[lonerwulf]

I'm a installer in Chicago area and I've always wondered why not have it on 110 119 or 129 and a sat on the ea? I did about a hundred migration jobs last summer and I think it woulda been more cost affective ?

 

[Inkosaurus]

Because it would probably be more annoying for and less cost effective for installers to have to switch non-international subs to 118.7.

Just imagine thousands of installs during the summer for that install instead
*I used to dread having to set up this install for custs over the phone it was simple but when you've done 30 a day for 2 months... it gets old fast*

 

[Stewart Vernon]

Bandwidth... If they loaded the internationals up on west/east arc then they would be out of bandwidth I believe for anything else.

 

[lonerwulf]

Then why a different type of dish and LNb?

 

[Michael P]

They used to be on 61.5 on the EA as well. I don't know why they took them off that bird. Makes for a big pain for those who live in an EA market and want both locals and internationals.

 

[Stewart Vernon]

They are taking them off eastern arc because they aren't on western arc... and they are trying to balance the channels available on west/east and will not add new channels that they cannot add for both arcs.

As for why 118.7 is in use... I forget the origins of why they have it.. but they have it...and they have far fewer international customers than they do customers in general... so someone counted beans and decided it was worth it to not have to launch another satellite for internationals and to use what they have.

 

[Michael P]

I recall that 118.7 used to carry smaller local markets. The first time I saw a 118.7 dish was when I crossed the Ohio/PA border into NW PA where an E* customer had it for Erie PA locals. This was in the days before HD locals IIRC.

BTW: The Erie market needed satellite delivery of its locals badly. My aunt's OTA reception was so bad that she watched Cleveland locals instead of her own DMA's stations. I bet the local cable had problems (this was in the analog days) she initially did not get cable and was happy watching a near perfect picture from WJW a good 60+ miles away.

 

[James Long]

Erie was 121 ... before 105 and 121 SuperDISH setups were added for locals (and eventually used for other things). The original 121 was not the same satellite as the one used for SuperDISH.

105 is no longer used for direct to home ... 121 is still in DISH's system and is used for Business TV feeds (list).

 

[Michael P]

I forgot about 105 & 121. Did those 2 satellites use the same type of LNB as what is now used for 118.7?

 

[James Long]

I forgot about 105 & 121. Did those 2 satellites use the same type of LNB as what is now used for 118.7?

I believe 118.7 is circular and 105 and 121 are linear.

 

[P Smith]

Correct.