Forums > Specific Focus > Technical Mexico

tomb

Feb 17, 2004, 3:43 PM

Post #1 of 7 (1161 views)

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Satelitte Availibilty

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Are satellite services available from Directv, Dish, or Star Choice and if so what size dish do you need?

Uncle Jack

Feb 17, 2004, 3:49 PM

Post #2 of 7 (1157 views)

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Re: [tomb] Satelitte Availibilty

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You might want to repost this down on the Technical Forum.....Pete Johanson can probably help you.

uj

johanson / Moderator

Feb 17, 2004, 9:56 PM

Post #3 of 7 (1113 views)

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Re: [tomb] Satelitte Availibilty

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Mexico is a big country and the size of the dish required could vary from 18 inches to many feet. You are going to have to be more specific about location before I can answer you.

Here in Ajijic most folks use a 90 cm dish for Star Choice , a 90 cm to 1.4 meter for Dish and much larger for DirecTV.

1. The only Satellite presently receivable from Star Choice is the one that carries most of the English programming (107.3 W).

2. Dish has several satellites and most of their Conus beams are easily receivable here. The spot beams are not. Strangely the two Satellite dealers I know who sell Dish programming only point at Echostar 7 (119 W) when they could also be pointing at Echostar 6 and 8 (co-located at 110 w) thereby greatly increasing the # of channels available. When questioned why they provided only a partial programming package, one incorrectly said the other channels were not available here and the other said that he had heard they were available but was not sure about how to install dual LNBs. In the US most newer Dish installations include dual LNBs allowing a single dish to receive signals from more than one satellite.

3. I don't know anyone this far south who watches American DirecTV

tomb

Feb 18, 2004, 3:16 PM

Post #4 of 7 (1072 views)

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Re: [johanson] Satelitte Availibilty

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Johanson,

Thank You for the reasoned response and local information. You are quite correct that you can easily capture 2 or more satelittes off the same dish. You need an eliptical dish with multiple LNBs or 2 or more different dishes. In any case to access Dish or any other service the separate LNBs are connected to the receiver by the use of a SW-21 switch. Southern Florida location allows the access of 5-6 satelittes off the same 18X23 dish.

johanson / Moderator

Feb 18, 2004, 8:03 PM

Post #5 of 7 (1048 views)

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Re: [tomb] Satelitte Availibilty

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Thanks for the feedback. Maybe you could answer another question for me. With the 90 cm dish pointed at Dish network's Echostar 7 (119 W) the signal strength varied from a low of about 56 and a high of about 68 on a clear day {We only checked two channels (Transponders?)} I couldn't check much more because I was at an outdoor sales booth at the local Chile cook-off and there were other customers wanting to see the product

To ensure adequate signal strength during cloudy and moderately rainy weather, how much signal strength is needed under ideal conditions? Someone said in the 80s and another said up to 120. I didn't even know you could go above 100, but then again, I have DirecTV not Dish at the summer home in the States.

Any help would be appreciated.

tomb

Feb 19, 2004, 12:44 PM

Post #6 of 7 (1022 views)

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Re: [johanson] Satelitte Availibilty

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My signal depending on which sat and which transponder runs 85-110. It rains hard here and the signal goes out with anything more than a moderate rain. You are near what most believe to the low limit. Many feel 45-50 is about as low as you can go. Generally the strength off an eliptical for 2 different sats is less than using 2 single dishes hooked together. Depends if you have plenty of space for more than 1 dish. There are 2 excellent forums that you can access to get all the info you will ever need.

http://www.dbsforums.com/vbulletin/

http://www.dbstalk.com/

johanson / Moderator

Feb 19, 2004, 8:07 PM

Post #7 of 7 (1001 views)

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Re: [tomb] Satelitte Availibilty

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Thanks. For the great input Tomb. I have a sat distributor friend who has gone one step further. Look at this photo

He has a section on multi LNBF on various shaped sat dishes that will blow your mind. Link to to this http://www.global-cm.net/multifeedsys.html and read on.

He also shows look angles skew etc, for Star Choice for most major cities in Mexico to include Chapala.

For basic information go to his home page and start searching. I highly recommend him.

http://global-cm.net/