Monday, March 31, 2014

A Day Off The Road

We have decided to stay here in Odessa for the day. There is a nice laundry room right outside our door and we are due. Norma is also refilling the DVR with her favorite shows. Speaking of which, does anyone watch "The Good Wife"? What a shocker!

StarChoice set up very quickly. I used the DishPointer site to get the Google Maps view of the RV park with it's highlighted pointer to the bird. The path went right over the peak of the roof of the building beside us so I pointed it there, adjusted the elevation slightly and there it was!

Just a comment on Shaw Direct (StarChoice). They are no longer supporting use of their system outside of canada. They have adopded the Bell Expressvu business mode and have limited use of their product to Canada. Well, they have not re-aimed the satellites so the signal is still there for the taking, just don't expect any help from Customer Service. They have not yet taken to cutting you off if they find you are outside of Canada but that could be coming.

Use DishPointer to get a good idea of where to point your dish but do not count on them for skew settings. They use a different calibration for their angles and they do not work on the Shaw dish. I have pdf documents for all the setup information including azimuth, elevation and skew for Canada, USA and Mexico. If you want me to email you a copy, let me know.


6 comments:

  1. I use dishpointer, and with the Multiple LandB settings click starchoice for the 2 satellites and get the proper skew and elevation, has been working well for us.
    Enjoy your day off the road.

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    Replies
    1. The Dishpointer method for skew works on the west coast, but not the east. Two examples:

      Los Angeles:
      Dishpointer - skew = 81.4 (close enough, works fine)
      My Document - skew = 80

      Miami
      Dishpointer - skew = 125 (no reception)
      My Document - skew = 137 (reception)

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  2. Hi to you and Norma - we're in the Phoenix area until the middle of May or so. If you happen to come this way we'd love to see you-

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  3. My wife was watching "The Good Wife" as media files when we were in Europe (didn't have TV) and then she catches it whenever she can back home here. It just so happened that when I put on the TV last night, the whole "thing" had transpired. Have to say, if Julianna Margulies doesn't get an Emmy for her performance, it would be truly a shame. Either that or they had boatloads of onions cut up under her nose.
    Quite the shocker indeed.

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  4. The story I got on Shaw Direct in the USA was as follows;

    We have put up a third satellite that has a footprint that only covers a short distance into the States (down into the Dakota's apparently) and will be putting new HD local channels on that bird. We have no intention of redirecting our other two satellites, as we value our snowbird customers, so those birds and their channels should not be affected, although you will not be able to receive any of the new channels that are on that new third satellite. Now what actually happens may be totally different as I have no faith in the management of Shaw or their vision or lack thereof for the future.

    Travel safe!

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