Oh Damn - Need a solution...... Fast!!

[baja]

Well this sucks I bought a HD LCD and a HD TiVo and it will not work in Mexico because of being on the far edge of the signal footprint.

Any of you teckies have an idea

[OrangeShadow]

call customer service?

[RhymesayersDU]

Move?

[baja]

Originally Posted by OrangeShadow

call customer service?

Great idea i would do that if DTV were legal in Mexico.

[baja]

Originally Posted by RhymesayersDU

Move?

Go watch a BB game

[RhymesayersDU]

Right after O'Reilly!

[DBroncos4life]

Did you know this before you bought all that stuff?

[DBroncos4life]

I don't know maybe find a signal booster.

http://tampa.craigslist.org/ele/84289495.html

I really don't know if this is anywhere near what you need or anything but I thought I would try

[DBroncos4life]

how about this

http://www.ambientweather.com/dbhdtva.html

[baja]

Right I spent 3 grand on something I knew would not work, the regular one satellite system I have now has worked for years so I thought the 3 sat. system would do the same.

[baja]

It's doable D but I would need to spend 6 grand for three six foot dishes and expensive switches.

[scorpio]

Heheheh, I used to work customer service for Echostar/DISH Network. It really pisses them off when people outside the lower 48 try to fool them into getting service (I guess because it's illegal, but I don't think DISH can be held liable. Or maybe they can. Who knows.). Their customer service agents make a game out of trying to bust people so they can kill their signal.

So, just out of curiosity, how did you do it? Just tell them you were in SoCal? Get a P.O. Box in San Diego? Did you have a hard time trying to find the satellites without the right zip code info? For some reason Mexicans seem to be a lot smarter about it than Canadians.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Originally Posted by scorpiosnow

Heheheh, I used to work customer service for Echostar/DISH Network. It really pisses them off when people outside the lower 48 try to fool them into getting service (I guess because it's illegal, but I don't think DISH can be held liable. Or maybe they can. Who knows.). Their customer service agents make a game out of trying to bust people so they can kill their signal.

So, just out of curiosity, how did you do it? Just tell them you were in SoCal? Get a P.O. Box in San Diego? Did you have a hard time trying to find the satellites without the right zip code info? For some reason Mexicans seem to be a lot smarter about it than Canadians.

So how do they advertise DTV for these homes that are for sale in Panama and Costa Rica I see?

[scorpio]

Originally Posted by Bronco_Beerslug

So how do they advertise DTV for these homes that are for sale in Panama and Costa Rica I see?

Hell if I know. By DTV do you mean DirecTV? I know other countries have their own satellite companies, but they are generally very expensive have a really crappy selection, which is why foreigners will go to such great lengths to get American satellite.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Originally Posted by scorpiosnow

Hell if I know. By DTV do you mean DirecTV? I know other countries have their own satellite companies, but they are generally very expensive have a really crappy selection, which is why foreigners will go to such great lengths to get American satellite.

Yeah they advertise Direct TV with the same channels. I actually found the DTV satellite manually when I lived in Durango, Colo. but I seen where the neighbor who lived down the road satellite's was pointing.

[scorpio]

It's pretty easy to find satellites. I believe there's only one "belt" in orbit that commercial tv satellites are allowed to use, and in the continental US it always appears in the south-by-southwest sky.

[Rock Chalk]

Originally Posted by baja fan

Well this sucks I bought a HD LCD and a HD TiVo and it will not work in Mexico because of being on the far edge of the signal footprint.

Any of you teckies have an idea

Move back to America.

[ScottXray]

Originally Posted by baja fan

Well this sucks I bought a HD LCD and a HD TiVo and it will not work in Mexico because of being on the far edge of the signal footprint.

Any of you teckies have an idea

Baja,

IF it's just that you aren't getting enough signal to pull in the birds and LOCK then you can just put in a bigger Dish. Of course if DTV is on to your location then all bets are off.
.

check these out:

http://skyvision.com/store/dishes.html

These dishes are typically bought when someone has some partial obstruction of DTV signal or someone just doesn't want to put up with rain fade.

Now, of course,if You're using the triple dish you'd need three of them.

The 85CM dish would probably work, as long as you aren't totally out of the footprint, and we're not talking too much even buying three. Order one and see if you can get ONE bird in (101). The 85CM dish will give you about 6-7 times the signal you get with the triple, but only on one satellite.

Also the switch on the back of the current triple dish, and the Lnb's in front (three round things) will work on these dishes also. You just need to 'extend' the coax cables that go from the switch (box in back) to the LNB's. the three satellites are at 101, 110 and 119 degrees. On the triple dish the right hand lnb (if you are looking at it from behind the dish) is picking up the 101 satellite, and the left hand one is picking up 119. 110 is obviously the center bird.
Of course the aiming routine won't be accurate as far as the three dishes go. There will be no skew for tilting side to side.. Use the values it gives you for the AZimuth and elevation (vertical angle) for the center (110) bird. Use the same values + and - 9 degrees azimuth for 101 and 119.

Good luck.

