directv and locals on 1 or 2 dishes???

[Busterw]

I need a little help. A few months back, you guys were able to help me in another thread (this one) where I was gonna be travelling for the weekend to a relatives out of town, and wanted to point and hook up to 2 dishes, 1 pointed at the 101, and one at the 72.5 so I could take my directv with me and also get my local channels. I got everything working with a good bit of help here and just decided to leave my spare dishes there and mounted until the next time I visited and would just take my receiver back there with me, connect up and be good to go.

Anyway, now to my point, as we've now got a delimna. It appears as if in their area, they have merged the locals and regular package channels onto one dish b/c when I was up this past weekend, they would get the locals and said call customer service. I do know that up in the Atlanta area, they only have one dish that pulls regular diretv channels as well as locals in. Just didn't know if I needed to get another spare dish for travelling and what that needs to be.

A few weeks ago, when Directv came to my house to relocate my KA/KU dish (they originally mounted it by a bush for some reason and the bush kept growing into it so I made them move it), they told me that it wouldn't be long before I no longer needed my 18" dish to pull in the locals as they were morking on merging everything together to the KA/KU in different markets. They said mine was coming up soon.

The next door neighbor at my relatives house are getting directv today with locals so I suppose I could just wait and see if they get a single KA/KU or something else but I would rather get the opinions of the experts here.

Thanks!

 

[Busterw]

Here's some additional info so you don't ahve to read my old theread to get it:

The locals channels I want to get from the relatives house are the Macon, GA locals so my questions is whether they still require the second dish or not. At the relatives, I have a pair of 18" dishes connected to a 4x4 switch. The LNB on the main dish has dual outputs.
The other dish points to the 72.5. At the relatives, they don't have an HDTV so HD channels capcabilty isn't necessary if it changes however I gotta change my configuration there to get it working again.

At home I have a KA/KU and and 18".

Thanks again.

 

[Bob Nielsen]

I haven't heard of any locals moving from 72.5 yet. Some new SD locals have been added to the 103(c) satellite, however. Since these are MPEG4. they require a receiver which is capable of that. Most of the transitioning will probably be to 110/119 after the HD channels are removed from those satellites.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

. Some new SD locals have been added to the 103(c) satellite, however. Since these are MPEG4. .

You mean HD locals.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Here's a list of Locals In GA and what satellite they are on. Good luck! Local channels - Georgia - LyngSat
And by the looks of it Macon is still on the 72.5

 

[Busterw]

Is a fairly new basic receiver capable of mpeg4?

If at my brother-in-law's house in north Atlanta, (Suwannee, GA) has locals but only a KA/KU, then it seems as if in his market a secone dish isn't required ot be hitting the 72.5 to get locals. Am I missing something?

 

[dishrich]

You mean HD locals.

No he DOES mean SD locals - Palm Springs & a few others DMA's were added to the Ka birds, but in SD ONLY...

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Is a fairly new basic receiver capable of mpeg4?

If at my brother-in-law's house in north Atlanta, (Suwannee, GA) has locals but only a KA/KU, then it seems as if in his market a secone dish isn't required ot be hitting the 72.5 to get locals. Am I missing something?

MPEG 4 are HD Feeds. So there is a very good chance he 's in a different local channel market. Mpeg 4 receivers are only H20,H21,H23,HR20,HR21 all others are MPEG2. Which means the KA/KU dish will get nothing more then a Phase III dish without MPEG 4 Recivers.

 

[Busterw]

Hemi, thanks for that link. Very helpful.

Since that appears as if Macon, GA is still on the 72.5, then does this mean I'm having a functional problem with my setup as it worked a few weeks ago fine. The dish is mounted 12 feet off the ground with no trees around so it wouldn't have gotten hit and knocked out of adjustment by anything. But, the local channels say searching for satellite, call customer service. Since I'm periodically travelling with it, not sure calling is a great idea.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Try Unplugging your equipment for about 1 minute. If that doesn't work you may have an alinement problem, connection problem, Wiring problem. I would Trouble shoot everything simple first. Make sure your dish hasn't moved, Remember it doesn't take much. You may have to go through your satellite setup process again ,make sure your 72.5 is enabled. Sometimes refreshing your system works as well. D* can do this with a simple phone call.

 

[Busterw]

But how would they respond to refreshing my system b/c I'm travelling with it and can't get the locals all the sudden?

 

[Hemi 6.1]

What do you mean your traveling with it?

 

[Hemi 6.1]

My guess is your out of the spotbeam. I could put up a 72.5 dish here in PA , But it wouldn't do much good for me either.

 

[Busterw]

But until this weekend, I was able to get my locals when I was at my relatives. This is the first time I've gotten the error.

 

[Busterw]

What do you mean your traveling with it?

Lemme try to summarize. Last year, we got where every few weeks, my wife and kids and I would leave our home and go to a relative's house in the mountains for the weekend. No phone there, no computer, no TV other than a roof mount antenna and the reception sux. With kids for the weekend, they gotta have entertainment. So I moutned and pointed a pair of 18" dishes, one pointed at the 101, one at the 72.5 and connection with a 4x4 switch. Aimed em up and got good signals on both dishes. Left the 2 dishes on 4x4 block mounted since it was kind of a pain to aim up without a meter. When I went back home a couple days later, I took my receiver back home and hooked it back up in my bedroom. When we periodically abort our house to visit, we take the receiver with us so we can continue to use our service. Generally this is once a month for 2 days. Never a problem until we were up this weekend and the locals won't grab a satellite. Does that make sense.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

I guess call D*. Thats about all you can do.

 

[Busterw]

Would they frown upon my travelling with my receiver EVEN if it's not being used at my home while I'm away?

 

[DougE]

Here's a list of Locals In GA and what satellite they are on. Good luck! Local channels - Georgia - LyngSat
And by the looks of it Macon is still on the 72.5

Hemi, or anyone else, could you give me the link to DirecTV birds for the San Francisco area? SD and HD.....I am planning to change from DISH to DirecTV HD and need to know which sats I will be looking at for my locals, premiums, and all HD programming. I can then know how many dishes needed and their pointing positions.

Sure hope you can help.....

 

[Busterw]

Is this what you want?

Looks like San Fran hits the 72 and 101 so you would need 2 dishes to also get locals.

 

[dishrich]

could you give me the link to DirecTV birds for the San Francisco area? SD and HD.....I am planning to change from DISH to DirecTV HD and need to know which sats I will be looking at for my locals, premiums, and all HD programming. I can then know how many dishes needed and their pointing positions.

All you need is the 5 LNB dish which covers 99 to 119 - nothing else is needed...