no locals even though Dish says I can get them?

[skidoomi]

I have had my dish for 4 years and decided to upgrade to HD today. I like the local channels and after my installer was done I told him I wanted to see the locals. He said that may be a problem because the locals are on a different sattelite than what my dish was set up for. He could not redirect to the different sattelite because there are trees in that direction. Why didn't dish point this out to me before I made my decision? This is silly! Why would they put the locals on a different sattelite than all of the other HD channels? Does anyone know if this may change anytime soon?

 

[GNASH]

I have had my dish for 4 years and decided to upgrade to HD today. I like the local channels and after my installer was done I told him I wanted to see the locals. He said that may be a problem because the locals are on a different sattelite than what my dish was set up for. He could not redirect to the different sattelite because there are trees in that direction. Why didn't dish point this out to me before I made my decision? This is silly! Why would they put the locals on a different sattelite than all of the other HD channels? Does anyone know if this may change anytime soon?

The reason that Dish did not tell you that locals are on a different satellite (I am assuming you are pointed at 110, 119, and 129 and your locals are on 61.5) is that for some people, it is possible to get all 4 satellites. They have no way of knowing if you will have a line of sight to the satellite without actually being on your property (unless you are in one of the corners of the country).

As for putting locals on a different satellite than the "rest" of the HD, the locals are on that satellite along with most other HD (Most HD channels are on both 129 and 61.5) so if you had line of sight to 61.5, the installer would have been able to give you HD from that satellite and you would have got most HD channels (there are some like Regional Sports Networks that are on one or the other, but most channels are mirrored on both satellites.

Hope that helps explain it,
Geoff