IIRC, the spotbeams are not used because the way the satellite was designed you have to build an uplink facility for each city.
FCC Approves Dish Acquisition of Sky Angel TPs at 61.5 W
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IIRC, the spotbeams are not used because the way the satellite was designed you have to build an uplink facility for each city.
Not exactly. There are 22 spotbeams on E-12 (Rainbow-1) and 15 uplink sites would be needed to provide service for all of these 22 spotbeams. I believe Dish's current uplink sites could be used for 3 - 5 of these spotbeams. The number of TP frequencies useable in each of these spotbeams varies from 4 to 8. So if Dish wanted to use E-12 for HD locals they would have the capability to provide HD locals to a large number of cities but they would have to invest in building the uplink sites.
I wonder how flexible R1/E12 is? I wonder if they can turn on some spots and leave the rest off. If they could for example use 4 TPs in spots and the rest CONUS, it would be nice since they could probably carry 20+ local markets. But, I have a feeling that if they could have done this, they would have done it.
What was the purpose of requiring so many downlink sites? I don't really understand the justification for it. Did they really intend it for HD local-into-local?
Even Echostar, with its dizzying array of satellites, wouldn't dream of that many uplink centers. And this is for just one satellite? I'm really puzzled.
But it does explain why they don't use them.
Info about R1/E12 & E3:
Rainbow 1 is a high power Ku-band direct broadcasting satellite, which was ordered by Cablevision from Lockheed Martin, using the A2100AXS bus. Cablevision remains very secretive about the details of this satellite. It will provide direct broadcast services across the continental United States (CONUS) from its final orbital location at 61.5° west longitude. The spacecraft features 24 MHz Ku-band high power transponders with a combination of 135 watt and 65 watt power amplifiers. The flexible design of the payload provides full interconnectivity to provide either all CONUS or all spot beam coverage through 22 individually programmable spot beams or a selectable mixture of both spot and CONUS coverage. The design life of the spacecraft is 18 years.
In January 2005 Cablevision agreed to sell the Rainbow 1 satellite to Echostar. In March 2006, the satellite was renamed Echostar 12.
EchoStar III. EchoStar III was launched during October 1997 and currently operates at the 61.5 degree orbital location. The satellite was originally designed to operate a maximum of 32 transponders at approximately 120 watts per channel, switchable to 16 transponders operating at over 230 watts per channel, and was equipped with a total of 44 transponders to provide redundancy. Prior to 2006, TWTA anomalies caused 22 transponders to fail. During April and October 2006, further TWTA anomalies caused the failure of four additional transponders. As a result, a maximum of 18 transponders are currently available for use on EchoStar III, but due to redundancy switching limitations and specific channel authorizations, we can only operate 15 of the 19 FCC authorized frequencies we have the right to utilize at the 61.5 degree location. While we do not expect a large number of additional TWTAs to fail in any year, and the failures have not reduced the original minimum 12-year design life of the satellite, it is likely that additional TWTA failures will occur from time to time in the future, and those failures will further impact commercial operation of the satellite.
EchoStar XII. EchoStar XII was launched during July 2003 and currently operates at the 61.5 degree orbital location. The satellite was designed to operate 13 transponders at 270 watts per channel, in CONUS mode, or 22 spot beams using a combination of 135 and 65 watt TWTAs. We currently operate the satellite in CONUS mode. EchoStar XII has a total of 24 solar array circuits, approximately 22 of which are required to assure full power for the original minimum 12-year design life of the satellite. Prior to 2006, two solar array circuits failed, one of which was subsequently restored to partial use. During 2006, three additional solar array circuits failed. The cause of the failures is being investigated. While the design life of the satellite has not been affected, in future years the power loss will cause a reduction in the number of transponders which can be operated. The exact extent of this impact has not yet been determined. There can be no assurance future anomalies will not cause further losses, which could further impact commercial operation of the satellite or its useful life. See discussion of evaluation of impairment in “Long-Lived Satellite Assets” in Note 4 in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Rainbow 1 is a high power Ku-band direct broadcasting satellite, which was ordered by Cablevision from Lockheed Martin, using the A2100AXS bus. Cablevision remains very secretive about the details of this satellite. It will provide direct broadcast services across the continental United States (CONUS) from its final orbital location at 61.5° west longitude. The spacecraft features 24 MHz Ku-band high power transponders with a combination of 135 watt and 65 watt power amplifiers. The flexible design of the payload provides full interconnectivity to provide either all CONUS or all spot beam coverage through 22 individually programmable spot beams or a selectable mixture of both spot and CONUS coverage. The design life of the spacecraft is 18 years.
