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Blindowl1234

Last reply Jan 20, 2010 · posted in C-BAND Satellite Discussion

Motorized 6foot issues

Ok guys I'm looking for ideas. I motorized the six foot Fortec dish months ago. I know its on the arc and working correctly more or less. I've tried adjusting the dish elevation and the declination with pretty much the same results. I aligned it on my true south which I used 87W close as I could get to true south sat. If raise or lower the declination or the dish, about 1/4", I either gain or lose the stuff to the east or to the west. Example if I lock in on TVU at 87W and peak the signal then everything above 101w suffers. If I peak the dish on 121w and lock in Setanta, France 24 etc...weaker ones for me, then I lose everything below 95west. I'm beginning to think the 6 footer is just to small to scan the arc and get it all. I checked the pole and the mount and I'm within a half a bubble on the level? I'm wondering if that the issue? I can manually raise or lower the dish and increase the signal on any sat up there. I just can't keep everything in at once without manual adjustments. Any ideas of something to try?
I'm probably going to try and motorize my old Paraclipse 8.5 footer in the spring as it should way outperform the 6 footer anyway. Thanks Blind

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Blindowl1234

Jan 16, 2010

Well I spoke to soon! Still got issues. Ok due to trees I can't get anything east of my true south 87W. Today I noticed a drop in signal quality. I went to 87W and peaked the dish. I get TVU at 65% Nasa at 34% This TV at 47%. Going west I'm ok until 107w (ASN at 45%) after that no signal on anything. Declination was at 51. Took the declination to 48 and everything is there from 95W-My family Tv (weak) to 133W. So adjusting the declination plus or minus 3 degrees creates the above scenario. Also I can raise or lower the dish elevation plus or minus 3 degrees and get the same effect. Put everything back to correct position and adjusted the pole on the mount slightly to the west no real change there. Pole is level...Peaked LNB...Even if I try and find a sweet spot in between I end up with 95W to 133W....91W only CW and Word Net at 29-30 which is my threshold....87w is non existant. Ok guys thats the lastest scenario....Any ideas to try? What about loosening the mount and moving it on the pole to the east slightly? Instead of west? Didn't try that yet. Thanks Blind

arcticracer

Jan 16, 2010

I haven't installed a C-Band dish since the 80's, but I did a lot of them back in the day. Mostly 12 footers. I worked out a system that never failed me, and rarely took more than about 30 minutes, usually more like 5 minutes. Since I was working in Oregon, all the Satellites were between South, and the horizon to the East.

POLE MUST BE PERFECTLY PLUMB! YES PERFECT! 12 footers have a very narrow beamwidth, and you will not track perfectly unless you have met this requirement.

1. First, setup the feed, center and peak everything for max signal.
2. Set elevation and declination on polar mount. I used a quality compass and one of those quality surveyers inclinometers, the kind you look through. You can get OK results with the carpenter type too.
3. Lockdown the mount facing South.
4. Move the dish on polar mount to the Satellite closest to South, stop at the Azimuth setting that gives max signal, lock down Az. Peak elevation for max signal. In Oregon we were lucky to have a Sat. (F1) that was due South.
5. Move Az. to the furthest East bird (or I suppose if you are in the East, the furthest West Bird), and hopefully you have a signal. Lock down Az. on max signal. Loosen mount on pole, and slowly move entire dish and mount back and forth peaking on strongest signal. Tighten mount bolts.
6. Go back to Sat. closest to South, and lock down Az. when you get max signal. Peak signal by adjusting elevation.
7. Repeat step 5.
8. Repeat step 6.
9. Continue until there is no tracking error. I usually had it after 2 or 3 trips from East to South.

Several times I had the dish tracking perfectly just using my instruments and aligning by eyeball, but that is rare.

