Eastern Arc Dish Info & Install Guide

[JonUrban]

I just tried to speak with a CSR about getting the new smart cards for my 722 and 622 to go with the 1000.4, and they were totally clueless. He had no idea what the deal was. I mentioned the "Circle A", and the 72 needs a new smart card, the whole deal. He had no idea WTF I was talking about. Told me I did not need one, and had me reboot the receiver.
He's having a supervisor call me.

 

[dishcomm]

But will it work long term I wonder? i.e. can Dish afford to maintain existing SD and HD local markets stations for eastern US DMAs on both the western arc and the eastern arc? I would be surprised if they intend to allocate their bandwidth that way. Will the HD locals for eastern markets that are on 129 and 61.5 eventually get turned off on 129 and require customers to use 61.5 (or drop the service)? Maybe they have the surplus bandwidth in the western arc to keep the simulcast going long term?

It appears Dish'd intent is to dive the country in half. Roughly, those west of the Mississippi will be WA ..Those on this side will be EA. That's pure speculation on my part. But it seems to be the most logical course. The reason why I think this is due to line of sight issues. 129 for example is very low in the sky even for mid latitude zones. Here in the central part of NC, the elevation is just 24 degrees.
EA is 48 .....
Anyway, I don't see (again my opinion) Dish moving programming away from WA. That would create the same issue for customers to the west. Don't break a sweat over this. Just sit tight.

 

[Tyralak]

It appears Dish'd intent is to dive the country in half. Roughly, those west of the Mississippi will be WA ..Those on this side will be EA. That's pure speculation on my part. But it seems to be the most logical course. The reason why I think this is due to line of sight issues. 129 for example is very low in the sky even for mid latitude zones. Here in the central part of NC, the elevation is just 24 degrees.
EA is 48 .....
Anyway, I don't see (again my opinion) Dish moving programming away from WA. That would create the same issue for customers to the west. Don't break a sweat over this. Just sit tight.

We got a tutorial in "Arc flipping" the last block training. Basically if there's no LOS for Western arc, try Eastern Arc.

 

[dishcomm]

We got a tutorial in "Arc flipping" the last block training. Basically if there's no LOS for Western arc, try Eastern Arc.

I was told by a CSR that all New connect cusomers who are NLOS for WA can be connected via EA..He went on to say that for example if a customer has ordered a 625 and 322 and 110/119 svcs, and had NLOS to WA that customer could be EA installed The cust would receive a 722 1000.4 at mno additional charge and no HD enabling fee.
This is good news and not so good news....the good news if more installs can get done.. the no so good is we mayu have to carry one 1000.4 set up plus recivers for every install...that's a lot of stuff....MSN Live search is goingto come in mighty handy...Allows a satellite view of many areas. So I can see the trees and other obstructions....
i can talk to the cutomer and look at the photos to determine whether or not i need the d-1k4...

 

[dishcomm]

I just tried to speak with a CSR about getting the new smart cards for my 722 and 622 to go with the 1000.4, and they were totally clueless. He had no idea what the deal was. I mentioned the "Circle A", and the 72 needs a new smart card, the whole deal. He had no idea WTF I was talking about. Told me I did not need one, and had me reboot the receiver.
He's having a supervisor call me.

You's better call them..I have been told reapeatedly by Dish CSR's that there are no outbound calls from call centers. Or email......ceo@echostar.com

 

[thedamaja]

The bigger question for any provider is: Even with MPEG4 will they be able to provide the same amount of channels in HD that are now SD?

At some point in time most of the TV sets in a house will become HD through attrition.

Yes but it will probably take a long long time for that to happen. There are probably lots of people that still use 10+ year old tv's. I know that we have two of them that we use.

Not to mention most people with an HDTV seem perfectly happy with SD programming.

 

[fellagator]

I just got my eastern arc 72.7 installed!! It took the guy 3 hours to do it. It was his first installation but I am up and running. It is angled up really high, about 50 degrees which helped me out cause it is clearing the roof top of my neighbor's apt. So far so good.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I just got my eastern arc 72.7 installed!! It took the guy 3 hours to do it. It was his first installation but I am up and running. It is angled up really high, about 50 degrees which helped me out cause it is clearing the roof top of my neighbor's apt. So far so good.

Are you getting the 77 sat in your check switch matrix ? I did my own eastern arc install today just to see if I could get it peaked. I don' t have the new smart cards yet to actually use it yet. I got x/72.7/61.5 in my check switch matrix. I got great signals indentical to or better than my side sat dish for 61.5 and on the 72.7 sat I got 43 - 45 strength on all odd transponders. I never got 77 but the installation instructions did say that 77 sat may not be in service at launch. As far as I know there is old echostar 4 up there holding a spot but only the # 1 transponder is lit up with mostly dish latino channels .

