AT9 Dish - your experience(s) so far?

[Proc]

As mentioned before, I have the Triple LNB hooked up to the H20. Combined with my OTA antenna, I have a great setup. However, my dish is on the garage roof and it will be getting a shingle tearoff and re-roof very soon.

With that said, I am going to bite the bullet and get the AT9. This way I won't have to put the Triple LNB back up only to have to put a new foot plate on when I upgrade to the 5LNB, whether it be the current AT9 or the upcoming "Slimline" dish.

OK AT9 owners...give me some pro's and cons?

• If you had to do it again, would you have upgraded to the AT9 or left your 3LNB in place until more MPEG4 programming was available?
• Have you had any alignment issues with it? Has the wind blown it off kilter?
• Monopoles? Did you use them? One? Two? Or, did you pole mount it?
• Comments from wife, neighbors, strangers regarding it being ugly, huge, etc.?
• Or, is this thing a solid, reliable dish?

All comments are appreciated as I head toward the 5LNB waters...

 

[directvfreak]

1- Waited for sw2 to light up to be sure properly alligned.
2- YES- My original had about 45-55 on the 103.
3- Pole, but being relocated on our fence post today.
4- People have said it's big, my brother said, That's not to big, yet he has a Dish 1000(24 inches compared to the AT9 29 inches.)
5- It isnt the most reliable of all dishes because the LNB arm broke off after 3 weeks. My 3-LNB dish lasted for years.

Note: I have a lower signal stregth than on my tripple LNB dish.

 

[tfoss]

don't do it, a 2nd version (much smaller) is coming out in a few months

 

[f300v10]

1. No, got my AT-9 in early Dec., no rainfade since.
2. Mine is on a pole mount, and the wind twisted the pole. I added another 50lbs. of concrete myself, and re-pointed the dish. 103 signal strength between 88 and 94 (depends on the weather) KA signal strength is MUCH higher (95+ on all 3 locations with my HD-Tivo) than on my 3LNB that was replaced.
3. Pole as noted. Required for line of site issues.
4. My wife has not mentioned the size of it since the day it was installed. I think it looks cool
5. Mine is very solid. Had wind gusts over 50MPH last Saturday, and no problems.

 

[bcherry]

Got mine installed in March. Waiting for D* to turn on the local HD channels in Pittsburgh. Supposed to happen on April 19th. Installer mounted dish on my roof. Only location with wide enough view of the sky to meet D* specs. Trees in front of my house effectively block out area of roof where dish is installed so it is not that noticeable from the street. I have had no problem with the dish since it was installed about 1 month ago. Installer used two monopoles. My signal strength on the 103 satellite has remained in the mid 90's since the dish was installed. Signal strengths at 101 run in the low to mid 90's. Since the dish is on the roof I'm hoping that its bigger size will make it less susceptible to rain fade and loss of signal from snow.

 

[Proc]

don't do it, a 2nd version (much smaller) is coming out in a few months

Any confirmation that the new "Slimline" dish will be out soon?

 

[sheridan]

I'm not going for the AT9, because all of my local HDs are available OTA.
My dish is on pole, I would never mount to the roof.

That's my situation, as always, your mileage may vary.

 

[Proc]

I'm not going for the AT9, because all of my local HDs are available OTA.
My dish is on pole, I would never mount to the roof.

That's my situation, as always, your mileage may vary.

As mentioned, I use an antenna (and the H20) to get my locals, so I wouldn't upgrade to the AT9 for the locals, but rather for MPEG4 programming down the line. I had planned a pole mount, but with trees, roots, fences and the possibility of cutting coax and/or conduit in the garden, I decided it can go back up on the garage roof. The 3LNB dish, other than collecting snow during the winter, has been fine up there (30 feet behind the house). I don't want to put a foot plate up there only to have to put a different one on for the the AT9 later. Thus, the reason for me to upgrade to this dish.

Keep you comments coming...interested in all the pro's and con's of this dish from you owners out there.

