Starchoice in Mexico

[Satellite Expert]

There is nothing wrong with the 505 - except that it not not DVBS2 MPEG4 capable and will be replaced with the 605 for HD this fall. More and more of the SD channels will be upgraded to 8PSK so there will always be a use for the 505.

 

[alexcast]

Problem with Shaw Direct is that the Receivers/DVRs are very inferior from Dish and DirecTV; that's what's keeping me from getting it, but as far as I know it's the only viable option in Mexico now that Dish is gone...

Sad but ture my friend, as i told you on the phone if you need something pls let me know.

Cheers,

 

[catamount]

There is nothing wrong with the 505 - except that it not not DVBS2 MPEG4 capable and will be replaced with the 605 for HD this fall. More and more of the SD channels will be upgraded to 8PSK so there will always be a use for the 505.

Just got off the phone with customer rep. He said he just got the 605 today for testing. He said the 630 has been in testing for 6 weeks.

Hopefully, all goes well and we will see them soon.

 

[zodiac601hd]

Hi, I've purchased a HD STB from a Canadian provider kusat (dot com) they send you the stb (400 total for a 230 receiver... figure out the shipping rate)
Ive got a 1.2m antenna and purchased a 90cm antenna in order to get the full lineup. If you are changing providers make sure the LNBs are compatible (SC uses linear vs Dave and DN that use circular).
I´ll set up the system this Saturday and hopefully I´ll get everything up and running.

By the way, the reason of the signal strength difference between Mexico City and Acapulco has to do with the actual footprint of the satellites (you can check it out at satbeams (dot) com)

How did it go with your installation? I wanted to ask you before ordering my shaw receivers: Do I really need to hook the receivers to a phone line if I want two of them?
Do you subscribe by a phone call to shaw or kusat handle that for you?
Thanks for the information you could provide because I just lost all my dish channels and I'm desperate.

 

[Imt2011]

Would someone please PM me the info of a Starchoice installer in Leon area or Guadalajara area?
Thanks
imt

 

[DJdish]

Hi Can anyone PM info on an installer who can help me to point my dishes to the Anik birds for Shaw Direct. ? I am in Mexico City.

After loosing most of my DN signals and cancelling my sub, I am ready to use Shaw Direct.....

 

[flyboy01]

I didn't know there was a new receiver out for Shaw Direct

 

[QCK]

I didn't know there was a new receiver out for Shaw Direct

There isn't one yet "maybe in September" a 605 and 630 are suppose to show up. Updated 505 and 530 machines. We will see someday I guess.

Timelines for Shaw Direct are the biggest joke.

 

[DJdish]

Shaw Direct in Mexico

Hi.

I have bought some spitfire elite LNBs to use with Shaw Direct, but as I am pointing my dishes they are not apparently doing the job.

I have one spitfire elite working fine on Galaxy 19 though.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

 

[chukster]

Deets request

I'll PM you the broker and installer information.

Saludos.

Could I bug you for the reputable installers info, I'm in DF and giving up on DISH!

 

[alexcast]

Hi.

I have bought some spitfire elite LNBs to use with Shaw Direct, but as I am pointing my dishes they are not apparently doing the job.

I have one spitfire elite working fine on Galaxy 19 though.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

Could I bug you for the reputable installers info, I'm in DF and giving up on DISH!

Beware my friends, installers in Mexico City doesn't know about shaw direct, and you could just waste your money, if you need some advice please send me a pm or call me

 

[DJdish]

Beware my friends, installers in Mexico City doesn't know about shaw direct, and you could just waste your money, if you need some advice please send me a pm or call me

To chukster, I agree with alexcast, I myself contacted the installer used by pablovi, a couple of times, he sounds like he has experience, however he told me he now lives outside of Mexico city, and comes once in a blue moon or so, and I though his price was too high, anyway that is my experience.

I will be glad to offer any pointers though...

 

[alexcast]

To chukster, I agree with alexcast, I myself contacted the installer used by pablovi, a couple of times, he sounds like he has experience, however he told me he now lives outside of Mexico city, and comes once in a blue moon or so, and I though his price was too high, anyway that is my experience.

I will be glad to offer any pointers though...

Please forgive my french but mexico citiy's installers are such a Nacos oportunistas that think they are engineers or something, pointing a dish is not that hard and doing it yourself might save you a couple of pesos.

