Question about new birds

more often than not they'll be FSS due to the spacing issue. You can't have 2 DBS birds within 9 degrees of each other

Since 61.5, 82, 91, 101, 110, 119, 148 are taken. There are few options left for DBS satellites :)
 
AMC-15 is testing at 136w. Carriers are strong. Will move to 105w and replace AMC-2 upon successful completion of testing at 136w.
Those are FSS.

EchoStar 10, a DBS Spotbeam bird is to go to 110w sometime in 2005, apparently.
 
The next two Dish birds AMC-15 (already up and in test) and AMC-16 (lauch Dec) are Ku-FSS, Echostar 10 launched early next year will be Ku-DBS. The next satellite (likely AMC-17) will be Ku-FSS (possibly launched before E10).

That is what Dish currently has on order (at least announced in their SEC filing). After that they are at least committed to 2 more Ku-DBS (148 & 157), 2 (or 3 not sure what capabilities they have right now on 121) Ka band satellites, and 3 Ku-Aux to fill in their orbital slots or they could lose the slots.
 
mike123abc said:
The next two Dish birds AMC-15 (already up and in test) and AMC-16 (lauch Dec) are Ku-FSS, Echostar 10 launched early next year will be Ku-DBS. The next satellite (likely AMC-17) will be Ku-FSS (possibly launched before E10).

That is what Dish currently has on order (at least announced in their SEC filing). After that they are at least committed to 2 more Ku-DBS (148 & 157), 2 (or 3 not sure what capabilities they have right now on 121) Ka band satellites, and 3 Ku-Aux to fill in their orbital slots or they could lose the slots.

The rumor I had heard was that the third leased satellite from SES Americom was to be AMC-14 and it was going to be a DBS satellite going to 105.5 if the FCC approves the 4.5 degree separation for DBS satellites. By the way AMC-15 is expected to have not only a much stronger signal covering CONUS and Hawaii and most of Alaska but also 33 percent more capacity than AMC-2. It also has 12 Ka band spotbeams although it is very questionable if Dish will use these for video. AMC-16 is to be launched to 85 W and it has the same design as AMC-15.

In regards to 148 and 157, Dish has 2 old satellites at 148, Ecostar-1 and 2 (E-1 and E-2) and 1 old very crippled satellite at 157, E-4. Now Dish could move E-6 from 110 to one of these locations once E-10 is launched and operational which should be near the end of 2005. The useable coverage for E-6 would better fit 148 than 157 but if Dish is just trying to maintain their licenses at 157 like they are currently doing with E-4, then they may move E-6 to 157. Or they could move E-6 to 148 and move E-1 and E-2 to 157 to maintain licenses.

The 3 locations that Dish received license for Ku Extended band (KuX) are 83, 109 and 121. It has been posted in other threads that E-9 already at 121 has KuX capability but I have seen nothing else to confirm that. I have to believe that the 109 slot has the highest priority for KuX not only for its location close to 105, 110 and 119 but also that the amount of frequency licensed is at least twice that of the other two locations.
 
I'm not sure about AMC-14, but I do know that AMC-15 will be used at 105.

**Pure speculation follows**

We know they plan to put E*10 at 110 when it launches, my assumtion is that instead of supplimenting 110, it'll replace E*8, which had some trouble earlier this year and drifted out of orbit yet again.

From there I think you'll see E*8 move either as a backup, or move over to 148, so the older sats can either be backup or retire. The only reason I can see so much satellite at a wing slot is if Dish acquires Voom, and gets Rainbow 1 at 61.5 to balance it out. Then they explode with HD on the wings, balanced with mirrors to 148. Plenty of capacity.

We might see E*1, E*2, and E*3 (currently at 61.5) used as either backups, or conjunction with the other sats on the wings, maybe with E*1 replacing E*4 at 157 so it can retire. OR then there's the 4.5 degree option.. they might be used there as well.

Who knows.
 
E1,2 and 3 all are coming up for replacement. E1&2 seem to be doing better than E3 which keeps losing transponders and has never worked in double power mode (overheats). It is not good moving satellites designed for 110/119 to the wings because their antennas just are not designed to give good coverage. I bet they think that the VOOM satellite would be a nice replacement for E3.

We know they have to build a new satellite for 157, the three Ku-Aux and the Ka band slots. I suspect that they would build a new satellite for 148 when they build 157 since they are close enough that the one built for 157 could really be a backup for 148 in an emergency. I expect that 148/157 would be simple satellites since I do not see a lot of need for fancy spot beam satellites way out west. Who knows what they are planning for the Aux and Ka satellites, but given that they are lining up so many satellites (vs DIRECTV working to do HD with only 3 satellites) they should be fairly simple (maybe only minimal spots) and be less expensive to build.

They filed in their SEC reports that they have 2 new (not 105) slots leased from SES for the Ku-FSS band, and have in addition paid a deposit for the possiblilty of a 105.5 DBS slot if it were to open up. So, AMC-16 in December should be the next one followed by E10 followed by the next SES satellite (maybe it will be AMC-17).
 
I have conducted a little research and here are three links that clarify the lease agreements with SES Americom.

http://www.prleap.com/pr_600.html

http://www.lyngsat.com/launches/2006.html

http://www.ses-americom.com/satellites/amc-15.html

If you connect the dots, AMC-14 is the third leased satellite and it is planned to be launched in early 2006 to 105.5 W. The links to LyngSat and SES Americom implies it will be Ku DBS with 32 TPs. The kicker is getting FCC approval for the 4.5 degree separation for DBS slots.

Regarding Dish moving satellites around, I do not think E-8 will be moved from 110 even if it is used only as a backup because of the spotbeams that are specifically designed for 110. The spotbeams on E-8 and E-10 could both be used at the same time from 110 and give Dish a huge amount of spotbeams for locals. Dish currently has about 3 TPs full of locals on CONUS TPs on E-8 that are not distant networks and these TPs could be used for additional spotbeam capacity for E-10 by just moving the locals on those 3 CONUS TPs to spotbeams at 110. It is more likely that E-6 that is currently at 110 would be moved since it only has 32 CONUS TPs, no spotbeams. It also needs to be pointed out that E-1 was originally at 119 and then moved to 148 and that E-1 and E-2 each only have 16 CONUS TPs. So if Dish needed to move something to keep the licenses for all 32 TPs at 157, they would need to move both.
 
rocatman said:
If you connect the dots, AMC-14 is the third leased satellite and it is planned to be launched in early 2006 to 105.5 W. The links to LyngSat and SES Americom implies it will be Ku DBS with 32 TPs. The kicker is getting FCC approval for the 4.5 degree separation for DBS slots.

Actually if you read the Dish annual report they specifically say 2 additional Ku-FSS slots in addtion to 105 AND a new Ku-DBS. The Ku-DBS is the one they are hoping to go to 105.5 but as the annual report says will be at a location to be determined later. So, it is 4 leased satellites, not 3.
 

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