# Dish 500 x 2 = Dish 1000 ?



## cames (Jan 18, 2006)

Our 811 to Vip 622 upgrade was installed this past Sunday. Instead of getting a new Dish 1000, the installer added another 500 to our existing dish. Does this really add up to a Dish 1000, allowing us to receive HD locals when available?


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## chewey (Jul 28, 2004)

cames said:


> Our 811 to Vip 622 upgrade was installed this past Sunday. Instead of getting a new Dish 1000, the installer added another 500 to our existing dish. Does this really add up to a Dish 1000, allowing us to receive HD locals when available?


If the second dish is pointed at 129, then yes it does. Did he tell you why he wasn't installing a dish 1000? I'm not sure I'd want to dishes up there when a 1000 should do the trick.


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## cames (Jan 18, 2006)

No, no explanation of why the extra dish versus replacement. We have a pretty large roof, and it doesn't really bother me. Just so long as it works.


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## pdxsam (Jun 20, 2004)

cames said:


> No, no explanation of why the extra dish versus replacement. We have a pretty large roof, and it doesn't really bother me. Just so long as it works.


You might find that you're better off with the 2 500's.

I just got my 622 installed and the installer swung my 148 dish over to 129 for the best signal. The Dish 1000 was much weaker signal wise on 129 and 110.

The proof was in the fact that last night was some fairly heavy rain here in Portland and I didn't get a dropout. I see other posts complaining about rain fade.

Cheers,
Sam


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## chewey (Jul 28, 2004)

pdxsam said:


> You might find that you're better off with the 2 500's.
> 
> I just got my 622 installed and the installer swung my 148 dish over to 129 for the best signal. The Dish 1000 was much weaker signal wise on 129 and 110.
> 
> ...


yeah, he might have been doing you a favor. A lot of people have been complaining about the signal strength they get for 129 with the 1000. Let us know how your signal strength is and if you have any problems with the voom channels or espn2.


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## Cokeswigga (Jan 25, 2005)

In retrospect.. 
I would have preferred the installer add another Dish 500 instead of replacing it with a D1000

Some of the 129 transponders are as low as 50, the highest I've seen is 70

110 has lost some signal strength too
119 seems ok though.


I wouldn't mind having 3 or even 4 dishes on my roof.

I think I may get another Dish 500 (or maybe even 2 Dish 500's, use that for 110/119

then use the D1000 for 129 only

and use my last D500 for 148.


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## DoyleS (Oct 21, 2002)

I opted for turning my 148 dish 300 to 129 instead of letting them put up the questionable Dish 1000. My lowest signal strength on 129 is 67 and the highest is 90. I will try peaking the dish myself this weekend. 

..Doyle


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## lifterguy (Dec 22, 2003)

I currently have a Dish 500 and a second dish pointed at 61.5. I'm getting a 622 installed next week. Is it safe to assume that my installer will leave everything the way it is and not try to install a Dish 1000 or make any other changes?


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## Cokeswigga (Jan 25, 2005)

DoyleS said:


> I opted for turning my 148 dish 300 to 129 instead of letting them put up the questionable Dish 1000. My lowest signal strength on 129 is 67 and the highest is 90. I will try peaking the dish myself this weekend.
> 
> I chose not to go with the 148 swing.... (mainly so I could make Dish give me a DPP 44, so I could use the seperator, and not install another line)
> 
> ..Doyle


I had a D1000 installed,
and then I found a D500 for $30 so I put that up, used the D500 for 110/119, and the D1000 for 129 only here are the before/after numbers:

Xponder-D1000/110/119/129-D1000/129
1-63-71
2-64-75
3-66-74
4-62-70
5-63-71
6-78-87
7-70-79
8-60-66
9-76-82
10-78-86
11-66-74
12-77-82
13-64-70
14-67-76
15-71-79
16-63-71
17-62-68
18-63-74
19-64-72
20-63-70
21-62-69
22-N/A
23-67-74
24-60-68
25-N/A
26-N/A
27-65-74
28-N/A
29-N/A
30-65-75
31-64-78

On average by having 129 on it's own Dish peaked for 129, I gained about 8 points of signal strength. On 110 I gained over 16 points, and 119 gained about 4.


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## mklatman (Jan 21, 2006)

I am leaning in the direction of what you did. I currently have two D500s. One is pointed at 110/119 and the other at 148. I am leery of going to a single 1000 because of so many comments here. I am waiting to upgrade after April 1 for the HD DVR upgrade promotion.