A DTV tivo is a terrible thing to waste.

[watermock]

Yeah, I was going to say a bigger dish, but I don't know which one's of these are HDTV or what they cost.

[delany]

Originally Posted by ScottXray

A DTV tivo is a terrible thing to waste.

A HD DTV Tivo is an even worse thing to waste.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by baja fan

Well this sucks I bought a HD LCD and a HD TiVo and it will not work in Mexico because of being on the far edge of the signal footprint.

"You got bigger problems than I can help you with..."

[baja]

Originally Posted by ScottXray

Baja,

IF it's just that you aren't getting enough signal to pull in the birds and LOCK then you can just put in a bigger Dish. Of course if DTV is on to your location then all bets are off.
.

check these out:

http://skyvision.com/store/dishes.html

These dishes are typically bought when someone has some partial obstruction of DTV signal or someone just doesn't want to put up with rain fade.

Now, of course,if You're using the triple dish you'd need three of them.

The 85CM dish would probably work, as long as you aren't totally out of the footprint, and we're not talking too much even buying three. Order one and see if you can get ONE bird in (101). The 85CM dish will give you about 6-7 times the signal you get with the triple, but only on one satellite.

Also the switch on the back of the current triple dish, and the Lnb's in front (three round things) will work on these dishes also. You just need to 'extend' the coax cables that go from the switch (box in back) to the LNB's. the three satellites are at 101, 110 and 119 degrees. On the triple dish the right hand lnb (if you are looking at it from behind the dish) is picking up the 101 satellite, and the left hand one is picking up 119. 110 is obviously the center bird.
Of course the aiming routine won't be accurate as far as the three dishes go. There will be no skew for tilting side to side.. Use the values it gives you for the AZimuth and elevation (vertical angle) for the center (110) bird. Use the same values + and - 9 degrees azimuth for 101 and 119.

Good luck.

A DTV tivo is a terrible thing to waste.

Thanks all and especially you Scott

One question Scott how do I run the six cables from the three dishs into the two inlets on the HD TiVo?

[ScottXray]

Originally Posted by baja fan

Thanks all and especially you Scott

One question Scott how do I run the six cables from the three dishs into the two inlets on the HD TiVo?

OK, back up a second. You said you had a triple dish (oval HD dish) right?

With that dish you should have received a box that (normally) all six cables from the dish go to. The box is called a multiswitch. I usually mount the box right on the back side of the dish itself.

Since you'll have three dishes , you'll want to mount the multiswitch box near or on the dish that ends up CLOSEST to where the feed to the house is.

Coming OUT of that box will be the two cables for the HD TIVO (or maybe more...it depends on the multiswitch box you recieved and how many receivers you got when you bought your system. Heres a link to a multiswitch that takes the three LNBs in and feeds it to as many as 8 different receivers.)
http://www.rapidsatellite.com/detail.aspx?ID=61

Note that the HD Tivo will take two cables because it has TWO tuners in it. You need ONE cable for each tuner. So the Tivo and one OTHER receiver would need three cables from the multiswitch to the house.

If you need to get cable to run to the dishes make sure it is RG6U cable. Buy the best cable you can , because it has a huge effect on signal loss.

Also, make sure you ground the Dishes. The ground SHOULD go back to House ground, but being in Mexico I don't know if you'll have a ground stake.
So make sure that a ground is run from the multiswitch to the same ground that the Tivo is on, at least.

Good luck.

[scorpio]

Originally Posted by ScottXray

OK, back up a second. You said you had a triple dish (oval HD dish) right?

With that dish you should have received a box that (normally) all six cables from the dish go to. The box is called a multiswitch. I usually mount the box right on the back side of the dish itself.

Since you'll have three dishes , you'll want to mount the multiswitch box near or on the dish that ends up CLOSEST to where the feed to the house is.

Coming OUT of that box will be the two cables for the HD TIVO (or maybe more...it depends on the multiswitch box you recieved and how many receivers you got when you bought your system. Heres a link to a multiswitch that takes the three LNBs in and feeds it to as many as 8 different receivers.)
http://www.rapidsatellite.com/detail.aspx?ID=61

Note that the HD Tivo will take two cables because it has TWO tuners in it. You need ONE cable for each tuner. So the Tivo and one OTHER receiver would need three cables from the multiswitch to the house.

If you need to get cable to run to the dishes make sure it is RG6U cable. Buy the best cable you can , because it has a huge effect on signal loss.

Also, make sure you ground the Dishes. The ground SHOULD go back to House ground, but being in Mexico I don't know if you'll have a ground stake.
So make sure that a ground is run from the multiswitch to the same ground that the Tivo is on, at least.

Good luck.

Good advice. This guy knows what he's talking about.

[Raiders Rock]

Originally Posted by baja fan

Well this sucks I bought a HD LCD and a HD TiVo and it will not work in Mexico because of being on the far edge of the signal footprint.

Any of you teckies have an idea

Larger dish is your only answer.

The larger the surface the more the signal will be recieved, I have seen these larger ones before but don't know where.