Good thing there are two arcs.

[MikeD-C05]

I had an experience this last month that proves to me that DISH was smart to have a two arc options for their company. My parents on my second DISH account in Texas have always been pointed to western arc sats: 110/119/129. So has my Aunt on my third DISH account in Arkansas, since I installed it back in 08. On my account I had western arc but switched to eastern arc in 08 when the 1000.4 sat dish came out. Now a few weeks back my Mom and dad and my aunt all had trouble with their reception. My dad kept having his hd locals show a loss of signal and they would turn to the sd equivalent on 119 . My Aunt was having similar situation but would lose all her sat channels ,locals included.

So, I did all the due diligence in replacing all my dad's different switches , diplexors,lnb, coax etc. Same problems persisted. There was a live oak tree in their neighbors yard that had grown up too big and was causing their signal to drop out ,according to my conversation with the dish tech. She showed that the signal was dropping out several times a day on all the different sats at different times of the day. I ended up ordering an eastern arc lnb for $49.99 from dishdepot.com and I reinstalled the lnb on their dish after changing the skew. I had to take the pan off and switch it to the eastern arc skew and put it back. I repointed the dish to the eastern arc sat and viola! Great signal strengths of 55 - 68 on all their transponders and 61 on their spot beam locals. My mom and dad were happy as hell that their service returned to working great.

For my aunt ,I set up an moving appointment for DISH to come out and install a new dish and lnb. Turns out the same problem for her situation: TREES had grown up all around her house. He ended up moving the dish to the back side of the house and she got eastern arc lnb. She got all her locals back ,except she had to go with Little Rock instead of Ft. Smith. She is just happy to be able to see her soap consistently.

So I got to thinking how many subs DISH would lose due to this situation alone if they didn't have two different look angles and arcs for their service. Both my parents and my aunt wouldn't have been able to use either DISH or Directv due to the same general direction both of their sats are located for western arc. Wonder how many subs Directv loses or can't even get to sub to their service over this issue alone?

Incidentally , I found my live oak tree in my front yard is now blocking my western arc dish, I use for just powering my not subscribed 211k and my clip on antenna ,so I can get my ota stations to come in . The 129 sat is being blocked quite a lot and the spot beam sat is coming in much lower than it would if it was moved away from the tree. Might have to eventually move it to another area to keep my reception going and my ota coming in.

 

[rvvaquero]

I repointed the dish to the eastern arc sat and viola! Great signal strengths of 55 - 68 on all their transponders and 61 on their spot beam locals.

How do you pinpoint the signal strength on a spot beam?

 

[Tampa8]

Many to maybe most? Even if my Ct locals in HD were on the WA I can't see 129 so I need the EA. In Fl I can see both Arcs but rain fade is far more prevalent on the EA so I have the WA there. That is why I said before if DISH is forcing some markets/people to the EA for their locals and removing them from the WA that could be a mistake. I will say getting the EA is generally easier than the WA.

 

[the mack]

While I agree it is nice to have the 2 arcs, the 30 degrees of open sky needed and low look angle of the 129 sat on the western arc make it less desirable situation when compared to Directv,s 6 degree window and optimum location on the Clarke Belt seems like a better situation overall.

 

[MikeD-C05]

How do you pinpoint the signal strength on a spot beam?

IF you know what transponder and spotbeam your locals are on , you can put it on that spotbeam and check out the strength. Like in Beaumont , Tx ,my dma on eastern arc , it is on 61.5 sat transponder 20 which becomes the spotbeam for our area. I get around 61 strength.

 

[rvvaquero]

IF you know what transponder and spotbeam your locals are on , you can put it on that spotbeam and check out the strength. Like in Beaumont , Tx ,my dma on eastern arc , it is on 61.5 sat transponder 20 which becomes the spotbeam for our area. I get around 61 strength.

Okay, thanks. I understood how you could do the transponder. I thought maybe you meant something more specific.

 

[rjoeng]

Hi MikeD-C05. Your topic about the two arcs caught my interest. I’m down here in Pharr, Texas trying to set up a Dish Network 1000.2 HD Eastern Arc antenna for the 61.5 and 72.7 satellites. I was able to find 61.5 without a problem, but I’m having trouble locating 72.7. Looking at the recommended settings from my Dish Vip211z receiver, it shows nothing for a skew. I find this hard to believe. I don’t have a current zip code table for 1000.2 EA settings, but I have one for 1000.4 which shows the skew at 49 for my 78577 zip code area. However, if I try setting the skew around there, I lose 61.5 at the recommended AZ and EL settings. I noticed in your post that you did a setup for your parents who are also in Texas, and you mentioned that you changed the skew. Now I’m wondering where you got the new skew settings from, because I’ve searched the net for a 1000.2 EA table and found nothing. Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!

