Assuming all goes well, we sill see new HD from Ciel2 OOA Feb 1st.
Just my guess, but there is certainly a historical precedent.
Just my guess, but there is certainly a historical precedent.
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Not bad guessing at all, but I was thinking Dish would want to get the current 129 sat out of the way as soon as possible. That could help to get the Western Arc on its way. Of course, I'm hoping everything goes smooth as butter on testing, positioning, and the lift-off. Another issue: while I don't think this will be the case, there is some small concern on my part that the 10 or 12 new national channels I expect before Dec. 10 may be delayed. Losing Sahl at this point in time doesn't raise confidence levels.
Fitzie
I doubt it'll be live by the end of the year. It's got to get into the 129 spot after testing and testing usually takes a month, minimum.
Maybe sometime in mid-late January though.We can hope...
Dish has applied to move EchoStar 5 on January 15th, so we know that Ciel-2 will be online by then or earlier (if all goes well).
PS EchoStar XI took 40 days from launch to going online, but Ciel-2 could be different due to further west slot, different launch site, and the aforementioned desire for speed due to EchoStar 5 being liable to fail at any time.
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Ciel-2 is also different in one other respect: spotbeams. It has a ton and they take a while to test. I'd say Jan 15 is possible, but earlier than I would expect. They started to move E8 well after they originally asked.
The Western slot should help, though. Testing at 138, 129 is just a hop, skip and a jump away.
An another note, they have added several more blog posts. Looks like the sat is mated to the Breeze-M, and the fairing is installed. All that is left is mating it to the Proton, rolling it out, and fueling it up.
I don't recall seeing anything in the FCC filings about testing at the 138 W slot but I could be mistaken. Because not all the TPs at 129 W are being used by the E-5 satellite, they could just test at 129 W and move the programming around to different TPs.
I thought I read that. Maybe I didn't. But I wouldn't think all that shuffling would be that easy a task.
Might not see anything for testing since both 129W & 138W are Canadian slots and TT&C for will be out of Saskatoon.
I think that there are a number of reasons that Ciel-2 will go straight to 129 and test there:
- As mentioned, all of 110 is used by E* and D* while a bunch of 129 is not in use and could be used to test
- Coming to a stop at 138 and then moving to 129 uses more fuel
- E*5 is right at the end of its lifespan, speed is of the essence
- Dish may be waiting for Ciel-2 going online to add more National HD channels, since a Ciel-2 failure would mean scrambling for bandwidth. So, the faster it gets there, the faster E* can begin to catch up with D* in HD offerings.
- Testing at a different slot means more time overall to be fully operational.
- The sooner that customers get the greatly improved signal strength, the happier they and the installers will be in the Pacific Northwest.
The open transponder frequencies at 129 would seem to allow E* to test there, and I can't see why they would bother to go elsewhere instead.
kstuart:
All good points! Do you anticipate this scenario shortening the typical 30-40 day test cycle?
In a previous post I predicted Feb 1st - party due to the typical test cycle and partly due to previous programming additions around this time (and isn't there a price guarantee expiring around then?).
I would love to see Ciel2 up and running as soon as possible. Perhaps we will hear something official during the CES frenzy?
All good points! Do you anticipate this scenario shortening the typical 30-40 day test cycle?
In a previous post I predicted Feb 1st - party due to the typical test cycle and partly due to previous programming additions around this time (and isn't there a price guarantee expiring around then?).
I would love to see Ciel2 up and running as soon as possible. Perhaps we will hear something official during the CES frenzy?
Sounds good to me, if the feds will allow it. Might as well save the small amount of fuel it would take to move from 138 to 129. Let's hope it works out this way.
I could be wrong, but I don't think that the Feds have special standards for testing. I think that they require special authorization to test at special locations like 138 that E* is otherwise not licensed to use.
Dish is constantly "testing" at 148 - i.e. broadcasting different combinations of encoding and FEC.
For new satellites, testing is mostly about determining whether the hardware and launch providers screwed up ( for insurance and financial purposes ).
Dish needs to test the spot beams at 129, because they need to get feedback from dealers/beta-testers as to the signal strength at various locations within the beams.
They also needs to test at 129 to adjust the orientation of the satellite relative to CONUS reception at the fringes.
PS RedSavina: Dish has applied to move the existing satellite at 129, EchoStar 5, on January 15th, so they must anticipate Ciel-2 arriving there in early January.
Dish is constantly "testing" at 148 - i.e. broadcasting different combinations of encoding and FEC.
For new satellites, testing is mostly about determining whether the hardware and launch providers screwed up ( for insurance and financial purposes ).
Dish needs to test the spot beams at 129, because they need to get feedback from dealers/beta-testers as to the signal strength at various locations within the beams.
They also needs to test at 129 to adjust the orientation of the satellite relative to CONUS reception at the fringes.
PS RedSavina: Dish has applied to move the existing satellite at 129, EchoStar 5, on January 15th, so they must anticipate Ciel-2 arriving there in early January.
On the other hand, might testing at 138 be a lot faster? I would think it would take a heck of a lot more time to test only a couple TPs at a time and constantly shuffle stuff around than fire up the whole thing at once. 138 is only 9 degrees away, a weeks journey at GEO, so it wouldn't take that long to move it. They would probably save that and move by testing everything at once and multitasking.
As pointed out above, 138 is a Canadian location, TT&C will be done from Canada, and it is a Canadian sat. They may not need much if anything in the way of FCC permission.
As pointed out above, 138 is a Canadian location, TT&C will be done from Canada, and it is a Canadian sat. They may not need much if anything in the way of FCC permission.
