What spotbeam am I seeing?

[jon_d2]

hi all-

A few years ago I posted this thread asking about seeing spotbeam 3 on transponder 15 at 61.5 here is Sussex Co. Delaware. Below is my first post:


Hello all,

I live in Delaware about halfway between NYC and the Virginia Beach area. I was looking at transponder 15 which according to "the list" shows as having spotbeam 4 covering the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area and Spotbeam 3 covering the NYC area. I don't know a whole lot about spotbeams and transponders but when I look at transponder 15 I get about a 30-35 on the signal meter. I am wondering if I am getting the spotbeam 3 or 4? Is there anyway to tell?

My thing is i live in Sussex Co. Delaware which is in the Salisbury, MD DMA but those locals are not carried by Dish Network (and WBOC does a pretty good job of advertising that satellite won't carry them) but if I "move" a few miles to the north into Kent County DE I get into the Philly DMA and should be able to pick up the their locals. From "the list" Philly should be on transponder 11 and I get an 80 on the signal meter for that spotbeam but I was wondering if I could "move" a little further north into NJ and pick up the NYC locals instead. Thats the reason for my question of which spotbeam I am seeing on transponder 15.

The maps on "the list" show me as being just inside the yellow for NYC Spot 3 but I know from reading threads they aren't too accurate.

Thanks for the help!

Well ended up using a family members address and getting the Philadelphia locals. For some reason though I remember trying a New Jersey address and not being able to get the NYC local channels. At least I think I remember doing that but maybe I never did, I honestly can't remember.

Anyway I looked and it seems as if the NYC locals haven't moved from that spotbeam but I was wondering if there was anyway to confirm if I am seeing spotbeam 3 or 4 on TP 15 at 61.5? The first post in the old thread said I was seeing spotbeam 3 but then the next reply said I would be able to get Norfolk on TP15. And like I said I thought I tried and it didn't work but maybe that was just a dream.

I also can't remember if this was before or after I was moved to the eastern arc, not sure if that would make any difference at all. But can anyone help me figure out which spotbeam I am seeing so I know weather to move or not?

 

[TheKrell]

Actually I was wrong in my post #4 in your thread. There is no transponder 15 in spotbeam 4 on echo12. Since you see adequate signal strenght on transponder 15, we know from the hardware on Echo12 that it must be coming either from spotbeam 3 or spotbeam 5. IIRC, you tried getting NYC locals and couldn't get them. The only logical conclusion is that you are seeing the Norfolk, VA spotbeam 5. (Norfolk is listed incorrectly in TheList! as coming from spotbeam 4 which has no transponder 15, which is why I was confused.) You can verify this by "moving" to Norfolk. I predict you can get those locals, not that you want them!

 

[Voyager6]

The OP is picking up spotbeam 4 which covers Baltimore/Washington DC/Philadelphia/Norfolk and Buffalo. E12 was moved to realign the TP's so The List does not match up to where the spotbeams currently point. They are now pointing further north and west.

 

[TheKrell]

The OP is picking up spotbeam 4 which covers Baltimore/Washington DC/Philadelphia/Norfolk and Buffalo. E12 was moved to realign the TP's so The List does not match up to where the spotbeams currently point. They are now pointing further north and west.

Indeed the OP can pick up locals from spotbeam 4. But transponder 15 is unavailable in spotbeam 4, and that's what we're talking about. See top Rainbow 1 chart here: EKB: Spot Beam and Coverage Maps. The OP would like to pick up NY locals on transponder 15, and indeed he gets adequate signal strength on that transponder. But attempting to "move" to NY does not give him NY locals, because he can't pick up transponder 15 from spotbeam 3. Therefore, where is that transponder 15 coming from? I claim he's picking up transponder 15 for Norfolk from spotbeam 5. TheList! is wrong to place Norfolk in spotbeam 4.

And that just goes to show how far northeast (I think you meant that above) the sat is currently pointed as compared to the Rainbow 1 maps.

 

[nelson61]

From the FCC filing System Records
This is the FCC operating permit E12 is running under. There have been no requests to repoint the Conus aim point(required by regulation) so I would speculate that the actual beams were a lot fatter than they originally projected explaining the variation in reception.
The transponders each E12 spot supports are listed in table form in the filing.

Echostar 12 Narrative and Technical Description

 

[TheKrell]

My quick scan of Table 3 on P.53 shows that the EKB is right: no transponder 15 exists in spotbeam 4. So IMHO it's clear that Delaware customers cannot "move" to NYC because spotbeam 3 is too far north. They could, however, "move" to Norfolk. <-- my theory

On the repointing issue, are you now taking back what you said in post #3? In your defense , many folks around here have repeatedly stated that the spotbeam maps are wrong and Dish repointed them from their original design.

 

[jon_d2]

Thanks for the responses! Guess its not going to work for me. I did happen to see that the big 4 from New York are on 72.7 in HD along with LA in SD. If one had NYC locals would you also see these channels from 72.7?

My other question is out of curiosity would I be able to get Buffalo channels here off of spotbeam 4? If so it would seem odd that an area so far away from here is on the same beam.

 

[Mr Tony]

Thanks for the responses! Guess its not going to work for me. I did happen to see that the big 4 from New York are on 72.7 in HD along with LA in SD. If one had NYC locals would you also see these channels from 72.7?

those are the distants which are only available to RV'ers/semi drivers who submit the proper paperwork (and registration)

The NY & LA HD channels for subs who arent RV'ers/semi drivers are spotbeamed

 

[jon_d2]

those are the distants which are only available to RV'ers/semi drivers who submit the proper paperwork (and registration)

Thanks, I forgot about those people.

 

[TheKrell]

My other question is out of curiosity would I be able to get Buffalo channels here off of spotbeam 4? If so it would seem odd that an area so far away from here is on the same beam.

I think "Yes." And yes it does seem odd. IIRC the spot on the ground is distinctly elongated in the direction of Buffalo.