The Current Make-up of E* spots

[bryan27]

This info is updated as changes occur.

ECHOSTAR-7 119w

Transponder 3:
North-West(#3s3)
8610-KOMO(ABC)Seattle
8611-KIRO(CBS)Seattle
8612-KING(NBC)Seattle
8613-KCPQ(Fox)Seattle
8614-KTWB(WB)Seattle
8615-KSTW(UPN)Seattle
8616-KCTS(PBS)Seattle
8617-KONG(IND)Seattle
South-California(#3s5)
8005-KCOP(UPN)Los Angeles
8006-KCET(PBS)Los Angeles
8007-KCAL(IND)Los Angeles
8008-KMEX(UNI)Los Angeles
8790-KGTV(ABC)San Diego
8791-KFMB(CBS)San Diego
8792-KNSD(NBC)San Diego
8793-XETV(Fox)Tijuana
8794-KSWB(WB)San Diego
8796-KPBS(PBS)San Diego
Kansas City(Great Plains)(#3s8)
8437-KMCI(IND)Lawerence
South-Florida(#3s15)
8834-WBZL(WB)Miami
8835-WBFS(UPN)Miami
8836-WPBT(PBS)Miami
8838-WLTV(UNI)Miami
8839-WSCV(TEL)Miami
8860-WPBF(ABC)West Palm Beach
8861-WPEC(CBS)West Palm Beach
8862-WPTV(NBC)West Palm Beach
8863-WFLX(FOX)West Palm Beach
8865-WTVX(UPN)West Palm Beach
8866-WXEL(PBS)West Palm Beach
8867-WFGC(CTN)West Palm Beach

Transponder 5:
Carolinas(#5s14)
8180-WLOS(ABC)Asheville
8181-WSPA(CBS)Spartanburg
8182-WYFF(NBC)Greenville
8650-WSOC(ABC)Charlotte
8651-WBTV(CBS)Charlotte
8652-WCNC(NBC)Charlotte
8653-WCCB(Fox)Charlotte
8654-WWWB(WB)Charlotte
8655-WJZY(UPN)Charlotte
8656-WTVI(PBS)Charlotte
8657-WAXN(ind)Charlotte
8661-WNSC(PBS)Charlotte
East-Texas(#5s10)
8370-KTRK(ABC)Houston
8371-KHOU(CBS)Houston
8372-KPRC(NBC)Houston
8373-KRIV(Fox)Houston
8374-KHWB(WB)Houston
8375-KTXH(UPN)Houston
8375-KUHT(PBS)Houston
Arizona(#5s6)
8320-KNXV(ABC)Phoenix
8321-KPHO(CBS)Phoenix
8322-KPNX(NBC)Phoenix
8323-KSAZ(Fox)Phoenix
8324-KASW(WB)Phoenix
8325-KUTP(UPN)Phoenix
8326-KAET(PBS)Phoenix
8327-KTVK(ind)Phoenix
Great Lakes(#5s11)
8590-KDNL(ABC)St.Louis
8591-KMOV(CBS)St.Louis
8592-KSDK(NBC)St.Louis
8593-KTVI(Fox)St.Louis
8594-KPLR(WB/UPN)St.Louis
8595-KETC(PBS)St.Louis
8710-WZZM(ABC)Grand Rapids
8711-WMMT(CBS)Kalamazoo
8712-WOOD(NBC)Grand Rapids
8713-WXMI(FOX)Grand Rapids
8716-WGVU(PBS)Grand Rapids

Transponder 7:
Carolinas(#7s14)
8183-WHNS(Fox)Greenville
8184-WBSC(WB)Greenville
8185-WASV(UPN)Asheville
8750-WTVD(ABC)Raleigh
8751-WRAL(CBS)Raleigh
8752-WNCN(NBC)Raleigh
8753-WRAZ(Fox)Raleigh
8754-WLFL(WB)Raleigh
8755-WRDC(UPN)Raleigh
8756/8190-WUNC(PBS)
North-California(7s4)
8220-KGO(ABC)San Francisco
8221-KPIX(CBS)San Francisco
8222-KNTV(NBC)San Jose
8223-KTVU(Fox)San Fancisco
8224-KBWB(WB)San Francisco
8225-KBHK(UPN)San Francisco
8226-KQED(PBS)San Francisco
8227-KICU(IND)San Jose
Great Lakes(#7s11)
8494-WGN(WB)Chicago
8495-WPWR(UPN)Chicago
8496-WTTW(PBS)Chicago
8721-WOTV(ABC)Battle Creek
8720-WTLJ(TBN)Grand Rapids

