Shaw/EVu setup in Southern US

[Will94]

Hi, I live roughly 90 miles northwest of Houston, TX. I had EVu from 2004-2008 using a 90cm single LNB dish. I had months where everything would be fine in terms of reception followed by months of missing numerous transponders due to my location. I moved in April 2008 (within the same town) and cancelled my service.

I miss EVu a lot and want to get it again (or Shaw). When I cancelled the service, Star Choice could be received in this part of the country using their 30cm dish.

Is that still the case? Will the 30cm dish allow me to subscribe to their HD packages? Do I have a prayer of being able to receive EVu in this part of the country? From everything that I have read, Shaw is much more difficult to setup than EVu was.

I had a bookmark for EVu satellite footprints, but it's now a dead link.


Thanks!

 

[Will94]

Well, looking through the Nimiq 4 thread, I've got my answer to EVu.

I am still interested in learning how difficult a Shaw HD setup with a 30 cm dish at 31'N 96'W would be. I've done several setups of single LNB dishes for DirecTV and EVu. I had my HD DirecTV dish done professionally.

Thanks!

 

[Frenchophile]

Based on footprints and what other people have observed, Shaw Direct is the way to go for your location. I have it and would suggest two separate dishes pointed to the two satellites (F1R and F2). Installation really isn't THAT hard...if I can do it, anyone can. I'm not an expert by any stretch

 

[Will94]

I have it and would suggest two separate dishes pointed to the two satellites (F1R and F2).

Two elliptical dishes? Shaw Direct doesn't work with standard DTV/Dish/EVu dishes, right?

 

[joshuals]

Firstly, I don't believe Shaw uses a 30cm dish. They offer a 60cm dish (model 60e) and a 75cm (model 75e) dish. If you are in the southern US, you would be wise to use the 75e to avoid rain fade. These dishes pick up both satellites with a single dish and a proprietary LNB made speically for this service and not obtainiable in the US. There is a trick to pointing them, but there are plenty of sources of instruction on how to do it, including the Shaw Website itself.

The problem is that the standard Shaw dishes are hard to come by in the US, although not impossible. (In Canada, a new subscriber receives the dish when the installer comes to set up the service.) But replacing failed LNB's from the US is nearly impossible. For that reason, one recommendation, as in the thread above, is to use TWO generic dishes (e.g. Patriot 85cm) and LNB (e.g. Pansat PT 5600) which are easily replacable in the US. The larger 85 cm dishes will also give more reliable reception in the southern US.

I presume you are aware that you will need a Canadian service address to sign up for either Bell or Shaw and that there are ways this can be done for someone in the US.

 

[Mr Tony]

If you want HD in the southern US STarchoice (Shaw Direct) is the only option really

would a 75e dish work? probably
but you may have some issues

a 2 dish setup is the best

the 75e dishes can be got at kusat.com but as joshuals said the LNB is a pain to replace if it dies (I had one that died..never replaced it..went with a different setup)

 

[Frenchophile]

Will94:
yeah, not two elliptical dishes but two generic circular dishes, the bigger the better since you are so far south. and generic LNBs. when you order, you just have to let the Shaw Direct people know your set-up so they can map your receiver(s) properly.

Joshuals and Iceberg:

Thanks for clarifying and elaborating on what I was trying to say. I'm still learning the lingo! You will probably need to clarify/expound on this post, too!

 

[Mr Tony]

Two elliptical dishes? Shaw Direct doesn't work with standard DTV/Dish/EVu dishes, right?

no it wont. Those dishes are too small

The best option for HD is 2 separate 30" dishes and 2 generic KU Band LNB's. The HD on Shaw is great but unless you have a lot of signal it will pixelate. I know someone in AZ who had issues with the HD and a smaller dish and sold the receiver. I havent tried my 75e with the 505 yet. I use to have it set up for the 205 that I had before and it worked fine here in Minnesota but I didnt have HD. Then the LNB crapped out so right now I am AnikF1 only...yeah I know..pretty dumb to have a 505 with just SD. But the 205 has issues with a few transponders. Hopefully soon I can get the 2nd dish set up for HD

 

[pro96]

Hopefully soon I can get the 2nd dish set up for HD

ooooooh HD, gonna be nice when you do.

