Well if you hurry, we can burry some of it thru Stone Harbor with all the other lines they're burrying right now.

That towns a mess.

BREW

 

Okay, I'll take you up on this offer!

I've been with Dish for about 8 years at my last house, moved to my current house about a year ago. No problems at all at the first house except during heavy rain or snow. At the current house, I lose reception MUCH more easily.
I've dialed in the signal as strong as it can get (around 80). Seems that satellite 119 is the main problem. Sometimes even in clear weather it'll lose signal, mostly in the evening. It's a Dish 500 system, two receivers.
Any thoughts???

 

Twice I have lost signal. The first time was a heavy snowstorm and the signal just slowly deteriorated until it was gone. Last night the signal started cutting out so I went out and cleared the snow off the dish, problem solved!

 

You should be able to get a lot higher than 80. I have a 3-arm dish for HD and all 3 are always in the 98-100 range. Before that, I had a dual-arm regular dish that I installed mysefl and it was always in the mid 90's. I had an installed set up my HD dish and he moved the location from where I had it becuase he said that all 3 had to read at least 95 or higher.

Did you install it or did they? You may want an installer to come out and check the dish. Are there any trees or other obstacles in the way?

 

Yeah they will upgrade your equipment in cetain circumstances however your gonna pay for it. Really the upgrades you see advertised are for new customers when they sign up they will upgrade a standard box to a tivo or hd box for a small fee. Later on if you want to upgrade your really at the mercy of dtv. I've seen some customers get declined or never offered such upgrades. It's a little bit loopy. MY best advice is act really serious about canceling and they will transfer you to the dept with power. THEY will usually make things happen.

 

first off guys don't get confused between dish and directv's signal meters. Dish goes to 125 and directv goes to 100.

Having Dish Network your main concern is going to be the 119 satellite. Depending on what programming package you pay for that satellite carries about 90% of your channels.

OK. What is your dish mounted on? Did you re-install it yourself? One thing to check is odd and even transponders. (When your on your signal meter screen which you can access by hitting menu 6,1,1 on your remote you will see a transponder box. Check 11 being odd then check 12 being even. If there is a drastic difference in signal strength well there could be your problem. Also, are you experiencing the same problems on both receivers? let me know.

I'm going to be out all day with my fam that are flying up today but i'll get back here just as soon as I can. We'll get you going.

 

My Dishnetwork
DP500 dish
w/ DP301 reciever

sat 119 = 118-119 on #11 transponder and 114 on #12 transponder
sat 110 = 95 steady on all transponders.

What do I need to do?
Was professionally installed with a roof mount arm on east side of the house.

I would like to upgrade to 4 rooms and 1 DVR reciever but do not want to sign another contract. Wish they'd sell it resoanbly.

 

You have a great signal. Seems as if the installer at least knew how to aim the dish. hehe.

Your very best bet in upgrading to 3 more receivers is calling Dish Network Directly. They have what's called a dish'n it up program.

Your going to need a quad LNBF and obviously 3 receivers. They will include one dvr too. You may even look into upgrading to a dual tuner dvr (two rooms with dvr capabilities with one box). Also I don't know if those extra three rooms are wired with cable but that will need to be done as well. IF you were to pay full price for that equipment your looking at $450. The dish'n it up program should get you all that for around $100. Price varies on your account.

 

God I love this kinda talk!

 

So why do I lose signal everytime Raoul or his goats fart? God forbid there be a cloud bigger than my big toe, I'll be out of cinema entertainment for a few hours. I litterally look the weather up online including looking at live radar to make sure there is nothing in the area, before I consider ordering any pay per view.

Most of the time it's not bad, but if we hear rain/drizzle or wind outside, then there is a 60% or better chance that we will lose signal.

That is the only reason that we had ever thought about switching before.
We have contacted DN and DTV both and DTV had a cheaper up front cost to get 3 more rooms and DVR and was an 18 month contract. Package cost was $5 less with DTV too, but will raise my phone bill $5 for the multi service discount I get from the local sprint for having dishnetork. VS DN with a higher upfront cost and 2 year contract to upgrade. I've been a customer for 3 years.

Only down side that I've found with DTV (Besides the NFL you mentioned earlier, becasue I hate watching football, baseball, basketball, golf, bowling. Basically anything with *****.) But the only other thing is that I understand with DTV you have to have a seperate dish to get local channels. I don't want a second dish on my roof. The first is enough of an eye sore, but a necessary evil that I'm willing to trade some cosmetics for the entertainment.

 

If by "DTV" you mean DirecTV, you do NOT need an additional dish for local channels.

