FS: VIP Dish 211k

[HIFI]

SatelliteGuys.US_TheList - Dish Network Beaumont, TX
it looks like your HD locals are on both arcs so you could go either way. but as far as the 500+ that would be a waste unless you plan on getting any international programming.

 

[Dee_Ann]

SatelliteGuys.US_TheList - Dish Network Beaumont, TX
it looks like your HD locals are on both arcs so you could go either way. but as far as the 500+ that would be a waste unless you plan on getting any international programming.

Nope. I don't need international channels unless they are free. I looked at the channels on 118.7 (thanks for pointing me to the subscription list that I had never noticed before) and I see absolutely nothing there I would be interested in.

I believe that the only satellites I would actually have any need for would be 110, 119 and 129.

I guess it would be easy to convert one of my larger 1m dishes to use for 110/119 and I could aim another one at 129.
I guess my biggest quandary would be turning a 1m dish into a dual dish that aims at two satellites like the Dish 500 does. I'm not sure how I would go about that.
But I've got time to figure it out. The easy option would be to just buy a new 1000.2 dish and be done with it. But I want to be stupid and torture myself with a hopeless DIY project that will make me mad, waste my time and money and ultimately force me into buying a ready made dish.. :

What ever I end up with, it HAS TO be all in on a single wire. There is no way possible to run a gob of wires through the underground into the house. Not happening. It's going to be nigh impossible to get one more wire pushed through the tube that's there now.


edit: Actually, looking at the list of ~local~ HD channels they carry, I don't see a pressing need for those either. There's a bunch of local channels they do not carry so I won't sweat this too much. I have an OTA antenna anyway and the tuner picks up and records OTA so no big deal. The more I think about this, the more I think I'm going to set up three 1 meter dishes, one each for 110, 119 and 129. That ought to make sure I get TV even if MARS moves in the way between the satellites and my back yard.

 

[Mr Tony]

you could set up 3 separate dishes. But yeah all you need is 110/119/129

110 has SD programming and some HD (about 6-7 channels)
119 has the "core" SD programming and the 9 day guide
129 is the HD sat

 

[Dee_Ann]

you could set up 3 separate dishes. But yeah all you need is 110/119/129

110 has SD programming and some HD (about 6-7 channels)
119 has the "core" SD programming and the 9 day guide
129 is the HD sat

Thank you for helping to clarify this.

By doing it my way it will save me some money, I won't have to buy a Fancy Nancy dish and I'll end up with better reception on the ~much larger~ dishes. Rain? Eh....

I see that they have FSTV on there, I plan on getting the Top 250 package so I can change my 1.2m dish that's dedicated to FSTV on 123 over to 129 for my HD channels.
That dish exists only for FSTV and nothing else. But it's flaky and not 100% reliable. Very, very touchy.. I'll aim that beast at 129 and put a new LNB on it and I'll be rockin and rolling HD like nobody's business!
I have a few 1 meter dishes that I can also convert to Dish so I should be in really good shape. I'll just have to put a switch out there for them to pipe it down a single wire.

This is sounding better and better..

 

[Mr Tony]

just had a different thought......since HiFi said your locals are on both arcs you could do a Eastern Arc setup and get everything you want with only 2 dishes

Eastern Arc is 61.5/72.7/77
77 is for some markets locals (yours are on 61.5) and Spanish channels. Since I know you aren't a spanish fan you could just use 2 dishes at 61.5 & 72.7 and be set

 

[navychop]

So, will the little dishes be harder to point than these other big thingies in my back yard?
....

I see you're not a big fan of motorized dishes.

Aiming will be a piece of cake for you.

 

[Dee_Ann]

I see you're not a big fan of motorized dishes.

Aiming will be a piece of cake for you.

Actually I have one ku HH motor there, my PC card won't drive a motor so I went with separate dishes and an 8x1 switch plus a 22k to get most of those connected to the PC.
A few years later I had to buy an S10 to be able to drive a HH motor.

I also have the two C-band dishes with motors, one is driven by a G-box and the other is a hack job, I move it with an antique Houston Tracker tuner. It doesn't tune, it just operates the motor only.
So I've got all kinds of crazy stuff going on here..

 

[Dee_Ann]

just had a different thought......since HiFi said your locals are on both arcs you could do a Eastern Arc setup and get everything you want with only 2 dishes

Eastern Arc is 61.5/72.7/77
77 is for some markets locals (yours are on 61.5) and Spanish channels. Since I know you aren't a spanish fan you could just use 2 dishes at 61.5 & 72.7 and be set

61 could be a problem for me with trees. I'll have to wait until my yard un-floods and go do the iPhone dishpointer thingy to see if I can hit it. 129 is iffy too. I used to have a hard time with it when White Springs was around.

