Here are some screen captures from last nights Charlie chat. I just scanned the program and took caps of what looked interesting/funny/ or mildly important. I also out my comment above some of them. There are around 94 pictures so could take a few minutes to load. To make one bigger just click on it.
Eric Caught off Guard
Eric trying to dance
New Opener images
Looks like there trying to fight in this one
New Set
Back from the good old days
uplink dish farm
all 5 of there csr's desk!
old chat
hurricane images
Wounder what they would say if we mounted our dish like this
duct tape works for everything!
Our worst nightmare, a 55 inch warning screen!
Eric and the gals!
These are for Scott and his "face smashed by a pan comment from the chat room last night"
Fruit basket as a prize, come on guys
Revamped dish logo
Sweepstakes promo with screens you cant read
And this is how you use a keyboard everyone
These are going to get spamed!
Charlie demonstrating what the people who are watching this are doing
Eric with gals from uplink center monitor aera
Getting ready to draw a winner
and the winner is
more of the gals at uplink
Roof view
Party time and Great Video mixer, camera selection work
They bring Charlies glass out before the confetti
Love how they fade to graphics right as the confetti goes off
It wasn't to bad, just the uploading, couldn't find a place that would let me upload them all at once, so done them one by one, but other then that wasn't bad at all.
I have Dish with Hopper3. I choose to get local channels OTA and had a "guide list" established at my previous home. Having moved a few miles away, I wanted to update the list by appending a couple new stations via a rescan. As many would know, some stations come in with the UHF/VHF antenna aimed in one direction, while others come in better with a different direction.
Unfortunately, when a scan is done (bringing in 25-30 stations for that particular antenna aim), the dialog screen does not present the established guide list; it presents an empty field to the right that the scanned stations may be selected one by one and added to the empty guide. But because of antenna aim, some stations originally saved are missing, and would have to be retrieved with a different antenna aim. But as I explain, if a 2nd scan is done with a different antenna aim, the stations saved from the first scan are lost.
It troubles me that Dish didn't develop software that would allow a user to simply append only 1 or 2 channels to the established list.
Any thought on this? Has anyone experienced this or heard of this from others?
Televes makes an antenna signal combiner that will support two three different antennas pointing towards two different locations, and has filters to drop the signals from the channels that interfere with the 2nd antenna channels. This produces a signal that would contain all your receivable channels in one feed. It would probably cost less than a single antenna on a rotor controlled by a smart box that would relocate the antenna mast towards the TV station you wanted to tune in, plus it's instantaneous, without waiting for the antenna to slew towards its target.
Why Choose the Televes SmartKom?
SmartKom combines filtering, combining, and amplification in one outdoor preamplifier. Its three inputs and 32 programmable digital filters allow installers to select, combine, and level channels from different antenna sources, while the included ASuite app supports both automatic and advanced Bluetooth programming.
Key Benefits
Three VHF/UHF antenna inputs
32 programmable digital channel filters
Automatic channel scan, filtering, and level balancing
Advanced per-channel programming through the ASuite app
Bluetooth programming through the included power supply interface
Automatic gain control on each filter
LTE/5G out-of-band filtering
Compatible with HDTV, UHD 4K, and supported ATSC 3.0 signals
I appreciate your sentiments, Bobby but as a professional programmer for many years, a hallmark of good programing is robustness – anticipating user needs and, where practicable, adding the necessary coding structure. Knowing that Dish must have understood the nuances of antenna directionality on signal strength, it seems that an accommodation could have been made to append direction-dependent stations. Though I haven't seen the code, it would not have taken a lot of effort to make that accommodation. And as to you point about "First and primary, there are anomalies in the software that can cause issues when you have scanned channels in the mix that have little or no signal. You get error pop ups …", if a rogue station causes the issues you described, it can easily be removed.
Another hallmark of good programming is documentation. Dish decided not to release any documentation on the OTA process for users. A key part of such documentation would have been an explanation that when a rescan is performed and new stations are saved, the original OTA list is overwritten. This could have even been done with an onscreen dropdown warning. That would prevent users from finding this out the hard way.
