Newbie Question

[sean8102]

First of all hello to everyone i love the Forum i have found lots of good information. I was just wondering though how often do you lose you signal to bad weather. Is it very often or only during extremely bad weather? We dont get much snow here so i dont think that will be a problem. I am supposed to get dish 1000. Is that a large dish that will help in bad weather?? Anyways thanks for all the help

 

[gdarwin]

Dish 500 - only when the storm front rolls in (rain). Maybe 1 - 2 minutes max.

It's still better than cable where it would be out for days....

G.

 

[AndyOI]

I have a Dish 500 -
Only lose signal for a minute or two in really bad rain storms.
Even snow has only knocked it out twice I think and all I had to do was brush it off.

 

[sean8102]

Thank for the reply. Thats good news. Look forward to getting my system but might not be able to get installed till after christmas

 

[wired4fta]

I have a super dish and dish 500 for hd. Just make sure you have a clean line of sight to the south. no trees etc... and make sure you have the dish perfectly lined up with max signal strength and you should have virtually no loss of signal. I've had a dish for years and i'll NEVER go back to cable.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Just make sure you have a clean line of sight to the south.

THAT depends on where you are. East of the Mississippi, it's a different story, and if we're talking about wing satellites all bets are off.

The "South" thing is way too generic for reality.

 

[sean8102]

Well i live in hot springs, Arkansas. On my contract it says Orbital Locations 129.0,110.0,119.0 with a Dish 1000. Any ideas what direction it will need to face. Thanks

 

[RBBrittain]

Per the D1000 install guide here, the azimuth for zip 719xx (Hot Springs, AR) is 216, which falls between ESE (azimuth 202.5) and SE (225). So look mainly to your southeast.

 

[sean8102]

Ok thanks i appreciate the info

 

[wired4fta]

THAT depends on where you are. East of the Mississippi, it's a different story, and if we're talking about wing satellites all bets are off.
The "South" thing is way too generic for reality.

Thanks for the info simplesimon. my experience is relevant to the east coast, long island NY and now florida and my line of sight was always to the south 61.5 and southwest for 105, 110 and 119. This has been my experience with dish network and i have always had great success in obtaining a solid signal.
BTW - after the tech installed the dishes the first time. I had to re-align them myself. You know if you want it done right. you have to do it yourself :up

GOOD LUCK sean8102

 

[sean8102]

A installer called me tonight and said he will be here at 10am! I was wondering though can you pay an installer to put up a antena to get locals in HD. If so do i have to supply my own Antenna or can I buy one from him while hes here. And how much do you think this would cost if i got the antena from him and had it installed. Thanks

 

[SimpleSimon]

Per the D1000 install guide here, the azimuth for zip 719xx (Hot Springs, AR) is 216, which falls between ESE (azimuth 202.5) and SE (225). So look mainly to your southeast.

Unh. You're confusing your east & west, and touch of N/S.

225 is SouthWEST. 202.5 is SOUTHSouthWEST.

Sean: E* Installers do not usually carry OTA antennas. Local retailer might. Cost depends on where you are. Do you even need an outdoor antenna?

 

[sean8102]

Well things arent starting to good. The installer just broke the sheetrock of my celing in my garage by jaming his latter in the ceiling! I walked into the garage to see parts of the ceiling on the ground! Then he tryed to make me pay 250 dollars for the Dual HD DVR because it would make his job easy. Ugh

 

[wobbie]

Sean, that's why simplesimon and I are always acnvising people to stay away from 800 numnbers and internet sight and to use a local retailer.

 

[sean8102]

I did use a local retailer. Now they want to put it on a tripod then come back after we get a new roof and charge 55 dollars to mount it on the roof even though the retailer said that they would put it on the roof today. Can i still cancel this since its not installed??

 

[sean8102]

Nevermind i got it all canceld. Man what a bad experience, Ill just wait till the end of the month for HD from my cable provider, they got a pretty good HD line up. (2 HBO HD, 2 Cinemax HD, STARZ HD, HD NET, HD net Movies, ESPN, Discovery HD, and i get a HD dual tuner DVR for free)

 

[wired4fta]

Hey sean8102, sorry to hear about your bad experience with your installer. I still like dish network better than cable - dish has alot more hd than cable currently 17 + what you can get from an off-air antenna and they are adding 10 or so more early in 2006. Maybe you should contact dish network directly and tell them about your experience and they might help... with cost etc... you can generally get an off air antenna for under $100. if you live close to the broadcast towers in your area you can get an antenna for less than $30 at radio shack and most of the sponsors on this site also sell off-air antennas. You can find available hd channels off the air at AntennaWeb.org .... GOOD LUCK

 

[sean8102]

I might give it a try again through someone else later. Iam gonna check out the HD from cable first when it launches next week and give it a try. After that and when the voom mess gets straightend out and if i can get a mpeg 4 HD reviever i might try dish agian.

 

[RIRWIN1983]

Thanks for the info simplesimon. my experience is relevant to the east coast, long island NY and now florida and my line of sight was always to the south 61.5 and southwest for 105, 110 and 119. This has been my experience with dish network and i have always had great success in obtaining a solid signal.
BTW - after the tech installed the dishes the first time. I had to re-align them myself. You know if you want it done right. you have to do it yourself :up
GOOD LUCK sean8102

exactly, i had 70 signal whey they installed it, andwhen i "played" around with it i now am in the 90-110 range.

 

[RIRWIN1983]

I might give it a try again through someone else later. Iam gonna check out the HD from cable first when it launches next week and give it a try. After that and when the voom mess gets straightend out and if i can get a mpeg 4 HD reviever i might try dish agian.

i'd personaly would make him pay for the damage he caused, i seriously hope you dident let him leave w/o geting his superiors numbers. and any related lisences and instrance numbers