At that time I may just have them repoint the D500 that is aimed at 148 to 129. I am just wondering whether a D1000 pointed at 129 would work better than a D500 pointed at 129.

Any thoughts on that?

Thanks.



Cokeswigga said:


> I had a D1000 installed,
> and then I found a D500 for $30 so I put that up, used the D500 for 110/119, and the D1000 for 129 only here are the before/after numbers:
> 
> Xponder-D1000/110/119/129-D1000/129
> ...


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## Cokeswigga (Jan 25, 2005)

Thats what I did.. 

I acquired a 2nd D500 for 110/119.
and I used the supplied D1000 for 129.
I left the exosting D500 pointed at 148 alone.


But you could do this:

1.) Convince the installer to leave both D500's alone.
2.) Have him install the D1000 (or D500) and point to 129 only
3.) Make him come back with a DPP44 if he didn't bring one (this will be usefull for using the DPP seperators and getting all 4 sat locations)

If he "has to" install the D1000 correctly, allow him to do that, but have him leave the d500's alone and leave them on the roof.


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## DP1 (Sep 16, 2002)

I agree with swigga. Especially for those that already use multiple dishes anyway. I'm down here in Denver and not terribly thrilled about the signal strength on 129. Especially with what I'm seeing on a Dish1000 type setup.

Normally I dont worry too much about somewhat marginal signal strengths. Like I have a BEV setup where it's way marginal.

But then again for one thing, thats not the system I truly rely on or use alot and for another thing when it comes to the 622 it seems like that box in many cases is finding enough reasons to reboot. I'd just as soon not give it another one by having certain tp's with way low signal strength that might trigger one when the box tunes to them. Not saying theres documented proof that that happens.. but hey.


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## mklatman (Jan 21, 2006)

I was actually thinking that I would abandon 148 and just go with two dishes. The only channel I use on 148 is distant CBSHD. I would be getting that with the Denver local HDs on 129 anyway. Help me understand why I would A) want to hang onto 148 and B) have a D1000 pointed at just 129 if the D500 would do the job.

I want to get the maximum benefit out of this free install so I don't have to do something that costs money down the road, but I don't want an extra dish on the house if it really isn't going to buy me anything.



Cokeswigga said:


> Thats what I did..
> 
> I acquired a 2nd D500 for 110/119.
> and I used the supplied D1000 for 129.
> ...


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## DP1 (Sep 16, 2002)

Well generally the bigger the dish the more the gain it has. As far as getting the most out of the install you'd prolly want to keep 148 in the mix then because then he'd have to install a pretty expensive switch to get you all 4 sats. Even if you took the dish down later anyway cause you didnt really want or need it up there.

I'm basically in the same boat. Except I use 61.5 for the CBS HD feed from NYC as opposed to your 148 for the West feed. Although I too would forgo that channel because I dont really need it or watch it anymore. In fact thats most likely whats going to happen because when my 622 gets here pretty quick I'll prolly just cancel the install to activate it myself. Then I wont be getting that switch and I'll just have the option of swinging my 61.5 dish to 129 or just using my own version of a Dish 1000.

I've been using the latter lately to just feed my 211 sort of as a test after I had intially been feeding it 61.5 and 110/119 when I first got it a few weeks ago.


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## mklatman (Jan 21, 2006)

I'd love to hear how your repoint to 129 goes, signal-wise. Are you planning to install your 622 soon?



DP1 said:


> Well generally the bigger the dish the more the gain it has. As far as getting the most out of the install you'd prolly want to keep 148 in the mix then because then he'd have to install a pretty expensive switch to get you all 4 sats. Even if you took the dish down later anyway cause you didnt really want or need it up there.
> 
> I'm basically in the same boat. Except I use 61.5 for the CBS HD feed from NYC as opposed to your 148 for the West feed. Although I too would forgo that channel because I dont really need it or watch it anymore. In fact thats most likely whats going to happen because when my 622 gets here pretty quick I'll prolly just cancel the install to activate it myself. Then I wont be getting that switch and I'll just have the option of swinging my 61.5 dish to 129 or just using my own version of a Dish 1000.
> 
> I've been using the latter lately to just feed my 211 sort of as a test after I had intially been feeding it 61.5 and 110/119 when I first got it a few weeks ago.


