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taltman711

May 2, 2010, 8:20 AM

Post #1 of 71 (11204 views)

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Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Echostar 14 is done testing at the 138 slot and is headed for it's home at 119. The estimated online date is still May 20th--2.5 weeks away--, and it appears that we will soon know how the new footprint will affect the Lake Chapala area and further south. As most of you know, 119 carries a lot of core programming for Dishnetwork.

Tim

johanson / Moderator

May 2, 2010, 11:15 AM

Post #2 of 71 (11179 views)

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Re: [taltman711] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Thanks for the great info Taltman. Sadly I will be in Seattle during the change over. Thank God for the forums. At least I will be able to learn the good or bad news from others about the future of Dish on 119.

Pete

taltman711

May 12, 2010, 11:12 AM

Post #3 of 71 (11088 views)

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Re: [taltman711] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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The satellite has been on its way to 119 after testing at 138. As of now, the plan to begin transitioning from Echo 7 is now the morning of May 19th.The transition will not happen all at once, but in several phases. As happened when they transitioned the new satellite at 110, the signal strength will vary for a week or so until all the programming is on Echostar 14 and the transponder power levels are determined. At that point, we will know how much, if any, programming loss will occur.

Tim

YucaLandia

May 13, 2010, 6:38 AM

Post #4 of 71 (11061 views)

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Re: [taltman711] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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taltman,
Does this mean that we'll likely have to tweak our dish positions after the change?

Here in Merida, it takes a 1.8m dish - adjusted with gnat's-a** precision - to receive it now, with maximum DN signal strengths in the 30's. Literally, changes of 1/32 of a turn on the adjusting nuts causes signal lock or total signal loss. Do you have similar conditions? (I would typically expect more signal in your area, since you are more west and north = closer to 119w's signal's footprint?)
off to look for lyngsat maps,
steve
-
Read-on MacDuff
E-visit at http://yucalandia.com

fred29210

May 13, 2010, 11:54 AM

Post #5 of 71 (11038 views)

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Re: [taltman711] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Doesn’t look good for me in Guanajuato. Estimate dish size went from 1.1 meters to 4.5 meters.

Don’t know how well these links will work, so you might have to navigate the site to find the footprints for the sats.
http://www.satbeams.com

Echostar 7
http://www.satbeams.com/footprints?lat=21.089625396733947&lng=-119&zoom=1&beam=5547&type=normal&name=Temporary

Echostar 14
http://www.satbeams.com/!ajax/embed?beam=6269

johanson / Moderator

May 13, 2010, 1:39 PM

Post #6 of 71 (11026 views)

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Re: [fred29210] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Fred:

I am not an expert on this subject but have looked a dozens of projected footprint maps since coming to MX in 1997. The one thing I have learned is that the projections near the center of their footprints are a lot more accurate than those towards the edge. And we in central MX are certainly on the outer edges of the footprint.

If you were to ask my (not so) professional opinion about signal strengths here in cental MX for echo* 14, I would say it's too early to say, but that the footprint is going to more closely follow the US borders and that there will be less bleedover into Mexico especially as we head south. So under the best case analyses, we might need a slightly larger dish, but under the worste case the signal could be so weak as we head south, that it may not make sense anymore to try to pick up.

What ever you do, don't give up your DISH system, but have an alterative plan be it getting a larger satellite dish or changing providers, so that should the worse occure and should we loose our signal from the new bird at 119 W, you can move rapidly forward.

Me, I like *Choice now Shaw Direct best, because it gives me my Seattle, Vancouver, & Victoria, hometown stations, where I am every summer at this time of the year

taltman711

May 14, 2010, 5:38 AM

Post #7 of 71 (11001 views)

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Re: [YucaLandia] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Quote

Does this mean that we'll likely have to tweak our dish positions after the change?

Here in Merida, it takes a 1.8m dish - adjusted with gnat's-a** precision - to receive it now, with maximum DN signal strengths in the 30's. Literally, changes of 1/32 of a turn on the adjusting nuts causes signal lock or total signal loss. Do you have similar conditions? (I would typically expect more signal in your area, since you are more west and north = closer to 119w's signal's footprint?)
off to look for lyngsat maps,
steve

Perhaps if your current dish is not exactly spot on it may have to be adjusted. More likely, almost surely, you are going to need a larger dish. As always, the larger the dish, the more difficult the siting is. The footprint of the new Dishnetwork satellites is very tight on the US borders with very little bleedover. Pete has more hope than I do regarding lost transponders from E14. We will all know more very soon as E14 is set to arrive at 119 Saturday and the conus transponders could start transitioning from E7 as soon as E14 is in "the Box"(on station). E7 will then go bye-bye to, if I remember correctly, 61.5.

johanson / Moderator

May 14, 2010, 11:44 AM

Post #8 of 71 (10983 views)

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Re: [taltman711] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Quote

........... Pete has more hope than I do regarding lost transponders from E14. We will all know more very soon as E14 is set to arrive at 119 Saturday and the conus transponders could start transitioning from E7 as soon as E14 is in "the Box"(on station). E7 will then go bye-bye................................