 

[Mr Tony]

right now I get 3 HD channels that are on F1
Sportsnet East
CTV East
Golf

but I'd like TSN/TSN2/Speed in HD though

 

[pro96]

right now I get 3 HD channels that are on F1
Sportsnet East
CTV East
Golf

but I'd like TSN/TSN2/Speed in HD though

man tempting tempting, one day I will have my own Shaw setup. Hopefully as soon as they release a totally new HD-DVR

 

[Will94]

Thanks everyone. I messed up and wrote 30 cm, when I meant 30". I had EVu from 2004-2008 and used Cathy at TVM. She was great, but I got fed up with transponders disappearing and reappearing. I am dying to get Canadian tv back but worried that Shaw Direct would be difficult to install.

 

[Mr Tony]

EVu works fine on Nimiq1 (91) but 82 is non existent in Texas

Starchoice (Shaw) isnt that hard to set up but does take a little bit of time as the satellite are lower powered

 

[QCK]

Just as a note Shaw Direct's 75E dish works just fine in Northern Alabama (Latitude 34.7).

 

[bayguy]

I had EVu from 2004-2008 ... but I got fed up with transponders disappearing and reappearing.

btw BEV put up a new bird a few months ago and we got all the xpdrs on 91 back in the US for the first time in yrs. But like the others have said lots of us cant get 82 so no HD.

 

[Will94]

... we got all the xpdrs on 91 back in the US for the first time in yrs.

I am happy to hear that! Any idea how large of a dish I would need? I moved last year and gave away my 90cm dish. All I have now is an 18" one. Before August 2004, I could get all transponders in the mid to upper 70s using an 18" dish.

 

[Mr Tony]

I think an 18" will work fine

 

[Will94]

Much thanks to everyone for all of the information. I tried unsuccessfully last night to find my 18" dish. Since I've lived (finally) in a house large enough to hold all of my stuff out of sight, I can't seem to find anything when I look for it.

I think that I am going to order a round 30" dish. That way if I decide that I have to have HD for my Canadian DBS, I can just get another one for Shaw Direct.

It also dawned on me that I can diplex ExpressVu into the line from my antenna, so I won't have to run another cable. I am curious... If I ever go to Shaw Direct, could I diplex that as well?

 

[Frenchophile]

It also dawned on me that I can diplex ExpressVu into the line from my antenna, so I won't have to run another cable. I am curious... If I ever go to Shaw Direct, could I diplex that as well?

yes

 

[Will94]

Well sadoun.com had everything that I needed, so I gave them a call last Sunday. They were out of 30" dishes, and gave me a choice of a 24" dish or a 36" dish. I didn't want any grief from my HOA, so I went with the 24" one with an LNB and mount.

It all arrived yesterday. I put up the mount yesterday evening, and installed the dish today. Within a couple of minutes of aiming the dish, I was locked in with a 94 signal. I soon realized that I was locked in to Echostar 110.

I had used this site Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com to get the elevation for my dish. The elevation for EVu is 53.8 degrees, and for Dish it's 51.2. The elevation marker on my dish is apparently off, so I added 2.6 degrees elevation as accurately as I could and started slowly moving left.


I found EVu, but the highest signal that I could get (aiming on transponder 3) was a 47. I lost the signal while trying to fine tune. After the better part of an hour, I finally found it again (44 this time), and tightened everything. I went to look at the other transponders. I could only get a signal on five of them.


There is a limb over my roof that I am hoping is the problem.

I am going to have it cut down this week. I don't like having it over my roof anyway. I want to diplex into the antenna line that has already been run, so I am limited as to where I can put the dish.

.

I am going to be bummed if all of this was for nothing, and I have to go with Shaw.