Finally. piggybacking on RVvaquero's comment about the "remote control issue", I should add that I am having a similar issue. Ever since I used the Pairing Wizard to tailor control for my Samsung TV, I find that it sometimes takes not 1, not 2, but 3 presses of the On/Off button (several minutes apart) to finally kill the TV. This is kinda maddening and, as with OTA function, not discussed in any Dish documentation I've seen
Good points MorCowbell - All they had to do was add a few more options including the existing, I don't remember the exact names:
1) Scan/Re-scan and it will ask if one wants to overwrite database aka delete first or add to existing database
2) View existing database and add or delete manually
3) Save Database
4) Restore Database
I could very well be wrong....it has been a LOT of years but back when I had a 722K it seemed like when you went back to the scan screen that you could just scan again and it would ADD those channels to the previous list or you could delete the previous results and only add the channels from the new scan.
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
My health Insurance renewal for 2027 just came in. Going from $827 a month to $1,187 a month. Deductible going up a $1k to $9,350. Max out of pocket also going up $1k to $11,000. Doctor co-pay of $40. Urgent Care co-pay $50. ER 50% coinsurance after deductible. That's all in network. Out of network is double, should it be needed.
Have to think about this. I'm really tempted to just go without now. I only go to the doctor once or twice a year. I pay out of pocket for Tirzepitide and can do without the Rosuvastatin (crestor) now. Really tired of spending over $10k a year and getting nothing out of it.
After years with Blue Cross I switched last year to Ambetter as my Blue Cross premium was going from $1200 to $1800 for a Silver plan and the Bronze plan was still going to be $1300 at BCBS. Ambetter was $827 for the same coverage with a Bronze plan. Didn't think it would jump this much so soon.
I'm guessing a Silver plan is probably over $2,000 a month for 2027.
Such a scam. Healthcare.gov shows me cheaper individual plans available for 2027 from ambetter that ambetter doesn't show on their website. Looked it up. I've spent $68,000 in premiums the last 5 years and got nothing out of it except a few doctors visits and labs.
That's why I cancelled ours and just started saving the money. We're about to do the same thing with our home insurance.....not cancel it outright but do away with the portion which covers wind damage. We're paying over $5k right now and that is AFTER I dumbed things down...and it keeps going up. Got a couple trees I want to have taken down first before I do that however. After we do that, it will knock about $3k off our annual premium.
Not much else. Fire is the only thing I really worry about. I honestly didn't know I could remove wind coverage until someone told that they had....dropped their annual rate from $6,500 to $1,800. I'm currently paying $5,160.
Not much else. Fire is the only thing I really worry about. I honestly didn't know I could remove wind coverage until someone told that they had....dropped their annual rate from $6,500 to $1,800. I'm currently paying $5,160.
Yes. I covers ANYTHING wind related. If the wind blows down a tree on my roof...that is wind related.
That is why I want to take out a few trees first before I drop it.
I'm not worried about my roof. House was very solidly built and has hurricane straps. I put the metal roof on myself with the help of a friend and I recently replaced all of the outer screws with #12 2 in screws which I also dipped the tip in silicone before driving them in. Any other damage I'll fix myself like I did after Michael gave us a visit in 2018.
Yes. I covers ANYTHING wind related. If the wind blows down a tree on my roof...that is wind related.
That is why I want to take out a few trees first before I drop it.
I'm not worried about my roof. House was very solidly built and has hurricane straps. I put the metal roof on myself with the help of a friend and I recently replaced all of the outer screws with #12 2 in screws which I also dipped the tip in silicone before driving them in. Any other damage I'll fix myself like I did after Michael gave us a visit in 2018.
So, the Roof will stay, hopefully the rest of the house stays as well ... if the Hurricane decides to take the house and move it down the street, well at least the roof will go with it !
So, the Roof will stay, hopefully the rest of the house stays as well ... if the Hurricane decides to take the house and move it down the street, well at least the roof will go with it !
Why be such a smartbutt.
