Installing DISH500: What should I do with 18" dual LNB dish? (1 Viewer)

[Gil D]

I was considering having the the old 18" dish pointed to the 61.5 location and getting some SW21 switches to wire for three satellites to sort of future proof the dishes for when I add an HDTV sat receiver in the future. I contacted Dishnetwork tech support and they tried to sway me away from doing this as all new programming including HD will be made available on the 110 & 119 locations. With 61.5 &148 for international programming. Does this sound right? I don't want to add or pay for extra stuff I won't use but I also don't want to remove the old dish to discover I need to pay an installer again.

 

[Randy Boecker]

This is exactly what I did when I switched to Dish from DirecTV earlier this month. I installed the Dish 500 on the house and then pointed my "old" 18" dish to the 61.5 slot. Locking in on the 61.5 was a piece of cake.
I'd say it depends on what you mean by "future" in terms of installing your HD receiver. Right now, you're not going to get any HD on 110 or 119. They aren't launching any new sats until late this year, and from what I understand, they've still got a fair amount of transponder space on the 61.5 bird for future HD programming (like Discovery HD, whenever that happens).
I don't know if I'd wire for three more dishes (are you looking to connect to Radio Free Europe?). If you leave enough coax up there and the site is reasonably accessible, installing new switches/lines isn't a complicated procedure.
Personally, I'd leave the dish where it is, as long as it still works. You're right, no sense taking it down just to have to put it up there again later.