HD spotbeam misses my city. Who can I complain to?

[RyMcQ]

I live in the southwest corner of Utah and am in the Salt Lake City DMA. SLC is 300 miles north of here. I get SD locals just fine, but for some reason, the HD content is not available here. I don't know if it is a spotbeam issue or if it is the slot that the satellite is in. There is no OTA HD here.

Anyway, I was hoping with the new satellite coming online, there might be some shuffling of channels and maybe local HD would be put on a satellite we can actually see. DirecTV CSR was not helpful and didn't know of anyone else I could ask.

Is there someone at DirecTV I could contact? Does anyone here know what is going on?

[shendley]

I don't have a helpful response to give you - but I bet someone else on the board will! I just wanted to send you my sympathies. I would definitely be bummed if I couldn't get DTV HD. Here's to hoping the new sats fill in your gap!

[RyMcQ]

Just to clarify: I do get the MPEG-2 HD channels, including the LA network feeds, so I'm not completely SOL. I assume I'll get the new MPEG-4 national HD stuff because I figure it will be a CONUS transmission. But eventually, the MPEG-2 HD network feeds will get turned off and then I'll be left with Dish (or "moving" to Vegas if that still works).

[bkwest918]

Just to clarify: I do get the MPEG-2 HD channels, including the LA network feeds, so I'm not completely SOL. I assume I'll get the new MPEG-4 national HD stuff because I figure it will be a CONUS transmission. But eventually, the MPEG-2 HD network feeds will get turned off and then I'll be left with Dish (or "moving" to Vegas if that still works).

What reciver and dish do you have?

[mexican-bum]

I believe the spot beam goes around 240 miles south of salt lake city. I know for a fact like Garfield county and lower are out of range. what is your zip?

[RyMcQ]

84790 (St. George).

So the HD locals are on a spot beam? Can't figure out why they can put the SD locals on a spotbeam that reaches us, but not the HD. I always figured they had to use suboptimal slots because of bandwidth issues and they'd eventually reach us when the new satellite went up.

I have both the HR20-700 and the HR10-250. As soon as the MPEG-4 channels are up, I'll buy another HR20. If I'll never have HD locals, I might have to rethink this, though.

Thanks everyone for all your help.

[mexican-bum]

Ya you are bit out of range, hopefully someday they will be away to broaden the beam, but unfortunately I wouldn't count on it as the beam is probably to close to another spot beam, phoenix or las vegas possibly:( you might be able to get las vegas locals off the 99 sat as you are much closer, and possibly in its range. Its about 120 miles from you, the only way to check is to call dtv and change your address.

[aramus8]

Check satellite 3A and transponder #4. If you have any signal at all you can probably get the Salt Lake stations if you can get D* to authorize your box for them. When D* accidentally pointed our spot beam at Oakland a couple of months ago and my signal went down to 25, I still had reception. I see both the Reno and Las Vegas spot beams with signal strength around 50 and I'm almost 400 miles from them. You may have to tweak the dish though. Note E* isn't really an option as they don't have a contract with the ABC outlet in Salt Lake. I believe that all but one of the major Salt Lake stations already have translators in St George broadcasting HD, so if all else fails get out the OTA antenna and you may also want to check the Salt Lake thread at AVS.

[RyMcQ]

Check satellite 3A and transponder #4.

Are you referring to satellite A at 103 degrees? If so, I am SOL. Zero signal on transponder 4.

Thanks for your help.

[RyMcQ]

I believe that all but one of the major Salt Lake stations already have translators in St George broadcasting HD, so if all else fails get out the OTA antenna and you may also want to check the Salt Lake thread at AVS.

Do you have a reference for this? According to antennaweb.org, there are only two HD broadcasts in St George (CBS and PBS). I wish everyone else would hurry up.

[aramus8]

Do you have a reference for this? According to antennaweb.org, there are only two HD broadcasts in St George (CBS and PBS). I wish everyone else would hurry up.