But anyway, so you're saying that by aiming at 61.5 and 72.7, just two satellites, I can get all the same channels, HD stuff too, that I would get on three satellites at 110/119/129 ??
Seems to me like they are cramming a lot of channels that way. Is the picture quality ok? All I can think of is that evil word, compression..

It would be nice to do it with just two dishes but I'm not sure I can hit 61 and I'm a little concerned about the quality..

Thanks!

edit: Having poured through the lists of channels and satellites, I think I can do it with two satellites as you say, I see no reason on earth to aim at 77w, it's all them thar furrin channels. Nope..

So the big question is, can I get through the trees or not? I sure hope so, that would be perfect for me. I've got two dishes I can easily convert right away. That would put me in good shape.
Oh gosh I hope I can do this!

 

[Mr Tony]

But anyway, so you're saying that by aiming at 61.5 and 72.7, just two satellites, I can get all the same channels, HD stuff too, that I would get on three satellites at 110/119/129 ??
Seems to me like they are cramming a lot of channels that way. Is the picture quality ok? All I can think of is that evil word, compression..

Couple reasons why EA only needs two sats to see versus WA which is 3 sata
-Western Arc (110/119) SD is MPEG2...Eastern Arc is MPEG4. As you know you can put more channels on a MPEG4 transponder (think RTV) than you can on a MPEG2 transponder
-Locals on Eastern Arc they are only needed once as its MPEG4. So if a local isnt carried in HD its carried in SD. There is no duplicates. Western Arc folks still have SD only so both HD & SD locals are on there. This takes up room
-Lots more transponders on WA are spotbeams (for locals). As example 110 has 17 CONUS transponders, 119 has 16 and 129 has 16. 49 transponders total for CONUS
Eastern Arc has 22 on 61.5 and all of 72.7 is CONUS (32) although right now they only use 25 of them so 47 transponders (the other 7 Directv used until the beginning of this year)

Remember that the dish has a look angle of about 22-24 degrees higher than what the dish looks like. SO make sure you're shooting around the tree. If you go the EA route all you need are a couple old Directv LNB's (the ones with the single eye on them) and rig them on the dishes. Then you can use the SW21 switch I threw in to combine them
If you go Western Arc (3 dishes) you would need a SW31 switch. Its not a dish switch but an aftermarket one that Ebay has. Looks like this. If you need one shoot me a PM as I have one (when I had my ghetto rig set up) that I can probably let it go for shipping.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Couple reasons why EA only needs two sats to see versus WA which is 3 sata
-Western Arc (110/119) SD is MPEG2...Eastern Arc is MPEG4. As you know you can put more channels on a MPEG4 transponder (think RTV) than you can on a MPEG2 transponder
-Locals on Eastern Arc they are only needed once as its MPEG4. So if a local isnt carried in HD its carried in SD. There is no duplicates. Western Arc folks still have SD only so both HD & SD locals are on there. This takes up room
-Lots more transponders on WA are spotbeams (for locals). As example 110 has 17 CONUS transponders, 119 has 16 and 129 has 16. 49 transponders total for CONUS
Eastern Arc has 22 on 61.5 and all of 72.7 is CONUS (32) although right now they only use 25 of them so 47 transponders (the other 7 Directv used until the beginning of this year)

Remember that the dish has a look angle of about 22-24 degrees higher than what the dish looks like. SO make sure you're shooting around the tree. If you go the EA route all you need are a couple old Directv LNB's (the ones with the single eye on them) and rig them on the dishes. Then you can use the SW21 switch I threw in to combine them
If you go Western Arc (3 dishes) you would need a SW31 switch. Its not a dish switch but an aftermarket one that Ebay has. Looks like this. If you need one shoot me a PM as I have one (when I had my ghetto rig set up) that I can probably let it go for shipping.

This all sounds good..

I did however just find out that unfortunately my old Birddog meter can not be used to align the dish on 72.7 because it's using this turbo stuff. I'll have to depend on the old "haul it all out into the yard" method of alignment.
Maybe my little cheapy squealy meter will help but it seems I'll have to bring the tuner and a screen out there. Not fun. And probably not very accurate.

I've been playing with dishpointer.com and I think that I MAY be able to hit the two satellites at 61 and 72 despite the trees. I can't be sure, I need to go out in the yard but I don't have any rain boots, my yard is a foot deep from all the rain/flooding.
We're caught up on last year's drought.

Finding LNB's to fit my dishes is going to be a bit of a problem. I'm assuming I can't use linear stuff and that my old Directway dishes can't be uses, they have weird LNB's that I do not think can be replaced due to the weird fittings and shapes and stuff of the LNB and the arm clamps. So I won't worry about them. I have plenty of other dishes that have round clamps that I think I can make work.

