Eastern Arc Dish Info & Install Guide

[Hall]

I don't think that the slope is unusually steep, but you cannot walk there.

Hmmm, what do you define as "steep" then ? You don't think it's steep, but you can't walk on it... There are many possible slopes, but generally there are roofs you can easily/safely walk on, roofs you can walk on but would use some safety equipment, and then roofs like yours.

 

[Lbeck]

Hmmm, what do you define as "steep" then ? You don't think it's steep, but you can't walk on it... There are many possible slopes, but generally there are roofs you can easily/safely walk on, roofs you can walk on but would use some safety equipment, and then roofs like yours.

The operative word here is "unusually" steep. I drive through meny neighborhoods with homes that have steep roof pitches. Are we to assume that these homes are not eligible for roof-mounted dishes?

One of the reasons that I am trying to become more educated on dish placement is that the first few techs (Monday will be the 4th visit in 3 months) implied that they couldn't "see" the satellites needed for a good installation. The 2nd Dish tech installed a dish but neglected to tell me that I wouldn't be able to pick up HD locals. Only after finding out that HD locals are available but on a different satellite did I learn that it may be technically possible but on my house it would require a high placement to see past an adjacent tree.

When Dish comes out on Monday I need to determine if I need to switch to DirecTV, cable, do without some HD channels, or ask for a 5th visit for a tech with the proper equipment.

 

[dishcomm]

I agree with your comments on safety. That's one reason that I am surprised that the dispatcher did not take my word for the need for a longer ladder, as was pointed out to me by the first technician.

I am attaching a picture of the side of the house where the 61.5 sat will be located. The current sat is mounted on the roof about mid-way up the slope. I don't think that the slope is unusually steep, but you cannot walk there. If this house is not available for a high dish I would think that many homes are not. I'm thinking it's just a matter of getting the right equipment to install. Then my Dish records should indicate that a long ladder is needed for any maintenance.

Is the garage side of the house where the 61.5 will be placed?
If so this loks pretty easy. Heck the roof is no problem . At least by the photo. I would go up on the porch and head over to that dormer and scale the roof in the valley. I would place the dish near the valley for safety reasons..
BTW, most homes have the utilities on the garage side of the house. Where are they on this one?

 

[dishcomm]

Hmmm, what do you define as "steep" then ? You don't think it's steep, but you can't walk on it... There are many possible slopes, but generally there are roofs you can easily/safely walk on, roofs you can walk on but would use some safety equipment, and then roofs like yours.

I would not attemp to walk this roof. However the valley near the dormer is an excellent way to gain some elevation if needed.
Look, walking the roof is only one part of the deal You have to be safe while on the roof and be able to get down safely as well. As we all know, ascending a roof is much easier than descending.

 

[bogwog]

Eastern Arc Problems and Answers

Hi Folks,
I work as a Dish Installer for a retailer in South Carolina. We were looking forward to the Eastern Arc dish as a resolution to line of sight issues....alas it seems that Dish Networks marketing division released the product prematurely!
Here are the main issues, the satellite at the 77 position is not currently transmitting to the US. The Satellite at 72.7 is only transmitting on odd transponders. There are issues regarding the G3 smartcard however we have found out from dish that receivers with a smartcard number beginning S191.....
are compliant and will work with the eastern arc 1000.4.
So far we have installed several of these dishes, customers subscribing to any package other than Turbo HD are not receiving all of the SD channels.
We also found issues with 211 receivers not reading the 72.7 resulting in the loss of 7 HD channels and all SD channels other than the Greenville SC locals.
We have a 1000.4 installed at our store and are monitoring it to see when service from the 77 arrives, dish could not give us a definite date.
Hope this helps.
Cheers
Chris

 

[Lbeck]

Is the garage side of the house where the 61.5 will be placed?
If so this loks pretty easy. Heck the roof is no problem . At least by the photo. I would go up on the porch and head over to that dormer and scale the roof in the valley. I would place the dish near the valley for safety reasons..
BTW, most homes have the utilities on the garage side of the house. Where are they on this one?

