# Any chance of HD position move?



## KingFrog (Oct 19, 2006)

From the eastern seaboard, the HD signal on 129 is kinda low - inaccessable from my property, though I can get the standard-def channels OK. Is there any chance Echostar is contemplating moving those to more mid-line orbital slots, like 110 or 119, at some point?


----------



## Mikey (Oct 26, 2004)

Ya know, all the national HD that Dish has is also on 61.5, which is very accessible from the East coast.

And :welcome_s


----------



## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

This guy is in Atlanta... and Dish has put the HD locals on the 129... so unless he doesn't want the HD locals for Atlanta, he is sort of stuck with 129 for now. Still not sure why Dish put the Atlanta HD locals on 129 based on the problems I've heard from some folks in this part of the south picking up that location reliably.


----------



## ssmith10pn (Jul 6, 2005)

HDMe said:


> This guy is in Atlanta... and Dish has put the HD locals on the 129... so unless he doesn't want the HD locals for Atlanta, he is sort of stuck with 129 for now. Still not sure why Dish put the Atlanta HD locals on 129 based on the problems I've heard from some folks in this part of the south picking up that location reliably.


It's the one dish thing. They can't make a single dish pick up 110,119, and 61.5.
So they are on 129 for a dish 1000

But,
It would seem logical to me to put Atlanta Locals on 119 or 118.75. But what do I know?


----------



## daddy111178 (Oct 10, 2006)

1000+ is the way to go


----------



## daddy111178 (Oct 10, 2006)

61.5 will be obsolete


----------



## whatchel1 (Jan 11, 2006)

daddy111178 said:


> 61.5 will be obsolete


61.5 will not become obsolete until they get Ciel up in place of 129. Also for many on the E coast it may never be a replacement for 61.5.


----------



## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

daddy111178 said:


> 61.5 will be obsolete


Until they launch a satellite that provides coverage/bandwidth for new channels that all the continental US will be able to see... then 61.5 is here to stay.

Too many customers in the NE and parts of the south that cannot get 129 at all or very poorly so they need 61.5, period.

There are ways to obsolete 61.5 but would require either another satellite OR dropping a bunch of channels to move them onto 110 or 119. The "new" 118.75 location so far is only being used for HD locals and some internationals.


----------



## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

ssmith10pn said:


> It's the one dish thing. They can't make a single dish pick up 110,119, and 61.5.
> So they are on 129 for a dish 1000
> 
> But,
> It would seem logical to me to put Atlanta Locals on 119 or 118.75. But what do I know?


Which gets us back to the original question... of if Dish will move them from 129 since the poster is having trouble getting that location. Would have made more sense to put the Atlanta HD locals on 61.5 OR perhaps on the 118.75 if they ever get more of the "+" dishes to install.


----------



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I'm suprised Atlanta isn't on 61.5° ... back in the day of split locals the "lesser" Atlanta locals were there which means anyone in the market that subscribed to locals should have had a 61.5° dish (I know that rule wasn't always followed). Perhaps it is harder to find two lines of sight instead of one wide one.

If E* ever uses the spotbeam capability of R1/E12 there is a spot aimed at Atlanta. Having it's HD locals on 61.5° would be a step toward actually using that spot (although E* would have to add an Atlanta uplink to use the Atlanta spot).

Putting Atlanta on 118.75° would only help because it would give customers a choice of 129° or 61.5°. If your individual situation prevented you from receiving 129° you could put up a 500+ and a 61.5° dish.


----------



## clarkbaker (Sep 23, 2006)

61.5 is the best choice for the East Coast.. and is more favorable than 129 anyhow.



KingFrog said:


> From the eastern seaboard, the HD signal on 129 is kinda low - inaccessable from my property, though I can get the standard-def channels OK. Is there any chance Echostar is contemplating moving those to more mid-line orbital slots, like 110 or 119, at some point?


----------



## KingFrog (Oct 19, 2006)

Mikey said:


> Ya know, all the national HD that Dish has is also on 61.5, which is very accessible from the East coast.
> 
> And :welcome_s


So, in theory at least, I could bail on having my locals in HD and keep getting them in STD instead, and get all the other programming I was hoping for from the 61.5? Should I call back and ask for that, or will they tell me they don't sell it that way?


----------



## R_Childress (Jan 4, 2006)

Could you just add a 61.5 dish to setup and keep HD locals. Dosen't the 622 pick the strongest signal available from a satellite to lock on to?


----------



## KingFrog (Oct 19, 2006)

R_Childress said:


> Could you just add a 61.5 dish to setup and keep HD locals. Dosen't the 622 pick the strongest signal available from a satellite to lock on to?


Looking back at my original post, I see I wasn't really clear.

The 129 bird is low - low enough that I cannot get a clear line-of-sight to it. I've already got a 61.5 dish, as that's where some of my locals were before the last re-organization for them. I'm wondering if I call Dish and tell them I'd like the national HDs from the 61.5 if they'll install whatever is needed - is it just the receiver at that point that I would need to add? I can live with standard-def locals if I need to...I do get one off-air, so it's not a complete loss.


----------



## ssmith10pn (Jul 6, 2005)

> low enough that I cannot get a clear line-of-sight to it.


I don't quite understand.
Are you doing this install or is Dish?
How has it been determined you don't have LOS to 129?
Your LOS elevation for 129 is 28.5° which really isn't that bad unless you have a tree or structure in the way.