Oh, and one other question, of the two satellites, 61.5 and 72.7, which one is the primary content? Or are they split evenly? I seems to me that 110/119 are the primary content and that 129 is pretty much HD content only.
I'm going to be using a 1.2m and a 1m dish and I'm wondering which satellite would be better served with the bigger dish? Or, another thing to consider, is one satellite weaker than the other? I've experienced that with FTA and found that bigger is better. Or are both satellites of equal strength and content is divided evenly between them? I tried to look at 'the list' but it's kind of overwhelming to scroll through it, there are hundred and hundreds of channels, most of them appear to be nonsense. It's like trying to listen to someone whisper in the middle of room full of people hollering..

Thanks guys..

 

[Mr Tony]

72.7 has most of the HD
61.5 has the locals and SD (but has some HD still)

Both are the same powerwise and between a 1m and a 1.2m dish the rainfade would be pretty much the same (give or take a couple seconds)

 

[Dee_Ann]

72.7 has most of the HD
61.5 has the locals and SD (but has some HD still)

Both are the same powerwise and between a 1m and a 1.2m dish the rainfade would be pretty much the same (give or take a couple seconds)

Good stuff to know! Thank you..

I think I will put the 1.2m dish towards 61.5 since that one is going to be a bit close to the tree line right next to it. Hopefully that will help.
I'm pretty sure that 72.7 will be a straight shot with no tree issues so I'll put the 1m on that satellite.
I think this will work out just fine. I'm thinking, though not sure that the dishes I'll be using are substantially larger that any dishes you can get from Dish Network so I'm hoping that it will be a rare thing to lose signal in all but full tilt hurricanes.

I've dug through the junk box left behind for me and I found two LNB's that I am sure will work.
One is a generic circular LNB that says it's Directv and Dish Network compatible and has a 40mm neck so I can clamp it into the 1.2m dish easily.
Another is a standard Directv LNB that I pried open last year. I found the plastic shell is just a rain cover and that the LNB neck is pretty small inside it.
I cut the plastic shell back to expose the metal neck inside and it will clamp right into the 1m dish without a problem.

So I'm in good shape without breaking the bank. Now it's just a matter of running another wire underground. That's gonna be tons of fun.
I see no problem with setting a goal of March 1st to call them up and activate..

 

[Mr Tony]

One is a generic circular LNB that says it's Directv and Dish Network compatible and has a 40mm neck so I can clamp it into the 1.2m dish easily.
Another is a standard Directv LNB that I pried open last year. I found the plastic shell is just a rain cover and that the LNB neck is pretty small inside it.
I cut the plastic shell back to expose the metal neck inside and it will clamp right into the 1m dish without a problem.

both should work fine. The SW21 is what you would use to combine them together (Dish has their own switching setup so you would have to use the SW21 and not a normal Diseqc switch)

 

[Dee_Ann]

Oh, something occurred to me, is there a sub-forum here that is for Dish Network folks?
I've never really looked outside of the FTA forums.

I didn't see anything that looked to be Dish specific, maybe I'm just blind..

 

[isaacmorseMI]

Oh, something occurred to me, is there a sub-forum here that is for Dish Network folks?
I've never really looked outside of the FTA forums.

I didn't see anything that looked to be Dish specific, maybe I'm just blind..

Under Entertainment Providers there is a Dish forum.

Sent from my iPad 2 using Forum Runner

 

[Dee_Ann]

Under Entertainment Providers there is a Dish forum.

Sent from my iPad 2 using Forum Runner

Oh cool! Thank you!

Oh! I found it! A long time ago I set those sub forums to not show because at the time I never thought I would ever have need of them! DOH!!

 

[isaacmorseMI]

Oh cool! Thank you!

Oh! I found it! A long time ago I set those sub forums to not show because at the time I never thought I would ever have need of them! DOH!!

Glad you found it!

 

[navychop]

Oh cool! Thank you!

Oh! I found it! A long time ago I set those sub forums to not show because at the time I never thought I would ever have need of them! DOH!!

Glad you found it!

In a deep, James Earl Jones voice, "WELCOME." :dev

 

[Dee_Ann]

Good news and bad news..

The tuner came in two days early and in perfect condition. No damage to the box, everything looks excellent, everything looks like brand new, as promised.
Thank you very much!

The bad news is, my yard drained off enough to go outside with my iPhone and the dishpointer app and I was extremely disappointed to discover that there is a freaking pecan tree right smack in the way of 61.5 and even 72.7 is borderline.. :cry:

So those satellites are off the table, at least from the "dish farm" as you guys like to call it..

