D* locals/spot beam question

[BearsFan]

Let's say, "hypothetically," ;) that I'd like to receive Chicago, IL locals from D* while living in Michigan...about 1 hr. 30 min. west of Detroit...

Would the spot beam for Chicago locals reach that far west? I thought I read somewhere that the Midwest locals on spotbeam included IL, MI, IA, MO, WI, etc.

Truth be told, I *will* be using D* in the Chicago area for awhile (training), but would like to keep the CHI locals when I move...

Anyone know/have an educated guess?

--BF

[dishrich]

Check transponder 18 when you get to Michigan - if you get good signal on it, you're all set...

[Mike D-CO5]

With Dish I am getting locals from the Little Rock, Arkansas area and I live in Texas about 7 hours away. The spotbeam for Little Rock is on the 110 sat. I supposse I could also be getting Austin, Dallas, San Antonio locals if I "moved."

[BearsFan]

Check transponder 18 when you get to Michigan - if you get good signal on it, you're all set...

Ok, good deal.

Is there anyone on this board that lives in Michigan, has D*, and can check Transponder 18? I have an older Hughes receiver...thanks for checking if anyone can.

--BearsFan

[dishnet2345]

With Dish I am getting locals from the Little Rock, Arkansas area and I live in Texas about 7 hours away. The spotbeam for Little Rock is on the 110 sat. I supposse I could also be getting Austin, Dallas, San Antonio locals if I "moved."

Little Rock is not on a spot beam. They are on conus They can can be picked up any where.

[Mike D-CO5]

That explains it.

[jimisham]

An hour and 30 minutes west of Detroit must put you in the area of Jackson or Lansing.
For what it's worth I'm just across the lake from Chicago using a Sony SAT-T60 and 18 has a reading of 100 here so you should have a usable signal over in that area unless there's a sharp dropoff east of here.
Seems to me I've read in one of the forums about someone in either the Springfield or Champaign/Urbana area 'moving' to Chicago. I'm not sure how far the two areas are from Chicago.

[jrbdmb]

Chicago ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX are not on a spotbeam, so you can get these anywhere in the US. Same goes for the minor locals on 61.5.

As for WB/UPN/PBS, these are on the Chicago spotbeam (119 satellite, spot 11, transponder 7). This info is from the Dish channel list at:

http://ekb.dbstalk.com/dishlist.htm

Now take a look at the E* spot beam maps at:

http://wvjw.info/dbs-beam/echo7.gif

The Chicago spotbeam appears to cover most of southern Michigan, so you should be OK west of Detroit.

[dishrich]

jrbdmb - BearsFan was talking about DirecTV, NOT Dishnetwork.
(D*=DirecTV, E*=Dishnetwork) ALL of the Chicago locals on D* are on the spot beam... ;) ;) ;)

[BearsFan]

An hour and 30 minutes west of Detroit must put you in the area of Jackson or Lansing.

Yep, Lansing, MI.

For what it's worth I'm just across the lake from Chicago using a Sony SAT-T60 and 18 has a reading of 100 here so you should have a usable signal over in that area unless there's a sharp dropoff east of here.

Ok, good deal. Lansing is about what, 1 hr. 20 min. or so east of Lansing? That's a bit more reassuring...


Seems to me I've read in one of the forums about someone in either the Springfield or Champaign/Urbana area 'moving' to Chicago. I'm not sure how far the two areas are from Chicago.

I used to live in Champaign, which is about 2 hrs. south of CHI, depending on the specific area of Central IL.

Thanks for everyone's help. I 'm hoping I can get through to D* after we move, and set up Chicago locals.

--BearsFan

[dishrich]

Seems to me I've read in one of the forums about someone in either the Springfield or Champaign/Urbana area 'moving' to Chicago. I'm not sure how far the two areas are from Chicago.

That would have been me in Spfld, which is about 200 miles from Chicago. (Champaign is slightly closer) Unfortunately, D* has been playing with their spot beam satellite recently for about the past 1-2 months, which has been causing myself & others down here w/Chicago locals to loose x-ponder 18 completely during most afternoons. (it always seems to be back to normal strength at night) But during the past week, it seems to be working better, although I know that Spfld is on the edge of this spot. I'm going to try a 32" dish f/101 & see if it helps things, because I REALLY like having the locals from Chicago - I could switch to St.Louis locals, but really prefer Chicago ones.