Questions about DISH - before I jump

[ChadT41]

As was pointed out to me, the antennas, there is no such thing as an HD antenna. They all attract the signal the same way. Someone even said they used a paper clip for awhile(I'm thinking it was a staff member here) and it worked just fine. Check out antennaweb.org or tvfool.com to see what type antenna you would need and the exact directions you would want to point it.

Here in Mesa, AZ, the Phoenix towers are 17 miles away on South Mountain and I can get them with a cheap Walmart indoor $20 antenna that barely needs positioned. If that helps.

 

[ActionAl]

As was pointed out to me, the antennas, there is no such thing as an HD antenna. They all attract the signal the same way. Someone even said they used a paper clip for awhile(I'm thinking it was a staff member here) and it worked just fine. Check out antennaweb.org or tvfool.com to see what type antenna you would need and the exact directions you would want to point it.

Here in Mesa, AZ, the Phoenix towers are 17 miles away on South Mountain and I can get them with a cheap Walmart indoor $20 antenna that barely needs positioned. If that helps.

Wow. Both sites provided awesome information. Based on your comments, I'm going to start with the antenna I already have in the garage attic, but now I know the exact direction to point it. If it doesn't work, the most I'll have to pay is about $100 for a high end antenna with an amplifier. I'm just under 30 miles away and I can probably get the antenna about 20ft high. Man I love options...especially having a backup plan for sports programming in bad weather

 

[ActionAl]

I don't often have to use this function on my HWS but just one other thing to note. Unlike your TWC DVRs if you happen to get a rare extended outage (ie you can't knock the snow off the Dish if it occurs) you can still access your DVR recordings as well as access the On Demand programming that Dish has available.

Yeah, I've been pissed at TWC for DVR's not working during their frequent outages. That's why I got a used Tivo to try out other options. The only problem is the box TWC gave me to use with the Tivo (because they don't have 2-way Cable CARDs) also has required rebooting several times so I lost recordings I thought were there, but weren't recorded.

 

[bobvick]

Do you think that'll actually work being 30 or more miles from the towers?

I live about 60 air miles from the towers in Birmingham. I get all the UHF channels with a Winegard FlatWave antenna mounted about 15 feet or so off the ground. It works nearly as well as a VHF/UHF antenna I had on a tower about 60' up that got struck by lighting a couple of years back.

 

[ClarkGable]

We have lost our Dish signal many times this summer due to rain. It has been extraordinarily rainy here this summer, though - we had over a foot of rain in a little over two weeks. When you get a couple of inches of rain at one time, you will lose satellite signal! When it isn't raining, our Dish signal is well above the published thresholds, so aiming isn't an issue. Just be aware that heavy rain will take out your signal for a while.

We have a 4-bay UHF antenna fixed in one direction about 25' up, and we pick up all Fort Wayne, IN stations. Those stations are about 39 miles away over flat terrain. We also pick up Lima, OH stations off of the back of the antenna as a bonus. Those antennas can be found on eBay and elsewhere for around $40.

 

[bnewt]

I also have outages. They seem to be more frequent on eastern arc than they were on western arc.

 

[dare2be]

I also have outages. They seem to be more frequent on eastern arc than they were on western arc.

I agree with this assessment. After moving to EA from WA I noticed more frequent outages as well. But as always, YMMV.

 

[ActionAl]

I pretty much expect there will be some outages. The problem with my TWC outages is that many were for hours and that I had no TV, no Internet, no phone, and I couldn't watch anything previously recorded on the DVR's. My guess is that by going with Dish for TV and TWC for Internet, I'll still have access to recorded shows and possibly the Internet during a TV outage, along with a back plan (OTA) for live sports that I've lost many times during TWC outages.

 

[bobvick]

One thing that helps, if your comfortable installing and peaking a dish, is to look for some 30" Winegards with the "D" tube. Point one at 61.5 and one at 72. Get some DPP singles or duals and run a line from each to a DPP33 or DPP44 switch.

 

[ActionAl]

One thing that helps, if your comfortable installing and peaking a dish, is to look for some 30" Winegards with the "D" tube. Point one at 61.5 and one at 72. Get some DPP singles or duals and run a line from each to a DPP33 or DPP44 switch.

So am I to assume that this combo provides a stronger signal which helps during weather issues that would have taken out the stock install?

 

[navychop]

You can watch Dish DVR'd material during an outage of satellite signal.

We once had local cableco service. Analog. Kept promising digital but it never came. Poor PQ. PLENTY of outages due to bad cable, constant rebalancing, etc. Then they required me to be home when they came, even though they knew the problem was outside. Then they said they would start charging for service calls, even when the fault was theirs. That was the last straw.

We were at some home show and saw a Dish dealer and a $10/month special. We bit. Been happy ever since- even moving was a cinch with a very short (hours?) disruption as service was relocated.

 

[darrengs]

After Hurricane Sandy people in my neighborhood did not have cable TV for almost 2 weeks. Even though we lost electricity for 9 days, I still had TV the whole time by using my generator, it sure helped deal with being trapped at home for days waiting for the roads to be cleared.

 

[bobvick]

So am I to assume that this combo provides a stronger signal which helps during weather issues that would have taken out the stock install?

Yes that setup will provide more signal. With two separate antennas, each is pointing at only one bird, with the 1000.2 Dish Antenna, you are using one reflector to aim at both birds, and neither is going to give a perfect signal.

 

[JM42]

So am I to assume that this combo provides a stronger signal which helps during weather issues that would have taken out the stock install?

Yes, but rain fade with a properly (or just adequately) peaked Dish should not be a big issue. Go with the simple solution first.

You talk of outages for hours with TWC. Rain fade is not a given with every storm, it will be the exception, not the rule. When it happens, 5 minutes or less is probably average, 20 minutes is unusual, an hour virtually unheard of. It has to be the it's dark outside at noon kind of storm for there to be an issue here in Georgia.

Compared to my Comcast neighbors, I may lose service a few more times a year than they do(and that is questionable), but my total down time is much, much less. No waiting for a truck roll, or techs to figure out the problem. No issues of hours or days without service. Just give mother nature few minutes to move worst part of the storm out of line of site.

 

[ChadT41]

In over 4 years I have had under 5 minutes signal loss. That's on WA and a properly peaked dish. Even the haboobs that black out the sky are no match. I drop to 38 at the lowest point.

 

[Bobby]

I've been with Dish since December 1998. I probably had less than 30 minutes outage in all that time. Granted, where I am located I see very little big time storms...

 

[ChadT41]

That northern or southern Cali, Bobby?

 

[Bobby]

Northern, 50 miles north of SF....

 

[ChadT41]

Bet you get some nice cool summers(comparatively speaking).

 

[Bobby]

It's 92 as we speak, and I'm 14 miles from the ocean. A little further inland is in the low 100s. Nights are much cooler, usually, and I love it...