New customer with 1000.4 peaked to 61.5 -- not 72.7

[badgermobile]

Hey all. I just signed up last week for Dish with the AT120+, free movie packages for 3 months, and have been fairly pleased so far (with one concern described below). I'm in NY with an eastern arc 1000.4.

The installer pointed and peaked the dish to 61.5, and repeated assured me that this was because all HD channels were on 61.5 and this will give me the best HD signal. I asked him what was on 72.7 and 77, and he said "nothing important."

I've gone into Menu>>Installation>>Point Dish, and checked which sat/TP all the popular HD channels are on, such as TBS, History, CNN, ESPN, etc. They're all on 72.7 and their signals are currently terrible at 30-40. The USA channel showed some random "blocks" or artifacts during the recent rain and clouds here in Long Island.

From all the research I've done on this forum, it's apparent that Dish has been moving almost all the popular HD channels to 72.7, and that 61.5 will lose most of the "popular" HD channels at some point.

Was the installer correct to peak and lock the dish to 61.5 for best HD signal? He installed in Sept 2011 (last week); should he have peaked to 72.7 instead?

(He did say something about 72.7 being "behind" or farther away in distance in the sky, and that 61.5 was closer in actual distance. I didn't quite undertsand...)

Thanks.

 

[skyviewmark]

Your installer was an idiot. Or lazy.. Call Dish... Signal is low. Which sat he peaked on is irelevant..

 

[MikeD-C05]

I get 60s on 72.7 and 50 - 68 on the 61.5 sat and around 45 - 55 on the 77 sat and I self installed my 1000.4 sat dish 3 years ago. Still get those strengths today. You definitely need a repoint . A lot of channels are on 72.7 and the 77 sat is not really that important unless your locals are on it.

 

[Dah-Henny]

Unless Dish has changed, their protocol has always been to peak on 72.7.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Unless Dish has changed, their protocol has always been to peak on 72.7.

Directions say that very plainly. I used them and followed them closely and I got great peaking on my 1000.4 sat dish.

In my local area I live in a mobile home park and a lot of black sat dishes have gone up lately. Today I talked to the installer ,who was putting up a 1000.2 sat dish, and I asked him why they were using western arc instead of eastern arc (1000.4) for our area. Beaumont/Pt.Arthur locals are on both arcs ,but originally the hd locals were only on 61.5. He said they do nothing but western arc installs ,unless line of sight issues, because they were easier to point and install. He asked me why I preferred the eastern arc dish and I said easy: All mpeg 4 sd and hd programming that takes up less room on my hard drive. He said they get better signal strengths on western arc . I told him don't be fooled that eastern arc in the 50s and 60s is comparable to 80s and 90s on western arc.

Sad that DISH is already moving away from the idea of one kind of dish with different lnbs. I thought they were finally stream lining their operations a bit , but were back to western arc installs in an area that can get either arc.

 

[RaymondG@Dish Network]

Hey all. I just signed up last week for Dish with the AT120+, free movie packages for 3 months, and have been fairly pleased so far (with one concern described below). I'm in NY with an eastern arc 1000.4.

The installer pointed and peaked the dish to 61.5, and repeated assured me that this was because all HD channels were on 61.5 and this will give me the best HD signal. I asked him what was on 72.7 and 77, and he said "nothing important."

I've gone into Menu>>Installation>>Point Dish, and checked which sat/TP all the popular HD channels are on, such as TBS, History, CNN, ESPN, etc. They're all on 72.7 and their signals are currently terrible at 30-40. The USA channel showed some random "blocks" or artifacts during the recent rain and clouds here in Long Island.

From all the research I've done on this forum, it's apparent that Dish has been moving almost all the popular HD channels to 72.7, and that 61.5 will lose most of the "popular" HD channels at some point.

Was the installer correct to peak and lock the dish to 61.5 for best HD signal? He installed in Sept 2011 (last week); should he have peaked to 72.7 instead?

(He did say something about 72.7 being "behind" or farther away in distance in the sky, and that 61.5 was closer in actual distance. I didn't quite undertsand...)

Thanks.

Please PM your phone or account number to me and I will be happy to assist you in getting this corrected. Thank you!

 

[badgermobile]

FWIW, the installer was a third-party retailer, but also an old family friend. So I think I'll give him a call first to see if he wants to come over and correct this. Raymond@DishNetwork, I'll get in touch with you if he's unable to come.

Just curious: If I go straight to corporate for service, will Dish mark this as a complaint against him, and thus he'll lose commission for the install?

 

[MikeD-C05]

If you aim at the 72.7 sat and get a good signal on 19 or 21 transponder you are half way there. The key in peaking the 1000.4 sat dish is the Azimuth cam. If you adjust it to find the sweet spot between 72.7 and 77 sats ( maximum strength on both sats), you will get great signals on all 3 sats. Also the elevation rod can be tightened in either direction to get maximum peaking on all three. The 61.5 sat should fall right into place if you do those two things. But I find a lot of installers who only aim the dish and what ever signal they get they lock in and say the job is done. The beauty of the 1000.4 sat dish is that you can peak it to get maximum strength by doing the two above things I mentioned.

 

[badgermobile]

What is considered a good signal on TP 19/21 of sat 72.7 from NY? At least 70?

 

[CK SatGuy]

What is considered a good signal on TP 19/21 of sat 72.7 from NY? At least 70?

For the NY area, the signal should be around 50 at least but you should expect 55-60 on average. You should also check TPs 15 and 17 as well. I think this thread should help you out more. http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/256056-list-minimum-average-thresholds.html