Transponder 9:
Gulf Coast(#9s12)
8050-WJSU(ABC)Birmingham
8051-WIAT(CBS)Birmingham
8052-WVTM(NBC)Birmingham
8053-WBRC(Fox)Birmingham
8054-WTTO(WB)Birmingham
8055-WABM(UPN)Birmingham
8056-WBIQ(PBS)Birmingham
Utah(#9s7)
8530-KTVX(ABC)Salt Lake City
8531-KUTV(CBS)Salt Lake City
8532-KSL(NBC)Salt Lake City
8533-KSTU(Fox)Salt Lake City
8534-KUWB(WB)Salt Lake City
8535-KPNZ(UPN)Salt Lake City
8536-KUED(PBS)Salt Lake City
8537-KJZZ(IND)Salt Lake City
8540-KBYU(PBS)Provo
8541-KULC(EDU)Ogden
8542-KTMW(FAM)Salt Lake City
Hawaii(#9s1)
8900-KITV(ABC) Honolulu
8901-KGMB(CBS)Honolulu
8902-KHNL(NBC)Honolulu
8904-KFVE(UPN/WB)Honolulu
8905-KHET(PBS)Honolulu
8906-KBFD(ind)Honolulu
8907-KWHE(rel)Honolulu
8908-KIKU(ind)Honolulu

Summary to date: 13 active spotbeams out of 15. The Gulf Coast (TP9), Great Lakes(TP5&7), Carolinas (TP5&7), Utah(TP9) & Hawaii(TP9) are using all their spot beam TPs. North California (TP5&7) and East-Texas (TP5&7) are only using TP7. Arizona (TP5&7) is only using TP5. North-West (TP1&3), South-California (TP1&3), South-Florida (TP1&3), Kansas City (TP1&3) are only using TP3.

[Chris Blount]

Thanks for the info Bryan.

BTW: Love your user title. :)

[Scott Greczkowski]

Hey, I did that!

Had to thank him for his hard work. :)

[Geronimo]

Nice to see hard work rewarded. we have god and a guru. I can't wait tosee what's next.

[bryan27]

Thank's Scott. I'm just glad I can help. I hope that we can avoid the situation we had with DTV-4S by getting E* info posted before or right after something happens.

[Mark Lamutt]

This thread is now a sticky one until all of the spots are operational. Thanks for your work on the Bryan.

[John Corn]

Very nice Brian !! :) His spotbeam knowledge is incredible. :)

[bryan27]

Thank's guys. Spotbeams are nothing new. The rest of the world has been using them for the past 10 years. I got a lot of practice with beams when I had a BUD. Most of the satellites in the Atlantic Ocean region use spotbeams. Of course those sats only use 5 or 6 beams, but it provided a good foundation in spotbeam technology.

[JohnH]

Wow, they actually "moved" them, too. Wonder how long before they put something new on 110 in the vacated space?

[kstuart]

Originally posted by JohnH
Wow, they actually "moved" them, too. Wonder how long before they put something new on 110 in the vacated space?

What they are putting on 110 in the vacated space are channels that had to be crammed into 119 around January 1st in order to comply with the must-carry court order.

As a result, there has been some improvement in PQ, for example, I no longer see that ugly effect where a face will change shape when it moves slightly...

[psecic]

Make that KGO in San Francisco.

[bryan27]

Nothing is going to goto 110 for a while the free space is supposed to be used to test Echo-8. Seven of the 119 spots have duplicate spots on Echo-8 those side sat loclas will probably go there. In addition some cities will stay national. Nashville, Denver, & Minn/St.P have no spots & the nets from Dallas, Atlanta, Denver, Chicago will stay CONUS (along with NYC & LA on 119) A couple other cities will have to stay CONUS on 110 because there wasn't enough space on the allocated beam for all the stations in all the cities. When everything is done and moved at 119 & 110 (ncluding side sat locals) E* will have 6 vacant TPs at 110. Probably to add more cities in addition to new cities that will be on spots such as Las Vegas which has a spot on 110.

