Echostar files to move E6 to 61.5W

[Poke]

It was launched on July 14th, 2000.

Yeah I think its time for it to go.. Do we know when the next Dish Satellite will be launch??

[Kirby Baker]

Nelson is always on top of things...

This is the reason why the HD test channels were moved to the new bird, they wanted to stress test the new bird with active transponders and make sure it could handle things before moving E6 over to 61.5.

Now that the new bird has been stress tested with HD, maybe they can stress test my receivers with some more HD?

[digiblur]

Yeah I think its time for it to go.. Do we know when the next Dish Satellite will be launch??

Did you even read this thread?

Yep..it's going to 61.5.

Yep, Echostar 14 is supposed to launch in March.

Mid-March Proton • EchoStar 14
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

An International Launch Services Proton rocket with a Breeze M upper stage will deploy the EchoStar 14 telecommunications spacecraft. The satellite will provide direct-to-home broadcast services to the United States for EchoStar Communications.

[cditty]

Only ten years then. I'll give it to E*, they get the most out of their 'birds' as they can. As I have posted in other threads, I don't know if maintaining the eastern arc provides enough additional subscribers to pay for itself, but it must, because Charlie watches his money.

I wish there were more spot capacity on the western arc, so I could get my HD Lil. Thank God for the Baton Rouge spotbeam and my temporary residence in Baker, LA

[rocatman]

I kinda figured this was coming after the last loss. My prediction is to see them move this puppy over and within a few weeks they'll decide they had another failure and fire up some capacity from this thing.

I saw the coverage map in the PDF but I'm sure Nelson is quickly making up a map for this one too.

FYI...for the folks who haven't read the attachments. Echostar is filing to move this bird over to 61.5 for in-orbit spares. They are stating they will turn all transponders off on this bird except for the tracking and control ones of course. They have requested to have the ability to turn on transponders the moment they are needed without having to file any additional requests. So basically if something fails on E3 they can instantly switch it over to E6. Knowing the health and overheating issues with E3, E6 will take over some of the transponders of E3 within in no time and quite possibly add some of the additional ones that have failed.

They also stated Echostar15 will be launched in the 4th qtr of 2010. Should be a nice fleet by 2011 since E14 is also going up this year. WA will have some very nice birds and EA will have 2 new birds.

I am surprised Dish waited this long to apply for this move. I would expect quick approval by the FCC. The downlink coverage map for E-6 at 61.5 W looks very good except for a good portion of Maine and the southern part of Texas. The Florida Keys may also have some problems. I guess the question is whether Dish waits until E-6 is moved to add more HD programming or just puts it on Nimiq 5 at 72.7 W until E-6 gets to 61.5 W. I know it will piss off the 61.5/110/119 W folks but it may only be for about a month or so.

In regards to the E-15 satellite, I would expect it to launch in early 2011 based on the number of other launches scheduled on Proton for 2010 - approximately 10 others. Also don't forget that QuetzSat-1 is scheduled for launch in August of 2011 so by the end of next year if all launches are successful, the EA will have three satellites less than two years old plus probably E-12. After that, I would expect Dish to start deploying the "reverse DBS" satellites.

[rocatman]

Only ten years then. I'll give it to E*, they get the most out of their 'birds' as they can. As I have posted in other threads, I don't know if maintaining the eastern arc provides enough additional subscribers to pay for itself, but it must, because Charlie watches his money.

I wish there were more spot capacity on the western arc, so I could get my HD Lil. Thank God for the Baton Rouge spotbeam and my temporary residence in Baker, LA

To clarify, the E-14 satellite is scheduled to be launched in March 2010 to 119 W. It has a large amount of spotbeam capacity for the Western Arc (WA). For the Eastern Arc (EA), the E-15 satellite is scheduled to launch in late 2010 (more probably in early 2011) to 61.5 W. It is a CONUS only satellite having no spotbeams. It should be noted that when the E-6 CONUS only satellite moves to 61.5 W, the E-12 satellite at 61.5 W might be able to use more of its spotbeam capacity for the EA. In addition, the QuetzSat-1 satellite is scheduled for launch in August of 2011 to 77 W. Dish will have use of 24 TPs on this satellite for use in the U.S. and it is expected that most of these should be for spotbeams.

[Scott Greczkowski]

I am surprised Dish waited this long to apply for this move. I would expect quick approval by the FCC.

They had to wait until they had full control of all transponders at 77 first. Once they had control of them they needed to do load tests to show that the bird could handle things on its own.

Now it appears they are happy with its performance and can now safely move the E6 bird to 61.5.

Thats my take on things anyways.

[jlfarris]

They had to wait until they had full control of all transponders at 77 first. Once they had control of them they needed to do load tests to show that the bird could handle things on its own.

Now it appears they are happy with its performance and can now safely move the E6 bird to 61.5.

Thats my take on things anyways.

So, can they get it moved to 61.5 and up by the rumored HD date of the 10th, or does this mean the HD additions would happen after the 10th?

[Scott Greczkowski]

There is still space at 61.5 for them. They were on 61.5 until a few weeks ago when Dish moved them over to 77 to load test the satellite.

Its easy for them to move them back.

[digiblur]

I wish there were more spot capacity on the western arc, so I could get my HD Lil. Thank God for the Baton Rouge spotbeam and my temporary residence in Baker, LA

Not sure which DMA you are talking about but in another forum an engineer from a Shreveport station indicated Dish is preparing for Shreveport HD locals on E-14.