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I live on Long Island which is where I do 90% of my camping and I just started researching satellite options. After doing some research, I have some questions about the Eastern/Western Arc satellites.

 

Being on the East coast, should I be looking at a dish that supports the Eastern Arc? Several of the Winegard options support Western Arc only, and a handful cover both Western and Eastern Arc. I was hoping to get something that uses a ladder mount and most of those antennas are Western Arc.

 

Can anyone shed some light on this? Is the Eastern Arc necessary because I'm on the East coast? It really limits my options.

 

Thank you.

 

 

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The governing forces for using the EA satellites are two. One is that it is easier to get the two EA satellites than the three WA satellites. The WA 129 satellite can be too far down on the horizon when aiming from the East coast.

 

The other reason is the Locals. It you want the local broadcast channels for the locality you are at, the Locals will be on the EA satellites. Until recently, the eastern Locals were on the EA satellites in HD and on the WA satellites in SD. But Dish has been dropping the eastern Locals from the WA satellites. So if you want eastern Locals, the EA is it.

 

If you want to use the EA satellites, your options for automatic dishes is limited as you have observed.

 

We personally have use a Trav'ler on the WA in Maryland and central PA. We are biased to using a full (double/triple headed) dish because we use a DVR and have multiple TVs where different channels on different satellites is usual. We carry a ground tripod dish for times when the auto roof dish is blocked. We carry a WA and a EA head for that dish. The tripod dish with the EA head is what we will use when we travel east.

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We have used a WA antenna all over the US. That includes up and down the East Coast, including where we got it in Northern VA. We now live in TX and have a WA antenna on our house. Just recently when I updated the motorhome system, Dish set us up with an EA antenna. I don't understand all the reasons, but part of it seems to be the ability to see the 61.5, 72, and 77 sats with just two of the new design LNBs. One advantage I have learned in the few times I have set up the new tripod-mounted EA antenna is that the EA sats are higher in the sky, so the dish is aimed higher. Sometimes, especially in the NW US, the WA antenna almost looks like it is pointed at the ground. The difference means that the EA dish is somewhat less likely to have ground obstructions than the WA dish.

 

BTW ... They will provide a dish when they do the install. I did consider buying a dish before the Dish tech came out, but did not as I wanted to see that he would provide first. I had my own short tripod. I have found there are few if any automatic set-out dish options for HD, especially for EA.

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If they made a ladder mount for the Winegard Pathway X2 I would buy it and be done. I don't want to buy a WA dish and find out that its not going to work on the East Coast.. especially the Northeast...

 

Thanks for your quick replies.

 

Jeff

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Eighteen Dish eastern local TV markets will be dropped from the western arc sats sometime this summer:

 

Albany, NY
Boston, MA
Buffalo, NY
Burlington, VT/Plattsburgh, NY
Chattanooga, TN
Evansville, IN
Jackson, MS
Jacksonville, FL/Brunswick, GA
Lansing, MI
Madison, WI
Panama City, FL
Portland/Auburn, ME
Presque Isle, ME
Quincy, IL/Hannibal, MO
Rockford, IL
Springfield, MO
Tallahassee, FL/Thomasville, GA
Wheeling, WV/Stubenville, OH

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  • 2 weeks later...

Look for the older model (GM-1518 or GM-1599) of the Winegard Carryout. It is ladder mountable and programmable for either the eastern arc or the western arc. There are some GM-1599's on Ebay (new) still.

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