place as the cable block. Skip the ground rod altogether. Although if you're not plugged into shore power, I think grounding the trailer (or generator) is a good idea.
If you're replacing the cable, buy quad-shield. Hughes says that way you can skip the mast ground.
//greg//
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HN7000S/98cm Prodelin/2w Osiris/ProPlus - G16/1250H/Germantown - NAT 66.82.187.152/Gateway 66.82.25.10/DNS 66.82.4.12 and 66.82.4.8 - Firefox 3 - AV/Firewalled by NIS2009 |
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dbirdman
Premium,MVM
join:2003-07-07
Eureka, CA
| Backing up a bit, what satellite are you on?
You said SatMex5 113, which are two non-equal things (SatMex 5 is 117, and 113 is SatMex6)
If you are indeed on SatMex5 990 that is currently a problem-plagued transponder, with frequencies being shifted to things like 999 symbol rate 15 (last week) and 981 symbol rate 10 (this morning). All sorts of problems and on-again off-again signals.
If you are on SatMex6 then disregard.
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W2K Server|Toshiba Satellite XP Pro|iDirect 3100 on Datastorm 1.2 meter XF3 with 4-watt BUC|HughesNet G28/1070/7000s Pro on 2-watt Datastorm G74|Sprint Air Card|1990 Blue Bird Wanderlodge Bus "Blue Thunder"|Author of PC-OPI and DSSatTool |
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tobicat
join:2005-04-18
Tombstone, AZ
| Yep 990 got didled with sometime during the night. Strange they are doing it without any log entries showing up.
Based on what I have read here the first thing I would do is change all the cables. That foam filled coax was not designed for continued rolling and unrolling.
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9000 spaceway III, 7000S SatMex 5 990, Dlink wirless |
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dhadik
join:2009-07-06
Duncannon, PA
| reply to dhadik
Maybe bad cables was the problem. I changed out all the cables and it seems to be working fine. Thanks for all your help.
And yes, my mistake, I am on Satmex 6. I used to be on Satmex 5, but after deactivating for a few months they placed me on Satmex 6 when I reactivated. Not knowing I was on a different satellite I wasted 3 hours or more with tech support before finally realizing (with help from this forum) that I had to realign my dish to different parameters. Now I have to try to get switched back so that I can get my directv on the same dish. But that is another problem for another day.
Thanks again for your time. |
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