Montana PBS change... Now what do I do?

[Backwoods Montana]

OK, so I've been doing pretty good pulling in Montana PBS on AMC 21 along with Create and a couple other stations, but now Montana PBS has changed their broadcast :

montanapbs.org/AboutUs/News/Article/?ARTICLE_ID=38

Users of this service will now require a satellite receiver compatible with the "DVB-S2" standard.


I've been using a 36" GEOSATpro 90cm Satellite Dish with .4 LNBF and a CoolSat 6100 Private receiver.

A couple of questions for anyone who knows more about this than I do (which is pretty much everyone)

1) Will my current dish and LNBF still work?

2) I guess my Coolsat is almost useless now, so what would be my best choice for a new receiver?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

-Backwoods Montana

[FTA Michael]

Everything will work fine with a new receiver. I'd recommend the SatHawk (Sadoun) http://sadoun.com/Sat/Products/WorldDVB/DVB-S2_SatHawk_PVR800_WorldDVB_DVBWorld_HD_Satellite_R eceiver.htm or the OpenBox S9 (FridgeFTA) http://store.fridgefta.info/?page_id=809. They're the same receiver with different name plates.

[Davenlr]

Be careful with Montana PBS. It uses an extremely low SR, and my Pansat9200 with S2 board will find it, but even entering the parameters manually, will only display Scrambled or Bad channel.

You would be much better off using the PBS mux with your current receiver, unless you are in Montana and want the local programming. Otherwise, make sure the company you buy the receiver from can either test it beforehand to make sure it will work with that channel, or has a return policy you can live with.

[FTA Michael]

Davenlr might have something there. I thought that all was well because my SatHawk handles the other DVB-S2 feeds on that bird, but now that I check the new Montana PBS, I'm getting a very weak signal with a 90cm dish.

OTOH, the national feeds and the Oklahoma and Louisiana PBS feeds come in okay for me.

[Davenlr]

Im getting a 95 signal, 88 quality, and cant get it. Lots of folks reporting they cant get it on AZbox, which is supposed to get everything. OTOH, people using computer based S2 boards are getting it ok. Very weird.