 

[steve615]

1.We are new customers to D*(install was done on 3/23,but we made the deal with D* in Feb. before the lease options kicked in,we own the equipment),this is our 1st dish. 2.It is a post mount,due to line of sight issues (trees and hilly terrain in this area),roof mount (tin roof) was not an option for us.We have had several severe storms in this area since having this installed,no effect on the signal strength as of now.I have posted some pics in the "my AT9 install pics" thread.3.The tech used one of the two attachments that was included with the dish on the install of the dish,he did a great job,IMO.We had very high winds,large hail and heavy rains here last Friday.After the storms cleared,we plugged everything back up,everything worked like it did before the storms,no signal loss,no rain fade issues.4.It is a pretty good size dish,IMO.Our neighbor across the street came over and took a look at it,he actually liked the look of it.He has our crappy basic cable from Comcast (digital cable will not be available in this area for who knows how long).He came in and took a look at some of the D* programming on our plasma,he is now considering going to D* from cable. 5.In the short time that we have had this,it has been a very solid,very reliable dish for us so far.:up

 

[steve615]

Pics

Here are some new pics that I took a little while ago.

 

[syphix]

steve615 - that's a BEAUTIFUL install...self install, or D* installer (with cleanup)?

 

[steve615]

steve615 - that's a BEAUTIFUL install...self install, or D* installer (with cleanup)?

Thanks syphix.That is a D* installer job (Bruister & Associates from Nashville).He done a fantastic job,IMO.:up

 

[Proc]

Here are some new pics that I took a little while ago.

Good info/pics Steve. How far is the coax run back to the house and is it trenched?

Keep the comments coming folks...

 

[steve615]

More pics

These are other pics that I had posted in another thread.

 

[kentuck1163]

Bruister & Associates from Brookhaven, MS is who did my install. The guy did an INCREDIBLE job. I posted my experience with them in a post about a month or so ago. Came with everything he needed, including pole and cement, didn't charge extra for pole install, did clean job with cables, and used a cable with integrated phone line in one room (added a phone line since existing was on other side of the room.) Didn't charge any extra and was there from 8:00 until around 12:30 or so.
Also, he arrived EXACTLY on time.

 

[steve615]

Good info/pics Steve. How far is the coax run back to the house and is it trenched?

Keep the comments coming folks...

Thanks Proc.The coax run from the dish to the crawlspace is approx. 40 ft.,close to the rear of the house,then routed under the house,back to the living room and 1 bedroom,another approx. 40-50 ft. under the house.No trenching involved,it was run behind the vinyl siding outside,kept it off of the ground.The tech that done the install stated that he kept the coax off of the ground under the house too.

 

[theslag]

I had mine installed before the lease program. My install, dish and H20 were free from D, so why not. I now have two mono poles intalled, so far we had some hard winds blow after it was installed and knock on wood, rock solid. Now and then I do get audio sync problems on the HD locals but other than that, you have to say to yourself, this is prob going to be the norm for D TV for mpeg 4, yes, the dish might get smaller, but how much smaller?? I still kept my old 3 lnb just incase this one breaks or something happens, i can slap the 3 lnb up quick..other than that, i took their offer, the price was right...

 

[Dish Jockey]

don't do it, a 2nd version (much smaller) is coming out in a few months

The next version is a little smaller and lighter having the square like corners rounded down, otherwise it’s about the same height and width. “Much smaller” is an exaggerated statement, check the pictures posted somewhere around here. My AT9 gives me a bit more on the signal meter than a triple LNB, about 3-5 points more. If someone reports less signal on an AT9 over a triple LNB they should check the install or alignment.
Rick

 

[charper1]

I had read that the slim-line version was to be lighter and "lower profile" not "much smaller". They can reduce the overall height by a mere 2" and still maintain the same or better gain with added width. Have you seen the dimensions yet?

 

[steve615]

I had mine installed before the lease program. My install, dish and H20 were free from D, so why not.

Similar deal here too.We ended up with two H20s,the AT9 and install free of charges (they are owned,not leased).We agreed to 1 year of TC programming to get our deal.