Spotbeam help

[thesmith77]

I need some help to figure out how spotbeams work. I am in Northern Montana. MY DMA is Spokane, WA. However I live closer to Great Falls than to Spokane.

When I look at my signal strength, my receiver shows I get a stronger signal on Spotbeam 18 which from what i can see is the spotbeam for Spokane than what I do on spotbeam 4 which is Great Falls.

Can anyone help to verify my info on spotbeams is correct? It makes no sense to me that a city farther away would get a stronger signal.

Thanks!

[boba]

I need some help to figure out how spotbeams work. I am in Northern Montana. MY DMA is Spokane, WA. However I live closer to Great Falls than to Spokane.

When I look at my signal strength, my receiver shows I get a stronger signal on Spotbeam 18 which from what i can see is the spotbeam for Spokane than what I do on spotbeam 4 which is Great Falls.

Can anyone help to verify my info on spotbeams is correct? It makes no sense to me that a city farther away would get a stronger signal.

Thanks!Strength of spot beams has nothing to do with what city you receive as your locals. Broadcasters have a DMA designated marketing area which I believe is set by Neilson. These DMA's are what DISH and Directv have to use as the basis for which locals you receive. Put up a TV antenna and receive Great Falls OTA if that is what you want to watch.

[ShapeShifter]

It makes no sense to me that a city farther away would get a stronger signal.
You are not receiving the signal directly from the city, so it makes no difference how far any city is from you. All of the signals are coming from the satellite.

A spot beam does not have a distinct edge. The signal is strong in the center of the beam, and falls off as you move away from the center, until it finally gets too weak to be of any use.

Furthermore, one spot beam may service several markets (DMAs.) Since there is some distance between the DMAs, not all of them can be at the center of such a shared beam. The spot beam is aimed so that all of the DMAs served by that beam can get a useful signal, but they may be scattered throughout the spot beam.

Now, where you are you can apparently receive signals from two spot beams. The strength you receive will depend on how close you are to the center of each beam, and how strong of a signal each beam is transmitting. You are apparently closer to the center of the beam that serves Spokane, and you are more on the fringe of the spot beam serving Great Falls.