HD on a 6 ft dish?

[Buuzher]

Hi there,

I've been trying to do some research for myself and a few friends. We have DirecTV, and each of us is utilizing a 6 ft Andrews dish. We have to use the larger dishes due to our location, and one of us would now like to try getting the HD package. Can we do the HD package using the Dual LNBs we all have? With our dishes we can see the 101/110/119 all at the same time, with fairly good signal strength across the board.

Do we need to add an LNB or two to our setup using an LNB bracket of some kind? Also, what kind of an LNB would be the best choice in this situation? Thanks for your help in advance, our situation is kind of odd because we live in such a low signal area. I imagine that we'd be in the same boat as Alaska, but I haven't seen any info for that area.

 

[Smith P.]

"With our dishes we can see the 101/110/119 all at the same time, with fairly good signal strength across the board." - that's all you need.

Check other thread about 'Channel's Mapping', you'll find on which sat/tpn located requested HD channels, then look at you receiver signal info.

 

[raoul5788]

Hi there,

I've been trying to do some research for myself and a few friends. We have DirecTV, and each of us is utilizing a 6 ft Andrews dish. We have to use the larger dishes due to our location, and one of us would now like to try getting the HD package. Can we do the HD package using the Dual LNBs we all have? With our dishes we can see the 101/110/119 all at the same time, with fairly good signal strength across the board.

Do we need to add an LNB or two to our setup using an LNB bracket of some kind? Also, what kind of an LNB would be the best choice in this situation? Thanks for your help in advance, our situation is kind of odd because we live in such a low signal area. I imagine that we'd be in the same boat as Alaska, but I haven't seen any info for that area.

Most of the hd programming is on the 110 sat, but there is some on 119, also. The core programming is on 101. If you want to have access to it all, you will need a 3 lnb setup. Then there is the hd mpeg4 programming on the 99 and 103 sats. You need an AT9 or Slimline dish and an H20 or HR20 receiver. Check this link to see what hd programming is on what satellite: http://www.lyngsat.com/hd/

 

[texasbrit]

Most of the hd programming is on the 110 sat, but there is some on 119, also. The core programming is on 101. If you want to have access to it all, you will need a 3 lnb setup. Then there is the hd mpeg4 programming on the 99 and 103 sats. You need an AT9 or Slimline dish and an H20 or HR20 receiver. Check this link to see what hd programming is on what satellite: http://www.lyngsat.com/hd/

raoul - I think these guys are somewhere in the Caribbean (or maybe in northern Canada) so the 3-lnb, AT9 or slimline would be useless to them. Right now the only MPEG-4 channels are spot-beamed so there would be no chance of receiving them anyway. When the DirecTV 10 and 11 are launched next year they will carry national HD, but we have no idea what the coverage profile will be like and whether the signals will carry far enough. Apart from the availability of Ka/Ku LNBs suitable for the Andrews dish.

As far as the current HD package is concerned, I was surprised that you can see all three satellites with a single big dish at the same time, I did not think there was an elliptical dish that large. My guess was that the only way to get multiple satellites is to use multiple round dishes each pointing at one of the satellites, and then rig the sat-C kit to merge the inputs from the sat B and sat C dishes. This is similar to the solution some people use in the mainland U.S. when they can't get line-of-sight to all the dishes. Anyway it looks like I was wrong! So yes, they could get the current HD package (ESPN, HDNet and so on). But of course next year without a Ka/Ku solution the new HD channels won't be available, and when the current HD transitions to MPEG-4 the HD channels on 110/119 will disappear.

 

[Buuzher]

Yeah, we're actually stationed on Gitmo, and since the cable station down here is very poor quality, DirecTV is pretty much the only way to go. I was surprised myself to find I could see the 119 and 110, but I noticed that the 101 is strongest, with the 119 second, and the 110 bringing up the rear.

I am going to hook up my bird dog and see if I can also see the MPEG-4 channels, as it wouldn't be very good to get the HD package, and then have the channels get switched over and lose them. Thanks for the replies guys, hopefully I'll be able to see if it's even worth trying to get all those goodies down here.

 

[jpn]

Yeah, we're actually stationed on Gitmo, and since the cable station down here is very poor quality, DirecTV is pretty much the only way to go. I was surprised myself to find I could see the 119 and 110, but I noticed that the 101 is strongest, with the 119 second, and the 110 bringing up the rear.

I am going to hook up my bird dog and see if I can also see the MPEG-4 channels, as it wouldn't be very good to get the HD package, and then have the channels get switched over and lose them. Thanks for the replies guys, hopefully I'll be able to see if it's even worth trying to get all those goodies down here.

That far south, why bother with a hacked BUD? Why not just install the latest 5-LNB dish from D*, it's got to be easier to handle then what you're doing.

 

[texasbrit]

That far south, why bother with a hacked BUD? Why not just install the latest 5-LNB dish from D*, it's got to be easier to handle then what you're doing.

Well first, almost certainly none of the MPEG-4 signals currently being transmitted will reach that far, since they are all on spotbeams. I assume the spotbeam for Miami is the closest, not sure whether it is on 99 or 103, but I guess it is 400+ miles away. Second, even if the new national HD channels when they roll out in 2007 give any signal there, a little 5-lnb dish would not pick it up. Reception of current DirecTV signals that far south needs big dishes, six feet or more, because the signal is so weak.

 

[Buuzher]

well, this far south and east, we're actually on the edge of the footprint, at least as near as I can tell. We tried it on a 1.2m dish, and the results weren't very promising.

One other question we thought of, will we need a different LNB for the MPEG-4 channels, or is the one we have now good?

 

[texasbrit]

well, this far south and east, we're actually on the edge of the footprint, at least as near as I can tell. We tried it on a 1.2m dish, and the results weren't very promising.

One other question we thought of, will we need a different LNB for the MPEG-4 channels, or is the one we have now good?

Don't know what LNBs you have, but you will almost certainly need a different LNB, one capable of receiving Ka/Ku......maybe if you post in one of the big dish forums you can get some ideas...