DISH 500 Wing Dish for 129?

[bschulte]

Hi, I recently joined DISH after suffering through Charter Cable's "customer service" for several years. I have an Eastern Arc install with a DISH 1000.4 and a 722k HDDVR box. Everything is working well, but I learned that some of the RSNs in the Multi-Sports Pack have their HD signal on 129. I'm interested in getting a DISH 500 wing dish to aim at 129 to get those western RSNs in HD. I've successfully pointed a DISH 500 at a friend's house before to hit 110 and 119, but I have a few questions:

1) After I purchase a DISH 500 on eBay, what LNB will I need to get to hit 129? Obviously since I'm only aiming at one satellite, I should only need a single LNB, correct? Suggestions here on the specific LNB would be appreciated.

2) After I get the DISH mounted, I should run the coax from the DISH 500 LNB to the fourth or "LNB In" connection on the DISH 1000.4, correct?

3) Is there any way to aim the wing dish at 129 rather than 110 or 119 successfully without using an expensive satellite strength meter? Any tips here would be GREATLY appreciated, since I know getting a good signal is important so that there are no dropouts due to rain.

4) After hooking up the wing dish to the 1000.4, do I then run a check switch? Are there any things to worry about when seeing both 61.5 and 129? Which satellite takes precedence when the same channel is on both in HD? I'm thinking the receiver handles these issues and I'm worrying about something which is out of my control, but I figured I'd ask.

5) Anything else I need to do which I might be forgetting?

[BobaBird]

:welcome_s to DBSTalk!

1) DishPro Singles were reportedly discontinued. If you can find one, that's all you need. A DP Dual should be easy to find, you just won't use its second output. The dish may come with a Twin (2 LNBs in a wide housing with an integrated switch). I haven't heard of that working as the LNB IN source for the 1000.2/1000.4.

2) Right.

3) Set the skew to 90 (equivalent to "no skew"). You could optionally add an I-adapter to center the LNB to gain a few points. Run a temp line to the receiver to use its meter.

4a) Yes, run a check switch any time the LNB/switch configuration is changed.
4b) If you're in the St Louis market, you might have trouble with OTA timers because the satellite HD locals are on both slots.
4c) The user can not control, or even consistently predict, which satellite is used. The receiver does not have a voter to pick the one with the best signal. The duplicate channels will be hidden (not to be confused with mapdowns which are different from duplicates).

[rbgator95]

I've found that the VIP receivers have a feature that if you hit the "Info" button twice it will tell you which satellite/slot you are viewing. Could be useful if you want to find out which slot you are looking at for a channel that comes from either 61.5 or 129. This only works in live mode, no DVR delay.

[bschulte]

Thanks guys! This looks like something I should be able to accomplish reasonably well with a minimal investment. I'm not really worried about the DVR issues since the only show I record is Supernatural, and I typically watch it live anyway.