Direct to stop SD transmission on Dec.31

[John_Wayne]

Just spent 45 min on the phone with Tech support. Trying to get directv to let me change a good SD card from a broken SD receiver to a working receiver same model that I have. Would sell me a new card for the working receiver for $20.00. But advised that DirecTV was going to stop SD transmission on Dec. 31. Will have to wait and see if it's true or not.

[Bill_Satellite]

Yep, it's a struggle. Must has taken me 15 seconds to open the Winegard antenna pointing app and find the satellite. Whew! Exhausting. They are not in the NE so no sure why you point that way but you would need a compass to know which way NE was. DTV's satellites are almost directly South of the central TX. That's going to be SW, S or SE depending upon what part of the Country you are in.

[CA_Traveler]

Another cheap reality check - We could not get the 2014 Winter Olympics station in central OR on DTV with our SD dome/receiver. Many phone calls revealed DTV did not transmit SD to that area, only HD. Decision made and we upgraded the RV to HD and enjoyed the Olympics.

I had said SD resolution is fine and I don't need HD. 2 days of watching HD and I was hooked.

[CA_Traveler]

When I was aiming I realized there was rarely a need for a compass. Aim the dish somewhat NE based on other dishes the sun or whatever, same elevation as last time, gain up and rotate CW. Sometimes the first bird would be Dish and DW would tell me no DTV signal on the walkie talkie. Then with DTV captured optimize the bird with the meter.

Much faster than looking up azimuth, elevation, pre adjusting dish, searching for a signal and then adjusting the dish again to lock in the signal sometimes to find no DTV.

Reality check: Compass direction can vary considerably based on a lot of local factors from the bird azimuth. Plus I was cheap and didn't want to spend $400 for a meter to identify a DTV bird.

[Community Alumni]

I received an email from DTV that I need to change out my card in the SD receive to continue to receive service as soon as Jan 11, 2021. This was about the 5th or 6th time for the email but this was the first with a drop dead date, more or less.

So does that mean that SD transmissions will continue??? Who really knows for sure???

PS this will be my third card sent because they continue to send it to my service address where I am currently not at even though they say they are sending it to my mailing address.

JimR

[Bill_Satellite]

The meter will read a signal from ANY KU band satellite so the compass/app as a starting point it very important. It's still best to have someone watching the signal meter on the TV or you could use a baby monitor and watch it from where you are while pointing. Just be slow as there is a short delay between the time you get a good point and the time it appears on the TV screen.

[dryfly]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Winegard Signal meter


This is all I have ever used. It takes a bit to learn how to adjust the gain several times during the pointing process but it works great with DISH or DTV 101 satellite. Oh yeah, you will need a compass or an app to get pointed in the general direction to start.

Thank you. I understand how the gain adjust needs to work when aiming.

I can see why you need to be pretty close on your initial aim. I assume it will show a signal from adjacent satellites. Is it pretty hard to differentiate a DirecTv signal? I guess I'm asking how close (in degrees) are non DirecTv signals?

I can't imagine why they took the audible signal strength meter out of the newer DVR's.

[Bill_Satellite]

Winegard Signal meter


This is all I have ever used. It takes a bit to learn how to adjust the gain several times during the pointing process but it works great with DISH or DTV 101 satellite. Oh yeah, you will need a compass or an app to get pointed in the general direction to start.

[pulpwood007]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Keep in mind that you simply cannot move a card from 1 receiver to another. If you want to pursue that route you will need a new card. However, here's some info I posted elsewhere.......

IF THIS FINALLY DOES HAPPENS, as DTV had been promising for about 2 years, domes and 18" round dishes will not stop working. However ALL SD receivers will quit working. The other issue is that dome and 18" antenna users will now receive programming in full HD (with an HD receiver) but what programming will be available is still unknown. You will still only be able to receive programming from the 101 satellite and the majority of programming is currently on 99 and 103. The 101 will still be around for many years to come so if they cut out the SD they can move more programming to 101. What makes the most sense to me, however, is that they would no longer need to duplicate channels on multiple satellites so, at best, less than 1/3 of the DTV programming would be coming from the 101 satellite. So NO NETWORK programming at all and a highly reduced channel list would be available to those to continue to try to use the outdated dome technology.

When this change finally takes affect, I will no longer be able to use my SD receiver with it's audible signal strength meter to aim my 18" antenna. The HD DVR I carry unfortunately does not have an audible meter so it's tough to aim.

Can you suggest a relatively inexpensive coaxial inline signal strength meter?

[Bill_Satellite]

Interesting. Thanks for the update. It sounds like your home antenna is not a SWM antenna which would require the B-Band converter (BBC). If you use a newer antenna in the RV just make sure it's the same home style and has a SWM LNB. If so, only 1 coax required and no BBC for both tuners to work. (Unless the R22 isn't SWM capable but it think they were!)

[DD716TED]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
The R22 receiver is not HD capable IIRC. The R22 doesn't have an HDMI output but it was some kind of weird hybrid that might receive HD but can't output the HD signal. I could be wrong but I believe you would need a receiver model # starting with an H.

The R22-100 is HD Capable..if connected to an HD Antenna with a B Band converter.. It does have an HDMI output which is what I use. I have connected it to the house antenna / B Band converter and received HD. Also has 2 antenna inputs..

[Bill_Satellite]

The R22 receiver is not HD capable IIRC. The R22 doesn't have an HDMI output but it was some kind of weird hybrid that might receive HD but can't output the HD signal. I could be wrong but I believe you would need a receiver model # starting with an H.

[DD716TED]

This threat has been going on for several years now. I would think if is going to happen soon, I would have received some sort of notification from ATT and what to do in my trailer.. I have the Winegard carryout antenna and R-22 SD receiver which is HD capable.. will I need a B-band converter?

[bgum]

Reminds me of a Clint Eastwood movie.

"Mans got to know his limitations."

[Bill_Satellite]

Absolutely. As long as you understand the limitations, DISH remains a great option for dome users.