Blindowl1234

Jan 17, 2010

Project is on hold guys. Basically I've given up for now. Spent 2 more hours this morning on it lol. A six foot dish will not track the arc properly and get 90% of the channels. Another guy who has been in the satellite biz since the 80's tried it and had the same issues. I've got a cousin who installed the big dishes in the hey day and I'm gonna have him physically check everything to be 100% sure. At this point with my limited experience I wouldn't try to motorize less than an 8 footer for Cband. It doesn't seem to be able to capture enough signal on everything from 87W -133W except the strong signals anyway.
Thanks again for everyones thoughts, and advice on this one. Blind

gmd63

Jan 19, 2010

blind, If you want to and keep trying you will get it. I used my 6' Fortecstar up till this November when I swapped it out with a 10 footer I found.
I had mine set from 72º AMC6 - 139º AMC8. Tracked fine, just a much lower signal then the bigger ones. Some boomed other weaker ones were right on the line where you could loose them.

All in all, if you have the bigger one, why not use that anyway? [FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

Blindowl1234

Jan 20, 2010

GMD63, Thanks for the input. This summer I plan on replacing the dead acuator on the old Paraclipse. That was the 8.5 foot I felt sorry for and paid $60 for....wouldn't do it again though. The signal is much improved on it even as a fixed dish..Too cold to do much with it now. The six footer...Well I messed with it some on Monday. I found out that I needed to turn it west on the mount about an 1/8 of an inch and it certainly improved. I think the issue was the freezing and thawing of the ground here. This yard is mush in the winter. 72W to 135W now...satisfied for a while lol....Blind

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TWiT Tech Podcast Network

3 minutes ago · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Tech News Weekly 441

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL5XFOpX4_A

Direct YouTube Link - Tech News Weekly 441
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed

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TWiT Tech Podcast Network

3 minutes ago · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Home Theater Audio: JBL SCL-6 Speaker Custom Build! #shorts

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CRhynF2RE20

Direct YouTube Link - Home Theater Audio: JBL SCL-6 Speaker Custom Build! #shorts
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed

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teachtom

5 minutes ago · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Problem when I switch from Bonus View channels back to regular Dish channels

Hello everyone, new guy here. I'm trying to solve problem I'm having with Dish bonus view channels. When I'm watching the bonus view channels then I switch back to regular dish channels, after few minutes the screen flips to black and after 30 seconds flips back to regular channels and continues to flip back and forth until I turn off TV. After I wait 30 minutes and turn back on , I can use regular channels again. So, its after I switch from bonus view channels to regular dish channels the problem starts. Been trying to fix this for a month, but no luck
Here what I've done.
i contacted Dish support and they sent me a new Joey3, but no help. Switched to a different HDMI input on TV, no help. Used different HDMI cable , no help. Used different electrical wall plug, no help.
Finally got a Dish tech to check it. He ran all systems check and was OK. Finally he brought in a small TV and plugged in the HDMI out from the Joey to the small TV. He could not get the problem to occur on his small TV, so the new Joey was working OK. So, then the problem must be myTV. He made some phone calls and came back with the answer that there must be a problem with the analog to digital switch in my TV. Has anyone ever heard of a problem like this, or is it time to be looking for a new TV? My tv LG OLED65C8PUA. TV has been trouble free til now. Thanks

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dfergie

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU!

Last reply 16 minutes ago · posted in What's Cooking?

What's For Lunch?

We have a Breakfast and Dinner thread so...

Continuing from the Breakfast thread, found Cornbread mix so ...
Yellow Cornbread Mix
2 Hatch Green Chiles -diced
1 Egg
2/3 cup of milk
add to greased pan
Bake for 400f 20-25 minutes(From instructions)
now to put together and try... this to go with pinto beans...

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TRG

Monday at 3:34 PM

Pork shoulder, refried beans, cheddar and chopped green chile burrito with a pint of pale ale.

Its nice being able to have a pint with lunch during the week or whenever. I've been enjoying the retired life.

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dfergie

Monday at 4:27 PM

TRG said:
Pork shoulder, refried beans, cheddar and chopped green chile burrito with a pint of pale ale.

