Dish in the Northeast?

[Bill767]

I would like to get a definitive answer on this please. I am aware there is a eastern and western arc for Dish, and I guess you can choose which one. So if I got a Winegard Travler or an RF Mogul I would choose which arc? Depending on the arc, would I be able to get HD TV in all locations in the US? Sorry to beat this to death, but I can't seem to get any definitive answers. I went around and asked several coaches that had Dish antennas on their roof and they just looked blank when I asked, although none of them had been in New England. Thanks in advance. DirecTV is still giving me fits on ABC on our DNS feed.

[Lt Dan]

I was able to receive HD on our Dish Trav'ler all the way to Bar Harbor ME a couple of years ago. I did not change to local channels which I understand are on the eastern arc.

[Rockwood27]

I live in NH and have a roof mounted dish on my house. I don't have an RV mounted dish nor one of the portable, self aligning dishes.

I bring along a second dish, which is mounted on a tripod. New England is far from the satellites and has many trees to "look up and over". The "eastern" satellites are higher up in the sky than the western ones (which are somewhat common to Direct TV). Since the elevation angle is higher for the eastern satellites, you can clear the tree tops easier. I've had no issues getting Dish up and down the eastern coast, from ME to Florida. You can distinguish an eastern dish from a western one (on a real dish) from the number of LNB's. The eastern dish has two and the western has three. I carry a spare 3 LNB head with me, but have never had a need for it.

[lllkrob]

To answer your question directly, both the Trav'ler and the RF Mogul Eagle are set up to primarily receive Western Arc satellites. The Trav'ler can be manually tuned to the 61.5 Eastern Arc satellite which formally had most all HD channels but not so much any more. Many HD channels have been moved to the 72.7 Easten Arc satellite. The RF Mogul Eagle can be set to receive all DISH Eastern Arc satellites with the proper extension arm and LNB set up. As Lt. Dan stated the locals in the north east are on the 61.5 and 77 Eastern Arc satellites mostly. Since a Western Arc setup will work in most all north east locations for HD channels except locals I would not bother trying to modify the Trav'ler or Eagle.



My suggestion is not to buy either but purchase a Winegard Pathway X2 portable satellite. It will receive either the full DISH Eastern or Western Arc satellites and being portable you won't have to worry about tree blockage and such. I have one and used it all through the north east and up to Halifax NS in Canada with no problems.

[kennersonf]

I live in California and have a Dish Trav'ler on my motorhome. On our trip to Maine a few years ago I was able to get satellite reception with changing to the eastern arc. In some locations we didn't get HD coverage because of the low angle of the satellites, but at least we had SD reception.

[F4Gary]

Does this map help?

[Bill767]

Thanks for all the replies, I think it makes me want to just stay with my DirecTV Travler as I have gotten HD signal with it all over the entire country, lots of Canada and even a bit of Alaska without doing anything special.

[powercat_ras]

I have the Winegard Trav'ler for Dish on my RV and got service even in Northeast Maine on my last eastern seaboard trip.

To get ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS you have to find a local market with a Western Arc spot beam that covers your area. Link: Sat 129 HD Local Channel Spot Beams

What I do is find a campground in the local market area and give Dish that for my service address so they set my receiver accordingly. In Maine I used Pittsburgh PA.

[Bill767]

I have DNS on my DirecTV setup, HD everywhere on everything. If I am reading that map correctly there are many places where you only get SD on some stations. Don't want that.

[powercat_ras]

Legally Dish can't offer DNS in most of the USA where there is coverage from local TV stations. Dish has HD in every local market they offer in either Eastern Arc or Western Arc (WA), the majority in both arcs. Everywhere I have stayed there is at least 1 Dish local channel spot beam covering it, with 1 or more local market available on WA, you just have to figure out which one and what service address to give Dish to get it.

[RonLC]

I have Direct TV and am thinking about switching to Dish. How easy is it to change the locals as you travel with Dish?

I don't have a Traveler or Mogul; only a Winegard dome.

[lllkrob]

Originally Posted by RonLC

I have Direct TV and am thinking about switching to Dish. How easy is it to change the locals as you travel with Dish?

I don't have a Traveler or Mogul; only a Winegard dome.

If you have DISH for just your RV, no home account, you can download the "MY DISH" app to your phone and change your locals using the app. Normally takes about 15 minutes for the changes to take effect.

[mjeffrey]

I have DNS on dish Network and we get HD coast to coast. The only problem is it is California time zone.

Since we DVR everything and watch it when we want to, it really doesn't matter.

The DNS stations used to be on satellite 119 but they have moved to satellite 110 which is fairly high in the sky for everywhere in the US.

Western arcs satellite 129 does get pretty low on the horizon the farther north and east you go. We carry a Winegard Pathway X2 as a backup in case our main dish can't see the satellites due to trees or obstruction. As stated, it does Western arc and Eastern arc.

[fnej]

It's been several years, but we traveled to Nova Scotia and had no trouble receiving western arc satellites. We have the Travlr Dish also.

https://lh4.ggpht.com/-Jn1K5WN1OVY/U...-h/21st-34.jpg

You'll notice the dish is pretty much vertical in order to pick up the signal.