What channels will I get?

[patnpat]

HELP!

I am really a rookie at the satellite stuff, and have not been able to get a good answer from Dish.

We had a Dish Network installer here today, and he was only able to “see” 119 and 129; not 110. He told us that all the local channels are on 110, but could not tell us what other channels we could not get.

We have reviewed “Satellite Guys The List” and it appears that the 110 HD channels we want are also on 129.

Our home has a DISH 500 antenna, from when we had service a dozen years ago. We hooked up an active receiver and by gosh! our “favorites” were available on 119 here in Oregon, but not in HD (If I read The List correctly).

We want to get HD. Will we be able to get the HD programs if we have only 119 and 129?

Am I correct that if we can get 129 and the channels we want are on 129, then we can get them in HD.

While we would prefer to get local channels on Dish, however all the local channels we want we can get OTA with rabbit ears!

Thanks for your help!

Pat

 

[boba]

HELP!

I am really a rookie at the satellite stuff, and have not been able to get a good answer from Dish.

We had a Dish Network installer here today, and he was only able to “see” 119 and 129; not 110. He told us that all the local channels are on 110, but could not tell us what other channels we could not get.

We have reviewed “Satellite Guys The List” and it appears that the 110 HD channels we want are also on 129.

Our home has a DISH 500 antenna, from when we had service a dozen years ago. We hooked up an active receiver and by gosh! our “favorites” were available on 119 here in Oregon, but not in HD (If I read The List correctly).

We want to get HD. Will we be able to get the HD programs if we have only 119 and 129?

Am I correct that if we can get 129 and the channels we want are on 129, then we can get them in HD.

While we would prefer to get local channels on Dish, however all the local channels we want we can get OTA with rabbit ears!

Thanks for your help!

Pat

For HD you need a HD receiver and a 1000.2 Western Arc dish. The dish 500 could be used with a wing dish.

 

[patnpat]

Boba:

Thanks for the reply. I realize we need a new Dish; that is why the installer was out.

Our problem is that there is no LOS to the 110. I know that means that we can't get local channels, but we do fine with rabbit ears most of the time. I know we can get 119, and all the programs we want are on 119. The installer said we can get 129 also. Since most of the HD we want to see is on 129, will we get HD with a new dish and HD receiver?

I see that USA network is HD on 110. USA is SD on 119; and USA is HD on 129. However, USA HD on 129 is NOT on ConUS Beam. Does this mean I will get USA, but only in SD because we cannot get 110?

Likewise, HGTV is SD on 119, and HD on 129. Will I get HGTV in High Def?

Again, I know I will need a new Dish and receiver, but there is no point if I will not get HD.

Thanks for any help in beginning to understand all this Technical stuff. It is fascinating, but also very confusing

Pat

 

[boba]

A wing dish is a second dish located at a different place on the property where it has a line of sight to the 110 satellite. The 129 satellite does not duplicate programming on the 110 satellite you need all three to get all of your programming. You have an alternate but you may have trouble finding an installer to even try it. Eastern Arc is the satellites at 61.5 and 72.7 from Oregon they will be a very low angle and may not be visible from your location.

 

[patnpat]

Boba:

Thanks again, unfortunately there is no line-of-sight to the 110. There is a mountain in the way. We can continue to watch whatever we want in SD on the 119, but we just wanted to try and get some HD.

Are you saying that the HD on 129 will not work if we can't see the 110?

Pat

 

[Bobby]

129 will work just fine and most of the HD channels in the western arc are there. The trouble is, if Dish wants to move HD channels off of 129 to 110, you're SOL....

 

[patnpat]

Bobby:

Thanks. Basically we would be no worse off than we are now. We have an old 500 receiver (we own it), and it is getting very finicky and has a habit of losing recordings! We need to get a new receiver soon. If we get an HD receiver, we will still be able to get our 119 programming, even if some channels move to 110.

Now, will Dish install the antenna if we can't get all satellites? This is technically a new account as the receiver is tied to our AZ account, and we have not had Dish in Oregon for several years. When I call, I get stock answers but no clear direction. I do not have a problem with signing up for two years.

Thanks for your help.

Pat

 

[Jim5506]

I'm a little confused.

Do you currently use an SD receiver and receive both 110 and 119 on it, or only 119?

If you have never had 110 even before, you could simply point the D500 at 119 and 129 and you would get everything you could get with a D1000.2.

If that set of channels is satisfactory to you, then the installer should have finished the install and made notes on the WO that you are satisfied without any reception off 110 (possibly with a call to his supervisor affirming the situation).

Perhaps one of the Dish Internet Response Team members here can help you get service.

 

[Jim5506]

Be careful when you think that your channels from 110 are also on 129, because many of those channels on 129 are spotbeams for Alaska and Hawaii which you cannot receive. Check channel numbers and make sure they are on CONUS transponders, not spotbeams.

I do not believe there are many if any channels that are duplicated on 129 from 110 for the CONtinental US.

It appears that USA, Biography, SYFY, TNT, ESPN and National Geographic are among the channels that you may not receive.

Is there any possiblilty for and Eastern Arc install - low to the horizon off 61.6 and 72.7?

 

[patnpat]

Jim5506:

We have never had 110. All the channels we watch are currently available on 119, so any HD we get on 129 is a bonus. We still will receive USA, SYFI, TNT, and ESPN in SD on 119. NatGeo appears to be on ConUS on 129.

We will still get our locals on rabbit ears, and we could continue to receive stations only in SD on 119, but HD would be nice. We need a new DVR as our 500 is slowly dying, and we are told it is being phased out.

There is no way we could get 61.6 or 72.7 as there is a 11,000 ft. mountain in the way

Called Dish today, and was told that a second installer should be coming out to "verify" NLOS. We can have him do the install if all we want is 119 and 129. It is better than nothing!

Pat

 

[Mr Tony]

We had a Dish Network installer here today, and he was only able to “see” 119 and 129; not 110. He told us that all the local channels are on 110, but could not tell us what other channels we could not get.

I assume your locals are from Portland? Reason I ask is that is the only market where locals are on 110W
Eugene & Medford is on 119 (SD) and 129 (HD)
Bend is on 129 (SD)

 

[patnpat]

Iceberg:

You are correct; we are out by Multnomah Falls.

Pat

 

[Mr Tony]

yeah unfortunately all the Portland locals (both in SD & HD) are on 110W

 

[patnpat]

We get the local HD channels with indoor rabbit ears, so it is not a big deal.

Pat

 

[patnpat]

Quick Summary:
We can only get 119 and 129 satellites at home. Our Dish 500 DVR is dying. We want to go to HD. Dish came out, but would not install an HD Dish because we cannot receive all 3 satellites. They did verify that we can receive 119 and 129. We don’t care about 110 as we get all of our locals on rabbit ears.

Now for the questions:
As I understand from all your help that we should receive both the 119 and 129 with our existing 500 Dish.

We checked for signals, and can receive either 119 or 129, but not both with our existing Dish 500. I tried aiming the Dish, which confirmed that we can receive one or the other.

Does this mean that we have a bad LNB? Bad Multi-Switch? What is most likely?

Can I check the LNBs by disconnecting one at a time, then reversing the connections at the Multi-switch and disconnecting one at a time? If an LNB is bad, we should get no signal at the receiver no matter where it is connected to the Multi-switch. Is that correct?

If both LNBs feed a signal to the receiver on one of the Multi-switch connections but not the other, the Multi-switch is bad. Is that correct?

This all assumes that LNBs and Multi-switch connections are generic.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Pat