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## ClarkBar (Mar 5, 2006)

My installer, who owns a nearby Dish dealership, brought me a 622 and D1000 and said that D1000 was part of the lease upgrade deal on the 622. Took down Dish 500 and disconnected coax to Dish 300/61.5 and DP21 (Voom, ESPN2,UniHD in NE Texas). D1000 gave poor signal on 129 and signals on 110/119 were reduced from what they were on DishPro500. 

We took down the D1000 and pulled the LNBs. Put the new DishProPlus Twin LNB (from D1000) on dish 500 and the new Dual LNB over on the Dish300. Ran one coax from Port 1 of DishProPlusTwin to 622 and used Separator to feed the two 622 tuner inputs. Installer said that if I ever need to use a second receiver, run a coax from the Port 2 output on the DishProPlus LNB. Peaked 110/119 on DishProPlus Twin on Dish500. Ran coax from Dish300 Dual LNB to the LNB IN connection on the DishProPlusTwin. DP21 no longer needed. Peaked Dish300 on 129, with one or two channels as high as 86! 

Nearly all channels on 61.5 are mirrored on 129 (DishDemo and Pentagon missing from 129). But if Dallas HD LIL (I am in Dallas DMA) are not put on 129, I may swing the Dish 300 back to 61.5 if I start getting dropouts on 129. Bottom line. In reading many posts here and elsewhere, few are getting a good signal from 129. And, if Dish1000 is peaked on 129, 110/119 proabably will suffer. Some might try peaking the D1000 on 110/119 and put Dual LNB on another dish for 129. That way, dealer cannot say you are not "using the D1000." 

My guy left me the stripped D1000, along with my old DishPro LNBs (which I owned). I owned my 510/811, both of which we deactivated. Because I was trading up from an 811, not an HD DVR, I paid $299, with no possible rebate. Dish offered me $25 if I would send back my owned 811. No thanks, but I still got an empty "return box" a few days later. 

When installer called in the installation activation, he was asked if he installed a D1000 dish. Yes, he said. (Never mind that we later took it down and it's in my shed.) Remember, the D1000 is part of the "single dish solution" mandated by Congress for SD LIL. Dish has to provide it. You don't have to use it.


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## DP1 (Sep 16, 2002)

mklatman said:


> I'd love to hear how your repoint to 129 goes, signal-wise. Are you planning to install your 622 soon?


Well as I said in the last paragraph of what you quoted, I'm already getting 129 to feed the 211 I have now. With a Dish 1000 type dish (my own version made from D*'s elliptical 3 slot dish but with E* inb's) I'm getting like readings on the low side of high 60's and and the better tp's, low 80's. But even to get that I had to compromise 110 somewhat.. course that bird is stronger to begin with. And even if my numbers are lower than they should be for this area I wouldnt attribute it to the dish type I'm using. I'd say if anything it was cause I have stupid long cable runs.

But regardless, theres no question that if you had a dish dedicated to 129.. then tied in to a Dish 500 for 110/119 you'd be better off. That would be the case anywhere. It just depends how much room for error you need/want to have.

Heck I know people that are so paranoid what what their signal strengths are (gotta see 100+ across the board.. 85 will never do!) they even use 2 seperate dishes just for 110 and 119.


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## Cokeswigga (Jan 25, 2005)

DP1 said:


> Heck I know people that are so paranoid what what their signal strengths are (gotta see 100+ across the board.. 85 will never do!) they even use 2 seperate dishes just for 110 and 119.


I was going to put up a 4th dish to have one for 110, one for 119, one for 129, and one for 148.

But I couldn't gain any additional signal out of 110 to make it worth while, so I left the 110/119 on one Dish 500.

I used the D1000 for the 129, but now that I've looked at it again, 
I think the D1000 would be better suited for the 110/119, and the D500 would be better for the 129. I think I might need to try this experiment (I just have to send my girlfriend and her mom out for the day somewhere while I play).

I hang on to the 148 Dish 500 just so I have a backup for CBS HD and a few fcc must carries.


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## mklatman (Jan 21, 2006)

Looks to me like the likely best solution is to 1) keep my 500 pointed at 110/119 where the signal is just fine. and 2) point my other 500 at 129. If E* requires that I take the 1000, I would dedicate it to 129 exclusively.



Cokeswigga said:


> I was going to put up a 4th dish to have one for 110, one for 119, one for 129, and one for 148.
> 
> But I couldn't gain any additional signal out of 110 to make it worth while, so I left the 110/119 on one Dish 500.
> 
> ...