We went through a cat 5 hurricane.....the foundation is sound. Trees hitting the house are the only thing I am worried about when it comes to wind related damage.
IF you had actually been through multiple hurricanes like I have, you would know that most of the damage, unless you were stupid enough to build along the coast.....something ALL of our ancestors knew better than to do, is roof related. In a lot of cases the roof gives way and then the house suffers water damage due to the heavy rain.
Why be such a smartbutt.
We went through a cat 5 hurricane.....the foundation is sound. Trees hitting the house are the only thing I am worried about when it comes to wind related damage.
IF you had actually been through multiple hurricanes like I have, you would know that most of the damage, unless you were stupid enough to build along the coast.....something ALL of our ancestors knew better than to do, is roof related. In a lot of cases the roof gives way and then the house suffers water damage due to the heavy rain.
A good friend of mine is a general contractor. He has quite a large network of builders throughout the U.S. In certain parts of the country roof straps, brackets, clips are a code requirement now. Older homes can be upgraded if they have attic access. These roof reinforcing methods significantly strengthen roof integrity during high wind events.
A good friend of mine is a general contractor. He has quite a large network of builders throughout the U.S. In certain parts of the country roof straps, brackets, clips are a code requirement now. Older homes can be upgraded if they have attic access. These roof reinforcing methods significantly strengthen roof integrity during high wind events.
Ours was built in 1986. Hurricane clips weren't required then but the man who built it obviously had my mentality and had them put on anyway. Good thing he did because it would have been very hard to find home insurance without them.
When I was young and I was helping my Dad add onto our haybarn he would go to the lumber yards and get those metal straps they used to use bundling lumber. We would cut them and strap them over the rafters. He had been through a tornado years before and had seen barn roofs lifted right off.
During the summer I was hospitalized prior to having a pacemaker inserted. Shortly after discharge I received a letter from United Healthcare denying the level of coverage during the hospitalization. The denial text was written by a AI that sounded like a third grader. The hospital appealed immediately and it was eventually overturned.
National (50-States or wide/NAT+PR beams) Local (Local-Into-Local or narrow/Spot beams)
Additional tabs provide:
OTA the (Over-The-Air) Database VOD (Video On_Demand) Records Offline Records Engr Records Net Decoder a graphic presentation of all satellites and transponders
The Election HQ Mix is now live on channels 71, 200, 202-1, 307-1, 349-1, 356-1 and 360-1, there's also a red button app on CNN, NewsNation, BBC News, NewsMax, CNBC, MS Now, FOX Business and FOX News.
DirecTV Satellite Transponder Updates for Nov 04 2026
Comparison of Transponder Data for Nov 04 2026 vs Oct 28 2026:
No changes in system tables for any transponder tuning parameters.
Changes to the use of defined transponders:
2 Previously unused Transponders with current APG records::
Net 15 TID 12 Beam NAT is a National Transponder on D12@103ca, TPN 13
Net 15 TID 17 Beam NAT + PR is a National Transponder on D15@103ca, TPN 18
Newly updated tables of Streams on each transponder are available in the DataDigesters TPN Grids
More details of changes in individual channels will follow in the Weekly Analysis
and Gary Toma's Domestic TPN Map Excel files
Reshuffle setup ?
Weekly Analysis soon
Enjoy
DataDigesters
Over the past year I have been tracking the changes on Western Arc. The past 3 months have had a lot of changes that I posted in the other MPEG2 Western Arc shutdown thread. Now that 129 is (basically) out of commission, here is where Western Arc stands. This is just a national channel list, (no local channels) based off what I can see and what others have contributed. Thanks to everyone who has helped me come up with the locations of some of the channels – I would try and list all of you out, but I know I would forget someone! As has been suggested in other parts of the forum, it would be great to collect the spotbeam data for those who could contribute!
