Question for Pete on DISH Network

Pete - How many dishes and what size dishes do you need to get HDTV here at Lakeside?

Well that depends on the system

With that Canadian system Star Choice, now called Shaw Direct, you need one dish that is only 36.5 by 26.5 inches in diameter. And all of the signals to include 90 HD channels come in well, to include at least one 3DTV channel and yes there is a lot of American content thereon

With DirecTV a single 2.4 meter (about 8 feet) and three LNBs each pointed at a separate satellite works. 99.2 101, & 102.8 degrees West, I understand you get better coverage than one does from DISH these days

Now with Dish the system you are asking about, the satellites are far enough apart that most people choose to use three satellite dishes and even then they don't get as many channels as they did, because DISH US is doing a better job of focusing its channels on the US with less bleed over into Mexico to the south or Canada to the North.

Although some folks using DISH use a 4 footer, another 6 footer and an 8 footer for the channels on 3 Satellites located at 110 degrees W, 119, and 129 W. Even when they are that large they aren't large enough to get all of the channels all of the time. I especially had trouble with my 8 footer pointing a the bird at the HD bird at 129 W because the signals were too weak. Sadly it is cost prohibitive to get a Ku satellite dish which is larger than 8 feet in diameter

(Yes C band dishes come in much larger sizes, but we need a finer mesh Ku band dish)

I have an eight footer and a four. If I could have a ten and a six with my eight then I could have Dish HD and the others would come in better. Right now I have not lost a signal. I will see what happens when the rainy season is here.
However I get all I want to see. I am happy. If I could do it over I would have brought down Direct.

vetteforron wrote:I have an eight footer and a four. If I could have a ten and a six with my eight then I could have Dish HD and the others would come in better. Right now I have not lost a signal. I will see what happens when the rainy season is here.
However I get all I want to see. I am happy. If I could do it over I would have brought down Direct.

Rainy season. You're kidding. Plan on losing the signal. DISH network does NOT work in the rain. It has already gone out in our few heavy downpours. The system is a piece of crap compared to my old C Band system which NEVER went out in the rain.

Read my last sentence.....I have had Sky down here for 11 years and after spending 6 months in the U. S. I will do or pay whatever I need to not have Mexican TV. I also have Dish Mexico. So I have 3 systems right now. I may in time go Direct. I have over 3000 square meters of land. If necessary I can have a dish farm. Also remember it only rains here at night. At least that is what my Real Estate agent told me.

vetteforron wrote:Read my last sentence.....I have had Sky down here for 11 years and after spending 6 months in the U. S. I will do or pay whatever I need to not have Mexican TV. I also have Dish Mexico. So I have 3 systems right now. I may in time go Direct. I have over 3000 square meters of land. If necessary I can have a dish farm. Also remember it only rains here at night. At least that is what my Real Estate agent told me.

And you believed your RE agent??? What time at night does it rain, anywhere from 6 PM thru 4 AM. We watch our series on HBO, Showtime, Starz and TMC from 7 PM to 11 PM, so when it rains the stations go out

It only rains when you're NOT watching TV. Isn't Mexico great...come on down.

Remember folks, you only loose your satellite signal during all but the very heaviest of rains up north. Why? Because they use properly sized (a large enough) dish. And lakeside almost all of us have satellite dishes that are way too small to get a signal during bad weather

Did you notice that with Shaw Direct along the shores of Lake Chapala, you don't loose your signal as easily, you know, it has to rain harder before the signal is lost. That's because the satellite dish is almost large enough for the strength of the signal. In fact if you are using a couple of 4 foot dishes rather than the Shaw Direct Elliptical 26.5 by 36.5 inch, and if the LNBs are hot, I bet you almost never have rain fade.

I too have a dish farm. And after having lived lakeside since 1997 and loving my TV. I have had C band the old DirecTV, DISH and of course Shaw Direct, which gives me my home town news (Seattle & Vancouver)

I’m saving all of my old dishes because maybe I will need them again. Now I am only using Shaw, and analog Telecable (channels 2-75) and digital Telecable (channels 100 to 999) to include some HD.

DARN: I MADE AN ERROR ABOVE and I'm not allowed to edit said message after too much time.

What I meant to say was that up north we usually never have rain fade. Why, because the signals are pointed toward the country we are picking it up in, and are satellite dishes are large enough up there.

Here in Mexico, we're getting signal bleed over and the signals are much weaker meaning we need even larger dishes to protect against signal attenuation during a rain storm

Pete, did you mention one time here or another forum that you have a 10' dish? If so where did you get it?

What I mentioned was that I have an old C band 12 foot dish that has very tight mesh, so tight that it would also work as a Ku band dish. The problem is that rather than being an offset dish, it's a prime focus dish.

And the experts believe that because it's not offset that it may not be that good. But I'm holding on to it, because, one of these days I may be desperate.