Its nice being able to have a pint with lunch during the week or whenever. I've been enjoying the retired life.

View attachment 191651

Congrats! I love retirement, no wake ups, no e-mails...
Leftovers for lunch, bacon wrapped salmon fillet from Saturday and a KFC thigh from Friday, Tea.

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TRG

Monday at 4:50 PM

dfergie said:
Congrats! I love retirement, no wake ups, no e-mails...
Leftovers for lunch, bacon wrapped salmon fillet from Saturday and a KFC thigh from Friday, Tea.

I've been retired since October. It was very strange at first. But I'm loving it now.

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TRG

Yesterday at 4:11 PM

Creamy flat chicken enchiladas with green chile, beans and rice.

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dfergie

31 minutes ago

Layered Spicy Dorito / chili cheese Frito pie casserole…real sugar Pepsi

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TRG

16 minutes ago

I had a very unusual but delicious 1/4lb hotdog with cream cheese, raspberry preserves and chopped Hatch green chile. It is an unlikely combination but it works.

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N5XZS

Last reply 27 minutes ago · posted in Over the Air Television By RabbitEars.Info

New low power station with CP has been granted. "Albuquerque "

New low power station has been granted by the FCC and the new call leter is K33OB-D on RF ch. 33.

Will run at 15 KW ERP, this one runs from the Westside same location as KWPL-LD a HC2 owned station.

It's going to be aimed at eastern part of Albuquerque, so it's tightly focused beam pattern.

This new station is owned by Digital Network and what kind of programmings is unkown at this time.

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N5XZS

Yesterday at 4:51 PM

Yeah, there are some diginets like Heartland, Retro, The Family Channel diginetworks that we already have here in this market and we don't need duplicates, but bring the new diginets on like the Rev'n, Karate Acton movies, different kind of music videos on the new station. :hatsoff2

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comfortably_numb

Yesterday at 4:54 PM

N5XZS said:
Yeah, there are some diginets like Heartland, Retro, The Family Channel diginetworks that we already have here in this market and we don't need duplicates, but bring the new diginets like Revn, Karate Acton movies, different kind of music videos on the new station.

I watch MovieSphere Gold channel a lot. Many recent movies on that digitnet

N5XZS

Yesterday at 4:59 PM

Yes that's a good channel MovieSphere, only thing is the missing CC on it.

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comfortably_numb

Today at 1:35 AM

According to the FCC listing, the tower is near I-40 and Juan Tabo:

FCCInfo Results

FCC Info is a Radio and Television Station Search Engine provided by Cavell, Mertz & Associates, Inc.

www.fccinfo.com

primestar31

27 minutes ago

comfortably_numb said:
According to the FCC listing, the tower is near I-40 and Juan Tabo:

FCCInfo Results

FCC Info is a Radio and Television Station Search Engine provided by Cavell, Mertz & Associates, Inc.

www.fccinfo.com

Many of these in my DMA are on cell towers, so don't always reach very far because the towers aren't very high.

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Linus Tech Tips

33 minutes ago · posted in Linus Tech Tips

I Found Free Money in the Tech House

Time for another AWESOME video from Linus Tech Tips!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FoAOhbeo5Y

Direct YouTube Link - I Found Free Money in the Tech House
Linus on Facebook
The LTT Store

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TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Today at 1:32 PM · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Hollywood Faces the AI Tipping Point with Robert Tercek

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOgBoy9ScCY

Direct YouTube Link - Hollywood Faces the AI Tipping Point with Robert Tercek
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed

0 Replies · 2 views

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zippyfrog

Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Today at 1:28 PM · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Price Increase on Owned Equipment?

Did anyone have a price increase today on their equipment? I own my VIP211k's, and they have been $5.00. My bill that I received last week shows the "add-ons" as being $5.00. However, I just logged into my Dish account, and my "add-ons" are now $10.00. Did the additional receivers go up by $5.00 recently?