A couple of pieces of info:
Out of the 64 transponders between 110/119, there are currently 50 transponders that Dish is licensed to use. 22 are Spotbeams, 28 are ConUS transponders (14 transponders are licensed to DirecTV and Dish doesn't have access to them)
Those 28 ConUS transponders are divided as follows:
10 are dedicated to National HD channels (ESPN, CNN, Disney Channel, etc). Dish is maxing out at 16 HD channels per transponder (note – in an earlier post I said there was one transponder with 17 HD channels, that was an error on my part. When I double checked my listings, one channel changed transponders). Before the transition, there was a maximum of 14 HD channels per transponder.
1 transponder is dedicated to adult content
2 are a mixture HD PPV Movies/4k channels
3 are set aside for HD Sports channels that are only on for live games (NBA League Pass, the PAC 12 alternate channels, some PPV events, etc); 3 SD PPV Sports Channels are there as well.
7 are for SD and/or music channels. Dish is maxing out at 26 SD channels per transponder thus far on the SD transponders.
5 transponders on 110 I have no channels listed but Dish operates. (they are labeled as ConUS on my chart below) There are other things that could be on those transponders, like RV Distant Networks, internal testing channels, etc, that I can't see. They might be able to be used for additional content, but I am not sure exactly what is on those transponders.
There are two transponders that have lower than normal SD channels – 110, TP 21 and 119, TP 19. Previously those transponders contained the programming guides that get downloaded from the satellite when the receivers download EPG. I assume that is where the programming guides are still downloaded from, thus less channels there.
When I talk about number of channels on a transponder, all my numbers are unique channels – for example, channel 101 and 199 are the same channel mapped to two different numbers, but in terms of space, only takes up 1 channel worth of bandwidth on the transponder.
Finally, I have to give Dish a ton of credit. When it was 110/119/129, Dish had 82 transponders they were using – it took a lot to get it down to 50 transponders and figure out where all the pieces were going to go. What are the things they did to get there? Here are the things I saw:
During this migration from 129, Dish converted 7 ConUS transponders on 119 into Spotbeams – that is how they ended up fitting on all the HD locals that used to be on 129. (for those interested, TP 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 are the ones that used to be ConUS on 119 that are now Spotbeam)
Removed almost all SD duplicate channels that are offered in HD
Converted remaining SD channels from MPEG2 to MPEG4
There are also 2 subtle things that changed from the HD channel perspective
At the beginning of the transition, Dish decreased the number of PPV Movie channels – prior to this transition the PPV channels HD PPV movies were 502-522; now they are 502-517.
At the beginning of April when MLB, NBA, and NHL regular seasons were all going on at the same time and this transition began, there were a ton of games "joined in progress" for the HD feeds. That wasn't common since the days before the full time HD RSN's. The reason for that was prior to the transition, Dish had 4 transponders set aside for HD Sports – 2 transponders was the bandwidth set aside from the HD RSN's before Dish dropped the RSN's, then 2 transponders were for alternate channels. Now we are down to 3 transponders for HD sports.
With the extra hour I had this morning, I updated the listings. Another month has passed, and nothing has moved off 110 to 119 for the national channels. I really thought those handful of transponders on 119 would have been populated with the national channels from 110, but no change.
Can someone who has a Hopper tell me if the 4k channels are still on 110 and if so, what transponder?
With the extra hour I had this morning, I updated the listings. Another month has passed, and nothing has moved off 110 to 119 for the national channels. I really thought those handful of transponders on 119 would have been populated with the national channels from 110, but no change.
Can someone who has a Hopper tell me if the 4k channels are still on 110 and if so, what transponder?
Dish has officially removed all the locals from 119 and they are all on 110 now. TP 02, 04, 06, 08, 10 were all functioning as Spotbeams as of last week, but now they are ConUS.
This means all 21 transponders that Dish has access to at 119 are now ConUS.
Nope - TP 1-13 are still ConUS on 110. Which is crazy...there are so many different spotbeams on the new 110 satellite compared to the older 110 or 119. Now, someone can correct me if I am wrong on this - but aren't there two satellites at 110 right now? If so, it looks like TP 1-13 are coming from the old satellite at 110 and 14 onward are spotbeams on the new satellite.