CONUS & spotbeam questions
- Thread starter ohpfan
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And now for the bare facts.
Pittsburgh locals were removed from CONUS 77W and switched to 61.5W spotbeam back in Feb. 2013. I was vocal about it. You are within the spotbeam where you live, but for the receiver to switch over to the Pittsburgh DMA, you need to change your service address (not the mailing address) to an address that falls within the Pittsburgh DMA. It was easy for me since my parents still live there and they don't have Dish. If anything inadvertently gets sent there (like the free Roku I received), it won't get lost to some stranger.
Pittsburgh locals were removed from CONUS 77W and switched to 61.5W spotbeam back in Feb. 2013. I was vocal about it. You are within the spotbeam where you live, but for the receiver to switch over to the Pittsburgh DMA, you need to change your service address (not the mailing address) to an address that falls within the Pittsburgh DMA. It was easy for me since my parents still live there and they don't have Dish. If anything inadvertently gets sent there (like the free Roku I received), it won't get lost to some stranger.
What purpose is intended for this map? Is it just for research, or is it used to offer coordinates for users to aim and achieve the networks shown?
The map shows the footprint of the spotbeam. If you are located in the white ring to the center then you will have no problems receiving the programming on that spotbeam (if authorized). From the white ring to the green ring, your reception may be iffy depending on how much signal you receive. The best way to determine if you are in the spotbeam is to check TP30 on 61.5 from the point dish screen (Menu 6-1-1).
Thank you for the detailed information! I like your style of getting right to the point, without using the "illegal, immoral" fluff others have posted. Just curious, how did you get a free Roku?
It shows the approximate area that the spot beam covers. It's the real deal, not for research specifically. You can look at it and get an idea if you are located within the beam. There is no aiming except that you must be aimed at the satellite that the spot beam is on, in this case, 61.5.
Thanks for the info! I understand now. It's a portmanteau not an anagram, I stand corrected!
Best way to check for reception in your area is to use "The List"
Go to Subscription Services and the 61.5W location. Then click on the "Market" header which will sort the table by market.
Then scroll to Pittsburg and you will see that it is carried on Transponder 29.
Now, use your Dish diagnostics menu on your receiver to check to see if there is a signal when tuned to Transponder 29 at 61.5W.
If there is a signal, you will receive it if your service address is a valid Pittsburg address. If no signal, no service possible.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/thelist/index.php?search=dn61&sub=true&sort=MARKET&order=
Go to Subscription Services and the 61.5W location. Then click on the "Market" header which will sort the table by market.
Then scroll to Pittsburg and you will see that it is carried on Transponder 29.
Now, use your Dish diagnostics menu on your receiver to check to see if there is a signal when tuned to Transponder 29 at 61.5W.
If there is a signal, you will receive it if your service address is a valid Pittsburg address. If no signal, no service possible.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/thelist/index.php?search=dn61&sub=true&sort=MARKET&order=
LOL, I can be forthcoming since I no longer have that option to "move".
I got the free Roku as compensation for the AMC extended dispute last summer 2012.
If you indeed go that route, the pitts locals may default to 61.5 and you'll get no signal on that even though you have 77 which is CONUS. A Simple fix to this is to block of 61.5 with a foil and go a switch test and let it NOT find 61.5 and force pull the locals from 77. After the switch test you wont see 61.5 and you'll get your conus locals.. Note: You can remove the foil after the signal test.
NOTE: As per the list Pitts is not on 77.
Dish doesn't give the customer the choice of what dish they want.
They have their reasons for which systems and which areas they want on which arc.
HD locals in the Wheeling DMA are on 61.5, and he already verified that he sees 61.5 and 72.7. Also, the question over whether he can get the Pittsburgh spotbeam is moot, as the Wheeling and Pittsburgh channels are both on the same spotbeam, 30.
This type of reply is what I was expecting at the onset. Although I am now wondering where to put the foil, lol.
In all seriousness, it sounds like there is nothing the customer can do to tweak the Dish; only Dish can change/"move" a customer on their system. Is this an accurate conclusion?
That is a correct conclusion. You tell them where you live, not where you want the bill sent, and they put it in their machine and you get the locals that go with that address.....
Correct. No point in the foil since, as others (including myself rather belatedly) noted, Pittsburgh is no longer on 77 at all.
The "foil tactic" now has my curiosity. What purpose does it serve? It sounds as if it bypasses the Dish system defaults and uses the secondary channel locations instead. I highly doubt that my idea that the foil permits every channel in the spotbeam [30 in my case] as available for viewing.
No, just get off the foil thoughts, people were leading you down the wrong path.
The foil idea is only really useful if you have duplicate channels coming in from different satellites (that you already are getting), and want the receiver to lock onto a particular satellite. This usually occurs in dual-arc (multiple dish) setups.
The foil idea is only really useful if you have duplicate channels coming in from different satellites (that you already are getting), and want the receiver to lock onto a particular satellite. This usually occurs in dual-arc (multiple dish) setups.
Foil also pertained to Pittsburgh locals when they were on both 77 and 61.5. Dish maybe arranged it so that those of us on EA got the Pittsburgh locals off 61.5, which prevented them from coming off 77. This was important for the Pittsburgh "movers". You could put foil over the 61.5 LNB and restore your Pittsburgh locals, until Dish took them down off 77.
Incidentally, there are still a few HD locals on CONUS, if you care for their DMAs.
Incidentally, there are still a few HD locals on CONUS, if you care for their DMAs.
Got it now. I guess I am reading too much into the need of the map and each channel's spotbeam location -- i.e. for tweaking purposes/expanding local channel options.
