Sat 129 "Not Neccesary?"

[Gorbash]

So there are all these topics of 129 going out for folks. I am one of these folks. I had called Dish about it and they sent out a guy to point the dish and/or replace the LNB. When he gets here all the channels worked fine and were on 61.5. I tell him that my HD comes from 129 (except locals, and some of the newer HD channels) and starting about 7PM the signal goes from 20, which he says is really 60 or 70, to 0-11. He then says that I don't need 129 anymore because it is no longer used for HD (Except Fox Sports SW). I could just have a Dish 500 pointed at 110 and 119, and my 61.5 and have all my HD.

Well sure enough, about 7PM tonight the HD starts going out, and after pressing Menu 6, 1, 1, Discovery and the rest of the channels are back on 129 and a signal of 0-11. I now have to wait until probably Sunday when the installer who can come back out to the house and replace the Dish 1000 with a Dish 500.

The guy was cool about it, and I didn't expect him to even suggest coming back on a Sunday (I don't even work on Sundays).

So is 129 obsolete? Is there a quick fix, like foil over 129 to "force" the signal to 61.5?

 

[mike123abc]

If you have a DPP44 with all 4 satellites, you can foil over 129. Otherwise you need to disconnect 129 from the switch and hook up 61.5.

129 is not obsolete, they will be launching a replacement later this year.

 

[Gorbash]

The foil fixed it. So I guess 129 loss is solved by a 2 cent strip of foil, as long as you have 61.5

 

[hendrix04]

129 is good for those people out west that cannot see 61.5

 

[tnsprin]

So there are all these topics of 129 going out for folks. I am one of these folks. I had called Dish about it and they sent out a guy to point the dish and/or replace the LNB. When he gets here all the channels worked fine and were on 61.5. I tell him that my HD comes from 129 (except locals, and some of the newer HD channels) and starting about 7PM the signal goes from 20, which he says is really 60 or 70, to 0-11. He then says that I don't need 129 anymore because it is no longer used for HD (Except Fox Sports SW). I could just have a Dish 500 pointed at 110 and 119, and my 61.5 and have all my HD.

Well sure enough, about 7PM tonight the HD starts going out, and after pressing Menu 6, 1, 1, Discovery and the rest of the channels are back on 129 and a signal of 0-11. I now have to wait until probably Sunday when the installer who can come back out to the house and replace the Dish 1000 with a Dish 500.

The guy was cool about it, and I didn't expect him to even suggest coming back on a Sunday (I don't even work on Sundays).

So is 129 obsolete? Is there a quick fix, like foil over 129 to "force" the signal to 61.5?

You never said where you were. If your locals are on 61.5, then you don't need 129. The only thing on 129 that you cannot get on 61.5 are other HD Locals (not eligible) and other HD Regional Sports Networks (RSN) (additional subscription and often blacked out).

 

[mdonnelly]

You never said where you were. If your locals are on 61.5, then you don't need 129. The only thing on 129 that you cannot get on 61.5 are other HD Locals (not eligible) and other HD Regional Sports Networks (RSN) (additional subscription and often blacked out).

He's in Texas, and the included RSN there is FSN-SW. The HD channel is only on 129.

 

[Gorbash]

Yeah, I'm in the Austin, TX market. I don't qualify for FSN-SW, because I have the HD Only package.

I knew there was some info I forgot to mention. I was tired when I wrote the OP.

Got a call from the tech just a little bit ago, and he had spoken to another tech who think that 129 and 61.5 are fighting for superiority. You'd think 61.5 would win because of the better signal strength. Could this be a software problem, and something that'll be fixed when the Eastern Arc is finished?

 

[Jim5506]

Signal strength has nothing to do with it. The database probably makes the receiver prefer 129 over 61.5 unless you are in the 129 disallowed area (New England and Florida).

I used to have both 61.5 and 129 I would disconnect 129, run check switch reconnect 129 and 61.5 would be preferred until the nightly reboot, when 129 would once again take over.

I finally got up on the roof and re-peaked my D-1000 so 129 doesn't have dropouts anymore and turned the other dish to 148 for my locals and have had fairly stable signal for about a year now.

 

[caam1]

FSN Southwest HD is now on 61.5 and 129.

 

[Agonizing Fury]

To the best of my knowledge it has nothing to do with signal strength, or software issue. The receiver simply picks the first satellite in the Check switch matrix that has that channel available. So if your check switch matrix reads 119, 110, 129, 61.5 And you tune to a channel available on both 129 and 61.5 it will get it from 129 regardless of whether or not you even have a signal on 129 at the time. I have in the past hooked up people who were having signal strength issues on 129, but still wanted their RSNs with a 44 switch, with 119 to port 1 110 to port 2 61.5 to port 3 and 129 to port 4. This seems to force the receiver to get the HD channels available on 61.5 from 61.5, but fall back on 129 in the case of RSNs only available on 129. Unfortunately, this is solution cannot be used with a 1000.2 LNB. In that case the only stop gap measure is to cover the 129 LNB with tin foil before performing a check switch (as you have done) so the receiver doesn't even try to get channels from 129. Perhaps a future software update will allow the receiver to pick which orbital to use based on highest signal strength. (HINT HINT Dish Engineers...)

 

[Raymie]

FSN Southwest is on 61.5 tp 30, according to the Channel Chart.

 

[Pepper]

yep, FSN south also mirrored over to 61.5 sometime around when my local market HD went there. I disconnected 129 and haven't had any difference except for less signal drops.