shaw satellite

[bobfrombc]

now that shaw has completed satellite upgrades.
is anyone in southern states using shaw satellite that can
fill us in on what channels they are still getting?

[Lenny_K]

Thanks for the info Joe.

[joebedford]

The few channels on Shaw Direct that will be available down south this winter.

[puchinno12]

I'll keep my fingers crossed that your right. We're leaving in a couple weeks, should be down there beginning of November. Can't wait!!! I hope to get Shaw but if not , well , no big deal.

[joebedford]

Oh. Too bad for me. It won't be for a few years.

[puchinno12]

Joe , I hope your right. If Shaw in Mexico goes off the air, you can have it for free.

[joebedford]

puchinno12 wrote:
bob frombc, I just told you what my research comes up with. Just google satellite info and you can come to your own conclusion. I guess we'll both find out this winter.

Want to sell me your Shaw Direct equipment? For cheap of course.

Since you edited your post after I replied: part of the reason Shaw is doing this is to reduce the transponder occupancy on the satellites. That means lower power requirements and probably longer life.

[puchinno12]

bob frombc, I just told you what my research comes up with. Just google satellite info and you can come to your own conclusion. I guess we'll both find out this winter.

Might add that the letter to John Dorsey , Director Telsat from Chantel Beaumier, Director of Space Services on the Government of Canada website includes Section 7... Orbital Debris Mitigation;

"The Satellite, at the end of it's life shall be removed from the Geostationary Orbit region in a

manner consistent with Recommendation ITU-R-S.1003, Environmental Protection of the

Geostationary Satellite Orbit.

So I would take that to mean that F1 will be disposed of at the end of it's life. Launched in 2004. designed for 15 years. It is now 2019. So..... if I have to watch the Grey Cup in a Sports bar, so be it. Life is good.

[joebedford]

Many people have already had their channel maps changed. I haven't had ANY of mine changed (3 receivers) but it's supposed to be done this week. And of course the channels will be re-routed to their new homes on other satellites.

It is absolutely wrong to say all Shaw Direct channels "south of the border" will disappear. Channels on G1 have never been receivable "south of the border" - it's just going to be a different set after this week.

Almost all standard definition channels will be gone in a few days.

If you have the obsolete LNB, you may experience some further channel loss, but if you upgraded to the xKU LNB, all the changes should be over in a few days. I must admit that my knowledge of the obsolete LNB is limited because I'm not interested - I upgraded years ago.

[bobfrombc]

if that is the case.
why would shaw leave so many channels assigned to the F1/2 satellites??? while making all these changes.
your reply doesnt make sense.

[puchinno12]

Basically it all boils down to the 15 year design life of the satellite . It was launched in 2004. When the fuel for the geo-positioning thrusters runs out, they will either use the remaining fuel to push it up further and out of the way or slow it down and let it burn up on reentry. Either way sometime this fall or winter our signal will go pfffft. Gone. As I understand it. It was good while it lasted. Hope I'm wrong but .......

[moisheh]

Apparently September 20 was the date for all the changes to be complete.

Moisheh

[almcc]

Got an email from Shaw indicating that they are shuffling virtually all their channel numbers (I believe today), looks like the conversion they are doing is now complete.

[RicknJudy]

I'd like to add our THANKS, JOE to this topic.
Appreciate you finding and posting that link to the channels available on the F1, F2 and G1 satellites. Finally, some concrete info. Whew!
And, a second thank you to bobfrombc for directing me/us to this topic from another thread.

[joebedford]

I don't know for sure but I suspect that a lot of the push to change encoding from MPEG2 to MPEG4 is that the reduced bandwidth required allows them to use fewer transponders on the birds. As I understand it, solar panels lose efficiency over time and put out less power. Less power means fewer transponders. They can extend the life of the satellite this way. How long will they last? Who knows but I'm guessing maybe another 5 years. If they lose F1R or F2, I'm guessing that they'll just wholesale switch the affected channels to G1 - then we'll not get those channels down south.