Eastern Arc Dish Info & Install Guide

[FAiello]

Called Dish today to request transfer to EA. No problems, scheduled for Wednesday. Local installer called later to confirm appointment. Good service so far. (Currently on 61.5, 110, 119.) Courteous and helpful CSR.

All of my problems have gone away since EA was installed and they replaced my VIP222 with the VIP222k. Good luck with your new install.

 

[Fitzie]

All of my problems have gone away since EA was installed and they replaced my VIP222 with the VIP222k. Good luck with your new install.

Thanks. We just got 5 inches of new snow. I'll be surprised if the installer makes it out Wed. afternoon. It's cold, too.

 

[Dah-Henny]

One problem that I've noticed with my 1000.4......With a higher elevation than the 500+ that I replaced, the dish is more vulnerable to snow accumulation.

 

[JimP]

All of my problems have gone away since EA was installed and they replaced my VIP222 with the VIP222k. Good luck with your new install.

Have you compared any of your signal strength numbers for the same channels and if so what are they?

 

[FAiello]

Have you compared any of your signal strength numbers for the same channels and if so what are they?

Look at post #473, all my signal levels are lower than before but I have not had a problem with reception like I was having with my Dish 500 at 110 and 119 and a Dish 300 at 61.5. I did loose it once because of snow build up. We had 3" snow yesterday and I didn't loose my signal.

 

[dishcomm]

One problem that I've noticed with my 1000.4......With a higher elevation than the 500+ that I replaced, the dish is more vulnerable to snow accumulation.

If the dish is accessable ,simply brush the snow off the dish. In the future if your area's forecast is calling for winter precip, take some non stick pan coating and spray the stuff on the antenna only.
This helps keep any moisture from freezing on the surface sprayed.

 

[JimP]

Look at post #473, all my signal levels are lower than before but I have not had a problem with reception like I was having with my Dish 500 at 110 and 119 and a Dish 300 at 61.5. I did loose it once because of snow build up. We had 3" snow yesterday and I didn't loose my signal.

Do you recall what you were getting with 61.5 with your Dish 300????

 

[dishcomm]

Do you recall what you were getting with 61.5 with your Dish 300????

Dish has put out a new matrix with minimums for EA signal strengths on selected transponders. It is a test matrix. Dish is going to study feedback from the field before issuing a permannent matrix.
For my area, sigs are running generally in the low 50's to upper 60's for most TP's.

 

[Fitzie]

An update: the installer was on time and put up a 1000.4 with no problems despite a bit of snow. He used a sat finder to locate the signals.

Ran the check-switch, 72.7, 77 and 61.5 popped up including my HD locals. Checked a few signal levels, showed in the mid-fifties. I'll check all later for possible anomalies.

Another good experience with Dish.

Best regards,
Fitzie

 

[dslate69]

So to move to EA do you have to pay or sign another contract?

Currently I have 129, 110, 118, 119 and I get my HD locals off 118.
My Mom has 61.5, 110, 119 and gets the same HD locals (Raleigh) off 61.5.
I may want to switch my Mom to EA for the all mpeg4. And if DISH adds SPIKE-HD that may be enough to get me to stick around as well.
I don't know if it makes a difference which sats we have unless DISH plans to get rid of one in which case the setup would probably be on their dime.

 

[Dah-Henny]

I just bought mine from ebay. I have three advantages.

1. Got rid of the dpp44 switch
2. only one dish
3. much better LOS

I think that eventually (may be a while though) your locals will not be available on 118.7, which would be E*s problem.

 

[Fitzie]

Another note. I checked all my signal levels; unless I missed something, they are all running between 57 and 65 (mostly 59-62). Previously, I had signals running from the 30's to the 70's. Actual signal good on all channels I've looked at. (Locals in HD, national sports channels, FNS-HD, FBN-HD, CNBC-HD, TWC-HD, etc.) I've actually got a little better LOS with the new 1000.4 single dish setup, since the Dish 500 I had pointing at 110/119 was looking through the top of a tree...So far, very pleased with this change!

Fitzie

 

[bamaredwingsfan]

Im using a dish 500 for 100 and 119 which i get fine. But i recently got a HD reciever off ebay and decided to add on a dish 300 into the mix for 61.5. I can't seem to find 61.5 for nothing, im using a regular compass and for my zipcode i need to shoot at Az 140. I shoot that direction and i get nothing.

I have a dish 211 currently im trying to get locked in on 61.5 My zipcode is 35055 and i put in that info to get my coordinates, but i still get nothing. Should i unhook the dish 500 and only use the dish 300 while im trying to find the signal or does it matter. I run the switch check and it confirms that i have the dish 300 hooked up but on signal.

