Mexico Signals

[prt328]

I'm a DTV subscriber in the US and vacation in Cabo San Lucas (latitude 22) a few months a year. I would like to bring my home unit down so I have DTV available here. It used to work (about 2 years ago) but not anymore. I used a 1M dish but now only get a few channels even though I subscribe to everything.

I now have an 1M as well as a 1.8M dish with clear lines of sight. Does anyone have experience with the larger dish and which satellite to point to that has the best chance for success (and most channels!).

 

[HDinCincy]

I am not a definitive source on this but my best guess is that you won't get all of it. When I was there 6 weeks ago, I noticed the dish we had for SKY (1 meter) was aimed VERY low and almost due east. I think the birds for D* would be too low to see. I'm anxious to hear others comments and I will admit that there is a poster here that gets D* in Hawaii, so...

 

[jcrandall]

D* sells service in Hawaii, so that should be no suprise. I don't know much about mexico service, but the sat you want to focus on is 101, it has all the primary SD.

 

[dramirez]

I have a friend who had DTV with an 1.8 meters dish, in Zacatecas (22°50'N 102°32'W), pointed at 101 with no problems at all.

I just asked him, but he switched to Dish Network, his dish is now pointed at 119 and a neighbor of his at 110, then they share those signals... nice setup if you ask me (those dish aren't cheap!), he said 110 it's a little bit difficult to get than 119.

 

[Bob Nielsen]

Pointing from Cabo San Lucas to 101 (from dishpointer.com):

Elevation 61.3 deg.
Azimuth 148.8 (mag.), 158 (true)

Definitely not too low to see.

 

[prt328]

Bob, I think you can "see" the bird, just can't get anything off of it! Also according to dishpointer, I think it says "outside footprint" for 101W.

A few years ago I could get about 70% (I subscribe to everything!), then I could only get even (or odd, I forget) TP's and now I can only get a few channels. I read elsewhere that DTV uses a "special" LNB (circular vs. linear) and am wondering if that may be the problem or if I am just outside the footprint. I have not tried it with the 1.8M dish yet or the 10" bud (C-band) I have available - was saving that for next trip (when I try to get 99 or 103 with my HD20 box).

Maybe DTV just flat won't work down here!

 

[Bob Nielsen]

Directv definitely uses circular polarization for 99/101/103/110/119. They run two transponders on the same frequency, one LHCP and the other RHCP, so you won't have any luck with a linear LNB, as the two would each be received at half-power and would interfere with each other.

 

[AlanRT]

Outside of perhaps one or two orphan channels that may still be on, DirecTV is no longer available Cabo San Lucas or most of Baja California Sur since the 101 satellite was replaced. You will need to use Dish Network here for US satellite TV.