losing prime time TV in Alaska

[mikekohl]

Unless fiber is being used to get signals from a local market into either the DISH Network facility at Cheyenne, WY, or the other uplink in Gilbert, AZ,
signals are normally directly uplinked from the originating market to the satellite, and spot beamed back to that market.

There are longtime uplinks in the Anchorage area (actually the Eagle River Valley, roughly 15 miles NE of downtown Anchorage) that send signals to the rest of the world. GCI is actually uplinking six Anchorage signals on c-band
(encoded) to 137 West / AMC-7, but since they are a competitor to DISH and DirecTV---I would suspect that Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau market signals are getting out via local uplinks near those communities.

If this is on Ku-band or DBS, there's all sorts of possible weather reasons
for fluctuating levels. Distances across Alaska are vast, and there is always an infinite number of weather conditions across the state. Anyone with some local input based upon confirmed facts---please inform us of any details.

 

[KE4EST]

Oh and BTW, my story (brag brag) is in the new Country Woman magazine. I assume here are more guys than girls, but I'm somewhat excited.......

That is great news...Now your famous

I hope your new LNB gets there soon.

 

[redsalmon]

Unless fiber is being used to get signals from a local market into either the DISH Network facility at Cheyenne, WY, or the other uplink in Gilbert, AZ,
signals are normally directly uplinked from the originating market to the satellite, and spot beamed back to that market.

There are longtime uplinks in the Anchorage area (actually the Eagle River Valley, roughly 15 miles NE of downtown Anchorage) that send signals to the rest of the world. GCI is actually uplinking six Anchorage signals on c-band
(encoded) to 137 West / AMC-7, but since they are a competitor to DISH and DirecTV---I would suspect that Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau market signals are getting out via local uplinks near those communities.

If this is on Ku-band or DBS, there's all sorts of possible weather reasons
for fluctuating levels. Distances across Alaska are vast, and there is always an infinite number of weather conditions across the state. Anyone with some local input based upon confirmed facts---please inform us of any details.

Some interesting information in the article reference here from the web site AnchorageHD.TV: Both Direct and Dish share the uplink from the Anchorage area due to bandwidth cost. The last two entries in the subject reference the location of the uplink center.

AnchorageHD.TV - View topic - Local HD not in the near future

 

[Mr Tony]

Ahhh... guess I should of consulted my on list, eh? I don't recall seeing any licenses for uplink locations in AK though, betting on Cheyenne or Gilbert is uplinking those.

Is it all of the transponders? just the spotbeam? or more?

digi
It was TP9 and I think the evens from 12-20.....its posted in the thread

 

[Van]

if it would be military there would be way more people affected.

Not necesarily, anyone here that has experienced the superdish local channel loss and the engineers fix of using wire mesh to fix it can atest to the randomness of the issue. You could have two houses side by side with the same equipment and only one would have the problem.

One of the affected switched LNB but it did not work, perhaps because it was an older LNB, too.

Thats possible, dish refurbishes lnb's and they havent made any legacy lnb's in a while.

And if it would be something military, usually that stuff is in the newspaper, how about aliens?

Not everything the goverment does is in public knowledge and if they're working on something topsecret it definitely wouldnt be in the paper.

If you go with directv make sure that the installer runs brand new coax, without knowing whats causing the problem I'd recommend going with RG-6 quad shielded coax wich you'll probably have to buy for it to be installed.

 

[running wolf]

Ok, here's an update: dishnetwork send a SW21, although it says so on the screen this part is useless for us since we do not have 2 dishes, and otherwise they insist it must be a problem on our side. This morning around 9.30 i checked the signal and TP 9 was coming in at 78, what is fantastic. The more so since it is cloudy/ice foggy with a little snow.
So why is it dropping at 6.45pm to below 50?
Well, we are talking to directv and will cancel the account with dish network.
Again, guys, you have no idea how grateful I am for all your help, it was so nice chatting with you and perhaps you'll come and visit. Just mention this chat room.

 

[Van]

If you can try to stick around the site, we have a directv forum as well. Have you talked with anyone in the area that has directv and found out if they are having the same issue?

 

[running wolf]

I certainly will stick around, I need to learn many things. Nobody here has directv yet, but that is why I want the technicians to come out here and see if it works, they told us it would.

 

[Mr Tony]

transponder 9 which is just Anchorage locals is on what we call a spotbeam. Dish uses spotbeams on the satellites which allows them to put locals on there for just a specific area (also allows them to reuse the transponder space). Spotbeams cover roughly 150-200 miles of an area.