You could go the 61.5 route and get your HD locals OTA.
What are your limitations? Apartment or Home?


----------



## Mikey (Oct 26, 2004)

KingFrog said:


> ...I'm wondering if I call Dish and tell them I'd like the national HDs from the 61.5 if they'll install whatever is needed - is it just the receiver at that point that I would need to add? I can live with standard-def locals if I need to...I do get one off-air, so it's not a complete loss.


Last time I looked, Dishn'-it-up included free installation, which would include whatever dish and switch you would need. The HD upgrade fee is $49 for the non-DVR HD box, and $199 for the 622 DVR.


----------



## KingFrog (Oct 19, 2006)

ssmith10pn said:


> I don't quite understand.
> Are you doing this install or is Dish?
> How has it been determined you don't have LOS to 129?
> Your LOS elevation for 129 is 28.5° which really isn't that bad unless you have a tree or structure in the way.
> ...


Dish came out. There is not a clear LOS to the 129 from my property, owing to a big hill covered in a pine forest.


----------



## ssmith10pn (Jul 6, 2005)

In that case I would go for 61.5 and forget about HD locals from the DBS.

Actually OTA HD looks better anyway and falls right in the existing guide like this.


----------



## Yes616 (Sep 6, 2006)

Actually OTA HD looks better anyway and falls right in the existing guide like this.


Wow.. thanks for that screen shot. Living in the boonies myself I never saw what that screen would look like with OTA channels on the Dish receiver.

I am in NY and get a great signal off the 61.5. The signal strength is always around 100 so I would say everyone east os the Mississippi River should get locals at 61.5 but I know it is all clogged up with the international channels.


----------



## ssmith10pn (Jul 6, 2005)

These are on 61.5 but that's it.

New York
Boston
Washington DC
Philadelphia PA
New Bedford MA

What would really be sweet is if they find it in there hart to move Atlanta to 110.

Looks like they have already moved the National HDs over there for Alaska and Hawaii only. (go figure)
They moved one Voom channel (RAVE) which is the only one I watch any way of the Vooms.

The HD locals on 110 are stagering.

Dallas TX
Houston TX
Sacramento CA
Miami FL
San Diego CA
Seattle WA
Portland OR
San Antonio TX
Spokane WA
Phoenix AZ


----------



## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

The Alaska/Hawaii stuff are on spotbeams which could only be seen by those locations anyway... so Dish didn't take any bandwidth away from the rest of us that wasn't being essentially wasted unused already. Just used them to do a big favor to those locations and give them some HD that had been hard/impossible to get previously.

I agree on the 61.5 front... Unless and until Dish launches something with better coverage than 129, makes sense to put HD locals on 61.5 and perhaps move some of the internationals around to make the room.


----------



## ssmith10pn (Jul 6, 2005)

ahh spotbeams. 
I missed that little detail when I was looking at http://www.dishchannelchart.com


----------



## KingFrog (Oct 19, 2006)

KingFrog said:


> From the eastern seaboard, the HD signal on 129 is kinda low - inaccessable from my property, though I can get the standard-def channels OK. Is there any chance Echostar is contemplating moving those to more mid-line orbital slots, like 110 or 119, at some point?


Got my 622 installed today, pointed to the 61.5 satellite, so I am now enjoying my hi-def heaven. I'm missing the locals, but I can get acceptable off-air for some of them, and "intermittent" off-air for the others, so I can live with it.

It turns out that the 622 is substantially better at tuning in the local stations than the TV itself was - it only saw two locals. The 622 sees most of the local hi-defs.


----------



## R_Childress (Jan 4, 2006)

Congrats!!


----------



## Yes616 (Sep 6, 2006)

KingFrog said:


> Got my 622 installed today, pointed to the 61.5 satellite, so I am now enjoying my hi-def heaven. I'm missing the locals, but I can get acceptable off-air for some of them, and "intermittent" off-air for the others, so I can live with it.
> 
> It turns out that the 622 is substantially better at tuning in the local stations than the TV itself was - it only saw two locals. The 622 sees most of the local hi-defs.


Question for KingFrog.. How far are you from the transmitters?


----------



## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

ssmith10pn said:


> It's the one dish thing. They can't make a single dish pick up 110,119, and 61.5.


IIRC, the Federally mandated single dish issue doesn't come into play here. I suspect that the issue is avoiding putting content at 61.5 that shouldn't be CONUS.

If it comes down to a few subscribers being obscured by hills or trees in one direction, they're probably hesitant to shift it the other way for fear of nailing customers that are obscured in the other direction.


----------



## Rick_R (Sep 1, 2004)

I have a Dish 1000 pointing to the 110, 119, and 129 plus a Dish 300 pointing at the 61.5. They are all combined through a DPP44. I get the national HD from the 61.5 and the HD locals via the 129.

The reason Atlanta does not get the 129 well is not the distance but it is the footprint of the 129 satellite. If a 129 satellite with a better footprint was used the east coast would receive the 129 fine (except for upper New England maybe).

I am in Los Angeles and a long way from the 61.5 but I get it better than the 129 (my longitude is 119).

Rick R


----------



## KingFrog (Oct 19, 2006)

Yes616 said:


> Question for KingFrog.. How far are you from the transmitters?


Hmmm...IIRC, I range from about 9.5 miles to 22 miles from the transmitters.

Thank God I live near a ridgeline, facing the right direction...


----------