Bryan,

Any specualtion on what else is in store for the Gulf Coast beam on E VII. I live in New Orleans and would love to see the big 4 on the beam and anything else on 61.5. Any other use for the left over capacity on this spot. Seems like a waste just using it for the 7 Birmingham stations.

[JohnH]

Actually, they have not put anything on 110, yet. If you see an improvement, it is because things have been moved around on 119.

[bryan27]

JohnQ, it does seem kind of a waste, but if they are using a 10 to 1 compression ratio then there is room for 3 channels. If they use a 12 to 1 compression then there is room for 5 channels. Either way it isn't enough to add New Orleans. Also there are probably some stations in the Birmingham market that have to be added, but haven't got their signal to the POP yet like WLDM(HSN) and you never know what PAX and TBN are going to do I wouldn't doubt that those netlets have a conditional clause that says if their national feed is dropped then the stations have to be carried.

[wrate]

bryan27,

Do you, by any chance, know when will E8 be launched? When is it expected to be on-line? And, is it the same type of satellite that E7 is?

TIA

Wrate

[bryan27]

Wrate, Echo-8 is due to be launched in June. It will probably be active sometime in late July to early August. It is supposed to test at 110. It is basically the same type satellite as E-7 even some of the beams coverages are identical. There are some differences though. E-8 has 16 beams, but that beam is combined with other beams so that a couple of the TPs can be used 6 times instead of 5. In this configuration some of the beams use 3 TPs instead of 2 like E-7.

For instance E-7 uses TPs 1,3,5,7,9 5 times (25 spot TPs) E-8 uses TPs 1&3 6 times, TPs 5&7 5 times, and TP 9 4 times (26 spot TPs). On E-7 10 spotbeams use 2 TPs and 5 use 1 TP, on E-8 3 spotbeams use 3 TPs, 5 spotbeams use 2 TPs, and 7 spotbeams use 1TP.

[wrate]

Bryab27,

Thanks a lot for your prompt and very interesting answer.

I have one last question:

Will E8 replace the 30 conus transponders that E5 is transmitting now? E7 is now transmitting all 16 conus transponders at 119W, this is why I ask. But, it also seems that 30 conus and 26 spot beam transponers would be an awful lot for E8 alone. :)

Again, thanks for the very interesting answer.

Wrate

[Charles Oliva]

Just when you think you have E* figured, they throw a curve. Tr. 3 went to spot beam at 4:30am EDT. The Seattle stations according to reports are now on spot beam. Likely the LA and NY non-net stations and a Florida city(Miami) are next, if not already.

[Mark Holtz]

As of this morning in Sacramento...

1 - Normal signal
3 - No Signal
5 - No Signal (supposed to be a Sacramento slot)
7 - Spotbeam @ 125 (slot used for San Francisco locals)
9 - No Signal

[bryan27]

A quick note Salt Lake City TP9, Seattle TP3, San Diego TP3, Miami non-nets (except those at 61.5) are now spots. Give me a few minutes to update the info :)

[Scott Greczkowski]

Theres Bryan, working hard on his birthday!

Happy Birthday Bryan!

[bryan27]

Thank you Scott! I'm now 33, I ought to call my mother today :)

Charles, is TP9 active? I've seen some indication that there is signal on the TP for both Hawaii and Alaska (Alaska is rather low though). I wouldn't know what is there as there are no call signs for the areas scrolling through my MPEG-2 receiver.

[Richard King]

Reporting in from Vero Beach, Fl. I am 150 miles North of Miami. Currently the TP3 spot is about 10 points higher here than all other transponders. Hopefully when TP 1 is added to the mix this will allow the addition of WPB locals so that Dish can be on a parity with DTV in this area. I would be curious how the signal is on the other coast of Florida in Ft. Myers, etc. Anyone over there?

I ought to call my mother today
Me too, this is my mother's BDay also. Happy Birthday Bryan.

[JohnH]

Bryan, how about KPLR and KETC from St. Louis and KCOP, KCET, KCAL and KMEX from LA? These were previously on Tp 3 and I have not located them, yet.