The spotbeam may have "wobble" at night (since satellites move) and with the smaller dish it sounds like you are on the fringe of the signal.

 

[running wolf]

That's what I told them but who am I...........

 

[running wolf]

OK, I hooked the new receiver up and did some switch tests and got it running and the first time we did not lose the signal, it was week but we kept it. So far so good, I got a new LNB in the mail and here's were new fun comes in, it is a 'Digital LNBF' and the mount does not fit. The old one had a rectangular mount and the new one has an ovalish mount. Does anybody know if there is some kind of connector available or do I have to get a new arm?
Thanks again for your time and for your patience.

Add on: Meanwhile I learned this is called a d-tube, but how do I get those two together without buying a new dish? And I was looking at signal finders, can somebody recommend a not so expensive one?

 

[Mr Tony]

Whoops. Sounds like Dish forgets that when you are in Alaska you need the old rectangle LNB's like DirecTV use to use and not the dish "D" ones due to the dish size.

Does the LNB (the existing one you have) slide into the arm of the dish or is there a bracket? see attached pics...1st one is where the LNB slides into the dish arm and the 2nd one there is a bracket.

Unfortunately there "D" style wont fit in the rectangular hole unless you jimmy rig the arm which you probably don't want to do. If you want, I have a bunch of the rectangle LNB's from old projects I've worked on and I can send you a couple of them no charge (just PM me your address). Then you wouldnt have to go through Dish again

As for the signal finder, the SF95 is a rather inexpensive ones and work pretty good especially for DBS satellites.

 

[running wolf]

The LNB slides into the arm and I was wondering about the possibility to attach a bracket to the arm but couldn't find anything on websites.
Thanks for the tip with the SF95.
And another thing I was wondering, excuse my ignorance in those matters, the SW21 which I hooked up on the back of the receiver, there was no part on the whole system remotely looking like it to be removed. Does that SW21 send more voltage to the LNB?
Grateful for help in Alaska

 

[Van]

Dish makes an adapter called an " I " adapter that should work as it converts from a square tube to a D tube but the question now is what is the model number of the receiver that they sent you? If its a four digit ( 1000,2700,2800,3000,4000, ect ect ) then the dishpro lnbf wont work nor will the dishpro plus, if its a three digit ( 301,311, 501,508,510 ect ect ) then it will but some of the three digit receivers are dual tuners and you would need two lines depending on the rest of the equipment they sent you.

 

[running wolf]

The only number I can find is BS1H1UP201M.
And it has two lines, the old one has 1 line.

 

[Mr Tony]

And another thing I was wondering, excuse my ignorance in those matters, the SW21 which I hooked up on the back of the receiver, there was no part on the whole system remotely looking like it to be removed. Does that SW21 send more voltage to the LNB?
Grateful for help in Alaska

the SW21 is used when you have 2 dishes (one at 119 and one at 110). It combines the 2 signals into one cable. Since you are aimed just at 119 that point is moot and the sw21 not needed

 

[Mr Tony]

Dish makes an adapter called an " I " adapter that should work as it converts from a square tube to a D tube

The I adapter wont work as the larger dishes already have the right focal point. If you add the I adapter now the focal point is off and the signal will drop even on the good transponders.

The I adapter only works on a Dish500 as it is the same length as the Y adapter

 

[Mr Tony]

The only number I can find is BS1H1UP201M.
And it has two lines, the old one has 1 line.

there might be a button on the remote that says system info. If you press that it will show the model number on the screen. Otherwise right on the front of the box it might say what model it is

 

[Van]

The only number I can find is BS1H1UP201M.
And it has two lines, the old one has 1 line.

That sounds like an lnbf part number or a switch part number. Lnbf goes on the dish as you know, a switch goes either at the dish or somewhere along the line from the dish to combine a line from another dish, the receiver sits with your tv or in some cases nearby and generaly range in size from near a laptop to a standard vcr. Switches range in size from a little larger than a match box up to the size of an 800 page hard cover book.

Of the two discriptions above wich did they send you? The receivers will generaly have a model number on the front as well as on a sticker on the back or bottom that will also have an R00# and S00# along with it.

 

[Van]

The I adapter wont work as the larger dishes already have the right focal point. If you add the I adapter now the focal point is off and the signal will drop even on the good transponders.

The I adapter only works on a Dish500 as it is the same length as the Y adapter

If her hubby is skilled with a tape measure, hack saw, and a drill and I've never heard of an Alaskan mountain man that wasnt then he could cut off the same length on the existing arm and drill the holes for the I adapter to go in place but ofcourse thats if they want to risk cutting the arm.