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Actually Tim, I'm quite worried, but I am naively thinking positively hoping that things will not be that bad, but I wouldn't bet on it.

stevebrtx

May 14, 2010, 8:27 PM

Post #9 of 71 (10962 views)

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Re: [johanson] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Assuming worst case scenario, it would be interesting to know how much "business" will go away because of the new alignment. Of course they'd never tell, but I'd bet it's significant. And, on the other side of the coin, I'm sure ShawChoice is sitting back smiling although I do wish they'd add TCM to their lineup.
http://www.chapalaweather.net

(This post was edited by stevebrtx on May 14, 2010, 8:28 PM)

taltman711

May 18, 2010, 4:08 PM

Post #10 of 71 (10884 views)

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Re: Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Well, E14 got on station very quickly and Echostar will start transitioning some transponders Wednesday May 19th at 3 am eastern. They will continue switching from E7 to E14 over the next couple of weeks. Don't be surprised to wake up some morning in the near future and have missing programming.

Tim

chinagringo

May 18, 2010, 4:24 PM

Post #11 of 71 (10879 views)

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Re: [taltman711] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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If it is consolation to those SOB, we have been experiencing some intermittent signal failure here NOB. Not a total loss of channels but a breaking up of picture integrity for periods of a few seconds to maybe 30 seconds. My assumption was that this was caused by testing but I may be wrong.
Regards,
Neil
Albuquerque, NM

stevebrtx

May 19, 2010, 4:52 AM

Post #12 of 71 (10854 views)

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Re: [chinagringo] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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No good today, I've lost most of my channels. The transponders are not just weak, they're gone.
http://www.chapalaweather.net

bournemouth

May 19, 2010, 7:02 AM

Post #13 of 71 (10842 views)

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Re: [stevebrtx] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Some of ours seem to still be there. It took a little while to get the signal, but things are working - but only some things. ESPN has gone plus networks - we're still working our way through the channels. Oh well - changes are in the works in this house - after all, it's only money!

(This post was edited by bournemouth on May 19, 2010, 7:15 AM)

stevebrtx

May 19, 2010, 7:27 AM

Post #14 of 71 (10836 views)

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Re: [bournemouth] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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My project for the day is to uproot the ShawDirect dish from the Casita and bring it over to the main house, then I'll have to figure out what's on there and what I may need to add, what a pain in the tail.
http://www.chapalaweather.net

bournemouth

May 19, 2010, 7:34 AM

Post #15 of 71 (10832 views)

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Re: [taltman711] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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HD service is on another satellite or transponder, right? If we are receiving HD service, we should still be o.k. - is that a correct assumption - I am so very, very untechie!

RickS

May 19, 2010, 8:09 AM

Post #16 of 71 (10825 views)

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Re: [bournemouth] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Au contraire, bournemouth, a real 'untechie' would not even know what "HD" is, much less that it might come from a satellite! You do just fine.

stevebrtx

May 19, 2010, 8:18 AM

Post #17 of 71 (10818 views)

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Re: [RickS] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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We're so technology overburdened today, compared to when we were young(r), I figure these days it's on a "need to know" basis, in TX I always had cable, worked just fine, who cares how - here the house has/had Dish, worked just fine, who cares how, flip the TV on and if it's on CNN, change channel, if it's NASCAR, get out a cerveza, life was good in my dotage.

So who needs to know about transponders, 119W or 129? - etc. Plus I spent a life in technology, I used to be able to make my cell phone sit up and bark, now I turn it on once in a while just to see if it has minutes available.

I just spent a fair amount of time, money and effort rewiring the compound for telephone and ethernet thinking it was time to relax and enjoy - it's early, but may be cerveza time already.
http://www.chapalaweather.net

johanson / Moderator

May 19, 2010, 10:12 AM

Post #18 of 71 (10797 views)

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Re: [stevebrtx] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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I'm up North spending time in Seattle and Vancouver Island. So I'm missing the action down there. Yes some 180 HD channels are available lakeside on the weaker satellite located at 129 degrees W. However, you will need a much bigger satellite dish, at least 2.4 meters, I understand. For an idea of what is available on that satellite go to http://www.lyngsat.com/hd/ciel2.html

It is a large web-page so it could take a while to download. Now there are thousands of channels listed. On the right hand side of each listing is the type of "beam". They are either spot ** or CONUS beams. Only the bottom or last listed 170 channels or so are on the Conus beam, the beam that we should be able to pick up.