Mexican installers charge you, between 500 and 800 pesos for each dish, if you have 4 dishes like me would be 2,000 pesos, coaxial cable is not that expensive and you can find RG-60 cable at Home Depot or Steren. only thing that you need is some time free on a sunday, sunblock, a compass, tools and a plasma tv so you can take your equipment to the roof, is not a good idea trying to aling your dish with a satellite finder or with the TV in your TV room, nor with walkie talkies, i'd rather do it my self, so if you need advice please let me know.

Por cierto si alguien del DF se interesa, estoy traspasando mi dsr505 pues no lo utilizo, echenme un privado

Saludos!

 

[DJdish]

Hi Alexcast,
I totally agree with you, and actually some wise guys will even try to charge more than 800 pesos more like up to 1,200 even 1,600 just to align a couple of dishes.

All the best
............................

 

[rojoviajero]

I'm in Mexico City (south side), have 2 antenas (1.2m each), 2 lineal LNB's and a 505HD box. I tried catching Anik 1 today (203.78 azimuth and 65.32 elevation) but can only get a signal of 22. Any suggestions of what I can do? Gracias!!

 

[joshuals]

You would likely get a signal strengh of 20 or so (on channel 299) even if your dish is totally mispointed. This is due to naturally-occuring "noise" in the air. The fact that you have a signal of 20 only tells you that you are getting current from the receiver to the LNB and back again.

The azimuth you cite is realtive to true north. If you are using a compass to get your rough direction, you should be using the magnetic azimuth of 197.8. Optionally, you can use the Dishpointer Tab at the top of this forum to give you a graphic view of the direction to point the dish. This eliminates the need to mess with the azimuth values.

I would suggest, until you lock onto a signal on channel 299 on Anik F1R, that you work with just one dish connected directly to the receiver. That way you take connection or switch problems out of the equation.

Make sure that your mast is plumb and that you have used the correct mark on the elevation setting. Some folks have mistakenly used the bolt as the mark point, when in fact there is some other mark that should be used.

Sorry if I'm insulting you with the basics, but it sounds to me like you are just not looking in the right direction or you have an obstructed line of sight.

Give us a little more info as to just what, exactly, you have done to get to this point......

 

[rojoviajero]

Thank you for answering joshuals and nope, no insult taken.

6 months ago I had DN (with both sats, 119 & 110 working great and no line of sight problems whatsoever) but as you know... those signals are now gone from Mexico City and I never bothered reorienting the sat dishes until today (as soon as I knew that I could catch the ShawDirect signals).

Ok, right now I am working with just one of the dishes, connected straight into the LNB (11.70-12.20 GHz, LO Freq 10.75Ghz) pointing it to 197.8 magnetic/ 65.5 elevation according to what you and dishpointer.com mentioned and still nothing. I calculated the elevation setting using a magnetic protractor (placing it on the middle of the dish until it hits 65.5).

The signal now just reads 16 or 18. What else could I be doing wrong?

 

[DJdish]

rojo
Ok, you have the right LNBs, now I apologize if I sound too simple but since I pointed my dishes for Shaw playing it by ear so to speak, I went by reference points. If you still have one of your dishes pointed to sat 110 maybe you could use it as a reference, since you first need to lock on to Anik F1 @ 107.3, and the elevation you would have for 110 here in the city is approximately 64.1.

Let us know how it goes,

All the best

 

[DJdish]

And I am assuming those LNBs specs are lineal LNBs right ? (i.e. you are not using your old DN LNbs)

 

[joshuals]

I calculated the elevation setting using a magnetic protractor (placing it on the middle of the dish until it hits 65.5).

Hmmm.....I have no experience with the type of dish you are using, but I do know this much:

If I stand to the side of my 75e dish (or the Patriot 85 that I previously used) and eyeball the elevation of the dish, the dish appears to pointed too low. In other words, the satellites are actually at a steeper vertical angle than you might think by looking at the elevation tilt of the dish. My understanding is that this is due to the reflective characteristics of the dish.

For this reason, I'm wondering if you method of getting the elevation is not valid, and that in spite of your best efforts with the protractor, you are pointed too low.

Is there no graduated scale on the dish mount by which you can be sure that you have the correct elevation? If not, I would suggest going under the presumption that you are pointed too low, and once you are sure of the azimuth, try tilting the dish upward to see if you can catch the signal.

All this, however, after you have ensured that you are using lineal LNB's and not the circular ones that you used with the DN setup. An example of the correct LNB to use is the Pansat 5600 Ku band LNB.