The current 119/110/129 dish is located at about where the plumbing vent pipe is (garage side) and I think is pointed at about 10 o'clock as you face the garage. Very close to the edge. Probably to avoid the rest of the roof. I'm thinking that it wasn't placed at the top ridge because of ladder height restrictions.

I'm pretty sure that the most recent tech said that the 61.5 separate dish would need to point to the left as you face the garage side, that it could be placed by the existing dish, but a tree blocked LOS at that location. He couldn't get to the other side of the roof high enough because of his only ladder was one of those folding types, which I believe is 16 ft fully opened.

With all of the ridges on the roof, I'll be surprised if there are no locations where a 61.5 dish will work.

The utilities are actually on the opposite side from the garage. The tech ran his wires down the roof facia, down the gutter, through a vent, and through the crawl space to get to the distribution box for the pre-existing cable wires.

Works fine except for my inability to get HD locals and probably some other channels that are not availiable on the current 119/110/129 dish.

 

[JonUrban]

EASTERN ARC INSTALL - PART II

I installed the antenna two weeks ago. I had a 722 and a 622, neither of which had the "circle A" or new smart card.

I aligned the dish using the 722 alignment screen, and was a bit confused as the signals I was getting were not great. 20-25 on 72 and 45-50 on 61.5. Try as I might, not matter what I did, those were the numbers.

If course, I got no picture on any 72 channel, but my HD 61.5 channels were coming in fine. I sent an email to the "ceo" address, and got a response that they would look into sending me new smart cards early, as I was a long time customer, but he would not promise anything. In fact, I never got a call back, although I did not call him back either.

Monday I ordered a new 722 ($385) from SatGuys/DishStore and it showed up today. I removed my 622, plugged in the 722, and went straight to the point dish area. WOW! My signals were now in the 80-90 area on 61.5 and 60-70 for 72. What a difference! I did not touch the dish, so there has to be something inherant in the receivers, although it doesn't make sense to me.

OK - Then I went to do a check switch BEFORE I activated the receiver. MISTAKE!! DO NOT DO THIS. It will drive you crazy. I got all kinds of Signal Errors. The Check Switch now goes up to 12 tests (1 of 12, etc), and I was getting a good "green" 61.5, but even though I had good signal on 72 from the point dish screen, I was getting a red box with a white 'X' in it under the 72 slot, along with a red status proclaiming SIGNAL ERROR.

I called the tech support folks after the standard reboot and re-check switch, and the guy was pretty cluesless. Thanked me a hundred times, asked me what the weather was and if there were trees in front of my dish. We activated the receiver, but the check switch still failed. As we were on the phone, the receiver downloaded a software update, then the program guide. It was only after these downloads did the 72 sat work. Now, everything is fine.

So - if you want to do this yourself, DO NOT DO THE CHECK SWITCH FIRST!!! Get the thing activated, wait for all of the downloads, then do it. In fact, after all the downloads, the receiver pops up a 388 window (or was it 383) and says there is a problem with the switch and it goes through a 1 of 4 check on both inputs. After that, everything is golden.

So, good luck, go forth and DO IT YOURSELF! You can do it, it's not rocket science for anyone who's put up a dish before. Aiming the dish is a snap!

 

[sudenveli]

I've been a subscriber to Dish's SD offerings for about 6 years now.When I moved to this house 4 years ago, I used their DishMover service to have it installed at the new location. When I moved, I had them add local channels (all in SD, again). I currently have a Dish 500 receiving signals from 119, 105 and 110, according to the Check Switch utility. I'm located just north of Baltimore, MD.

Anyhow, we returned from vacation a month ago to find our one TV died in a thunderstorm, so we had it replaced with a new HDTV. I wasn't set to change to receive HD service for a few reasons, but our 301E receiver has begun experiencing problems changing channels, be it with the Tivo trying to change it, or with the remote control. Swapping it with a spare 301 I had resolved the problem, but I had that deactivated. Sure, I COULD have just deactivated the -correct- one, and not bothered to upgrade, but this let me upgrade to the newer receiver and get HD channels with my wife's consent.