I've played around with a 2.4 meter dish and got some channels. I understand from others who did a better job than I, (there were tree branches in the way) that one can get a reasonable signal on a 2.4 meter dish.

bournemouth

May 19, 2010, 10:37 AM

Post #19 of 71 (10792 views)

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Re: [johanson] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Pete - these channels are what we used to get on 119 - right. Is that regular service or HD service or both?

fred29210

May 19, 2010, 12:08 PM

Post #20 of 71 (10784 views)

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Re: [taltman711] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Still alive in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, but just barely.

All transponders now on E*14 went from 60-70 before the flip, to 10-20 after. Signal is still usable at 15+. Strength has dropped to below 15 on few during the day but I would expect them to come back tonight or in the morning and then drop off in the afternoons if things stay consistent.
I am trying to locate a 2.4 meter. Fingers crossed that I can get most of the loss back with that.

My current setup
Location: Guanajuato, Guanajuato Mexico
Dish: 1.8 meter offset Mexican made bought locally
LNB: Dual LNB DirecTV branded

taltman711

May 19, 2010, 12:39 PM

Post #21 of 71 (10777 views)

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Re: [bournemouth] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Quote

HD service is on another satellite or transponder, right? If we are receiving HD service, we should still be o.k. - is that a correct assumption - I am so very, very untechie!

If you have an HD receiver and a TV that will accept one of its' outputs AND the ability to receive either the 72.7 or 129 satellite, you are good to go. I don't know of anyone in Mexico who has said they are able to get 72.7, so satellite 129 is really the only option. Remember, the satellite at 61.5, though available at Lake Chapala, no longer carries all of the HD and will be phased out of the HD business soon.

Tim

bournemouth

May 19, 2010, 12:43 PM

Post #22 of 71 (10773 views)

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Re: [taltman711] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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We're going to wait until all the dust settles locally, people have put in bigger dishes and are getting service, before we do anything. If we have to be out of t.v. for awhile, we won't die - or at least, I won't - the other person in this house - that might be a different story.

johanson / Moderator

May 19, 2010, 2:36 PM

Post #23 of 71 (10752 views)

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Re: [bournemouth] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Bournemouth QUOTE "Pete - these channels are what we used to get on 119 - right. Is that regular service or HD service or both?"

When checking the Web I got the idea that none of the programming we got on 119 is in HD. And it would appear that all of the channels that we can receive in Mexico on 129 W are transmitted in HD. But then I looked a little closer and saw that they are transmitted in both Nagravision 3 and MPEG-4/HD, it would suggest that your old standard definition receiver could pick up the standard definition feed of these stations as well.

I then phoned tech support and I got the idea but am not positive that my assumption is correct.

Maybe Tim could answer that question

EDIT:

I stand corrected, per the experts below, my theory is wrong. The signals I was talking about on 129 can only be picked up with an HD receiver. Sorry about misleading you all.

(This post was edited by johanson on May 19, 2010, 5:09 PM)

taltman711

May 19, 2010, 2:50 PM

Post #24 of 71 (10743 views)

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Re: [bournemouth] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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Well, they only migrated about half of the conus transponders last night, so you will still get those channels from E7 for a while. The folks with bigger dishes may indeed be getting all of the transponders, or perhaps just the ones still broadcasting from E7.

Tim
.

taltman711

May 19, 2010, 3:03 PM

Post #25 of 71 (10741 views)

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Re: [johanson] Dishnetwork Satellite Echostar 14

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When checking the Web I got the idea that none of the programming we got on 119 is in HD. And it would appear that all of the channels that we can receive in Mexico on 129 W are transmitted in HD. But then I looked a little closer and saw that they are transmitted in both Nagravision 3 and MPEG-4/HD, it would suggest that your old standard definition receiver could pick up the standard definition feed of these stations as well.

I then phoned tech support and I got the idea but am not positive that my assumption is correct.

I believe all of the HD on the 119 sat is only on spotbeams and all are HD locals. So, yes, the national programming on 119 is SD. When Dish went to the 2 arc system, the western arc consists of 110, 119, and 129. At that time they transitioned the HD to 129 from 119. There is still some left on 110.

Tim

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