Maybe I am confused but my understanding is that the dish 1000 is for the 110, 119, and 129. Then why would you be able to pick up 61.5 with it? It is at 143 degrees SW where the other signals are from 209-229. Or are you saying he should just upgrade to the dish 1000 and use his existing dish 500 to get the VOOM?
If you want VOOM "now" you would need a dish 300 with a DP single LNB and a DP-34 switch. Your dish 500 needs to have a DP LNB (just look on the front of it for the letters DP). If no DP then you need one to use with the switch. I wouldn't suggest VOOM unless you love tv that much. You don't get much for what you pay in my opinion. Do you have a high def receiver?