I'm weird, I don't care how old or dented my car is. But what's important for me is to be able to get my favorite TV channels. (Not streaming over the internet but via satellite)

Pete is right the 75 shaw dishes work extremely well down here but I do want
to point out that even thought some of the channels appear to be the same,
canadian contend HBO for example is nothing like US HBO. I like it but I like
getting BBC world and other more world oriented channels. Best part is you
can get Seattle, Detroit, Spokane, and Buffalo US stations so if you want
PBS to watch Doughton Abbey or This old house this is your dish. Be prepared
the PVR's are about one generation backwards at least compared to Dish but
this is not a problem for me but might be for those folks who have to have the
latest. I agree with Pete. I want my sat signals rather than internet TV.

Z

Oh dang, Pete,

I just moved into my new house on the south shore and need to get hooked up with satellite tv. I did an extensive scientific survey (LOL) and found that DISH has all the programs I love. And a friend has an 8 foot dish package they are willing to sell me for cheap.

Is one 8-foot dish gonna cut it??????? I'm willing to read a book when it rains or watch my shows when they are re-run later in the week.

Merry

johninajijic wrote:

vetteforron wrote:I have an eight footer and a four. If I could have a ten and a six with my eight then I could have Dish HD and the others would come in better. Right now I have not lost a signal. I will see what happens when the rainy season is here.
However I get all I want to see. I am happy. If I could do it over I would have brought down Direct.

Rainy season. You're kidding. Plan on losing the signal. DISH network does NOT work in the rain. It has already gone out in our few heavy downpours. The system is a piece of crap compared to my old C Band system which NEVER went out in the rain.

John all C band systems are better than any K band system as far as rain and such.
Ku band is at a higher frequency and is more upset by visual obstructions like clouds
and rain. Advantage of Ku is small dish size which is a big one. I very very rarely
lose anything with Shaw E75 dish tuned in very carefully and the dish is small. Canadian
content insures different HBO and such but I enjoy the new culture and like the stations
I can't get in US like BBC world. I find the current we won the war of 1812 commercials
to be very interesting on Canadian Shaw Dish. To get either Dish or DSS one has to go
through quite a bit of money as the Sat. Dish needed is quite large. I know someone
sell a DSS dish with all three LNB on one dish but I think the dish is $800. Dish requires
multiple dishes at this point. Before you go through the effort to get US sats down here
I would look at someone Shaw system and decide for yourself. Shaw system is far easier
to move than any of the others. Eight food dish has a heck of a wind sail effect mount
very well if you choose Dish or DSS.

Z

merry wrote:Oh dang, Pete,

I just moved into my new house on the south shore and need to get hooked up with satellite tv. I did an extensive scientific survey (LOL) and found that DISH has all the programs I love. And a friend has an 8 foot dish package they are willing to sell me for cheap.

Is one 8-foot dish gonna cut it??????? I'm willing to read a book when it rains or watch my shows when they are re-run later in the week.

Merry

Merry, buy it if it's reasonable. I Have DISH satellite, 8 foot dish with a DVR box so we can record while watching other programs. It's very handy. I paid $ 950 US for it last year new. I have the 200 package with ALL the movie channels. We are movie buffs. We spend our money on that coz we don't drink. Probably much cheaper too.

Zed - We get everything on our 8 foot dish. Our dish is mounted to a large post buried in concrete. It is where the C Band dish used to be.

Thanks John,

That is very helpful!

Merry

johninajijic wrote:Zed - We get everything on our 8 foot dish. Our dish is mounted to a large post buried in concrete. It is where the C Band dish used to be.

Dish network right? How many LNB are
out on the stick. You should have three.
I thought only DSS has single dish
solution with three LNBs. Is this the
same 8ft dish that DSS uses?
Z

Zedinmexico wrote:

johninajijic wrote:Zed - We get everything on our 8 foot dish. Our dish is mounted to a large post buried in concrete. It is where the C Band dish used to be.

Dish network right? How many LNB are
out on the stick. You should have three.
I thought only DSS has single dish
solution with three LNBs. Is this the
same 8ft dish that DSS uses?
Z

I think just one, but I would have to check. It's buried behind our wall of bamboo so it cannot be seen. Sat dishes are ugly. We DON'T have HiDef. You cannot get it here.

Remember as I posted one page back, the three sattellites that you are pointing at are too far appart to use three LNBs on one satellite Dish, you need 3 dishes Each with it's own LNB and also remember that the HD signals are so weak at 129 West and that many, if not all will not be happy with the fading and lost signals even during periods of normal weather.

If you have 3 dishes as Pete says you can get all the Hi-Def on Dish. Or, you can get one dish w/3 LNBs and get Direct TV. Or with one little dish you can have Shaw with many HD channels.

Here was the problem the last time I checked DISH USA, the satellite at 129 which carries most of or all of the HD channels (I don't remember) had a very weak signal this far south that on even the clearest of days you could not get dependable reception with a 2.4 meter Ku band dish. Sure I understand there are larger Ku band dishes, but I never see them advertised because I understand they are prohibitively expensive. I sure hope things have changed and that you can get an economical Ku band dish larger than 2.4 meters.