Just one larger dish/ orbital location?

[Mister B]

I only use the locals from the Welcome Pack. The locals only Pack is not available in Texas. I am getting a signal strength of 20 on a neighboring spot beam which actually locks in but I am doubtful it could ever be reliable. According to the spot beam maps there should be a couple of spot beams off of the eastern arc that transmit over my area.
Would it be possible to get a larger dish such as a 76 cm or even 90 cm to experiment with? If so, what type of LNB and or switch would be needed to feed a two tuner Wally DVR? Beyond that, would I simply run a new "check switch" before pointing the new dish at the other targets? It could be interesting.

 

[Inclined Orbit]

I only use the locals from the Welcome Pack. The locals only Pack is not available in Texas. I am getting a signal strength of 20 on a neighboring spot beam which actually locks in but I am doubtful it could ever be reliable. According to the spot beam maps there should be a couple of spot beams off of the eastern arc that transmit over my area.
Would it be possible to get a larger dish such as a 76 cm or even 90 cm to experiment with? If so, what type of LNB and or switch would be needed to feed a two tuner Wally DVR? Beyond that, would I simply run a new "check switch" before pointing the new dish at the other targets? It could be interesting.

I don't know the exact answer but have some info that might help decide if you should try a larger dish. Some DirecTV receives if not all current ones read out signal strength very close to actual Eb/NO like a reading of 85 would be around 8.5dB Eb/No, etc. I forget the exact level where a DirecTV receiver can't decode but I remember its in the 5 to 6dB range. If your Dish receiver works along the same lines then you can approximate the needed size dish to increase signal levels.

Doubling the size of a dish with everything else being the same, like efficiency, LNB gain and noise figure, etc, will give you about 6dB increase in signal level. That plus an existing Eb/NO around 2.0dB might give you 8dB and possibly within a range where the receiver will lock. You wouldn't have much headroom for rain fade but I suspect you would get a picture most of the time.

 

[TheKrell]

I am getting a signal strength of 20 on a neighboring spot beam which actually locks in but I am doubtful it could ever be reliable.

I see a lock down to around 12, so I think you should "move" your service address to that nearby DMA and see how it goes.

Would it be possible to get a larger dish such as a 76 cm or even 90 cm to experiment with? If so, what type of LNB and or switch would be needed to feed a two tuner Wally DVR?

You didn't mention what you have now and what you want to keep connected. In general, the 3-LNB assemblies have an input. So you would get a DishPro solo or dual LNB and connect that up to what you have now.

Beyond that, would I simply run a new "check switch" before pointing the new dish at the other targets?

I think you can do the check switch after you get the 2nd dish hooked up. Or do you propose to use one dish on 61.5? IIRC the 9-day guide isn't present on 61.5.

 

[Mister B]

I have the standard western arc 3 LNB hybrid dish. If I were to try for the neighboring spot beam on 119 I suppose I could connect to the current input and cover the center LNB with foil but to experiment on the eastern arc, I would rather just go with the single dish. I have read many times that a "mixed arc" set up causes difficulties and if only wanting locals there should not a need for the western arc at all.
Is the guide on 61.5 out for 3 days? I could live with that.

 

[Mister B]

Problem Solved. With a bit more research on the spot beam maps, I see that I am getting the signal from Albuquerque with an even stronger reading than my El Paso channels. Albuquerque has many more channels in English and HD.