What spotbeams am I getting?

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FavreJL04

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jul 14, 2006
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Does anybody know how to figure out exactly which spotbeams are being received and which locals are on those beams?
 
I am not served by locals over the satellite. I would be interested in something from a bigger city since that is where I can get all the networks and then some. I am in the UP of Michigan and heard the spotbeams from Traverse City and Green Bay make it up here. Milwaukee has all the networks and a few extra stations on top of that and I was wondering if the spotbeam for those make it up here like the Green Bay ones do.
 
See what your signal level is on transponder 23 of the 119 satellite. I believe that's where the Green Bay locals are located. Menominee County is part of the Green Bay DMA.
Traverse City's locals are located on transponder 10 of the 72.5 satellite, which would require a separate dish.
There should be a good signal from that transponder in the eastern part of the U.P., as the Traverse City/Cadillac stations all have repeaters in the U.P. near Sault Ste. Marie. Luce, Mackinac and Chippewa counties are all part of the Traverse City DMA.
Milwaukee is on transponder 28 of the 101 satellite.
 
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CHARPER1: My zip is 49866, which is in Marquette County.

JIMISHAM: Are those numbers for DirecTV? I wasn't aware that DTV had a 72.5 satellite. What kind of signal strength would I need to receive a signal off of Trans 28 on 101? Right now I am getting about 80 but last night it was about 54 when it was raining, but all the other transponders that were normally 95-100 were at 75-80.
 
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DishNetwork Option

I know your question asked about DirectTV, but I thought I would tell you how DishNetwork works. After looking at the very nice maps at http://ekb.dbstalk.com/297. I found out that if you got dishnet and "moved" using a different address, you could have your choice of locals from: Milwaukee, Green Bay, Traverse City, or Lacrosse. Lacrosse and GreenBay will have the best satellite signal for your zip, but Milwaukee or Traverse City will work fine. All channels are on the 110 Echo SpotBeams (two milw channels on 119). (GreenBay might even have your weather)

So if you know an address in one of these DMAs you can have real Network TV with decent programming, news, and get independents and UPN/WB MYTV/CW channels.

If you don't want to switch to dish, I think you can just buy the locals for 5 or 10 a month (I think). So One new dish from DishNet could save the problem.
 
FavreJL04 said:
CHARPER1: My zip is 49866, which is in Marquette County.

JIMISHAM: Are those numbers for DirecTV? I wasn't aware that DTV had a 72.5 satellite. What kind of signal strength would I need to receive a signal off of Trans 28 on 101? Right now I am getting about 80 but last night it was about 54 when it was raining, but all the other transponders that were normally 95-100 were at 75-80.
Yes, those are for Directv and I would say that's a pretty good reading for transponder 28 where you're located. I'm in the southern part of the state across Lake Michigan from Chicago and I've also got an 80 on transponder 28, which has got to be Milwaukee.
 
Do you know anyone in Minominee County? That seems to be the closest zip and you should easily be in that Green Bay beam. Minominee zip: 49858

I would even bet the Milwaukee and maybe even the Chicago beams are worth a try.

Seeing that NEGAUNEE, MI 49866 shows Grade A digital OTA reception, DNS service is obviously out of the question.

Seems "moving" you service address may be the only way unless I am missing something.
 
I "live" in Appleton, WI right now. I do enjoy having the Green Bay locals, but being how greedy I am I want more channels for my money (lol). I notice that in one market you can pay one price for 4 or 5 local channels where in a larger market you pay the same for 10 or 15 channels. More bang for my buck.
 
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