Check the Salt Lake thread on AVS. The station engineers post there and this was talked about several weeks ago. If memory serves correctly only KSL wasn't on and they were working on it. Antennaweb doesn't really have a handle on the Salt Lake market area. It shows I get no HD channels when in fact I get strong signals on all the stations, 100 signal strength on everything but 13 and 16 which are in the 80's both on my TV and the HR20-700.

[aramus8]

Are you referring to satellite A at 103 degrees? If so, I am SOL. Zero signal on transponder 4.

Thanks for your help.Yes that is the one you need...sorry!!!

[RyMcQ]

Check the Salt Lake thread on AVS. The station engineers post there and this was talked about several weeks ago. If memory serves correctly only KSL wasn't on and they were working on it. Antennaweb doesn't really have a handle on the Salt Lake market area. It shows I get no HD channels when in fact I get strong signals on all the stations, 100 signal strength on everything but 13 and 16 which are in the 80's both on my TV and the HR20-700.

Sorry I didn't check that thread earlier. I initially saw the length of the thread and about fainted. After your post, I was able to find the "search this thread" function, which was very useful. It appears you are right and that KSL is on the cusp of getting set up.

So does anyone have a suggestion on an OTA antenna? Some people seem to have some success with an attic install, but I have seen other people say that outdoor mounting is the only way to go. Any opinions on this?

I have never set up an OTA antenna before. Do I need a cable for each tuner like the satellite setup, or can I just use one like with the analog antennas? Can the signal be diplexed over the satellite cables? I have the 5 LNB dish and two receivers. Do I need to split the OTA antenna signal and diplex for both receivers, or is there a way to diplex once to the satellite cables pre-multiswitch?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm having a hard time finding useful info by Google today. And thanks for all your help.

[squarej]

Is there a list somewhere that shows the size of the spot beams for the different cities? I am wanting to take a dish and rcvr with me hunting this fall to my cabin and I was wondering if I would get my locals (ST Louis) up there (150 miles North of STL).

Jamie

[1948GG]

I live in the southwest corner of Utah and am in the Salt Lake City DMA. SLC is 300 miles north of here. I get SD locals just fine, but for some reason, the HD content is not available here. I don't know if it is a spotbeam issue or if it is the slot that the satellite is in. There is no OTA HD here.

Anyway, I was hoping with the new satellite coming online, there might be some shuffling of channels and maybe local HD would be put on a satellite we can actually see. DirecTV CSR was not helpful and didn't know of anyone else I could ask.

Is there someone at DirecTV I could contact? Does anyone here know what is going on?

SLC is one (in not THE) largest DMA (designated market area) geographically, in the U.S. The 'problem' with St. George has been brought up before, and apparently hasn't been 'solved'. But you should be getting a 'hint' of the signal even at that range, on a good, clear, day (below threshold, though). A larger dish reflector may help, take a look at the 1+ meter models available from a couple of dealers.

But you should get a 'hint' of a signal from the Las Vegas locals on one or two transponders on 99 or 103 (whichever one they are on); won't be really 'hot' but should be fairly high (maybe at least 70+). I get a bit of a hint from the Ka locals from Portland, OR, and Spokane WA even though they are both a good 200+ miles away; but the spot beams may be tighter (or not) that what you may be experiencing.

If you don't get a 'hint' of Las Vegas, your dish may not be aligned well; then again, without a decent signal, the tech didn't have much to go on when it was installed. When the 'nationals' go live on 103 in a few days/couple weeks, you'll have a bit more to work with (and if they are 'low' signal strength wise, it'll be a good time to get a 'tweak job').

Not much to go on for now, though. What are the other folks in the area of St. George doing to rectify this ('moving' to LV perhaps?).

[RyMcQ]

Not much to go on for now, though. What are the other folks in the area of St. George doing to rectify this ('moving' to LV perhaps?).

Most people I know go with Dish, even though it requires three separate dishes and another dish pointing straight up. (The old 5 LNB dish is ugly enough.) DirecTV has basically just given away their market share in the fastest growing area in the country because they can't put the signal on a broader spotbeam. Dumb.

