GAME ON! Echostar XI successfully reaches Geo-synchronous Transfer orbit!

The testing stopped not long after I posted. The signal would be up for a minute or two on a transponder and then would go away. A few minutes later it came back up on the next transponder. They tested 10 right polarity transponders while I was watching.
 
Any more signals spotted yet? I'd think there would be more activity if Dish was really in a hurry.
Any words on the Testing? I know everyone is excited about the new channels and Turbo packages, but you folks with the right equipment must have noticed some activity of the new bird. Please keep us informed.
 
Charlie has said this sat will be up and running by the end of the month.

Can some of you more knowledgable tell us when is the latest they can start moving Echostar 11 from 138 to 110 to meet this "deadline"??
 
According to the latest TLE, E11 is still at the testing slot.

Testing is not a public process and how long it takes is not entirely predictable.
 
E11 HAS DEPARTED 138.5

E11 has departed 138.5. Dropped down a couple hundred km in orbit which will sent it east. ON THE ROAD AGAIN !
 
I presume testing went well? I imagine Dish would have had to annouce any sort of issues.

Looks like close to 3 degrees a day. Should be in place by the end of next weekend or so.
 
I think it's closer to 2 degrees/day. Expect arrival at 110 about the 20th and a couple more days to snuggle up to E8. May see some transfers from E8 starting around 22-23 August.
 
Anyone know what impact this replacement will have on channels? Alot more HD?

I could see them possibly getting up to 12 or so channels on 110, after they convert existing to MPEG-4 and then decrease the error correction and clear off another TP by squeezing the channels on other TPs. Dish has 29TPs, 10 are in use for spots, leaving 19 TPs. Most of the TPs have about 12 channels on them. So, they could take a TP and distrubute the 12 channels over 12 other TPs.

So possibly 1 freed up TP with better error correction = 7 HD channels
Possibly 2 channel slots free up when existing HD go to MPEG-4

Now it could be possible for them to change the error correction on the HD TPs too to fit an additional HD channel/TP so maybe 3 more there.

12 more HD channels would be a nice addition in capacity.
 
Could E XI @ 110 and E8 @ 77 end up being "twins" -- one in the Eastern Arc and one in the Western Arc -- with essentially the same channels ? Or are they very different in CONUS and spot TP capacity?

Talon Dancer
 
Could E XI @ 110 and E8 @ 77 end up being "twins" -- one in the Eastern Arc and one in the Western Arc -- with essentially the same channels ? Or are they very different in CONUS and spot TP capacity?
E11 is very little like E8. E11 has no spotbeams. That's where E10 comes in.

E8 looks like the root of the Eastern Arc delivering all sorts of non-hd stuff but it will also offer a few locals. The content on E11 will continue to be MPEG2 while the content on E8 will probably be all MPEG4.

Suffice it to say that you shouldn't try to draw too many parallels.
 
The content on E11 will continue to be MPEG2 while the content on E8 will probably be all MPEG4.
What do you mean? I was told that this month all mpeg2 HD channels would be turned off, and I presumed these would be the ones on E8 110. So what is going on with the switch to mpeg4 HD? When will this happen?