ANYHOW, none of the Dish customer service folks could answer whether or not I could get a single-dish solution when I upgraded to HD. I received the G3 smartcard in the mail a week ago, so that part's OK. The install tech is supposed to arrive today, so I'm gonna ask about it, but I'm fully expecting to have a second dish installed, pointing to 61.5.
So, I don't know that I have a real question, but I'll definitely drop a note as to what transpires.

Yes, I know the TiVo can't record the HD channels in anything but SD, and I'm fine with that. I'll have an SVideo cable running from the 222 to the Tivo, and then from the Tivo to the TV, and have the HDMI from the 222 directly to an HDMI input to the TV, and just switch inputs whenever I want to watch an HD channel live. I'm cool with that.

 

[Lbeck]

I've been a subscriber to Dish's SD offerings for about 6 years now.When I moved to this house 4 years ago, I used their DishMover service to have it installed at the new location. When I moved, I had them add local channels (all in SD, again). I currently have a Dish 500 receiving signals from 119, 105 1nd 110, according to the Check Switch utility. I'm located just north of Baltimore, MD.

Anyhow, we returned from vacation a month ago to find our one TV died in a thunderstorm, so we had it replaced with a new HDTV. I wasn't set to change to receive HD service for a few reasons, but our 301E receiver has begun experiencing problems changing channels, be it with the Tivo trying to change it, or with the remote control. Swapping it with a spare 301 I had resolved the problem, but I had that deactivated. Sure, I COULD have just deactivated the -correct- one, and not bothered to upgrade, but this let me upgrade to the newer receiver and get HD channels with my wife's consent.

ANYHOW, none of the Dish customer service folks could answer whether or not I could get a single-dish solution when I upgraded to HD. I received the G3 smartcard in the mail a week ago, so that part's OK. The install tech is supposed to arrive today, so I'm gonna ask about it, but I'm fully expecting to have a second dish installed, pointing to 61.5.
So, I don't know that I have a real question, but I'll definitely drop a note as to what transpires.

Yes, I know the TiVo can't record the HD channels in anything but SD, and I'm fine with that. I'll have an SVideo cable running from the 222 to the Tivo, and then from the Tivo to the TV, and have the HDMI from the 222 directly to an HDMI input to the TV, and just switch inputs whenever I want to watch an HD channel live. I'm cool with that.

Sounds to me like you're on the right track. I'm an experienced Satellite user ever since the old LNA days (I have a 12' dish and motorized controls that I'll sell you cheap) but I never thoufht to ask if my Dish install was able to reach all the satellites that I needed. I ASSUMED that they would at least tell me that they were leaving the insatllation without hooking me to all the avvailable sats, or to tell me why they couldn't/wouldn't.

Before your installer leaves I'd discuss with him that you want to be able to receive all of the satellites that your receiver can handle. He should be able to let you know if there are some birds up there that the dish(s) won't pick up, what channels you won't be able to receive, and the reason(s) he didn't include the hardware necessary for the dish/channels. There may be some foreign lnaguage channels that are not available with the dish(s) he hooks you into, but I assume that is not a problem for you.

 

[sudenveli]

Before your installer leaves I'd discuss with him that you want to be able to receive all of the satellites that your receiver can handle. He should be able to let you know if there are some birds up there that the dish(s) won't pick up, what channels you won't be able to receive, and the reason(s) he didn't include the hardware necessary for the dish/channels. There may be some foreign lnaguage channels that are not available with the dish(s) he hooks you into, but I assume that is not a problem for you.

I wouldn't mind receiving some of the foreign language channels, that's just low on the priority list. Thanks for the suggestion, Lbeck, I'll definitely harass the installer. It's the least he could do, given that he's already well past his arrival window.

 

[sudenveli]

Yup, I'm getting a second dish (this one the 20" model) in addition to my big ol' 34" one. No eastern arc for me. The installer said they're reserving those for people who are getting the Dish 100% HD packages and new customers with HD in the eastern region, pretty much reinforcing what everyone's said here.

If my HOA complains about the second dish, I'll just have to threaten them with another lawsuit.