As I mentioned, my last bill shows $5.00 and under the notes, nothing is mentioned about a price increase.

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zippyfrog

Today at 11:29 AM

However, when I make a change (tried to add the Columbian pack for $2 so I could generate my bill) and there is a new line - it says "Access for TV" - whereas previously that line item was not there. I hope they aren't charging $5.00 for the initial TV now...

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telstar_1

Today at 11:45 AM

Apparently it's not an "owned receiver" fee but rather an extension fee that's applied to 2nd and subsequent viewing. Maybe that played into their decision to force a box at every TV- garnering those fees

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zippyfrog

Today at 12:34 PM

telstar_1 said:
Apparently it's not an "owned receiver" fee but rather an extension fee that's applied to 2nd and subsequent viewing. Maybe that played into their decision to force a box at every TV- garnering those fees

Possibly. In theory, $9 of the base pack has a rental fee built in. But now is this $5 a chance to get a little more? I don't know for sure. According to chat, it is a glitch and will be resolved in a timely manner, but we shall see. Part of my thinks there is a going to be a new charge, whether it is now or this fall. Here in Illinois, the law requires we are given 30 days notice of any fee changes, but I have not been given anything.

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MikeD-C05

Today at 1:11 PM

These fees are why streaming has caught on so well across the country and DISH is losing subs each quarter. Soon won't be enough subs to be profitable.

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telstar_1

Today at 1:28 PM

Does cable charge box rent?

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Bruce

Supporting Founder Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Today at 1:16 PM · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Dish Satellite now under 5 Million subscribers/Sling under 2 Million.

With the 1st Quarter Report just released, Dish lost another 180,000, now at 4.84 Million.

Sling now at 1.79 million subscribers, down approximately 190,000.

For comparison, YouTube TV now has about double the subscribers of Dish and Sling combined.

DISH & Sling TV Lost Over 366,000 TV Subscribers In Just 3 Months | Cord Cutters News

EchoStar Corporation, the owner of the DISH Network satellite television service and the Sling TV streaming platform, continued to experience steep declines in its pay-television customer base during the first three months of 2026. The company reported a net loss of approximately 366,000 pay-TV...

cordcuttersnews.com

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fmj77

May 11, 2026

I'm surprised Dish still has that many subscribers. I don't know a single person in my area that is still with them after getting either Starlink or fiber at their home. They all cancelled Dish and went with streaming. I used to get offers pretty regularly in the mail to come back to Dish, but no more. Haven't seen one in a couple of years now.

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Bruce

May 11, 2026

fmj77 said:
I'm surprised Dish still has that many subscribers. I don't know a single person in my area that is still with them after getting either Starlink or fiber at their home. They all cancelled Dish and went with streaming. I used to get offers pretty regularly in the mail to come back to Dish, but no more. Haven't seen one in a couple of years now.

Only about 3.6% of Households in the United States, still have Dish Network.

For comparison, YouTube TV has about 10%.

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Yespage

May 18, 2026

$25 a month for 1 gig, for two years with Spectrum. I'd be darned that their router was MUCH better than AT&T's. I didn't realize that what I thought was something else was the bloody router. Those buffering issues stopped when I swapped... after AT&T refused to lower my bill, after 25 years of high speed internet service. They wanted $80 or so a month for 1 gig, with no drop to a lower speed.

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telstar_1

Jun 2, 2026

I despise that most of all. I'm going to talk to a remote?

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tsunami2311

Friday at 11:03 PM

Yespage said:
$25 a month for 1 gig, for two years with Spectrum. I'd be darned that their router was MUCH better than AT&T's. I didn't realize that what I thought was something else was the bloody router. Those buffering issues stopped when I swapped... after AT&T refused to lower my bill, after 25 years of high speed internet service. They wanted $80 or so a month for 1 gig, with no drop to a lower speed.