So, my only options are, install/convert three dishes (in the farm) and aim them at 110/119/129

Going through my collection of FTA parts and stuff, I can make only two dishes.
I have a gob of Directway dishes which are all linear and you can't change out the LNB except for an exact replacement of their own weird, unique and proprietary LNB.
I guess I could convert one of my larger dishes that I'm using for PBS on 125 but I would hate to do that. I suppose I could use a smaller Directway for PBS and use the big dish for the third Dishnet dish.
If so I would also have to purchase another LNB for it and a 1x3 Dish switch.

The other option would be to purchase a 1000.4 dish and put it on the side of my house which would skirt the tree problem. But then I'm looking at $100+ for the dish kit and another $40 shipping..

I think I can do the three dishes out back but I'm looking at a LOT of work and running another wire. The upside to it is that this would cost a lot less than buying a 1000.4 dish and they are substantially larger and should give me a huge advantage when it comes to rain fade!

I would have to give up and compromise some of my FTA dishes but it wouldn't be too much of a loss. I think if I re-jigger my dishes around I can continue to get all the same things I've been getting.
A few of the dishes exist to receive one and only one channel per dish. Like I have a 1.2m dish setup just to get FSTV only. Well that will be on Dishnet so no loss there. Besides, the FTA feed is very, very touchy and unstable even with the big dish.

Aw dang it... I just went outside to the side of my house where I was thinking I could put a dish and checked with my iPhone and the trees are in the way there as well. So the eastern satellites are just not going to happen, at all.
I guess I don't have to worry about buying a 1000.4 dish kit.

It looks like I'm going to have a MAJOR redo of pretty much all my smaller dishes, there's no escaping it.
At least this way I can use my Birddog meter to align my dishes, there are mpeg2 signals on all three. I wouldn't have been able to use my meter to align 72.7...

As always, fun, fun, fun....



GAH!!!!!!!!! My Bird dog meter won't update now! I plug the cable in and it gives an error..

Edit: fixed that, the cable was mashed and the pins weren't contacting. I had to straighten out the mashed plastic. Good to go..

 

[Mr Tony]

The tuner came in two days early and in perfect condition. No damage to the box, everything looks excellent, everything looks like brand new, as promised.
Thank you very much!

sweet. Kinda shocked that you got it two days early (they told me Friday at the post office) but I make sure its packed properly

The bad news is, my yard drained off enough to go outside with my iPhone and the dishpointer app and I was extremely disappointed to discover that there is a freaking pecan tree right smack in the way of 61.5 and even 72.7 is borderline..

bummer.....

Going through my collection of FTA parts and stuff, I can make only two dishes.
I have a gob of Directway dishes which are all linear and you can't change out the LNB except for an exact replacement of their own weird, unique and proprietary LNB.
I guess I could convert one of my larger dishes that I'm using for PBS on 125 but I would hate to do that. I suppose I could use a smaller Directway for PBS and use the big dish for the third Dishnet dish.

an option is to try and put a DBS LNB next to that dish. Since the DBS signals are strong you could get by slapping one next to 125W for 129 or even 119. The larger dish will help with the signals even if off centre. Here is a pic of a DirecPC dish for 95W with a LNB for 91 next to it (when I had a Bell sub)

If so I would also have to purchase another LNB for it .

just find a single or dual output Directv LNB. Heck since you're a pub member create a wanted ad. I'm sure someone would have some extras laying around that they'd sell dirt cheap

and a 1x3 Dish switch

I knew I should have thrown that SW31 in the box. I'll send that out snail mail in a bubble envelope. Its like the SW21 but for 3 sats. Its an aftermarket item (Dish doesnt make one ) but it will work fine

The other option would be to purchase a 1000.4 dish and put it on the side of my house which would skirt the tree problem. But then I'm looking at $100+ for the dish kit and another $40 shipping..

you mean a 1000.2 and it should be under $100 if you went that route

I would have to give up and compromise some of my FTA dishes but it wouldn't be too much of a loss. I think if I re-jigger my dishes around I can continue to get all the same things I've been getting.
A few of the dishes exist to receive one and only one channel per dish. Like I have a 1.2m dish setup just to get FSTV only. Well that will be on Dishnet so no loss there. Besides, the FTA feed is very, very touchy and unstable even with the big dish.

you could jimmy rig something with 119 & 110 on the same dish as example. Lots of options

Aw dang it... I just went outside to the side of my house where I was thinking I could put a dish and checked with my iPhone and the trees are in the way there as well. So the eastern satellites are just not going to happen, at all.
I guess I don't have to worry about buying a 1000.4 dish kit.

a 1000.2 dish would work (for 110/119/129). If you go the actual Dish route it doesnt matter which arc you go in your case as its all one dish.