What satellites do what & which dish do I need?

CochiseGuy

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Feb 6, 2006
921
1
Cochise County, Arizona
Hopefully this new thread does not re-hash what is detailed in other threads; I've searched & don't find it, and as a realtive newbie, I'm confused.

I currently have a Dish 500 Twin and 811 receiver with the "old" HD mpeg2 package. I have no contract committment, and would prefer to keep it that way.
I want to get the additional HD channels. As I understand it, I need to get the add'l HD channels from 61.5 or 129. I don't need locals, I get them OTA and Tucson locals are not available in HD on Dish.

When I go into the receiver's setup, it says I'm receiving on 119 & 110. So I assumed I needed to upgrade to a Dish 1000 to get that 3rd satellite reception. I was considering purchasing a 211 to avoid the new 18 mo. committment with the Dishin' it Up program. But I decided having to upgrade this dish also was just going to be too expensive & bothersome. So I ordered the $49 upgrade for both the receiver & dish; they come out Thursday morning.

After reading in the Dish HD forum about signal strength problems a on sat. 129, I decided to go through my receiver's "Point Dish" area and write down what signal strength I currently have on 119 & 110, and make sure I have equal or better signal strength on 119, 110, plus the new 129 after installation. Toggling through the satellite positions, I was surprised to find:
129 - 93/94 - "Unknown satellite"
121 - 93/94 - "Wrong sat - E* 119 West"
119 - 93 - "Locked, E* 119 West"
110 - 72 - "Locked, E* 110 West"

So, I already have great reception on 129 - is it showing up as "Unknown" becuase that sat. talks mpeg4 & my receiver is only mpeg2?

What I really wanted to do was go with the HD Stand Alone - no SD programming, no locals, but you cannot do that & qualify for the Dishin' it Up upgrade. If I purchase a 211 & use my current dish, will the current satellite reception give me what I need?

P.S. - I've never run accross a description of the 121 satellite - what does it transmit? Thanks!
 
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When you toggle, the signal bar probably turns red and says “wrong satellite”

121 is Linear (rest are circular) and you need a Superdish for that (or a larger KU Band dish)

Unless you have a dish aimed at that particular satellite (129), it will show 119’s signal and say “wrong satellite…119”
 
See http://ekb.dbstalk.com/300

It's pretty much complete except
- 110 needs to be updated to show the spotbeam TPs used by E10
- 118.75/119k has internationals and a few HD locals uplinked on AMC-16 which will need a 500+ or 1000+ dish when it becomes available

I'll watch this thread for any other corrections that need to be made.
 
61.5 = SkyAngel. Dish SD & HD channels for east coast

105 = SD Locals in a few markets - Conus

110 = AT180 & Family Packages that are not in the AT60/120 packages, SD & HD Spotbeam Locals - Conus

118 = Future International Channels, Future HD Locals in about 5 markets - Conus

119 = SD Locals, AT60 & AT120 channels, most PPV channels, Adult channels - Conus

121 = EMPTY ??? - Conus

129 = SD Locals in select markets, HD - Conus

148 = SD channels for west coast
 
like, i thought i posted this info once..if someone deleted it...WTF?

If you know how to surf around Lyngsat, you can find out exactly what channels are on what satellite, and even their SID (Dish Channel) that they're assigned to.

http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish61_sid.html <-61.5 slot
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish110_sid.html <-110 slot
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish119_sid.html <-119 slot
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish121_sid.html <-121 slot
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish122_sid.html <-129 slot
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish148_sid.html <- 148 slot

here's what i don't get. When dish brought out the mpeg4, they said that the 129 was going to be a mirror of 61.5...i don't see Washington DC locals on 129...i see them on 61.5....I can't get that dish. I'm angry. If it means what i think it means....I won't be able to get HD locals over dish...i'm not even gonna borhter wasting the money on the upgrade..quite honestly, i'm finding HD to be a waste of money. I mostly wanted network TV..and i can't get it..not to mention it lacks HDMI, so, no Blu-Ray for HD-DVD for me.....$1200 down the freakin drain. I wish i could sue some manfactuers or something.
 
here is an easier to read list
www.dishchannelchart.com :)

Also, who said 129 was a complete mirror of 61.5? National HD is mirrored but not LIL HD. Washington DC can't see 129 good enough (the NE can't see 129) so LIL HD for DC is on 61.5
 
umm....we can see 129, my neighbor had c-band..he could pull 148...my problem is i can't see 61.5 because of trees...so, yeah, right now HD was looking like a waste of money because the same trees are preventing me from getting anything OTA, i've watched all the current HD channels..i've seen absolutely nothing on Voom that interests me (ok, a concert or two)...main reason i went dish..i wanted locals in HD....and now..i can't get them. Cuz the installer was gonna give me a 61.5 dish, and did try to aim it....but...i go so many trees he couldn't even find the bird. 101/110/119/129 area is the only window i've got through the trees.
 
Different footprints

Dish 129 use to be at 110 so when it shifted west, the footprint went with it. The satellite was built ot stay at 110 CONUS...so when it shifted to 129, the footprint went null in NE & South Florida.

C-band footprint is totally different
 
perhaps....but this baiscally means i can't get HD LIL because i can't get 61.5

i mean, i can understand the space issue..but...i feel cheated. I've been somewhat happy with the results...but right now, i'm not very happy with my HDTV purchase.

and that one site, it's complete yes...but..i don't see where it's easier to read than Lyngsat..i keep having to scroll around the massive page to dechipher the subnotes and stuff.
 
I use both :)

Lyngsat isn't up to date (mainly because the author is in Europe so he can't see our satellites. He relies on updates)
 
Iceberg said:
I use both :)

Lyngsat isn't up to date (mainly because the author is in Europe so he can't see our satellites. He relies on updates)

Thanks for the feedback guys. I found the links from dbstalk.com the easiest to follow what channels are are what satellite. From what I gleamed:

67.5 mirrors Nationwide HD programs on 129 with also some HD LIL channels for the East Coast. Generally easier for folks on the East Coast to access 67.5 instead of 129

110 has the 'old' mpeg2 HD nationwide channels plus some of the SD channels + locals.

119 has SD channels + some lSD ocals

129 has some West Coast HD & SD locals, Voom HD Channels, new mpeg4 HD channels. Generally easier for folks on the West Coast to access 129 instead of 67.5

With my current Dish 500 Twin I'm getting the 'old' mpeg2 HD Pak & Top 60 SD from 110 & 119. To get the add'l. HD channels I need either an add'l. dish pointed at 129, or a new Dish 1000 to gather feeds from all 3. Plus a new mpeg4 receiver to get the HD channels on 129.

I was debating between:
1- Buying a Vip 211 + Dish 1000 and going with Hd Stand Alone, as I rarely watch anything on SD; or:
2- Going with the $49 Vip 211 upgrade + new 18 month committment & having to take the Bronze pak as a minimum to qualify for the $49 receiver upgrade.

As an old "bean counter" I went with the numbers approach. Going with the HD Stand Alone Pak at $20 less per month than Bronze and buying my equipment, it would take 15 months for me to "break even" on my upfront cost compared to going with Bronze & the $49 upgrade.

I went with the Bronze & $49 upgrade. They'll be out Thursday. :up

Thanks again for the info & links.