Utah(#9s7)
8530-KTVX(ABC)Salt Lake City
8531-KUTV(CBS)Salt Lake City
8532-KSL(NBC)Salt Lake City
8533-KSTU(Fox)Salt Lake City
8534-KUWB(WB)Salt Lake City
8535-KPNZ(UPN)Salt Lake City
8536-KUED(PBS)Salt Lake City
8537-KJZZ(IND)Salt Lake City

Bryan, what about the other channels that are on the 148 location for Salt Lake City locals. Are they going to put them on the 119 location or are they going to continue to hold them out at 148.
Channels 8540, 8541,& 8542 KBYU, KULC, KTMW I want all of my locals at one location and not have the need for the second dish.
I think NAB and the FCC has given DISH time enough to comply and now they need to get the other channels moved like they are supposed to be , rather than to keep discriminating against the small stations.
Salt Lake City has a total of 11 stations not just the 8 listed above. DISH needs to put them all on the same satellite slot together.

[bryan27]

John, I'll check those channels shortly and let you know where they now are.

Disgusted, it appears that anything on 61.5 and 148 are going to stay where they are, at least for a while anyway. The 2 dish thingy is supposed to "expire" in August. I would guess that E* doesn't intend to move the stations until Echo-8 is active. 11 stations could easily fit on that spot. I do agree with you E* has been given generous time, but I think E* is trying to see how much they can stretch compliance. It will be interesting if the FCC says that E*s 30 day compliance report isn't enough to comply.

[bryan27]

John, KPLR,KETC,KCOP,KCET,KCAL,KMEX are now on spots. This is really odd because at 7:30am they were on TP20. I'll update the spot list :) Hopefully there won't be anymore changes throughout the day because I'm going out to lunch for my b-day :D

[Charles Oliva]

Bryan, so far nothing on Tp. 9.

[wrate]

Bryan, two questions:

1..- Do you know if EVIII, apart from the 26 spot beam transponders in its payload, will include the 30 conus transponders that EV currently transmits?

2.- Do you have any clue whatsoever what the Mexico City two transponder spot beam that E VII has (according to the FCC based footprint maps) will be used for?

Thanks for keeping us up to date on the spot beam situation.

Wrate

[Mark Holtz]

As of now in Sacramento.... no change from this morning.

E*8 will include CONUS beams as well as spot beams. See http://www.stratuswave.net/~bryan27/dbsbeam.html , although the CONUS data is not yet known.

[bryan27]

As Z'loth said E-8 will have CONUS TPs, but as to how many and what TP we won't know until it is activated. We weren't exactly sure what the CONUS TPs on E-7 were until it was activated.

No one knows what will be on the Mexico City beam, or if it will even be used at all. I do have someone in Mexico City that will report if the beam lights up and hopefully will be able to see what is on it.

Before E* offers anything in Mexico City they have to get permission from Mexico to offer a service there and would need to get clearances with programmers to offer programming into Mexico.

[wrate]

Bryan and Z'loth. Thanks to both for your input. Its interesting how things are developing.

I'll let you know as soon as something shows up in Mexico City. So far nothing.

Wrate

[Lyle_JP]

Originally posted by psecic


Make that KGO in San Francisco.

And while you're at it, also change KBJK to KBHK in San Francisco.

:cool:

-Lyle J.P.

[dniesman]

Great Lakes(#7s11)
8494-WGN(WB)Chicago
8495-WPWR(UPN)Chicago
8496-WTTW(PBS)Chicago

Does this mean Chicago should be getting spectacular picture quality on these 3 channels?

[bryan27]

Not necessarilly those three channels could be compressed to the same level as everything else.

[Charles Oliva]

Don't know when it happened, but the E7 spot beam for Hawaii is now active.

[akll]

Same here in Alaska - 117/125 signal level in Dillingham, 325 miles SW of Anchorage. 6' dish. Must be one oblique sized spot ! Dishplayer does not identify as spot, just upgraded to new 116/5721 revision.

Hoping to see Anchorage locals soon ! :goodjob: E*

[bryan27]

Charles & Akll That's great news!!!! I haven't seen anything lookng throughthe MPEG-2 text data, I'll let you know if an Anchorage or Honolulu call sign shows up in the data. I would guess that right now they are just transmitting blank screens.

[planetx]

Don't want to burst anyone's bubble but I came home this afternoon (about an hour ago) and I checked to see if the spotbeam for Hawaii is still active and it seems that it is now inactive. I guess they are still testing the spotbeams. Anyone know when the Honolulu locals are supposed to be up?

[kstuart]

Before E* offers anything in Mexico City they have to get permission from Mexico to offer a service there and would need to get clearances with programmers to offer programming into Mexico.

