Directv Local Channels

[rossco1418]

I have directv setup in my ice castle. I have an 18" round dish installed that came with the house when I bought it. I am not getting local channels. I also have an antenna but am only getting fox and would like abc and nbc for some football games. Does anyone know if the locals are on satellite 119 around mn? If I were to upgrade my dish to the 18x20 dish would I get local channels?

[Down2Earth]

I only have the 18 inch round dish and hat all the local channels

[grasshopper]

Dish local r 110

 

[rossco1418]

I live in Wahpeton, ND and the fish house is currently on Ten Mile Lake near Dalton, MN. It is only about 45 miles from my house. Maybe too far out of my area for locals?

[Bryce]

Could be 2 things. Minor market  locals are on a different satellite  and the basic dish only picks up the one. Need a King Dome or similar setup.  Local stations are also sent out only to a limited geographical area. Did you test it out in your driveway? 

[rossco1418]

I tried getting it setup in my driveway but there is a big tree that is in the way so couldn't test before I got it out. I know locals are a limited geographical area but I thought I'd be good at 45 miles from home. I know locals can be on sat 119 instead of 101 just didn't know if that is the case around here. Can't really find any good info on it.

[Bryce]

Maybe you are at the edge of range at home. Hard to say. You could call Directv but don't expect much. At best, they can give you the bad news that your locals are on a separate satellite. They won't be able to give you anything on range. 

[rossco1418]

Contacted Directv. It looks like my locals are on 119 so will need a new dish to receive locals

[Bryce]

Had friends with this issue. The dish they were told they needed was by no means cheap. Hopefully technology has caught up.

Back in the early days, we had extra dishes mounted to concrete blocks and pointed it by hand and guesstimation. Was confident in my world record for chucking mine in frustration until I saw one go sailing over the top of a nearby shack.

[rossco1418]

I actually just found an 18x20 dish in the dumpster at work that should work. I would eventually like an automatic dish finder but I don't think directv will pick up the locals once again. Dish seems like they have more options for portable dishes for a more reasonable price than directv. Also the portable ones for directv won't pickup HD.

[Hawg]

Direct TV is WAy easier than Dish for your purpose. Why do you need a new dish, why not just go transponder 119.  

[rossco1418]

Just don't want to be switching back in forth. I would rather just get it set and be done with it. This dish won't be much different to setup and it was free.

[Dusty]

do you have a paid subscription to direct tv? u have to have a receiver box hooked to your dish and then to the tv. I live in the twin cities and have a trailer in the International falls area which is 300 miles away. I have dish tv at home I bought a second dish for the trailer. I bring a box from one of my TV's at home to my trailer and get all the stations I get at home including the local ones.  

[rossco1418]

Yes I have a paid subscription for directv. I took a box and tv out of one of our spare bedrooms. Sometimes local channels are on the 101 transponder depending on where you live. In my area the sd locals are on 119 transponder. I only was using the 18" dish which picks up only one transponder which i had set to 101. The dish i will put up will be able to connect to 101, 110 and 119 transponders. My locals are on 119.

[Hawg]

Still not understanding why you need a different antenna(dish) to switch transponders. That's just a setting on the box. 

[rossco1418]

My current 18" round dish picks up one satellite on the 101. This dish only has an elevation and azimuth setting. The 18x20 dish has elevation azimuth and skew settings and will pick up 3 satellites at the same time. 101, 110, 119. My regular channels are on 101 and my locals are on 119

[rossco1418]

Thanks for the link. I wonder if I can only get uhf with my antenna. I have a winegard pop out antenna like most come with. One of the ears was kinda broke when I bought it so it could have something to do with that too, but I only pick up channel 15-1

[rossco1418]

The new dish solved the problem. I now get locals!