Well, I am not in the same location as you at all (not even close). For me i love the borrowed directv birds!!! ;0 I get them on the fringe at FULL strength. an 18 Inch dish would pick them up just fine and no other satellite is like that for me (i am not even in North america (and no not mexico or north of canada)... However, I do Not get signal easily from Nimiq1 and nimiq2 (i know full well what u guys are bitching about) I do get everything from Nimiq4i flawlessly. I took this measure a while back right after the addition of the borrowed satt.
I get 100% (totally burried even in rain etc) on 5,7,9,11,25,27,29,31,32
I get very little off the other bird (weakly at about 45-60%) 12,16,20,24,25,32 (not sure about 4)
I have however (in my instance only) confirmed that going up a dish size got everything (all be it still not at a decent level, but it did all come in) I am not new to this sort of issue by any means. As i said I have always needed a larger dish where i am for ANY DBS provider at all. I know first hand that those DSS satellites drop off SUPER quick on the fringe in comparison to other satellites. From what i understand, that was by design too. When that was at 101 i needed (not that i paid 10-12 k for one) a 12-16 footer to get signal off of DirectTV. So yes a larger dish will always work, but its a matter of just how large. There is a threshold point.. once you cross it life is ok, but it can be difficult in an instance such as this... I hope this is of use to you!? ;0 Also as an FYI a prime focus BUD is not an efficient dish. You need to tesat using a large offset dish. Center fed dishes have less gain and fiddly lnb setups/conversions that introduce loss into the equation, not to mention the mesh holes... ;0 Find someone with a very large offset dish to try this out on.
-B