Unless the beam is intended to add Mexico City Locals to the "DirectTV Latin America" service in Mexico City. (Remember there is a merger planned....)

[bryan27]

Even if it is for Mexico City locals for DTV Latin America subs E* would still have to gain permission to offer a service from 119 into Mexico. So far we don't know if E* has permission from the Mexican Government to offer a service from 119.

[JohnH]

One would think they have some sort of permission, otherwise they would not have been allowed to build the beast.

[DDRio]

Tp 16 is at 73!!!! Tp 8 is at 80!!! They were over 105!!!
Anyone???

[Mark Holtz]

As of this morning..... for Sacramento

1 - CONUS signal
3, 5 - No Signal
7 - 125
9 - No Signal

And, for someone else...
16 - 71
8 - 105

[bryan27]

Well, I'm bored. There hasn't been any changes since early last wednesday :(

[Mark Holtz]

I'm wondering if Echostar is holding off any further transfers until after sweeps.

[bryan27]

!!!!!BIG NEWS!!!!!

I have updated the listings. Grand Rapids has just been added to TP5 on the Great Lakes Beam. This makes 11 stations on TP5 on this beam.

[Keith4USC]

Do you think Columbia, SC will ever be added???

[invaliduser88]

Do they ever intend to gives us some relief from over compressing locals?

When I first read the topic line I somehow thought this was going to be a discussion of Bloussant, Enerex, I Love Alpacas, and the Twitchmaster (ab blaster thingy).

I need some sleep I guess..

:)

Rych

[Keith4USC]

You guys think Columbia, SC will be on the next satellite for spot beams??? I don't understand all of this but really would like my locals before I get frustrated and go back to cable by itself.... Right now I have both but I hate paying Time Warner money even thought their picture quality is a tad better.... But there is not that much difference to where I wouldn't keep the Dish if they would add my locals... I do understand Columbia is not a major market but it is to me because that's where I live.... LOL

[kstuart]

Originally posted by invaliduser88
Do they ever intend to gives us some relief from over compressing locals?

If you have a SPECIFIC channel that you would like them to improve the PQ, email to DishQuality@EchoStar.Com

The more specifics you can give, the more likely that something will look at it...

[bryan27]

Added:

8721-WOTV(ABC)Battle Creek

to TP7 Great Lakes Beam

[bryan27]

Any news from Alaska & Hawaii. The Alsaka beam appears to be up, but I can't tell if anything is on it. The Hawaii beam appears to be up and down.

[akll]

It is dead here - (Transponder 9); we had 100+/125 several weeks ago when it was up. I hope it isn't on, or else I'm out of the spot. (300 m SW of Anch). :(

[planetx]

Here in Hawaii the spotbeam has been down for a couple of weeks now. We had almost 95+ signal on a 24" dish. I wonder when they're going to add Honolulu and Anchorage. Seems like it won't be for a while. :(

[bryan27]

The following has been added to TP3 South Florida beam:

8860-WPBF(ABC)West Palm Beach
8862-WPTV(NBC)West Palm Beach
8863-WFLX(FOX)West Palm Beach
8865-WTVX(UPN)West Palm Beach
8866-WXEL(PBS)West Palm Beach

[TNGTony]

Thanks for the info Bryan. I wonder what the deal is with CBS? Anyway, I bet that a few of the religious channels will end up on the side satellites. The FamilyNet station for sure!

See ya
Tony

[Adam Richey]

Does anybody know when West Palm Beach is supposed to be made available? Any other city's locals suddenly pop up on a spot beam?

[Craig Fogus]

Can someone explain to me what spot beams are? Perhaps a web site with some info? Is this why we need elaborate switches and multiple LNBF's in order to have multiple receivers? TIA

[TNGTony]

As to the spot beams....There is a very good page showing where each spot beam is here http://www.stratuswave.net/~bryan27/dbsbeam.html
The satellites that have been used up to now only use a ConUS beam (Continental US). This means that if they transmit a channel, the entire country sees it. A spot beam allows a satellite to send a channel to a specific point of the U.S. This allows the same frequency to be reused several times throught the country. The only limiting factors are uplink channels, how many transponders a satellite can carry and how tight the beams can be made and still cover a desired area. This allows many more channels to be carried on the satellite. The down side is that no matter how big a dish you have you can never ever get a channel if it is on a spot beam pointed somewhere you're not.

As to the LNB and switch situation....No. Spot beams are not the reason for the switches.