1gbit up and down here from att start out great was suppose to be $60 for life of service, with years time it went back up to $80 I complained about they gave us $49 for year which about to end, I Wonder what prices will be when it "up" I in no way like ATT fiber service there DNS that are hardcode and unchange able in the router are some WORSE DNS I ever used. you know how much of pain it is to change DNS setting on EVERY single wireless device...

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mwdxer1

Saturday at 3:08 AM

Bruce said:
Only about 3.6% of Households in the United States, still have Dish Network.

For comparison, YouTube TV has about 10%.

I dropped Dish a couple years back after having them for 25 years. The pricing got higher and after we got high speed internet, I watched it less and less. It got to the point all I watched was TCM for classic movies. Many of them are on You Tube now and a Premium subscription is $14 a month. A far cry of the $100 a month was paying with AT180, Supers, and locals. I get locals OTA anyway. I took down the dish several months ago and tossed it. I owned all my my equipment, so nothing to return. Do I miss a traditional cable type service? No way. If I want one I have all of the free live streaming with Roku, the Fire Stick, as well as Google TV. Right now as I type this, I am watching episodes of "The Midnight Special" from 1976 on You Tube, ad free. Dish was fine for many years. I do not regret buying the equipment and installing it myself (No installers in 1999). I enjoyed Dish for many years. My thoughts, Dish & Direct will be forced to merge in time, or they both will be gone. Even cable companies are getting out of TV. Some are only selling the internet and phone packages.

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tanman

Sunday at 12:01 PM

telstar_1 said:
I despise that most of all. I'm going to talk to a remote?

Hello Computer On Phone GIF - Hello Computer Hello On Phone - Discover & Share GIFs

Click to view the GIF

tenor.com

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nelson61

Monday at 8:20 PM

A lot of it flows back to the 4 big networks.
Cable and satellite are their money tree.

But, in reality, each market need 1 or perhaps 2 news feeds - not 4 or more

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MikeD-C05

Today at 1:16 PM

nelson61 said:
A lot of it flows back to the 4 big networks.
Cable and satellite are their money tree.

But, in reality, each market need 1 or perhaps 2 news feeds - not 4 or more

In my area we get 2 news feeds spread over 4 local stations.
ABC/NBC (TEGNA)
Same news cast simulcast over both channels.

CBS/Fox (Sinclair)
Same news casters at 5pm, 6pm, 10pm.
Fox shows an hour at 9pm but same news casters.

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lordodogg

Last reply Today at 12:54 PM · posted in DIRECTV General Forum

HR44 rebooted overnight?

Hello again, haven't posted here in a while.

This morning, around 6:30am, I woke up and found the front panel lights on my HR44 on (I leave it off all the time as it is co-located with one of my Geminis).

Immediately thinking that either a reboot or power outage occurred, I checked the software version, and found that it's still the same release that was sent out last month.

I then ruled out a power outage by checking the clocks on my appliances and seeing that they're still correct (they reset when there's an outage, somewhat similar to the "blinking 12" on VCRs).

I then confirmed a reboot by checking the Upcoming Recordings (fka To-Do List) and seeing that the number was much lower than before (it always resets after a reboot).

I am definitely guessing what happened (and it may very well be actually what happened) is that the "Reset Required" prompt may have come up sometime overnight, and it eventually timed out and rebooted automatically. IIRC that prompt comes up when new software "plugins" have to be installed.

Would like to hear your thoughts, especially since I probably haven't talked to some of you reading this in a while (was a former CE member, left almost a year ago).

Thank you all in advance!

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Tom Speer

May 20, 2026

My HR54 blue light is on this morning. I think you ae right about the plugins. They are tweaking things in the customer National release. What version does your HR44 Genie have now? I think you are probably on the same varsion as the CE group today.

lordodogg

May 20, 2026

I believe mine says 0x1D7F

Tom Speer

May 20, 2026

That is what I have.

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lordodogg

Today at 12:54 PM

Happened again today & have new software, 0x1d88

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