Bell Express Dish advice

[Hockeynut13]

I am a Canadian living in the Twin Cities and have an Expressvu subscription through my Canadian address. I have been using a standard 20" Bell Dish with DPP Twin LNB connected to a SW44 Switch. I have 2 HD receivers (9142 and 6131) and one standard receiver(4100). I use my system to supplement Cox cable and get hockey games. I lost some of the HD channels over the winter and attributed it to weather/cloud cover. I have now discovered through this forum, the footprint for 82 has gotten smaller to the south.
I am reading alot of advice to switch to Shaw but I would like to stay with Bell because of the money I have invested in equipment.

What dish size would I need to regain my 82 signal?

Is there a Dish Network dish I could use with my DPP Twin LNB to get 82/91?

 

[Mr Tony]

welcome
Do you mean Comcast? Cox isnt in the Twin Cities

82 should work here in the TC. I know it worked when I had it at my house near Mystic Lake. But a couple things

DPP Twin LNB connected to a SW44 Switch

not possible. You cant mix DishProPlus and Legacy (the SW switch). Do you have 2 separate LNB's or a Twin? I assume its 2 separate LNB's and 4 cables running to a switch.
If so you can use a 30" dish for 82. When I had my free to air setup (30" dish) when I'd move it to 82 the signal was really strong.

The "real good" line for 82W runs right through the TC
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/288807-Bell-coverage-maps-(both-91W-amp-82W)

you may just need retweaking to maximize 82W. But even a 24" dish would be fine for 82W

 

[Hockeynut13]

You are right on both accounts!
I used to live in Omaha and I had Cox on the brain.
I looked at my switch again. I have a DPP Twin connected by 2 cables to a DPP 44 switch.
I am getting a 60 % signal on 4/91 and 49% signal on 7/82. I thought I was around 80 % when I installed.
I know Winegard makes a 24"(DS4061) and a 30" DS2077. Obvious question, is bigger better? I think the bigger dish is 10 bucks more which I think is worth it if I can get more signal on cloudy days.
What do you think about picking up a used elliptical dish network dish on ebay?

you may just need retweaking to maximize 82W. But even a 24" dish would be fine for 82W

By retweak, do you mean realign the dish? I don't have a signal strength meter, I just used the receiver. Should I invest in a signal strength meter or pay to have an installer come to my house?

 

[Mr Tony]

I looked at my switch again. I have a DPP Twin connected by 2 cables to a DPP 44 switch.
I am getting a 60 % signal on 4/91 and 49% signal on 7/82. I thought I was around 80 % when I installed.
I know Winegard makes a 24"(DS4061) and a 30" DS2077. Obvious question, is bigger better? I think the bigger dish is 10 bucks more which I think is worth it if I can get more signal on cloudy days.

when you are on the fringe of the signal bigger is always better

What do you think about picking up a used elliptical dish network dish on ebay?

you could try but you could just get a bigger dish and a separate LNB for 82W. The thing is on a dish 500 both LNB's are actually looking a little offset (4 1/2 degrees). The dish actually looks 86.5

By retweak, do you mean realign the dish? I don't have a signal strength meter, I just used the receiver. Should I invest in a signal strength meter or pay to have an installer come to my house?

the receiver would be fine but you can always try to tweak it a little bit

 

[bayguy]

hockeynut you don't need a meter theres one in the rcvr, just nudge the dish to make the signal highest.

 

[Slartibartfarst]

MENU, 6, 1, 1 for the Point Dish Screen.

I would suggest 2 x 60cm Dish's with a DP Dual on each, that way you can keep the DPP44 switch.