 

[dishcomm]

I've been a subscriber to Dish's SD offerings for about 6 years now.When I moved to this house 4 years ago, I used their DishMover service to have it installed at the new location. When I moved, I had them add local channels (all in SD, again). I currently have a Dish 500 receiving signals from 119, 105 and 110, according to the Check Switch utility. I'm located just north of Baltimore, MD.

Anyhow, we returned from vacation a month ago to find our one TV died in a thunderstorm, so we had it replaced with a new HDTV. I wasn't set to change to receive HD service for a few reasons, but our 301E receiver has begun experiencing problems changing channels, be it with the Tivo trying to change it, or with the remote control. Swapping it with a spare 301 I had resolved the problem, but I had that deactivated. Sure, I COULD have just deactivated the -correct- one, and not bothered to upgrade, but this let me upgrade to the newer receiver and get HD channels with my wife's consent.

ANYHOW, none of the Dish customer service folks could answer whether or not I could get a single-dish solution when I upgraded to HD. I received the G3 smartcard in the mail a week ago, so that part's OK. The install tech is supposed to arrive today, so I'm gonna ask about it, but I'm fully expecting to have a second dish installed, pointing to 61.5.
So, I don't know that I have a real question, but I'll definitely drop a note as to what transpires.

Yes, I know the TiVo can't record the HD channels in anything but SD, and I'm fine with that. I'll have an SVideo cable running from the 222 to the Tivo, and then from the Tivo to the TV, and have the HDMI from the 222 directly to an HDMI input to the TV, and just switch inputs whenever I want to watch an HD channel live. I'm cool with that.

two things..one, EA is for new customers only....Second, because you are north of DC the 129 is not visible from your location. At this point a two dish solution is required if you want HD programming

 

[Bountykiller]

Can you mix and match Eastern Arc service with legacy. Ie will the G3 smartcart decrypt 129's signal. This will sound like a daft question and please don't bother pointing out the obvious here... I only wish to know the answer I am asking ;0 Can I have say 72.7, 129 and 77 when it is up? Would that work as far as the one card being able to decrypt everything? Or would I not get 129 video once I have the g3 smartcard?

 

[tansu]

Got it.

Got eastern arch in atlanta, self install, store bought.
Also have 61.5/110/119 on second 722 that I will sell when 77 works.

 

[navychop]

Can you mix and match Eastern Arc service with legacy. Ie will the G3 smartcart decrypt 129's signal. This will sound like a daft question and please don't bother pointing out the obvious here... I only wish to know the answer I am asking ;0 Can I have say 72.7, 129 and 77 when it is up? Would that work as far as the one card being able to decrypt everything? Or would I not get 129 video once I have the g3 smartcard?

OK- I'll ask: Why would you want to? Just no 61.5 LOS? If you have 110, 119 & 129 LOS, you don't NEED EA. You don't even WANT EA. See Scott's posts on the matter.

Now let's consider that due to some bizarre LOS problems, you believe you only have LOS to 129, 72.7 & 77. After EA is open to current subs, they might allow you to do this. Not sure why they'd bother blocking 129 for EA customers. But nobody really knows now. Maybe they'll tell us later.

The new purple cards are for an updated security system. They'll work with all sats and will be sent to all subs.

 

[begs1999]

eastern arch no card in box

ordered turbo hd last week with 722 dvr. The installer removed the card out of the box & told me they were already hacked.

 

[LordKron]

thats Bullsh!t

 

[dishcomm]

ordered turbo hd last week with 722 dvr. The installer removed the card out of the box & told me they were already hacked.

First, what right did that tech have to remove the card. I'd report this right away. Second , what in Sam Hill is he doing saying anything about hacking? And where did he hear that garbage?

 

[LordKron]

what it is , is that the tech hisself is going to take the card and use it or sell it on ebay.
hopefully get caught and get fired, and put in jail, sorry arse's

 

[Tyralak]

ordered turbo hd last week with 722 dvr. The installer removed the card out of the box & told me they were already hacked.

Wow. Did you report that to Dish? We NEVER EVER remove smart cards from someone's receiver. Especially a new box.