Shaw Direct/Winegard

There's a thread on here or somewhere on one of the other forums about that. I'm getting "site errors" when I try to search for it on here. It's either in the Tech section or the Canada Alaska sub forum. Have a look if you're still working.

wasn't there an earlier thread about Shaw turning off access to their sats in the states?

We phoned them last week and they said that is still working down south of the border

Check the "shaw satellite" topic in the Snowbirds sub-forum on here. I can't get to it, but that's probably the prior one. I think there's one elsewhere, maybe on iRV2 or winnieowners, can't recall.

This has been well reported for at least a month (maybe 2). Last info I saw was that Winegard had a fix that will cost owners around $350 but it is not yet available. You should get in contact with Winegard right away so they can give you the most up-to-date information.

Just for the avoidance of doubt, Shaw Direct is NOT turning off its sats in US.

jheppner wrote:
Have any of you Canadians had trouble with your Winegard automatic dish not being able to locate and hone in on the Shaw Direct satellites?

In a nutshell, Winegard knew Shaw D was making changes on their satellite software, but couldn't adjust fast enough, and so their auto sat dishes couldn't find and lock onto the birds. Someone posted up a work around, but it might be weeks before it all works again as normal.

We were having the same Winegard issues and the work around (to keep it short) is when the satellite peaks with a good signal unplug the Winegard box. We have done this several times and although a pain, it works.
We were in touch with Winegard about 3 weeks ago and they did say an update was available at a cost of around $350 US plus shipping (can't remember the exact $$ amount.)
Have heard different scenarios on what we are actually going to be able to receive in the US this winter. If it is anything that is not HD that doesn't leave a whole lot and not worth it, to us anyway.
Are there any Cdn's in the southern US now that can tell us what is really happening?

Shaw is / has converted EVERYTHING to HD. Ongoing but supposed to be done this month.

It was my understanding that the newer G1 satellite, which is supposed to carry most of the HD stuff now, casts a more northerly coverage shadow, than the old Anik F1/F2 birds. ShawD customers have been reporting that they can still receive programming south of the 49th, but that it's inconsistent.
Anecdotally, I was shopping for a portable dish receiver system a few years back and was told by Winegard, that the Trav'ler full sized roof mounted dish would probably be the best bet to pick up anything in the US, going forward. They said the domed portable systems "paddle" dishes were probably too small to be effective in picking up signal.
Maybe some ShawD customers in the deep south will add an update of where they are (approximately?) and what dish/systems they're using?