DirecTV offers local channels to about 90% of the nation. YOu can go here to read about their "local" service and see if your area gets it:

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/see/Lo....jsp?init=true

If you get their HD receiver then the (ABC,NBC,ABC,FOX) HD are included in the local package at no extra charge.

As for the 2 year contract, you may want to check that. I got signed to a one year contract, dish, and standard receiver free and 100 rebate on the HD receiver. It may be different for different areas, but two years sounds rather extreme.

 

Unfortunatly that is not true here in the boondooks...

Several of our friends have switched recently and they all had to get a second dish installed. It's not a separate system just a second DirectTV dish ran thru the same reciver.

I think it's because our local stations haven't figured out how to broadcast over multiple satellites simultaneously yet, so each station only uses one of the two western links around the G5 sat. (110 or 119)

If I'm not mistaken Direct is an eastern node, until recently their signals barely reached here and some could not get it at all. So I don't know if they changed their position or just boosted signal strength and broadened their broadcast scope. Everyone that has switched (there have been several recently) all are very happy with the service now.

I don't want to pay $400 and I don't want the 2 year commitment just to get a DVR and I also dont want a second dish or an Ariel antenna on my roof. All that aside I still may call them tomorrow, sometimes I can get better offers than my wife can. Maybe with me talking with them, then maybe I can get some better solutions to my concerns too.

 

As I understand it, Direct acquires all the local siganals via fiber optic networks to their Castle Rock broadcast Center in Colorado where it is uplinked to their birds.

Direct Tv has 3 geostationary birds that cover the whole of the US including Hawaii and Alaska. Why being in the "boondocks" would matter is beyond me. They recently launched a couple more satellites to increase their HD programing . . . maybe that had something to do with the improved signal in your area.

Oops . . . of course, after I typed all this I now find this . . . just found out why . . .

DirecTV also offers local channels (CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, PBS, WB, UPN, and some independent stations) for many markets. In the largest markets, the locals are carried on the main satellite location. In smaller markets, the locals are carried another sat location where HD and most Spanish language programming is located, requiring a slighlty larger oval dish, capable of "seeing" both sats at once. Generally this dish will include three LNBs so it can "see" three sats. In a few smaller markets, locals are located on yet another satellite, requiring a second dish pointed in a different direction. In markets that lack a WB affiliate, DirecTV includes WBZL-TV from Miami or KSWB-TV from San Diego (both stations will join the CW network in September, 2006). Certain persons who live far from a city with television stations and who cannot easily receive television over-the-air, known as a 'white area', can receive feeds from New York & Los Angeles for CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox. A national PBS channel is also available. In early 2006 DirecTV began the roll out of HD locals in the largest cities, which require new set-top boxes and an even larger dish capable of "seeing" four sats at once.

So there you have it.

Edit to add:
Satellite Orbital slot Launch date Satellite type
DirecTV-1 110° W December 17, 1993 Hughes Electronics HS-601
DirecTV-2 100.8° W August 3, 1994 Hughes Electronics HS-601
DirecTV-1R 100.8° W October 10, 1999 Hughes Electronics HS-601HP
DirecTV-4S 101.2° W November 27, 2001 Hughes Electronics HS-601HP
DirecTV-5 72.5° W May 7, 2002 Space Systems/Loral LS-1300
DirecTV-6 109.8° W March 8, 1997 Space Systems/Loral LS-1300
DirecTV-7S 119° W May 4, 2004 Space Systems/Loral LS-1300
DirecTV-8 101° W May 22, 2005 Space Systems/Loral LS-1300
DirecTV-9S TBD (est.) early 2006 Space Systems/Loral LS-1300
SPACEWAY-1 102.8° W April 26, 2005 Boeing BSS-702
SPACEWAY-2 99.2° W November 16, 2005 Boeing BSS-702
DirecTV-10 TBD (est.) 2007 Boeing BSS-702
DirecTV-11 TBD (est.) 2007 Boeing BSS-702
DirecTV-12 TBD (est.) 2007 Boeing BSS-702

 

So if I wait...... maybe 20 years from now we will catch up with the technology of modern civilization of today and I wouldn't have to have a second dish. Unfortunately we will be 20 years to late and there will be something better out! However we have narrowed the time gap in recent years. We just stating receiving color television 10 years ago; now we have satellite and DSL! LOL. So we've made up some time lapse time in the last 10 years.

Edited to add:
Man out of all of those they have launched in the last 9 years, 1/2 have been in the last 12 months or less.

 

Color TV . . .

Hey, I remember when color TV came out. We were one of the first families in our neighborhood to get it. It wasn't THAT long ago . . . was it?

Oh God. I'm old.

Crap!