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## DP1 (Sep 16, 2002)

Cokeswigga said:


> I was going to put up a 4th dish to have one for 110, one for 119, one for 129, and one for 148.
> 
> But I couldn't gain any additional signal out of 110 to make it worth while, so I left the 110/119 on one Dish 500.
> 
> ...


Why would you have gone with 2 dishes for 110/119? Is rain fade that severe where you live.. or some LoS issues or what? Or was it just the thought of seein that needle pegged? 

What makes you think the dishes would be betetr suited the other way around? On one hand of course it makes sense that you'd want the bigger dish going after the 2 birds instead of one.. I guess it just depends how relatively low the strength is on the diff birds from where a person is at. But in my case I wouldnt do it that way just for the sake of principle. I'd rather have say 85 on all three than I would 100 on 110/119 and 70 on 129.

Do you think you'll get just as good of strength from 129 with the 500 vs. the 1000 or are you willing to give back a few of those points you gained with the standalone 1000 to begin with cause you're not happy with the 110/119 numbers at the moment?


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## Cokeswigga (Jan 25, 2005)

DP1 said:


> Why would you have gone with 2 dishes for 110/119? Is rain fade that severe where you live.. or some LoS issues or what? Or was it just the thought of seein that needle pegged?


Rain Fade in Southern California!  I loose my satellites 3-4 times a year. Once at each solstice, and once or twice due to severe weather



DP1 said:


> What makes you think the dishes would be betetr suited the other way around? On one hand of course it makes sense that you'd want the bigger dish going after the 2 birds instead of one.. I guess it just depends how relatively low the strength is on the diff birds from where a person is at. But in my case I wouldnt do it that way just for the sake of principle. I'd rather have say 85 on all three than I would 100 on 110/119 and 70 on 129.


My main goal was to increase 129, 110, 119 because using D1000 for all 3 was not good. which is what I did by adding a d500 for 110/119 and swinging the D1000 to 129.



DP1 said:


> Do you think you'll get just as good of strength from 129 with the 500 vs. the 1000 or are you willing to give back a few of those points you gained with the standalone 1000 to begin with cause you're not happy with the 110/119 numbers at the moment?


I am happy with the 110/119 numbers and with the 129 numbers.

However, today when I was admiring my 3 dishes, I noticed that the D1000 looks like a smashed D500. I need to measure, but I think it has the same surface area, except that the D1000 is horizontally elipitical vs slightly vertically elipitical (again I need to measure this to verify), My thought is that:

1.) Maybe 129 will have the same signal on D1000 as a D500
2.) Maybe 110/119 would be better on the D1000 than on D500 (due to ellipitical shape)

Reasons I think this:
1.) 119 was Stonger on the D1000 than on the D500
2.) the peak 110 position was the Peak 119 position on the D500, So I think by using the D1000 I maybe able to gain some points on 110/119 WITHOUT loosing points on the 129.

So when my girlfriend and her mom are out of the house I will play and post


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## DP1 (Sep 16, 2002)

I hear ya, swigga. You very well could be right. I realize now that I was making the mistake of azz_uming that the 1000 was bigger. I wouldnt know since I dont have (and have never actually seen) an official one. If it's not then my next azz_umption would be that it'll probably be basically a horse a piece.


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## Canondave (Feb 1, 2006)

Cokeswigga said:


> However, today when I was admiring my 3 dishes, I noticed that the D1000 looks like a smashed D500. I need to measure, but I think it has the same surface area, except that the D1000 is horizontally elipitical vs slightly vertically elipitical (again I need to measure this to verify), My thought is that:
> 
> 1.) Maybe 129 will have the same signal on D1000 as a D500
> 2.) Maybe 110/119 would be better on the D1000 than on D500 (due to ellipitical shape)
> ...


Did you ever get a chance to test this?

I have a D500 with an "I" adapter in the shed and was planning on using it for 129.


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## Cokeswigga (Jan 25, 2005)

not yet.. its been raining, and this weekend I will be out of town


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## Canondave (Feb 1, 2006)

Yesterday I put up the D500 using the "I" adapter and got a 20 point increase over the D1000.

Getting low 80's now, even on transponder 30


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## rbyers (Jan 15, 2004)

What is the "I" adapter?


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## DP1 (Sep 16, 2002)

A replacement piece for the plastic Y bracket at the end of a Dish500. Makes lining up a single lnb a straight shot instead of being offset if you just pick either side of the Y to use when aiming for a single satellite.

Mind you it's not really necessary in general for that application but if you're looking for more points on an otherwise weak satellite, it's not a bad idea.


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