Thor Forums

[TurnerFam]

o.k., today was a revelation about a DISH satellite programming 'trick' that may apply to a very few who want to try 'dual' Local Service Channels, from two different spot beam(metro areas), on two different Receivers, at the SAME location...

that was a mouthful, and granted, this may apply to actually NO ONE other than myself, but my accidental discovery may prove interesting to DISH owners, whether fixed base, or while traveling... we'll see : )


Here's a little 'history' for the backstory:
- three receivers
- three antennas(a King Tailgater portable, and 2 fixed 1000.2 open-face type, one mounted at the Cabin, one mounted near the motorhome)
- Motorhome in Lacey's Spring, AL(S of Huntsville, N or Arab)
- Cabin at Hayesville, NC, over 200 road miles away

- lately, we've traveled between these two locations - while we are 'moving' from NC to AL - the motorhome stays in AL.


Now, for the 'rest of the story'... as someone famous once said:

- I've found that while we have shuffled our Antennas, Receivers, and even TVs between these two locations, the LOCAL SERVICE Channels that are available in each location is actually BOTH the Atlanta metro area, AND the Huntsville metro area. While it's not uncommon at all for Local Service Channel spot beams to 'overlap', since the signal is more-or-less a 'circular' area beam, it's interesting in this case because we've been traveling between these two locations quite often, and choosing to contact/chat with DISH to change to the one that we are physically at, which is perfectly normal, but knowing that actually we could choose to STAY on the Locals from where we left from.
For example: we left western North Carolina, which is a Atlanta area set of local channels, and drove the 5 hours over to N Alabama, but chose to stay on Atlanta Locals because, probably, we just forget and didn't want to bother with it, at least the night we arrived. Fine, it still works just fine anyway....

BUT, there IS an issue: time zone.

The time zone for Atlanta is EST, but N Alabama is CST - so the Local Channels, the Programming, and the Receiver's internal CLOCK is still on Eastern Time - it hasn't yet been 'changed' by me contacting/chatting with DISH to update it.
It can, honestly, get a little confusing if you look at see 7pm, when actually you are still at 6pm local time, but really, that and the set of Local Channels is the only real difference.


SO - what's the 'trick' you speak of master???

Here's what happened, and the outcome, and my realization:

- on our last official 'move' of all of our 'stuff' from western NC, we brought back over to the motorhome in AL the other TWO Receivers that had sat at the cabin while we were not there. They were on Atlanta Locals, EST.

- it took a while to get everything here in AL at the motorhome in 'place' for everyday living, and while the boys get into new schools here, etc., and I had not yet used those two receivers. The other day I decided to hook them up - it has been very, very hot, which is why the one outside had certainly not been a big rush!

- While the bedroom receiver was already installed and had been our working TV for some time, I hooked up the other two receivers to the Living room TV, and later the OUTSIDE TV. Three receivers, three tvs, all from a single 1000.2 manual antenna I had setup originally when we arrived here.

- BUT, as part of hooking up the Outside Receiver, I realized that the satellite acquisition was not working, and after some testing decided that the third 'coax' cable output at the antenna was not sending a signal. O.K., I can get around this - I'll just use my A/B switch and have both the LIVING room receiver and the OUTSIDE receiver to share the second antenna signal.

- That worked just fine. I used the Living room TV and receiver in the morning for coffee and morning news, and used the outside TV and receiver in the early, cooler part of the evening(finally!) for some early shows, simply using the A/B switch to change 'which' receiver would receive the antenna signal. Works like a charm.

- Now, what I haven't told you yet is that the OUTSIDE receiver was still on 'Atlanta Locals', even though the other two receivers were on 'Huntsville'...interesting, but I've seen this before, so my understanding was that it would take a while before the channels 'updated' to the true 'locals' as my account has in effect, using the AL address here. Today, though, the locals were STILL from Atlanta. Hmmmmmm. O.k. it's just not....WAIT!!!! HOLD ON!!! O.k. I GOT THIS NOW! : )


I've now found out a 'TRICK' for overlapping Local Channel spot beams, and your multiple RECEIVERS - if a receiver has not yet received it's 'update' from DISH, usually overnight, such as 3am for my account, then the RECEIVER will NEVER receive these 'new' Local Channels IF the receiver is not PLUGGED IN or without a SIGNAL during that overnight 'update' from DISH!

'HOW' did I find this out?? The A/B switch, of course.

Here's what happened:
The use of the A/B switch effectively removes the antenna signal from the receiver, rendering it unable to process the Dish signal, or receive updates, etc. When I went back inside from watching TV on my OUTSIDE receiver, I had SWITCHED the signal BACK to the INSIDE receiver, so it would be ready for the morning coffee shows.
This SWITCH effectively keeps the outside receiver from ever receiving the Local Channel update for here in Huntsville, making the Local Channels stay with Atlanta.

(now, if I simply didn't switch the 'switch' when I went back inside for the night, none of this would have come to light. The receiver would have updated overnight, and I probably would not have really 'connected the dots')


SO, in the end, if you have two Local Channel spot beams that overlap in your area, and you have multiple receivers, and you have some hooked up at one address, and you update your local area address, and then you move those others to your new address, and you don't allow them to 'UPDATE' overnight, then it's quite possible that you can have two receivers with two different area Local Channels, for as long as you see fit : )


[technically, I didn't mention part of the equation, something that even 'I' only realize when I think about all the steps that really happened in our situation:]

A) THREE receivers, two at cabin in NC, one in motorhome in storage, all with Local Address Channels(Atlanta)
B) moved motorhome to AL, updated to Local Address Channels to Huntsville while there
C) went back to NC Cabin, updated account Local Address Channels back to Atlanta, brought the two receivers back to AL
D) updated Local Channel Address to Huntsville, ALTHOUGH both other receivers were not yet plugged in or used yet.
E) weeks later, plugged in SECOND receiver in Living Room, was on ATLANTA locals at first, but later* changed to HUNTSVILLE locals.
F) several days later, plugged in THIRD Outside receiver, and also added A/B switch between it and the Living room receiver. Local Channels - ATLANTA
G) switched the A/B switch between Living Room and Outside TV several times over several days
....BINGO....realized why THIRD receiver was CONTINUING to stay on Atlanta Local Channels, even after several days when an 'update' would normally occur - the A/B switching had prevented it from happening since the receiver was always effectively 'disconnected' from the antenna signal each overnight.

So, because I like to have access to both Atlanta and Huntsville Local Channels, I'll just continue using the outside A/B switch to keep the outside receiver always on 'Atlanta' Locals - sweet! : )


Have Fun!