 

[dishcomm]

Are you getting the 77 sat in your check switch matrix ? I did my own eastern arc install today just to see if I could get it peaked. I don' t have the new smart cards yet to actually use it yet. I got x/72.7/61.5 in my check switch matrix. I got great signals indentical to or better than my side sat dish for 61.5 and on the 72.2 sat I got 43 - 45 strength on all odd transponders. I never got 77 but the installation instructions did say that 77 sat may not be in service at launch. As far as I know there is old echostar 4 up there holding a spot but only the # 1 transponder is lit up with mostly dish latino channels .

there is no signal from 77.. you have successfuly peaked your dish. Additionally 72.7 delivers signal from even numbered TP's only

 

[ralfyguy]

So does anybody have a EA Mpeg4 SD picture comparison to WA Mpeg2 SD?

 

[MikeD-C05]

I couldn't tell any difference because all I could get off of 72.7 and actually see without a blacked out picture is the 101 dishnetwork information channel. I don't have any smart cards yet to get the eastern arc but I am looking forward to them.

 

[MikeD-C05]

there is no signal from 77.. you have successfuly peaked your dish. Additionally 72.7 delivers signal from even numbered TP's only

IS the signal strength of 43 - 45 sound right to you for 72.7 sat or is it too low?

 

[ralfyguy]

IS the signal strength of 43 - 45 sound right to you for 72.7 sat or is it too low?

I think this SS is garbage, if that's the max the dish can get. That is no better than 129 is right now.

 

[JimP]

I think this SS is garbage, if that's the max the dish can get. That is no better than 129 is right now.

That was my initial thoughts too, but we don't have EA vs WA signal levels from the same location with an authorized EA receiver. Is it possible that the signal levels would change once receivers are authorized for EA reception via the security card ??????

 

[JohnH]

Additionally 72.7 delivers signal from even numbered TP's only

Yeah, that explains why Tps 1-31 odd have signal and Tps 2-32 even have signal from 72.5(DirecTV). Oops!

 

[MikeD-C05]

I think this SS is garbage, if that's the max the dish can get. That is no better than 129 is right now.

THe only difference is that the 72.7 sat is consistent and not fluctuating up and down like the 129 is. I wouldn't lose signal with them unless it was because of rain fade. I am going to try to get a better strength. The new azimuth cam was something you can adjust to get better signal . I will have to try that later and see if it goes up.

 

[bpiddle]

IS the signal strength of 43 - 45 sound right to you for 72.7 sat or is it too low?

I have been a Dish subscriber for around ten years but have only been able to receive 61.5 because of line of sight issues. I had an EA dish installed two days ago. One of my receivers is new and has the new G3 smartcard. I am located about 30 miles north of New York City and am receiving a signal level of 57 to 63 on all of the odd 72.7 transponders. I received similar signal levels on both the receiver that has the new smartcard and the receiver that has the old smartcard. The signal levels on 61.5 vary considerably by transponder but are slightly higher on average.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I have been a Dish subscriber for around ten years but have only been able to receive 61.5 because of line of sight issues. I had an EA dish installed two days ago. One of my receivers is new and has the new G3 smartcard. I am located about 30 miles north of New York City and am receiving a signal level of 57 to 63 on all of the odd 72.7 transponders. I received similar signal levels on both the receiver that has the new smartcard and the receiver that has the old smartcard. The signal levels on 61.5 vary considerably by transponder but are slightly higher on average.

Well 57 - 63 on the odd transponders on 72.7 is much better than 43- 45. I just got it to go up to around 48 on the 31 transponder and 45 on 19 and 21 transponders by readjusting the azimuth cam . That is about 20 points difference between your readings and mine. So I will have to try to see what happens if you adjust the elevation then. My elevation is set exactly as perscribed in the manual and so is the skew. I am getting great signals on 61.5 on the 1000.4 sat dish. Almost the same or higher than the side sat dish I have for 61.5 plugged into my 1000.2 sat dish configuration. This must mean you have to sacrifice some signal strength on 61.5 to get that great strengths on 72.7. I hate to change the elevation but I might have to in order to see if it increases on 72.7. At 43-48 signal strengths this is just made for rain fade.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Well I tried to adjust the elevation to 46 and to 50 and it gave me weaker signal at 46 on 72.7 & 61.5 and it gave me no signal at all on 72.7 at 50 and weakest signal on 61.5 . So 48 seems to be the sweet spot for reception for both 61.5 and 72.7 for my area just like the guide says. I didn't adjust the skew at all from what the directions said and left it at 58. I guess that will have to do. By the way I am pole mounted and not on the house in any way. All my sat dishes are on poles in concrete. I hate to put them on the roof or the house.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I just checked the levels for the 119 sat on the 1000.2 sat dish and I am getting about 45-55 strength on all those too. So this seems to be in the same range as the 72.7 sat. I checked the 110 sat which just got replaced recently by Echostar 11 and that sat is kicking on transponder strength. I am getting low on spotbeams of course but some 62- 64 on the transponders. I even got upto 69 on transponder 20. I really hate the new signal strength scale that DISH uses now. Before the change it was easy to know when you got great signal strength . ANything from 85 up was a great indication. Now anything from 45 - 75 is okay or the best. THey should go ahead and change the signal meter to reflect this and drop off the 85- 125 range since there is no way you will ever reach that. Either that or change the meters so it once again reflects the great signal strengths as I said before.