Upgrading D* Dish And Receiver To AU9 & H20

[raalden]

Will be upgrading my dish and receiver from 18" oval to the Slimline AU9-S and the RCA DRD486 to the H20. Have bought all the fixin's and will be doing it myself. In Boise market where currently locals are SD on 72.5. What I would like to do is upgrade the hardware in anticipation of the locals moving to the newer satellites (hence AU9-S dish). Since this migration won't happen till later in the year, I figured I'd go ahead and activate the H20 and pull SD like I am now (with off air locals) and then upgrade to the HD package when the migration is complete. I don't have the HDTV yet (Pioneer Plasma later) so I don't need the HD package yet.

To make a long story short (too late..), can I activate the H20 HD box without being slammed into the HD package until I'm ready for it? Or will I have to take the HD package upgrade even though I can't see HD until I pull the trigger on the new plasma?

 

[jcrandall]

I'm not sure if they'll activate the H20 without HD service, but you can try, even if you don't have the HDTV yet, the picture quality from the HD channels look MUCH BETTER than the current SD channels, even on SD TVs.

One question - did you get a WB68 multiswitch to go with your dish? Old multiswitches will not work with the new satellites.

Also when you setup the dish, peak 101 and 119 as described in the manual, but then peak 103(b or c). This is where all the new national HD channels are, and it is on a much smaller beam than the regular 101 satellite. If you get a good signal on 103 (b/c) you should be good to go, assuming you get that WB68.

WELCOME to the site BTW!

 

[raalden]

I have the 6x8 but will probably not use it unless I add more receivers. I plan on only using one receiver in my current place but will probably not ever need more than four. The AU9-S dish has a built in 4x4. I watched the video on the AT9 install and it made sense. Line up and center in on the 101 as precise as you can within the CONUS (a lot of play from center to add more leway to dither the Ka sats (99 & 103) with the pinpoint beam and still keep good signal off the 101). Also the more centered the 101 is the more centered the 119 will be when you tilt to it on the 101 signal axis.

I guess I'll find out about the HD subscription when I call in to activate the H20. I have heard if I wait til locals migrate off 72.5 to the 103 or 99 to activate the receiver, I may not have to take the HD package, but if I activate before the migration, I may have to take the subscription. No biggie. If there is a marked improvement in picture even with the analog SDTV, it might soften the $10/month blow.

 

[BluegrassGuy1976]

To make a long story short, the slimline is centered on the 101. Meaning, that with the dish PLUMB, you should be able to tilt it the full length of the tilt dial and NOT lose the 101. Then simply peak the 119 with the tilt dial. Both sats MUST be peaked to maximum. If you do that, the 99, 103 and 110 will fall in line automatically.

You should get 94-96 signal on the 101 transponder #1 if you aimed it right and similar readings on 119 transponder #22.

 

[raalden]

That's what I'm hoping. I'll keep an eye on 101 (1) and 119 (22) while I'm at it. Hopefully I won't have to do any dithering, but it doesn't look hard to do. Just a little math involved (finding the equivalent drop off on either side of the Ka band and dividing by two to find the center setting between stops).