# Eastern vs. Western Arc



## DeputyDawg (Nov 23, 2007)

Since I have been with dish (10-15 years now) I have always pointed to the East (the original 110/119 and then 129) satellite locations, which has been working fine.

Last fall I was noticing a TON of dropped signals on HD channels. Apparently my receiver was dropping so much that Dish called me to see what was wrong. So we set
up a service call. The tech stated that my LOS was blocked with trees. He suggested moving me over to the western arc (61.5/72) which had a fairly good LOS. That seemed
to work fine. I recall my new signal strengths were lower. When asked he told me that was due to 61/5/72 being further away and thus weaker signal. He stated if I ever remove
those trees that I should consider going back to 110/119/129

6 months later, ALL trees are gone. So I called dish to see if I should move back. I had to talk to 3 different techs to get an answer I could understand and believe. But I was told
NOT to move, that 129 which provides HD is much lower in the horizon compared to 61.5.

on a website to determine angles of each location this is what I came up with:

129 = 29.4
61.5 = 44.9

So I guess what I'm looking for is confirmation of whether I should stay with 61.5/72 or move back to 110/119/129. Everything I can determine says STAY with 61.5/72

Thanks...


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## thomasjk (Jan 10, 2006)

Stay with 61.5/72.7 which is Eastern Arc. Your old setup 110/119/129 was on Western Arc.


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## RBA (Apr 14, 2013)

DeputyDawg said:


> Since I have been with dish (10-15 years now) I have always pointed to the East (the original 110/119 and then 129) satellite locations, which has been working fine.
> 
> Last fall I was noticing a TON of dropped signals on HD channels. Apparently my receiver was dropping so much that Dish called me to see what was wrong. So we set
> up a service call. The tech stated that my LOS was blocked with trees. He suggested moving me over to the western arc (61.5/72) which had a fairly good LOS. That seemed
> ...


First thing is Western Arc is 110/119/129 and Eastern Arc is 61.5/72.7 and if needed 77. Where are your HD locals located if on Eastern Arc stay where you are. Signals on Eastern arc are lower because of the MPEG4 compression used, if your picture isn't breaking up your signal is probably good.


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## Rduce (May 16, 2008)

I have been on the Western Arc since I became a DISH customer back in 2003, in March I was contacted by DISH and informed they needed to send a TECH out to change me to the Eastern Arc as my location in Michigan, was migrating to the Eastern Arc. It was done without any cost to me, so I had no real issues with the switch, but I can say that in my experience my current Eastern Arc setup is much more prone to rain fade that it was on the Western Arc. I seem to lose signal during moderate showers, where I never did before. I have been told that my signal levels are fine under normal conditions and the dish is peaked as well as it can be. I do not intend on staying with DISH past this summer so I have learned to live with the outages at this point. Given my choice I would go with the Western Arc if it is an option, but that is just me.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

RBA said:


> Signals on Eastern arc are *lower because of the MPEG4 compression used*


Don't read the sentence - it's totally wrong personal assumption.


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## DeputyDawg (Nov 23, 2007)

Sorry got mixed up with East/West Arc

So what I'm hearing is that I should stay with 61.5/72 !!!! 

If I do move back to 110/119/129 the 110/119 part might be good, but 129 is too low in the horizon and I may have issues

So not worth the service call to have dish come out...


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

29 degree is too low in the horizon? don't take this bate 

we, at West Coast. are getting 61.5W just fine at 10 degree (if no tree on LOS)

all the BS about greater distance is just BS


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

P Smith said:


> 29 degree is too low in the horizon? don't take this bate
> 
> we, at West Coast. are getting 61.5W just fine at 10 degree (if no tree on LOS)
> 
> all the BS about greater distance is just BS


10 degrees, ? Comon, you must be at the top of a mountain. 
29 is not massively low, but anything under 20 degrees, surly need a long A$$ clear los, and rain fade would be way unacceptable.

Sent from my Galaxy S5


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## shadough (Dec 31, 2006)

Moving back to W. Arc would be fine as long u have clear LOS to 129, which pretty much means u need to see the sun set into the earth, an not a tree. I myself have 'split arc', 2 birds from the east, 2 birds from the west (61, 72, 110, 119), so typically if theres some rain fade on the HD channel, I can catch an acceptable signal on the sd channel, but not always.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

damondlt said:


> 10 degrees, ? Comon, you must be at the top of a mountain.
> 29 is not massively low, but anything under 20 degrees, surly need a long *** clear los, and rain fade would be way unacceptable.
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy S5


I MUST BE AT TOP OF ONE STORY HOUSE; DID MANY INSTALLATIONS HERE BACK WHEN ONLY 61.5W CARE INTERNATIONAL CHANNELS
AND RAIN WILL AFFECT SAME PRACTICALLY WAY AS 119W,

COMMON, ENOUGH GRASPING STRAWS


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

shadough said:


> Moving back to W. Arc would be fine as long u have clear LOS to 129, which pretty much means u need to see the sun set into the earth, an not a tree. I myself have 'split arc', 2 birds from the east, 2 birds from the west (61, 72, 110, 119), so typically if theres some rain fade on the HD channel, I can catch an acceptable signal on the sd channel, but not always.


There is absolutely no reason to have 110 AND 119 AND 61.5 AND 72.7 - any thing on 110/119 will also be on 61.5 / 72.7 (with the exception on SD MPEG2 locals - and for that you only need one of 110/119 (depends which one those locals are on)). Any of the national SD national channels will be on 72.7 along with the HD national channels (a few exceptions where they maybe on 61.5).


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## mwdxer (Oct 30, 2013)

I think there is one or two PI channels on the 61.5 that are not on the Western arc. One is in Spanish I believe.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

mwdxer said:


> I think there is one or two PI channels on the 61.5 that are not on the Western arc. One is in Spanish I believe.


218 ION West is 110 (western arc) only.
9413 AlmaVision Hispanic Network is 61.5 (eastern arc) only.

That is the only national channel difference I can find.


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

"Split arc" set-ups are not a good idea anymore. I used to have one and missed the HD versions of many channels that I was supposed to receive. Fortunately having a split arc set-up got me a free install of a 1000.2 to replace my Dish 500 + Dish 300 @61.5. I originally had that setup due to being a "lifetime :sure: " Sky Angel subscriber. When SA signed off satellite my HD locals appeared on 61.5 (but only the "Big-4" at the time).


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## mwdxer (Oct 30, 2013)

I disconnected the 61.5 dish for a few weeks and the only change I found was the loss of Almavision 9413. I should move the 30" dish around and change out the LNBF, moving the dish to the 118.75 for international programming, since there is little left on the 61.5.


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