Each satellite slot transmits up to 32 "channels" (Transponders). On DBS satellites 16 are polarized clockwise and 16 counterclockwise. This is to prevent adjacent channel interferance. An LNB can only receive one set at a time. The receiver tells the LNB which one it needs depending on what program you selected. If you have more than one receiver you can't just split the line coming from the LNB to the receiver because if the second receiver wants to get one polarization and the other wants to get the other polarization then the LNB gets conflicting instuctions. One of the receivers will not work or worse, you'll fly the LNB (unlikely). A dual LNB (or two LNBs in one housing) is needed.

With Dish a Dish 500 receives two different satellite slots at the same time. This complicates things. Now you have two satellite signals on the same frequencies and the same polarizations. A switch is needed to be able to separate the two. Two LNBs are needed. One for each satellite slot. The switch then activates the correct LNB on the correct polarization depending on the program you choose on your receiver. If you have more than one receiver, you need two dual LNBs and two switches.

Dish simplified things a little by developing the "Twin" LNB which is essentially two dual LNBs and Two switches in a single housing with outputs for your two receivers.

If you have more than two receivers, this complicates things even further. A different switching system is now required if you don't want to add another dish! Esssntially, the 4x4 switch allows up to 4 receivers to see all four possible combinations on two dual LNBs. What the switch does is "freeze" each half of the dual LNBs on one of the polarizations. The switch then takes the command from the receiver directing the needed signal from whichever LNB/polarization is needed. Each receiver can then work independently. Again Dish came up with a user friendly option by coming up with a "Quad" LNB. Electronically, it's the same as two Dual LNBs with an SW44 switch built in to one housing.

And if you want to see one of the side satellites (61.5°, 129°--Philly only--, or 148°) you then have the same deal again! An SW64 does the same thing as the SW44 except for the additional dual LNB. The "Twin" and "Quad" LNBs allow you to use a cascading switch solution. It's cheaper, but limits the side slot to two receivers unless you use more than 1 additional dish.

Take a look at the EKB at http://echostar.swiki.net for more info. Also the DBSTalk home page has lots of links to techie stuff.

Hope this helps.

See ya
Tony

[bryan27]

DBSOgre, The first I heard of WPB was yesterday when someone told me about it and I verified it on the EPG data. Other than Grand Rapids and West Palm nothing else has suddenly appeared. E* promised that Honolulu and Anchorage would be added first (so much for E*'s promises).

Tony, I wondered what happened to CBS and thought it was a typo till I saw that it wasn't in the EPG data. I agree probably WTCE(TBN) independantly owned, WFGC(CTN) they have demanded all CTN stations in an LIL be carried, and WPPB(EDU) will be on 61.5.

[Craig Fogus]

Tony, thanks for the info! It answered my questions! I'm a geek at heart, so I always want to know how everything works. That's what happens when you have an engineer for a father. :)

[akll]

The Anchorage/Alaska spot is back up - again a strong signal 300 miles SW of Anchorage. (117/125 on 6' dish).

[Richard King]

The following has been added to TP3 South Florida beam:

This is GREAT news, not only for television viewing, but for the business situation here. Now to complete the story they still have to add CBS, although in my area my customers can get CBS with a waiver with no problem. There is a dealer chat today at noon so hopefully a timetable for activation will be announced.

I am about 20 miles south of the north end of the WPB DMA and the TP3 spot here is about 15 points hotter than other transponders. The next DMA north of here is Orlando, which I assume is on a different spot.

[bryan27]

Orlando and Tampa haven't been moved to spots. TP1 could still be activated for South Florida. The TP1&3 beam covers Tampa, Orlando, Miami, and West Palm.

[TNGTony]

Bryan,

I've learned that WTVI (8656) and WNSC (8661) in the Charlotte DMA have moved from 61.5 to 119. I'm thinking they're on TP7s14, could you confirm?

See ya
Tony

[bryan27]

Tony, just when we think they are done moving channels they move more :)

WTVI(8656) TP5
WNSC(8661) TP5
WTLJ(8720) TP7
KBYU(8540) TP9
KULC(8541) TP9
KTMW(8542) TP9

I'll update the chart on page 1 to reflect these changes.

[Mark Holtz]

I checked this morning, and no change in Sacramento. 1 is still CONUS, 3 has no signal, 5 has no signal but is to serve sacramento, 7 is full bore 125 (only once have I seen it drop to 122), and 9 is no signal.