In January 2005 Cablevision agreed to sell the Rainbow 1 satellite to Echostar. In March 2006, the satellite was renamed Echostar 12.
EchoStar III. EchoStar III was launched during October 1997 and currently operates at the 61.5 degree orbital location. The satellite was originally designed to operate a maximum of 32 transponders at approximately 120 watts per channel, switchable to 16 transponders operating at over 230 watts per channel, and was equipped with a total of 44 transponders to provide redundancy. Prior to 2006, TWTA anomalies caused 22 transponders to fail. During April and October 2006, further TWTA anomalies caused the failure of four additional transponders. As a result, a maximum of 18 transponders are currently available for use on EchoStar III, but due to redundancy switching limitations and specific channel authorizations, we can only operate 15 of the 19 FCC authorized frequencies we have the right to utilize at the 61.5 degree location. While we do not expect a large number of additional TWTAs to fail in any year, and the failures have not reduced the original minimum 12-year design life of the satellite, it is likely that additional TWTA failures will occur from time to time in the future, and those failures will further impact commercial operation of the satellite.
EchoStar XII. EchoStar XII was launched during July 2003 and currently operates at the 61.5 degree orbital location. The satellite was designed to operate 13 transponders at 270 watts per channel, in CONUS mode, or 22 spot beams using a combination of 135 and 65 watt TWTAs. We currently operate the satellite in CONUS mode. EchoStar XII has a total of 24 solar array circuits, approximately 22 of which are required to assure full power for the original minimum 12-year design life of the satellite. Prior to 2006, two solar array circuits failed, one of which was subsequently restored to partial use. During 2006, three additional solar array circuits failed. The cause of the failures is being investigated. While the design life of the satellite has not been affected, in future years the power loss will cause a reduction in the number of transponders which can be operated. The exact extent of this impact has not yet been determined. There can be no assurance future anomalies will not cause further losses, which could further impact commercial operation of the satellite or its useful life. See discussion of evaluation of impairment in “Long-Lived Satellite Assets” in Note 4 in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
As a D user for 10 years or so, I am ready to switch to E. Problem 1 is my Nashville local are on 129, which I can't get due to many trees.
The big plus would be the location of 61.5 for HD instead of having to go way out in the pasture to get HD from D. So all this talk about the 61.5 changes is quite interesting to me, the time table is what I would like to know
The big plus would be the location of 61.5 for HD instead of having to go way out in the pasture to get HD from D. So all this talk about the 61.5 changes is quite interesting to me, the time table is what I would like to know
Might be a while before you see a move of the Nashville locals. Stay with D* or switch to E* then "move" and/or use OTA to get the HD stations you need.
Why? DirecTV has the Nashville HD locals at a sat you can see. Dish no longer has a larger HD lineup. Is there something on Voom that you absolutely must have? Or do you just need to play CSR roulette to get free mpeg4 equipment upgrades.
No, I don't need any free mpeg4 equipment, I have a HR20 & also an H20 I use with my Replaytv. My dish is about 50' feet from the house in a pasture on a hillside, in order to get to it whenever there is an issue it's a real pain, maybe 50' is not that far, but to get there is about 80'. over the years I had to move the dish 4 time, which is pole mounted. The 61.5 location can be seen from my house.
You realize that with Dish Network you need line of sight to 119 and 110 just the same as with DirecTV.
Just as a DirecTV receiver will not function without seeing the 101 slot at all times, a Dish network receiver will not function without seeing the 119 slot at all times. Unless your line of sight issues are specifically limited to 101 degrees, switching providers will not improve your situation.
I am mainly only interested if HD content. So does that mean I would need 1 dish pointed to 110, then also 1 point to 61.5 for HD?
Guess I'll just have to keep my current setup with D, at least they are moving more programing in the oposite direction with 99 and 103, which is much better for me than going the other direction. Thanks for all the info, it has been very enlighting.
Do all Sky Angel Channels sit on E* Birds?
How do Sky Angel Customers get their programming now?
Once those questions are answered, my next question will be:
Are Sky ANgel customers loosing their programming due to these transponder changes?
How do Sky Angel Customers get their programming now?
Once those questions are answered, my next question will be:
Are Sky ANgel customers loosing their programming due to these transponder changes?
SkyAngel is switching to IPTV and is no longer going to broadcast via satellite as of at the very latest April 1, 2008.
BTW: Sky Angel says that new or replacement satellite receivers will not be authorized. My boss's lifetime subscription receiver died and they said he cannot get a new one authorized.
Yet they have not said "We are shutting off the DBS Service" Maybe they hope all the "Coming soon IPTV Mailers" will give the hint that something is changing.
