Best way to add 129 to existing 110/119 setup

[bklawans]

I'm thinking about adding 129 to my existing setup for more HD channels. I currently have a Dish 500 with a DPP twin LNBF. I'm figuring I'll be on the western arc no matter what, since I'm less than a mile from the Pacific.

As far as I can tell, my best two options are either to add a second 500 with a Dish Pro single LNBF pointing at 129, and connected to the "in" port of my existing DPP twin, or go with a single 1000.4 western arc dish. (I've seen references to both the 1000.4 western arc and 1000.2 - is there a difference?) Besides having 1 dish vs 2, are there any advantages or disadvantages to either set up? Any other option I haven't considered?

Thanks in advance,
Barry

 

[garys]

Any of the setups you stated will work, using the second dish is useful if you have a los problem with 129. However, since you HD locals are on 129, your best bet for a proper install is to contact Dish or IM a DIRT member here as you may be entitled to get the upgrade at very little cost.

 

[frontsite]

I would just get a 1000.2 dish as I was told that the .4 is going to be phased out

 

[cptnhook]

.4ea dishes are not going to be phased out. Party true is this fact. All dishes will either be .2wa or .2ea dishes. All international programming was moved from the 61.5 to the 118 fss or migrated this past summer. Needless to say there are allot of mad former international subscribers because they are now NLOS. This was done to make room for HD programming.

Reasoning for loosing the .4ea is not the dish it is the expense of the backing structure on the .4ea currently uses.

 

[bcbarlow7737]

Dish isn't phasing out the .4 EA. There just adding the .2 EA Twin for the markets that don't need one of the EA orbital locations. But for WA installs its the .2
Sent from my Windows Phone using Board Express

 

[downriver]

You can nail 129 very easily with a wing dish. it is a simple install and will allow you to peak the signal yourself . used to be here in the PNW it was the only option that really worked...the 1000 was a bust.

 

[gtal98]

Besides having 1 dish vs 2, are there any advantages or disadvantages to either set up? Any other option I haven't considered?

The Twin with wing setup can at most run 2 receivers (or one Hopper) since it only has two outputs. A 1000.2 or .4 can run three receivers (or 2 Hoppers) since it has the third output. Other that this there is no real functional difference between the setups. A dedicated wing dish will provide you with a stronger 129 signal though, but probably not a big worry for you on the west coast.

 

[bklawans]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to go with a second 500 as a wing dish, since I recently re-peaked the existing one and would rather not mess with it again. I'm driving two 722s with the current set up, so I don't need a third output. As I understand it, the wing dish won't need a DPP LNBF, and since its connected to the existing DPP Twin, it will still support stacking.

 

[garys]

DP single or duo will work best.