StarChoice legal in USA?

[vegassatellite]

I had a Canadian customer call me today. He is moving out here to AZ and wants me to install his StarChoice system in his home here when he closes on it in December. I don't know anything about StarChoice other than what he told me. He says its basically a Canadian equivalent of Dish or DirecTV. I told him I would have to get more information and get back to him. So here are my questions:

Can StarChoice be legally installed in a US residence?
Is it a pay TV service or FTA?
What satellite(s) does it point at? (he says its a 73cm dish)
Is it linear or circular polarity?
What size OD is the mast or pole needed?

Any other information you can share would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you know the settings for Goodyear AZ, that would be great.

85338 Goodyear AZ 623 Maricopa 33.435 -112.384

 

[TNGTony]

Can it be legally installed? Yes. Can some one legally subscribe to Star Choice in the US, no. It's a copyright thing and not a criminal thing. It is strictly gray market. It's similar to "moving" but on an international level.

It is a pay service just like Dish Network or DirecTV, only Canadian.

It is at 107.3° I think. Others here may know better.

The rest others need to answer because I don't know the answer

 

[Mr Tony]

Can StarChoice be legally installed in a US residence?

its grey area. You need a Canadian address but as long as you have that, its fine. Hell SC has a "home away form home" plan that pretty much catres to snowbirds. I live in Minnesota and have StarChoice

Is it a pay TV service or FTA?

pay

What satellite(s) does it point at? (he says its a 73cm dish)

There are 2. 107.3 & 111.1
AnikF1 at 107.3 is the main one
AnikF2 at 111.1 is the french/HD satellite. Most dishes nowadays have both in one LNB

Is it linear or circular polarity?

linear

What size OD is the mast or pole needed?

2"

Any other information you can share would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you know the settings for Goodyear AZ, that would be great.

85338 Goodyear AZ 623 Maricopa 33.435 -112.384

Never heard of goodyear but here is the info. Ask what dimensions the dish are. If its 37x27 that is the 75e (the 60e is I think 32x20). Here are the numbers. Also ask what the LNB looks like. There are 3 types...pics are below
-single (this is the old style LNB that looked just at 107.3)
-beer cans (these are 2 LNB's that have a single connector output and had an external 22k switch to combine 107.3 & 111.1
-quad (most common)...2 LNB's built into one with 4 outputs.

Here is where to get the aiming numbers...if the dish is for both satellites use the numbers on the right.
global-cm.net/CAN/SC/point/USAangskew.html


pics are in order
single (flashlight), beer can, quad

 

[vegassatellite]

Thanks for the quick reply guys!

He said it was a 73cm dish, which leads me to believe its the 75e because 73cm is ballpark for a 27" wide dish.

He states he has the service currently in Canada and that they have a snowbird program so I doubt address issues will come into play.

That link you gave me shows a skew of 89 degrees so I am assuming that there would be no other polarization adjustments.

After posting this I started to do my own research and found which satellites to point at. Then came the fun part of trying to determine look angles. The ones I came up with coincided with that link you provided, although my skew was -2.85 degrees. I was suspect about that though considering that the two satellites are pretty much dead south of here. -1 is definitely more reasonable. In any case, I figured they were close enough and dead south enough to play with skew pretty easy.

Once again, thanks for the help guys!

 

[Mr Tony]

vegassatellite

The way the LNB is setup (the quad at least) its aimed at F2 (111.1). Its not like a Dish or Direct where its 1/2 eway between the two (114.5 in the case of a D500)...its aimed straight at 111.1 and 107.3 falls into place

 

[bradleys]

The US program is called "Home Away From Home (HAFH)".

It costs CAD 49.99 to set up, but there are no recurring charges.

You fax a copy of your proof of residence or boat/RV registration, along with your existing Star Choice account number.

 

[vegassatellite]

Thanks guys, like I said, I have no interest in doing illegal setups so as long as this arrangement is ok with SC, then I'll do it.

 

[hiker]

The US program is called "Home Away From Home (HAFH)".

It costs CAD 49.99 to set up, but there are no recurring charges.

You fax a copy of your proof of residence or boat/RV registration, along with your existing Star Choice account number.

The program is officially described here Home Away From Home but it does not mention a US location. It does mention "your cottage or vacation spot" which could mean anywhere, but does it imply Canada only?

Do you actually have the officially sanctioned plan in the US?

 

[diogen]

Do you actually have the officially sanctioned plan in the US?

I don't think there is an official program to receive SC in the US.
It's more in the "don't ask - don't tell" category...

Diogen.

 

[Jumbo Dumbo]

It's more in the "don't ask - don't tell" category...

