When Will Pittsburgh Local Channels Be Available On Eastern ARC?

lkrause52

Member
Original poster
Jun 25, 2010
7
0
Pittsburgh, PA
We just switched to DISH from Direct TV last week. Because of a line of site issue, the technician installed the Eastern ARC Dish. For now we don't have the Pittsburgh local channels but he said they should have been switched over by the 24th but they keep delaying. He called DISH and could not get a definite answer. Does anybody know when they will be available for the Pittsburgh area on the Eastern ARC satellite? He told us if they weren't turned on by the middle of July to call DISH.
 
on the positive side they are uplinked to 77W so Dish should be turning them on soon

oh and welcome :wave to satelliteguys

How PGH locals could be uplinked to WA is a mystery.
The area is very hilly. In some neighborhoods, a house on one side of the street could be a 50-75ft elevation change from one on the other side.
Those who live on the low side of the street can have a heckofa time getting any satellite reception. Oh, one other thing. Lots of old growth tress to compound the issue.
I went to Pittsburgh a few years ago to assist with a crush of installs. I spent a week there. I'd say a full 50% of the jobs I was asssinged ended up not going in..
EA will offer many people who had no chance to receive satellite service to have the opportunity to do so.
 
They are on 118.7 in HD and 110 in SD, that was the most recent original configuration. They added HD to 129.
Now they have added the whole thing to 77 but not available.
BTW: Before must carry, the Pittsburgh distant nets were on 61.5 :)
 
This just doesn't make sense

I live north of Pittsburgh, PA. I just switched from Direct TV (they obviously didn't want to keep me as a customer). The technician installed the Eastern ARC dish as there was a line of site issue with the other one. He said that we wouldn't get our local channels until they switch them to the Eastern ARC satellite and that would be around June 30th. It was supposed to be the 24th and got pushed. I called DISH and spoke to two different customer service reps today and the first one said they didn't have a time frame and the second said that they weren't available at all even on the other dish. I told him the tech said we could get them on the other dish but the reception might go in and out. I called the installer after I hung up and he said they don't know what they are talking about and that they are scheduled for June 30th and to call him on July 1st. I just don't know what to think. In the mean time, we will try to hook up the HD antenna in order to get our locals. We were okay with waiting a couple of weeks but not getting them at all is not going to work. I was hoping some of you could give your input.
 
Get ahold of dish on their dish network twitter account. That is Customer Service at its finest!!! phone support is horrible! if he/she needs to contact u through the phone they will give u a direct # for an english speaking tech or csr.
 
Just FYI Pittsburgh, PA HD locals are on 129 and 118 (why I don't know). They are also uplinked but not yet available on 77. So I would say there is hope that your installer was right. CSR#1 was probably telling you the truth as best he/she knew. CSR#2 was flat out wrong, so put no credence in his/her statement. He/she probably doesn't know how to spell "Pittsburgh".
 
There was a memo sent that did mention certain areas whose HD Locals would go active on June 30th and certain areas that already have them that would added to the EA. I can't say which areas.
Oh, one other thing, we haven't heard another word on this matter and now we're only 3 days out. So don't hold your breath waiting for it to happen. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. (Though I really hope they Dish doesn't delay this to latter).
 
Wait and See

I guess I'm in a wait n see mode. My husband is going to hook up our small HD indoor antenna today and see how that works for us. If it works as good as it did in our bedroom when we had disconnected the Direct TV box to save money then we won't need to add the $5.00 onto the bill. It will be a pain switching back and forth but that's okay.:tux:
 
It's been a little while. Are the Pittsburgh locals up and running on the Eastern Arc yet? My 129 signal is pretty much non-existent and I know I would have better luck with the EA. Am I to understand that Dish is automatically transitioning WA customers to EA in the Pittsburgh area in the near future? Should I wait or pay the maintenance fee plus the $50 to get this fixed? I have a 722 connected OTA so I'm not dead in the water with locals, but some of my other HD programming goes south all the time, like Comedy Central. I've been close to calling FIOS, but I'm sure I would miss my 722.
 
Well, I have a Dish Tech visit scheduled tomorrow morning to check out my setup. I'm 100 percent sure my line of site to 129 is bad and the Eastern Arc would clear things up tremendously. I asked the CSR if it's likely I would get move to the Eastern Arc and he replied they only do that under special circumstances. So, I'm hoping the tech has the equipment to move me, I have a 1000.4, I thought that was capably of EA. Was thinking it was a matter of re-aiming the dish. I added the Service plan and am being charged the $15 visit. Now I'll try to see how many months I should wait to get rid of the service plan and pay the $25 to cancel it.
 
The 1000.4 is the Eastern Arc dish
The Western ARc (110/119/129) is the 1000.2

They are not interchangeable due to the separation of the LNB's
 
I guess I'm in a wait n see mode. My husband is going to hook up our small HD indoor antenna today and see how that works for us. If it works as good as it did in our bedroom when we had disconnected the Direct TV box to save money then we won't need to add the $5.00 onto the bill. It will be a pain switching back and forth but that's okay.:tux:

Sorry, you no longer have the option to NOT get locals. They're always added, now. Only those of us that are grandfathered escape that charge. And apparently we'll lose that if we ever change our basic package.
 
Tech arrived. Took one look at my signal strength on 129 and basically started changing me over to the Eastern Arc. Which of course the signal was at its best when he checked. The locals still were not coming in. It's interesting to me the EA dish does not require additional power. The tech also warned me about the signal strengths on the EA appear to be low when they are actually all right. So far so good.
 

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