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Digest #2875
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Thu May 30, 2013 5:49 pm (PDT) . Posted by:
"Robert Handren" rthandren
Thanks for the responses. I had done all the suggestions, as stated up front I have been using these systems for over a decade so should be up to speed on setup including manually peaking/moving the dish. I did fail to mention I had also used tech support for my VAR to no avail. One of the techs mentioned moisture which stimulated my posted question.
I took the really basic step of taking out the binoculars and looking at the plastic cover over the horn. It looked like someone had taken a shower inside the waveguide! I manually positioned the arm as close to the side of the coach as possible and removed and low pressure air dried the part. While this didn't get everything in the system I now have signal strengths approaching 60 and the system works with only the usual shenanigans of pulling out the modem power cord and rebooting, force ranging, etc.
When I get home I will dry the entire length carefully and also try to find and fix the leaks. The cover although apparently all there was leaking. I carefully sealed the edges with RTV. I will replace all the O-rings and otherwise check everything out mechanically for leaks, dry everything out and reassemble.
RF does not transmit through water or the US Navy wouldn't need ULF and other nearly SciFi methods to communicate with their subs. While obvious now it took a while for it to dawn on me that sometimes the problems with these systems are not technical but mechanical in nature.
New question: What kind of signal strengths should I be seeing with a properly functioning system. Back in the day 90+ was common but that is no more, what is a good value? The VAR tech did tell me Hughes will not talk about performance without a signal strength of at least 50-55.
Bob
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I took the really basic step of taking out the binoculars and looking at the plastic cover over the horn. It looked like someone had taken a shower inside the waveguide! I manually positioned the arm as close to the side of the coach as possible and removed and low pressure air dried the part. While this didn't get everything in the system I now have signal strengths approaching 60 and the system works with only the usual shenanigans of pulling out the modem power cord and rebooting, force ranging, etc.
When I get home I will dry the entire length carefully and also try to find and fix the leaks. The cover although apparently all there was leaking. I carefully sealed the edges with RTV. I will replace all the O-rings and otherwise check everything out mechanically for leaks, dry everything out and reassemble.
RF does not transmit through water or the US Navy wouldn't need ULF and other nearly SciFi methods to communicate with their subs. While obvious now it took a while for it to dawn on me that sometimes the problems with these systems are not technical but mechanical in nature.
New question: What kind of signal strengths should I be seeing with a properly functioning system. Back in the day 90+ was common but that is no more, what is a good value? The VAR tech did tell me Hughes will not talk about performance without a signal strength of at least 50-55.
Bob
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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