[Gadianton]

I live in the southwest corner of Utah and am in the Salt Lake City DMA. SLC is 300 miles north of here. I get SD locals just fine, but for some reason, the HD content is not available here. I don't know if it is a spotbeam issue or if it is the slot that the satellite is in. There is no OTA HD here.

Anyway, I was hoping with the new satellite coming online, there might be some shuffling of channels and maybe local HD would be put on a satellite we can actually see. DirecTV CSR was not helpful and didn't know of anyone else I could ask.

Is there someone at DirecTV I could contact? Does anyone here know what is going on?

Do you have an update now that the first D* HD rollout has happened? I'm in Washington, Utah and have the same problem. I really want NBC and Sci-Fi in HD and to do so I'd have get both D* and E*, which is just ridiculous. I've been active in the avsforums thread and there has been no updates on KSL. Which HD LA networks do you get?

[RyMcQ]

I still don't get HD locals through D*. It is very irritating. I'm hoping they can fix the issue with the D11 satellite.

I get the four major networks through LA. I think I may have lucked out with a CSR, because I don't think I qualify. But I called them enough about the local HD channels that someone finally showed pity and turned on my national feeds. It's nice, but I would still prefer locals as the programs are one 2 hours earlier. You should be able to get CBS and Fox as the local channels are owned by those national networks and they'll give you waivers.

Best of luck.

[Gadianton]

I still don't get HD locals through D*. It is very irritating. I'm hoping they can fix the issue with the D11 satellite.

I get the four major networks through LA. I think I may have lucked out with a CSR, because I don't think I qualify. But I called them enough about the local HD channels that someone finally showed pity and turned on my national feeds. It's nice, but I would still prefer locals as the programs are one 2 hours earlier. You should be able to get CBS and Fox as the local channels are owned by those national networks and they'll give you waivers.

Best of luck.

It is a shame that they don't have the locals on HD yet. If they did directv would be a no brainer. Instead, I'm left with either Dish and hoping they add Sci-Fi plus a few others, or Directv and hoping they add NBC. Since NBC is more important to me I am really leaning towards Dish. Plus Dish has that modded receiver that lets you use a HTPC, which would be nice.

[RyMcQ]

Regarding NBC: Supposedly KSL is close to setting up OTA HD in St George. You might want to wait for that. Dish doesn't have near as much bandwidth, so I'm always suspicious about their future picture quality.

[funners]

Just to clarify: I do get the MPEG-2 HD channels, including the LA network feeds, so I'm not completely SOL. I assume I'll get the new MPEG-4 national HD stuff because I figure it will be a CONUS transmission. But eventually, the MPEG-2 HD network feeds will get turned off and then I'll be left with Dish (or "moving" to Vegas if that still works).


pretty vague.... what happens when you go to the hd local channels?? channel not available?? sfss? 721? need the info yo

[funners]

I still don't get HD locals through D*. It is very irritating. I'm hoping they can fix the issue with the D11 satellite.

I get the four major networks through LA. I think I may have lucked out with a CSR, because I don't think I qualify. But I called them enough about the local HD channels that someone finally showed pity and turned on my national feeds. It's nice, but I would still prefer locals as the programs are one 2 hours earlier. You should be able to get CBS and Fox as the local channels are owned by those national networks and they'll give you waivers.

Best of luck.


hhmm strange being csr's can't add those channels at their computers unless you've been approved already through the waiver process..... it possible however that those networks already preapproved your area due to this... only way they could have done this from their desk.. there isn't the option anymore and hasn't been for some time to just add them like normal programming at a csr's computer...you prob had been pre approved... which is pretty rare in most cases...

[funners]

reason for this is the dish network fiasco... directv making sure they don't mess up the dns network process

[Gadianton]

Regarding NBC: Supposedly KSL is close to setting up OTA HD in St George. You might want to wait for that. Dish doesn't have near as much bandwidth, so I'm always suspicious about their future picture quality.

I've got some brownie points with the wife that I'd like to use before they expire, so I am thinking of jumping on board direct tv. The latest KSL info I got from avsforums was that the FCC denied the application due to lack of spots, but that there may be a compromise in the works. I just wish I knew how to navigate the FCC website better to find out the latest.