[TNGTony]

Bryan...Looks like K.C. may be next! I just confirmed that KMCI moved from 148 to 119. But I don't know what transponder. Could it be starting the K.C. locals on a spot? TP 9?

See ya
Tony

[bryan27]

Tony, KMCI is on TP3 so now we know that the KC beam is 1&3 and the Mexico City beam is TP9. E* kept changing these two beam TPs around. At first KC was 9, then it was 1&3, then back to 9, and now it is 1&3 with 3 activated. I guess E* finally made up it's mind :)

[TNGTony]

Looks like this spot needs the three transponders it'll get. Topeka, Okrahoma City, Tulsa and maybe even Omaha and Lincoln could be served from there. I found it funny that E*7 would only use one tp in that area.

Thanks.

See ya
Tony

[dlsnyder]

Bryan -

It might be jumping the gun a bit but do you know what the plans are for the Southern California spot on E8? From your map it looks like they could add cities like Bakersfield, Palm Springs, or Yuma. They could go the other way, though, and put the rest of the LA channels currently on 148 over there. Any thoughts?

[bryan27]

That's a good question. Since TP1 will be activated around June 16th (this is the date that some channels are moving from 119 to 110) most likely those TP1s will have the side sat locals moved to them and any new cities would be added to the spots on 110. There are 25 channels for LA and SD on the spots. E* will probably completly fill TP1&3 at 119 and then put 1 channel on 110. So there would be plenty of room to add Bakersfield and Santa Barbara to the 1 TP beam on 110.

I would say that Santa Barbara would be added before Bakersfield because several LA stations have Low Power Translators in the Santa Barbara area.

[DDRio]

219 HSN2
224 SAH
402 GOLF2

These channels appeared on the guide this afternoon.(WELL, SAH is still at its old location but displays "Call xxxx" message) They have the message of "Call xxxx to request Dish". But these are the only ones that are showing the message. Ch 101,103, 226,9601 doesn't have the message. I wonder if they decided to only move the channels above instead of the original 10?

ch 222 & ch 401 no longer appear on the guide. If these channels appear on your guide they are probably coming off from 110W.

[TNGTony]

I bet they'll get moved next week. They needed to stagger the move to prevent a "mad rush" :)

See ya
Tony

[Mark Holtz]

Sacramento locals may be moving tonight. According to the on-air guide, here are the off-air times:

8630 (ABC/KXTV) - 12:05-1:05
8631 (CBS/KOVR) - midnight-1 AM
8632 (NBC/KCRA) - 11:35-1:35 AM
8633 (FOX/KTXL) - midnight-1 AM
8634 (WB/KQCA) - midnight-1 AM
8635 (UPN/KMAX) - midnight-1 AM
8636 (PBS/KVIE) - 11-1 AM
8638 (Univision/KUVS) - 11:15-1:30 AM

However, only spot 7 is still illuminated, and is serving the SF Locals. KVIE has a TERRIBLE signal tonight. Hmmmm..... new feed?

[TNGTony]

Z'Loth

I'l up late tonight. post if the channels move to the spot at 119 on TP5 tonight so I can keep the channel list up to date. Or e-mail me (tngtony@one.net)

See ya
Tony

[dlsnyder]

Originally posted by bryan27
That's a good question. Since TP1 will be activated around June 16th (this is the date that some channels are moving from 119 to 110) most likely those TP1s will have the side sat locals moved to them and any new cities would be added to the spots on 110. There are 25 channels for LA and SD on the spots. E* will probably completly fill TP1&3 at 119 and then put 1 channel on 110. So there would be plenty of room to add Bakersfield and Santa Barbara to the 1 TP beam on 110.

I would say that Santa Barbara would be added before Bakersfield because several LA stations have Low Power Translators in the Santa Barbara area.

Thanks Bryan - I had forgotten all about Santa Barbara. That's a weird one too with KSBY (NBC) to the far north, KCOY (CBS) to the northeast, and KEYT (ABC) in Santa Barbara proper. They make extensive use of translators throughout the region since it is almost impossible to receive KCOY or KSBY from downtown SBA.

Has there been any progress on the "significantly viewed" issue? KEYT is virtually the sole source of local TV news for Ventura county but would not be available to them via DBS under current rules since they are technically in the LA DMA. They would have to rely on the KEY news rebroadcast on KADY.