Exactly, it is NOT illegal to pay for & receive in US.

SC does NOT have the broadcast rights to sell their service in the US.

 

[bradleys]

Here's what I wrote:

"I live part time in British Columbia and part time in Washington state. I've been told that I can take my receiver to the US and use it when I'm there. Is that true? I thought it was only allowed in Canada, and would only work in Canada. It would be great to be able to watch decent CFL and NHL coverage in the US. Thanks. PS I understand that I'd have to buy and mount an extra dish and LNBs."

Here is their reply:

"We have a program called the Home Away From Home (HAFH), and it looks like it would be perfect to fulfill your television needs. It allows you to have the same great service at two locations. There is a $49.99 set up fee, but after that no extra monthly charges will be applied to your bill. If you are interested in this please fax in proof of ownership of your second residence/registration of RV, along with your Star Choice account number to our administration team at 1-800-xxx-xxx, and we would be happy to assist you with getting this started."

 

[Clancy]

Thanks for the quick reply guys!

He said it was a 73cm dish, which leads me to believe its the 75e because 73cm is ballpark for a 27" wide dish.

He states he has the service currently in Canada and that they have a snowbird program so I doubt address issues will come into play.

That link you gave me shows a skew of 89 degrees so I am assuming that there would be no other polarization adjustments.

After posting this I started to do my own research and found which satellites to point at. Then came the fun part of trying to determine look angles. The ones I came up with coincided with that link you provided, although my skew was -2.85 degrees. I was suspect about that though considering that the two satellites are pretty much dead south of here. -1 is definitely more reasonable. In any case, I figured they were close enough and dead south enough to play with skew pretty easy.

Once again, thanks for the help guys!

I'd start at elevation of 51 1/2 and azimuth of 167 and skew of 88 1/2 degrees. Should be pretty close.

 

[vegassatellite]

Well, I put this one in today. 5 receivers, one of them hi-def. I used a 4x8 multiswitch. Being that I mostly do DISH as DTV companies can't pay my rates, it's been a while since I've ran two dual coax cables to a switch.

The real kick in the pants was that I couldn't find my data cable for my Birdog so I couldn't load the two satellites into it. Had to do the old compass thing and just max out the unknown bird I was picking up on my Birdog. I hit it first try, but the receiver wouldn't show any un-encrypted channels like DISH does with channel 101 or PPV Previews. However, they were showing the time so I was pretty certain I was on the bird. So I called and added the receivers and since I had nothing on ch. 299, the rep said I was probably not pointed correctly. Well, I futzed around with the thing for a good hour and felt like a new installer all over again. I couldn't get signals any different and was about to pull my hair out. I called their tech support again to try to find out if there was a way to pull up a switch matrix or run a test of all four signals. This time, the rep suggested that all I needed was a "refresh". She puts me on the correct screen where I wait for the TRIP COUNT to go up to 2 and then 299 pops in. I tell her I want to check at least one channel from each satellite and polarity and she has me check 299, 312, and two others. It's all good. Just chaps my tail about fiddling with the dish alignment another hour when I was spot on the first time. Being new on a product is not the time to get an idiot TSR. I still cleared out there with good money and a potential referral for some more Canucks who are snow-birding down here.

Is an 82 signal good for down here?

 

[hiker]

Don't think you will get a good signal on 82 Nimiq 2. See BEV footprint here.

 

[vegassatellite]

Don't think you will get a good signal on 82 Nimiq 2. See BEV footprint here.

Who's talking about BEV? I was talking about the signal strength I got from the two STARCHOICE satellites down here in Phoenix.

 

[fhsucade07]

It might be a little off topic (although I am talking about StarChoice), but it is, in my opinion, the best option in the United States or Canada for satellite programming. It's too bad about the currency rates as it used to really save money but when you consider the Center Ice and Sunday Ticket prices, it's really the best deal period... It's just finding the decent broker.

 

[hiker]

Who's talking about BEV? I was talking about the signal strength I got from the two STARCHOICE satellites down here in Phoenix.

Sorry, I thought you were asking about signal strength on the BEV sat at 82ºW.

82 on SC is ok but check the Ecb/No by going to Option 6-4-7 and looking at line C after a few secs.

 

[hiker]

... It's just finding the decent broker.

Some of us don't use a broker. See the thread here.

 

[vegassatellite]

Sorry, I thought you were asking about signal strength on the BEV sat at 82ºW.

82 on SC is ok but check the Ecb/No by going to Option 6-4-7 and looking at line C after a few secs.

I believe it was 9.4. If this is the c/n, then that's better than I can get on DISH 129.