A Real Spot Beam Map!

[CWCW]

http://www.scottandmichelle.net/scott/dtv.html

Needs input......

[TheBigDog]

That's a VERY good link. THANKS.

[popzikle]

I see the red circle in new york and chicago area.
Is it possbile at all to get Chicago locals (fox) in New York area?

If its not with spot beam, can anyone think of a way I can get chicago locals? I'm willing to spend just about anything... family member is an anchor on the news... and wanna tivo it all.

Thanks

[CWCW]

Not Possible.....
Chicago is being serviced by the bright blue one...

[BubbaJ]

It just shows transponder usage so far, not transponder usage cross referenced with spot beam/channel info..

It is entirely possible (and it even looks like that's what they're doing, even though it's not REALLY nessecary) that they can use the same transponder for different physical locations.

[lsmod]

Originally posted by BubbaJ
It is entirely possible (and it even looks like that's what they're doing, even though it's not REALLY nessecary) that they can use the same transponder for different physical locations.

Not really necessary? It's the whole point!

Everytime they re-use a transponder, they free up space on the other transponders to improve PQ or add more programming.

This is why E* is in such deep $#!+ right now. They don't have a spot-beam bird yet, so they've filled up 61.5 and 148 with locals, and even had to rent a transponder on Telstar 7 for Philly.

-Z

[tivolian]

I think my rca standalone directv receiver showed the information you need, but I don't know if my new hughes directivo will tell me. I wonder if I plugged in the rca with an expired access card if it would still give that information. If that works I'll submit the form. Very interesting by the way.

[BubbaJ]

The only reason they "HAVE" to do it the way they are is because the software they set up way back when they set up the system they left themselves a huge margin for error. If an OTA broadcast can stick a 20Mbit/s payload in 6Mhz of bandwidth, then DTV can too.. why don't they? my guess is a tight production schedule said it had to work without any fine, or even rough tuning.

[gopherhockey]

I'm a little confused by the spot beam concept - at least as far as it applies to what we can receive using mvchannels in our area.

I live in the Minneapolis area, and am therefore in the 12,20 transponder area - using the STV Spots Map, I'm in with Milwaukee, Dallas, Orlando, Houston etc.

However.. I cannot receive locals from those areas. If I look at the map at http://www.tivofan.com/directv/channels.html#900 it seems to state that I'm in a channel range shared with Philli, Cincinnati, Denver, San Fran etc. - that doesn't seem to be any significance of what I could get other than what I should stay away from that might duplicate.

So seeing the varous maps people have posted... my question would be what does a person do to figure out what other area locals we can get.

I obviously get the Minneapolis channels.. and can get a few NY and LA (in the national beam coverage) - but other than that I have had no luck whatsoever with other channels. Looking at the spot beam map, I should at least be able to get a few more areas.

So... spot beam doesn't necessarily mean we get everything in the same spot as ourselves. So then what?

Also I have seen reference to a spending limit setting and have searched on the topic, but don't see where this is actually edited... (file location etc.) - and is this related to why I might not get areas that are in my spot beam? (Note: when I say I don't get, they are completely blank - I don't even get a searching for satellite signal or any data on upcoming shows etc.)

At least if I try add Chicago area channels I get a "searching for satellite" signal on one of the two tuners that are active - but nothing shows up.

Or... is this all just trial and error and the maps are really just pretty circles meaning very little. ??

Thanks..

[madd0c]

However, I am somewhat concerned with inputting my zipcode. Does anyone else think this is an EXTREMELY acurate method for "someone" to map out where people are accessing the spot beams and cross reference with existing subscriber info?

This is way off base for this forum, but thought I would bring up the point...Call me paranoid...

Thanks,
madd0c

[Torg]

The spotbeam is simply a narrow apature beam. This means it it aimed at a spot downward. Normal beams broadcast a very wide footprint (in fact it is posible to get DTV sats in South America). You can no more get a signal from a spotbeam not aimed at you then you can pick up birds on the other side of the earth.

Think of it like this. We are standing in a room full of people. When I can shout out to you across the room everyone can hear. But if we use a two way radio only those people who are phsycaly close to you can hear.