[Mark Holtz]

Originally posted by Z'Loth
Sacramento locals may be moving tonight.

Nope. As of this morning, they're still at 110/26 & 148/6. No signal on 3/5/9, and 1 is on Conus.

Sorry about that. Looks like they were performing some maintanence or equipment upgrades at the Sacramento POP.

[Sandy]

I have a dish300 pointing at 119. I just subscribe to the superstations package using a dishplayer with dish.

I am getting a signal of ~80 on transponder 3. I am in the TX Panhandle. This is probably either the Kansas City or Oklahoma City spot beam. I am around 240m from OKC. Don't know the distance to KC.

[ElJefe]

At about 1 am PDT on June 20th, all the channels were moved off transponder 1 and now I receive no signal from it. I wonder what sort of spot beam activity will result from this.

[TNGTony]

Hey folks,

I could use help determining the transponder numbers of channels 414, 422, 493, 634/940, 639/941, 948 and 949.

Thanks!

BTW Transponder 1 at 119° is now dead (as it should be) in Cincinnati. No signal.

[Craig Fogus]

I'm in the area, so what does that mean to us?

[TNGTony]

Craig...I'm less than 10 miles from you...Greenhills south of the lake....

It means diddley for us right now. Transponder 1 (along with 3, 5, 7 and 9 at 119°) will be used as a spot beam for locals in other areas. Our spot beam is on the new satellite being launched Saturday.

See ya
Tony

[bryan27]

From what I can see there is nothing comming in the MPEG-2 EPG Data for anything on TP1. I can only guess at this time that TP1 hasn't been activated for beams yet and is sitting dormant.

[JohnH]

The Northeast beam is not on, yet.

Hello TNGTony,
Channel 414, Fox Rocky Mtn., is on tp 6.
Thanks for all the info you put into EKB.

KB

[TNGTony]

Thanks KB!

[ekake2]

hello Anchorage AK are you getting a sig on tp 9 still? its been off here in SE. as of sunday sometime
bob

[kstuart]

My guess is that the remaining work on EchoStar 7 requires EchoStar 8 in place for some reason (that is more obvious to someone who was actually responsible for moving all these channels around).

[Mark Holtz]

Status update for Sacramento:

01 - No signal
03 - No signal
05 - No signal (2nd spot beam for NorCal)
07 - 125 (Serving SF Locals)
09 - No Signal

[bryan27]

Tony, just wanted to let you know that I checked the EPG data this morning and the 4 Oklahoma City locals and the Honolulu locals aren't listed in the EPG data stream. The last channel in the 8000's showing up in the data stream is 8893 either E* is sending the EPG data for these channels in the spotbeam or they aren't really being uplinked yet.

Just thought I'd let you know.

Bryan

[TNGTony]

Thanks... The numbering for the Honolulu locals just strikes me as dead wrong...but who knows, Dish may have abandoned their format to fit the rest of the cities in decades rather than blocks of 20.

See ya
Tony

[bryan27]

Apparently the MPEG-2 EPG data for Honolulu and Oklahoma City Locals are being sent on their respective beams. I will need everyone's help in determining accurate channel numbers and TPs for new locals to add to the Spot Beam channel list.

Thanks

[Mainstreet]

Transponder 3 is the only active Spot Beam from here (OKC area). Are they puttting all 8 locals on TP3? -- Justin / Mainstreet

[JohnH]

That is the way a post at Lyngsat says they are.

http://www.lyngsat.com/dig/dish7.shtml

[Mark Holtz]

I've got some changes to report on 119 from Sacramento, CA

1-signal of around 40-41 with an occassional 0. Occassionally switches from "Transponder" to "Spotbeam". This is probably spillover signal from the Pacific Northeast spotbeam. My 501 wasn't able to keep a lock.
3-No signal
5-No signal. This is one of two California spotbeams.
7-Pinging at 125. This is the NorCal Spotbeam serving SF Locals.
9-No signal

Everything else, I'm getting a minimum of 88, with most in 95-103.

[markh]

Here in the SW corner of Wisconsin, I'm getting 100-105 on transponders 5 and 7. It's a little rainy now, it's usually around 105-110. E* must have been very conservative with their spotbeam maps because it looks like I'm right on the edge or outside of the beam.

No signal of course on 1, 3, and 9.