Satellite Coverage at second home?

[Longjack]

Years ago, I had Directv which I had installed myself, but left them a few years ago before HD.

Recently, I saw a house in the Bahamas (26 49 935N/77 20 190 W) where they had a Directv Slimline dish with 3 LNB's and 4 lines running off it into the house. They have HD and am pretty sure they get the Miami local channels.

Am thinking of going back to Directv with HD here in Central Florida
(28 40 264N,81 22 596W) and was wondering if I could get a second dish and set it up near the above Bahamas location and take one of our receivers down when we visit that area?

Had these questions -
1.) What kind of HD Directv dish should I look for (either locally or Ebay) as I haven't had the installation done here yet so I don't know what dish they will supply to match the receiver I would be taking down on occassion?

2.) Have looked everywhere on the internet at the satellite maps and spot beams and am not able to determine (having trouble understanding the codes and beam numbers) if I would be able to get Central Florida channels in the Bahamas, or be limited to receiving local channels out of the Miami or West Palm Beach area?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Longjack]

An update to my earlier post -
It appears my local Central Florida channels are on D10-103W with a TPN 15 (whatever that means....)
If I were to take my receiver down to the Bahamas area and assuming I was able to get the dish to access the satellite - anyway of telling if I would still get these?
On the other hand, I know folks in the Bahamas are getting Miami/West Palm locals which are on D11-99W with a TPN of 15 and 21 respectively.
So if I can't get my Central Florida channels, do I just go into the receiver menu and set it up for the Maimi/West Palm channels?....or could I call Directv, tell them I'm in Miami for a period, and request that they give me (move temporarily) my Central Florida channels down there?
I hope these questions make sense....and thanks again.

 

[DodgerKing]

You live in a semi tropical area and buy a second home in an even more tropical area? Most people buy in a different climate to get out of their usual climate. Not criticizing, just find it interesting.

As far as the Bahamas, I don't know what you can and cannot get. Looking at the map, it does look like the Miami spot beam does reach the Bahamas. Central FL spots do not reach that far. This means since your receivers are programmed to get your locals and they do not reach that far, you will not be able to get any locals at all down there. You cannot get Miami locals on your receivers.

I take my receiver to our second home 300+ miles away, and I am still able to get all of my locals in both SD and HD.

 

[Longjack]

DodgerKing....Thanks for the response...disappointing as the info is.
Had seen many posts here about taking a recevier to a second home and knew that because of the distance in my case, I may loose our locals.
However I thought there might be at least way way to get the locals in another market by going into some type of menu on the receiver to access the locals the dish sees in that area?
On another note, had never thought about going from one hot area to another for "rest" time.... guess as long as we can be around water, not much else matters....but will have to say that Bahamian waters are a world away from Central Florida lakes....

 

[dishrich]

However I thought there might be at least way way to get the locals in another market by going into some type of menu on the receiver to access the locals the dish sees in that area?

You can't do that - but there is another way. When you take your receivers to your vacation home, just call D* & give them a physical address in the Miami DMA & tell them you need your locals switched to Miami. PRESTO - they're switched. Do a search on moving on picking a valid physical address - or use a friend or relative's address in the Miami DMA that doesn't have DirecTV. You probably will NOT be able to get your home locals down in the Bahamas, due to being out of range of their spot beams.

Then just do the same in reverse when you go back to your other home - not a big deal either way; people do it all the time...

 

[Longjack]

Thanks for the responses....and one more question.
If I did not care about local channels, could I still take one of my receivers into another market/area, i.e. out of my local spot beam and still get the networks such as NBC/CBS/ABC/FOX and/or other channels?
Thanks again.

 

[JerryVolunteer]

Thanks for the responses....and one more question.
If I did not care about local channels, could I still take one of my receivers into another market/area, i.e. out of my local spot beam and still get the networks such as NBC/CBS/ABC/FOX and/or other channels?
Thanks again.

You would get the rest of your package channels like ESPN, HGTV etc. But not the network channels as you are suppose to get those through your locals