birmingham spotbeam coverage

[Ronnie-]

while i dont actually condone "moving" (I dont really care either), I just wanted to add an update for whoever is doing a spotbeam coverage map. I just left a friends home who "moved" to Birmingham, Alabama. He actually lives in southeast mississippi, about 50 miles from the coast. The birmingham, alabama spotbeam reaches that far at least. I suspect much farther since he gets 100% signal strength.
Just FYI.

 

[charper1]

Those spotbeam maps are likely the one that are ridiculously old and no longer updated and many were just best guesses or based on very slim user input data collect and posted. Many beams are 150m to 200m give or take, not a perfect circle around said DMA, dependent on each beam and DMA, and YMMV.

 

[Ronnie-]

Those spotbeam maps are likely the one that are ridiculously old and no longer updated and many were just best guesses or based on very slim user input data collect and posted. Many beams are 150m to 200m give or take, not a perfect circle around said DMA, dependent on each beam and DMA, and YMMV.

Yeah i kind of figured that, judging by the ones i had seen i was suprised he could get them. I was under the impression that Birmingham was on the transponder that covers the Nasville area also, which is why it suprised me that it came this far south and west

 

[zimm7778]

As I have said before also, I live in Jacksonville, Fl and can get Atlanta's locals here. Can't get them in HD, but can the regular. Not sure about Birmingham in relation to Jax.

 

[Ronnie-]

As I have said before also, I live in Jacksonville, Fl and can get Atlanta's locals here. Can't get them in HD, but can the regular. Not sure about Birmingham in relation to Jax.

i think the SD locals are on a different beam. Thats what he was telling me, he had trouble getting the HD locals turned on even after the Sd channels were coming through, the rep told him they were on different sats. Not sure if atlanta is the same, but i would imagine given what you have said

 

[texasbrit]

The SD and HD locals are on completely different satellites and the spotbeam size is also completely different. On top of that, the size of the spotbeams even from the same satellite varies depending on the size of the DMA. The two Spaceway satellites that deliver HD locals use phased array antenna technology so can adjust the spotbeam size from very small to very large.
Also, just because you are in a spotbeam today does not mean you will receive signals tomorrow. Here in DFW, DirecTV just moved the DFW HD locals from the Spaceway satellite at 103 to a spotbeam on the DirecTV10 satellite at 103 (the first DirecTV10 spotbeam to be used, I think). As a result, several people in West Texas who had "moved" their service addresses to DFW and were receiving HD locals lost them completely.
You might notice I did not use the designation 103(a) for the Spaceway and 103(b) for DirecTV10. This is because the spotbeam transponders from DirecTV10 do not appear as 103(b), they appear as the higher transponders (above TP18) on the 103(a) screen. Just to confuse everyone.

 

[Ronnie-]

The SD and HD locals are on completely different satellites and the spotbeam size is also completely different. On top of that, the size of the spotbeams even from the same satellite varies depending on the size of the DMA. The two Spaceway satellites that deliver HD locals use phased array antenna technology so can adjust the spotbeam size from very small to very large.
Also, just because you are in a spotbeam today does not mean you will receive signals tomorrow. Here in DFW, DirecTV just moved the DFW HD locals from the Spaceway satellite at 103 to a spotbeam on the DirecTV10 satellite at 103 (the first DirecTV10 spotbeam to be used, I think). As a result, several people in West Texas who had "moved" their service addresses to DFW and were receiving HD locals lost them completely.
You might notice I did not use the designation 103(a) for the Spaceway and 103(b) for DirecTV10. This is because the spotbeam transponders from DirecTV10 do not appear as 103(b), they appear as the higher transponders (above TP18) on the 103(a) screen. Just to confuse everyone.

Texasbrit is guide on the official D* page, so take his advice as fact.
The only thing i would add, in this instance, is that anyone who moved for birmingham locals probably wouldnt have to worry about THAT signal being moved or fooled with anytime soon.

 

[bgothard72]

i just wish we had CW HD!

 

[Ronnie-]

i just wish we had CW HD!

That would be nice. I might "move" myself if that were the case since thats the only way i could get that channel. I dont see it happening anytime soon though

 

[texasbrit]

In DFW we had CW added to our HD locals last week.....

 

[Ronnie-]

In DFW we had CW added to our HD locals last week.....

yeah i meant birmingham.