 

[TheKrell]

Can you make sense of this? http://www.satelliteguys.us/thelist/calc.php Huh. Link doesn't work. Let me try again... OK, go here: http://www.dishpointer.com/. Note the pulldown list where you select the type of LNB you have.

 

[ChadT41]

When using the dishpointer.com with a 1000.2EA use the 1000.4EA angles and make adjustments from there.

As far as the point dish screen goes, you are not going to get the correct angles because they only have the Dish 500 and below, and likely if you're not getting a skew, it is because you have it set on dish system 300.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Hi MikeD-C05. Your topic about the two arcs caught my interest. I’m down here in Pharr, Texas trying to set up a Dish Network 1000.2 HD Eastern Arc antenna for the 61.5 and 72.7 satellites. I was able to find 61.5 without a problem, but I’m having trouble locating 72.7. Looking at the recommended settings from my Dish Vip211z receiver, it shows nothing for a skew. I find this hard to believe. I don’t have a current zip code table for 1000.2 EA settings, but I have one for 1000.4 which shows the skew at 49 for my 78577 zip code area. However, if I try setting the skew around there, I lose 61.5 at the recommended AZ and EL settings. I noticed in your post that you did a setup for your parents who are also in Texas, and you mentioned that you changed the skew. Now I’m wondering where you got the new skew settings from, because I’ve searched the net for a 1000.2 EA table and found nothing. Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!

When I bought my new eastern arc lnb , I got it from www.dishdepot.com. ( He charges no tax on any item sold and free shipping unless you are asking for expedited service. I've done business with Mark since 03 and he has always given me great service and even trade ins on OWNED receivers are welcomed towards credit for new receivers ) He provided with the lnb, the installation book for both arcs and the 1000.2 dish. It provides the skew ,elevation and azimuth directions for both western arc and eastern arcs.

For your zip code in Pharr ,Texas I read online that you have one zipcode for your area: 78577. The eastern arc lnb directions for your area are :Elevation of the dish is 46 /Skew of the dish is 46/Azimuth is 123.

If you are pointed towards western arc sats 110/119/129 ,like I was at my parents house, you will have to take the sat dish pan off and re-adjust the skew so it is pointed to 46 skew and then put the pan back on and bolt it all down. The directions say that if you need to use the additional bolts along the skew plate, if use skews that are either greater than 110 or less than 70. So basically your sat dish need 4 bolts to keep the skew plate locked down so it doesn't shake in the wind. Also if you are changing arcs you need to clear out your switch matrix,by running a check switch without the sat coaxes connected to your receiver and save the results ,even though they will show nothing in your matrix. Then put the coaxes back on your receiver on so you can use the meter for signal strength when you peak it.

Now once you get the dish pan back on and pointed in the general direction of the eastern sats - 123 azimuth using a compass, and your skew plate locked in place on 46, elevation also on 46 , you can take a sat meter and a coax ( cheap one I got at dishdepot) and put it on the first port of the lnb and peak on 72.7 sat transponder 13 . Now , the first time I did this I swiveled the dish to the left and the meter went off 10 strength ,but when I went in the house, I found I was on the 77 sat. So I swiveled back a little to the right and I got 72.7 to come in. So don't be surprised if you have the same issue. Both sats are very near each other. If you get 77 sat to show up , you are only a slight swivel to the right to get 72.7.

Once you are peaked on 72.7 , that is all you have to do , 61.5 is already there,assuming you use the right skew and elevation. I used my son on his cell phone to tell me if I got a strong enough signal. Because you can hear the sat meter go off ,but you can't know what strength you are getting , just 1 - 10 on the meter. I could only get around 36, no matter if I changed the elevation -which I didn't need to do. After I got it peaked on transponder 13 and locked my dish in place, and ran the coax back through like it is supposed to do and reran my check switch. I got around 62 on that same transponder. In fact I got like between 55 - 68 on all the transponders. Remember that on eastern arc anything 50 or higher is a great signal so not to have excessive rain fade issues. So make sure that you get your switch check run and let your receiver download the guide and you should be in business.

One other tip if you want to see the elevation skew and azimuth angles for yourself is to go to DISH's website , then choose support heading then installation sub heading and then pick the 1000.2 sat dish and there you will find both western and eastern arc look angles etc.

Good luck .

 

[rjoeng]

Hi MikeD. Just wanted to say "Thanks" for the great specific detail you gave me. You put me on the right track and saved me a lot of time. I won't say I didn't struggle just a bit, but none-the-less I did get everything going. Thank you again for your help!!

 

[MikeD-C05]

Hi MikeD. Just wanted to say "Thanks" for the great specific detail you gave me. You put me on the right track and saved me a lot of time. I won't say I didn't struggle just a bit, but none-the-less I did get everything going. Thank you again for your help!!

You are welcome! Glad to help anytime.

 

[Bobby]

SatGuys helping Satguys..... WTG MikeD!