I also have had signal problems with this satellite. I just installed a 30inch dish and my signal levels on transponder 28 is 38. Transponder 30 is 72. Transponder 20 is 97. Tr. 18 is 73. TR. 1 is 95. Tr. 32 is85. TR. 21 is93. What is going on with this bird?

I get a signal strength of 0 on 101 transponders 18, 26, and 28. I assume those transponders are not in use. Your other numbers seem good to me.

It may be possible that because of the size of this antenna I may be receiving signal from another close satellite. Thank you for the post. I do not know what transponders Direct TV utilizes.

Actually the opposite is true : The larger the reflector is, the smaller its beam is, and the harder it is to aim. I consider any strength above 70 to be no cause for concern, and only a very hard rain will cause dropouts.

Ken:>I get a signal strength of 0 on 101 transponders 18, 26, and 28. I assume those transponders are not in use>

Ken, your response tweaked my curiosity. On my Sony SAT HD 200 on "SAT A" which the manual says is the 101 location I get transponder readings of 18=97, 26= 45, and 28=97. I get 0 signal readings on 4, 12, and 20.

I read somewhere that there is more than one bird in a location. Is it possible different parts of the country are getting different signals, possibly associated with spot beaming local channels?

I am in Washington State. We don't get locals now, but they are scheduled by the end of the year.

If this is correct, with enough responses here, we could map the geographical distribution of DirecTVs local channel transponders.

Don : 101 transponders 18, 26, and 28 are still zero here. Maybe these zero readings are software and not the truth. I didn’t think DirecTV had any spot-beam satellites, but I don’t know that for certain. I don’t know how to make my RCA DTC-100 tell me which transponder a given station is on.

Transponders on 110 deliver the directv HD programming. 119 uses transponders 22-32 and 110 uses 3 transponders downconverted to the frequencies of 6, 8 and 12 and "combined with the 119 signal to the receiver.

My F38310 built-in receiver locked up when directv tried to activate the HD package. After 5 service calls, a complete new dish with tripple LNB's and a new access card still the same problem. It's stuck on 101 and will not switch to 119/110. All the channels on 119/110 display the channels on the 101 sat. Apparently the 13 and 18 volt switching signal is missing to the LNB's. Don't know if it's the DM-1 board or the receiver itself. Everything else works ok. OTA and anything on 101.

I did a Google to refresh my memory and it turned up this 2001 Boeing Press release. According to the following quote there are 4 birds at the 101 location including the new spot beam satellite.
_____________

"L SEGUNDO, CA., November 7, 2001- DIRECTV, Inc., a unit of Hughes Electronics Corporation, and Boeing Satellite Systems announced today that DIRECTV-4S, a new high-power spot beam satellite, has been shipped to the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana and is scheduled for launch on Nov. 26.

A Boeing 601HP, DIRECTV-4S is the first spacecraft in the DIRECTV fleet to use highly focused spot beam technology that will provide DIRECTV with the capacity to deliver more than 300 additional local channels to its 41 local channel markets. The new satellite enables DIRECTV to meet the "must carry" requirements of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act that take effect on Jan. 1, 2002.

The satellite will be carried into space by an Ariane 4 launch vehicle and is expected to be ready for service by late December at 101 degrees West Longitude (WL), the primary orbital slot for DIRECTV. DIRECTV-4S will be the sixth satellite in the DIRECTV fleet that now includes three satellites at its 101-degree slot, one at 110 degrees WL and another at 119 degrees WL. "


http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2001/q4/nr_011107s.html