So, lets say you live in New York. You can get NY locals, of course, as well as Boston, Philidelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC. No you can not get Chicago, Dallas, St. Louis or any other locals. The only exception to this are the "network" feeds which are realy NY and LA local tv stations.

[arthur]

I would say that crossreferencing data from the two links
(accepting the accuracy level of both)
http://www.scottandmichelle.net/scott/dtv.html
http://www.tivofan.com/directv/channels.html#900
One should be able to determine exactly what locals he/she should be able to receive.

1- Measure the transponder strength that you receive
for each of the following
4, 12, 18, 20, 26, 28

2- Mark down the ones that you have strong enough signal (I think 60+)

3- Look at the link#2 to identify all the cities on all of the transponders that you have strong enough signal.

4- Look at the link#1 and locate your city on the map.
Identify all the circles that contain you (the ones that you have strong signal)

5-For each city identified in step 3, see if it is in the same circle as your city identified in step 4.
If so, then you'll be able to receive that city's locals
Otherwise NOT.

I think I got it right, then again, I've made mistakes in the past, it won't the first time.

Thanks for the great map CWCW

[gopherhockey]

Now THATs an answer.. thanks very much for the tips!

What a bummer though.. it appears I can probably pull St. Louis, W. Palm Bch, Austin and Dallas... but when I add them I just get a blank black screen.. no searching errors, no guide data.

I wonder if the last step is that location file people have been talking about...

There was a guy that posted a way to get all locals - doubt that works now, but maybe I'll give that a shot.

Thx..

[goofy]

Don't necessarily rely wholly on the spot-beam data on Scott's site. The ovals seem very generous to me. The algorithm to generate these graphs looks good, but I'm not convinced that the zipcode/transponder-strength data is completely accurate.

[mrblack51]

the transponder data also may not be accurate now, though it was in the past. for example, dtv had the salt lake city spot cranked and spread out over almost the entire mountain west area, but that range has shrunk considerably now. also, depending on the day, they have been tweaking the power on their spots beams all the time it seems. it shouldn't affect you if you are in the center of the beam (ie: in the region it is meant to cover), but if you are on the outskirts, then it can be fairly hit and miss.

[arthur]

Originally posted by gopherhockey
Now THATs an answer.. thanks very much for the tips!

What a bummer though.. it appears I can probably pull St. Louis, W. Palm Bch, Austin and Dallas... but when I add them I just get a blank black screen.. no searching errors, no guide data.

I wonder if the last step is that location file people have been talking about...

There was a guy that posted a way to get all locals - doubt that works now, but maybe I'll give that a shot.

Thx..

I suppose you are setting the correct local bytes and the guide bytes

[gopherhockey]

Nope, I have seen posts about that and searched on it, but really would want to have my receiver set up in a way that I wouldn't have to get in and change anything and screw up my current locals.

It is difficult sometimes to tell when someone posts on a subject if it is outdated already or not... like one guy posted something about getting ALL local channels without using that program.. I'm guessing thats no longer valid either.

Looks like I can get my locals and anything national... not a huge benefit, but I'll take it ;-)

[AlphaWolf]

You know what you might also try is turning on every transponder bit in the guide byte of your CAM, this should cause all of the locals that you can possibly receive to show up. Take that list and remove the duplicates from mvchannels, then set your guide byte to normal.

[Wooly]

That's a good way to eliminate Rain Fade also...

(I live in Florida, and replacing my 18" dish with a 24" dish pretty much took care of the problem...I'd like to see how a 14' unit takes care of business, though!).

BTW, completely off topic, I found a way (I say found, as I didn't invent it, I only found a report of how someone else did it) to use 18" DTV dishes to spot xmit 802.11b signals as far as 12 miles with acceptable signal strength (i.e., 2mbit yield) and create a WLAN inexpensively. If anyone is curious (and bored beyond belief), click here:

http://trevormarshall.com/biquad.htm



Originally posted by rc3105
phooiey on spot beams

if you're in florida and you want chicago spot beams...

put your DTV Lnb at the focal point of an old c-band dish, the bigger the better

I'm in texas, 'n I've picked up just about everything I've tried so far on an old 14ft fibreglass c band

there's not much bleed outside a spots footprint, but when you have 200 the times the surface area of an 18" dish..... :D

--
Riley