 

[jerryez]

180 degrees is striaght up, 90 is straight out , so 140 should be slight abour 135 which would be half way in between 180 and 90. Remember your arm is pointing way below the angle needed, because the arm is below the center of the dish, which is what you are pointing. Use your bodies arm to approximate the 140 angle. Start at about where you think the angle should be and sweep the dish left to right about 15 degree. Raise it about 1 degree and sweep again. Go up 7 or 8 degree. and then sweep it left to right again and lower it 1 degree , but this time go below the starting point by 7-8 degrees. You should find it before you complete the cycle. You can use a signal meter or the signal noise on your receiver. Check the signal noise on the other sats to know what is the correct sound for the sat signal. Good Luck. I use this for my RV and never have a problem locating a sat.

 

[bamaredwingsfan]

180 degrees is striaght up, 90 is straight out , so 140 should be slight abour 135 which would be half way in between 180 and 90. Remember your arm is pointing way below the angle needed, because the arm is below the center of the dish, which is what you are pointing. Use your bodies arm to approximate the 140 angle. Start at about where you think the angle should be and sweep the dish left to right about 15 degree. Raise it about 1 degree and sweep again. Go up 7 or 8 degree. and then sweep it left to right again and lower it 1 degree , but this time go below the starting point by 7-8 degrees. You should find it before you complete the cycle. You can use a signal meter or the signal noise on your receiver. Check the signal noise on the other sats to know what is the correct sound for the sat signal. Good Luck. I use this for my RV and never have a problem locating a sat.

let me ask you this, 140 is SE right? I used to have one of those cheap quarter sized compasses that you were given when installing a dish. I lost it and now i have a regular coleman hiking compass, that is the same thing right?

think my Az is 140 and the elevation is 43.

 

[Fitzie]

let me ask you this, 140 is SE right? I used to have one of those cheap quarter sized compasses that you were given when installing a dish. I lost it and now i have a regular coleman hiking compass, that is the same thing right?

think my Az is 140 and the elevation is 43.

If you're in Alabama, 61.5 is SE, if that's what you're asking. Off the top of my head I would think if your location is about 84 to 86 degrees W, the angle between you and 61.5 is probably about 25 degrees to the east. One of the engineers here can tell you.

Fitzie

 

[dishcomm]

let me ask you this, 140 is SE right? I used to have one of those cheap quarter sized compasses that you were given when installing a dish. I lost it and now i have a regular coleman hiking compass, that is the same thing right?

think my Az is 140 and the elevation is 43.

Which time zone? Central or EAstern?
I have a trick.. If you're in EST look to the sun at about 10- 11 am
This is roughly the azimuth you will be pointing.
Set your dish skew to 90Deg....Make sure the mast is plumb. Set your Elevation to 43 Deg
If you do not have a sat meter, you can still peak the dish.
Now, with the receiver on the point dish screen and the 61.5 satellite chosen, method one is Open window crank volume on TV. Method tow is have another perosn at the tv to relay the signal strengths via cell phone.
Either way ,you must move the dish laterally S-L-O-W-L-Y.
Give the receiver time to catch the signal. Once you've latched on to the bird tweak the dish to get the optimum sig strength.
Let me know how you have made out

 

[brianwbrown]

I ordered a 1000.4 satellite off eBay - installed it today, and works great. Just squared up the mast, and pointed it. *USE DISHPOINTER.COM* works GREAT! Ran the check switch after installing, and all channels were there. I didn't have to call, but I did already install the new smartcard. Replaced 2 dishes (119/110, 61.5).

 

[llzel]

I finally got DISH to replace my DPP44 system (110, 118, 119, 129) with eastern arc and I haven't had 1 searching for sat signal in the week. 1.5 years of barely be an able to watch one of my receivers with no problems now.
It confirmed my belief that the DPP44 switch/power inserter was the cause of my problems. I replaced 3 switches and 2 power inserters.

 

[Totoro]

Seems kind of short sighted to NOT have the latino programming on the eastern arc as well as the western arc. It would mean less installs of various kinds. It should be simple to decide if you are in the eastern arc dma that you would get the 1000.4 sat dish for everything . Instead you have to have a western arc 1000.2 sat dish + a side sat dish for what ever sat your locals are in if you want hd eastern arc service and latino programming. Imagine what you would need if you wanted eastern arc hd/ locals+ latino+international channels as well. As usual DISH created a mess for installers . It should of been simple to either add eastern or western arc and just add the 118 sat for internationals. I can't imagine why they couldn't of added latino channels to either 77 or 72.7 sat for the eastern arc too.

I would love to get the Latino pack, but I won't install a second dish. Any word on when (or if) they will add more Latino channels to the EA? Right now there are only about 3 or 4.