# Satellite Tv



## Astronut (Feb 20, 2006)

Hello,

I went to my DishNetwork dealer and picked up a Dish500 dish the other day. Everything works great and with it being a Dish500, I can also get my local cahnnels off of satellite. I've been camping with it about 150 miles from the house and the locals worked. My question is if I go 400 - 600 or more miles from home, will I still be able to get my local channels or will I be outside of a spot beam for those channels and not be able to receive my locals? I know I can go anyplace in the US and receive the regular satellite channels, but is the same true for my locals? I thought some of you that travel alot my have the answer.

Thanks
Dave


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## huntr70 (Jul 8, 2005)

I have the DirecTv, and my locals worked when we were in Maine last year.....from Pennsylvania as our home state.

This year, in Niagara, on the Canadian side, they did not, but it did try to pick up Canadian locals, so it may just be from being out of the country.

I have been able to get locals in Maryland, NY, Maine, etc, so it should work for you.

Steve


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## Texas Friends (Feb 12, 2006)

Dave,

I live in Dallas Texas area and went on a trip to south central Colorado. A 750 mile difference. Once we got set up in the mountains we hooked up our DirecTV sat. and we got everything BUT the local channels. Which was not good since the only reason we brought the dish was to watch the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA playoffs. They lost that night anyway. I was planning on calling DirecTV and ask them but never got around to it. 
Not sure if that helps but we got no local channels up there.

Happy Camping
Baryn


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## JimBo99 (Apr 25, 2006)

I'm on Dish at home in So. IL and have several boxes. I just take one with me. I get everything, but not local channels. The local channels are broadcast in a certain area by a small beam that only covers a certain geographical area. Kind of like shining a bright flashlight with a focused beam on the ground. Only a small area is illuminated. When you leave the illumination area you are effectively blacked out. The boxes are set to receive local channels in one area only. I get great reception everyplace I can see the Southern sky, but local channels only around home.

I haven't tried it but I was wondering if I could get local channels where I travel to, if I called Dish and asked them to reset my box when I arrived in a new area. But, I really don't care too much as long as I can get FSNMW, FNC, and TWC, and Bloomberg.

If I can get local channels anywhere with DirectTV I might consider switching.

I might add that I used to have a portable dish that I set up and moved around to get the signal. Sometimes it was pretty tough. The KingDome cost a little more, but has GPS and knows where it is at (I"m not always sure where I'm at







) I push a button on the control panel and it loads the software, aquires the satellite, locks and there it is! Note: with Dish you have to switch between two sats 110 and 119 to receive all subscribed to channels (not really a problem, takes about 90 secs). With DirectTV you only need to lock onto one satellite to receive all channels. And the guys at KingDome (who have bee great) tell me that Direct switches between channels much quicker. But when your DW is smilin' and you're sucking on an ice cold beer and eatin' nachos, you don't notice the time.

I used to be a tent camper and relished all that stuff. I still love to camp, but we've moved it up a notch or two on the Roghing It Scale!


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

Both Dish Network and Direct TV use "Spot Beams" to send the local channels to small geographic areas. It allows them to cover lots of local areas under their FCC licenses. If they made Portland Oregon channels available in Boston it would require that they use valuable satellite bandwidth for a feature that few would use.

Both have the same issue, though they implement it in slightly different ways. So, your mileage may vary between the two providers.

Ed


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Yeah, what Ed said!

Happy Trails,
Doug


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## Astronut (Feb 20, 2006)

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the info. I thought that the locals were sent to the appropriate area using a narrow spot beam. I figured there was somebody out there had traveled alot and had a satellite system that would know the answer







.

Thanks again
Dave


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## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

I guess the question is how wide is that beam? I've traveled a bit less than 200 miles to the north and south of where we live and have been able to get our local channels in both cases.


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

Insomniak said:


> I guess the question is how wide is that beam? I've traveled a bit less than 200 miles to the north and south of where we live and have been able to get our local channels in both cases.


The original Dish Network spot beams were pretty wide, but with the new satellites I believe they have narrowed them somewhat in order to fit in more local channels. Still, I think Portland and Seattle, for example, are on the same spot beam.

Ed


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## Txcamper (Apr 3, 2006)

We were camping in Big Bend National Park and received the Houston locals via Dish Network. It was really wierd because they worked so far. Normally we would not be able to pick them up that far away.


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## renegade21rs (Oct 8, 2006)

Went out West a couple of Years ago [ColoWyoMontaKota] and my Dish Network locals from Detroit came in with no problems; however, they've put all locals from my area on a spotbeam. Now, I can't get locals when I am up North [Mackinaw Br area], 300 miles away. Have come to the conclusion that hooking up satellite is more of a pain than it's worth, besides, with an outdoor TV antenna on my 21rs, I can usually find local channels where I am at; this seems to provide me with [limited] access to weather conditions where I am camping. More important than the weather at home!


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## mswalt (Sep 14, 2004)

Here in Abilene, Texas, Direct TV doesn't even offer the local channels. Have to use DishSatellite TV to get the locals.

Mark


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