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King Quest Dish & H-24
As of today the King Quest dish is still working, there’s a lot of information out there saying it doesn’t work any more for DirecTV. Well as of today it still does and I found this article very interesting that will be below. Also I personally spoke with DirecTV advanced technical service out of Mississippi and they said there is no current plan to take Satellite 101 out of service, however it will not be replaced, AT&T has also said they have launched their last satellite. So read the article below and judge for yourself.
Why can’t King Quest satellite dishes get HD on DIRECTV?
POSTED BY: STUART SWEET DECEMBER 7, 2017
Actually, they can. It’s just that there aren’t any HD channels to get. Let me back up a little bit.
The King Quest Automatic Satellite System gives you satellite TV almost anywhere. Just put it on a level surface with a clear view of the southern sky and it will do the rest. There’s only one problem though… you’ll only get standard definition channels. A lot of people will tell you that the dish can only see the 101 satellite, and that’s not exactly true.
DIRECTV uses two different sets of frequencies for satellite transmissions. One, the “Ku band,” is the same set of frequencies used by satellite TV operators all over the world, including DISH. The other, the “Ka band,” between 26.5 and 40GHz, is only used by DIRECTV in North America. No one else has any licenses for it. While this means virtually limitless capacity for HD and 4K channels, it also means that instead of off-the-shelf parts, a DIRECTV satellite dish needs special receiving equipment. On regular dishes something like the Slimline-5 SWM LNB is used which gives one dish the ability to receive Ku-band broadcasts from three locations and Ka-band broadcasts from two others. It even packages all that signal up into a nice tidy chunk of frequencies that can all fit on one wire.
For mobile dishes, that big thing wouldn’t fit and it wouldn’t focus the signals the way it needs to. In order to receive DIRECTV HD broadcasts, which are on the Ka band, custom hardware is needed. Custom hardware is expensive, and at the moment none of the makers of mobile and marine antennas are spending that money. At the very least you would need a custom Ka-band tuner chip, and if you only had that you would lose SD channels (potentially not a big deal.) If you wanted it all, you’d need a custom-made setup like that SWM LNB but smaller and designed to work with a smaller dish. All that costs a lot of money and especially with a lower-priced unit like the King Quest, it would change the price a lot.
When most (possibly all) standard definition signals leave DIRECTV in 2019, there’s a possibility that the Ku-band satellites which currently feed over 800 SD channels would have up to 32 HD channels instead. If that happens, the current generation of mobile and marine dishes would pick up those channels. It’s also possible that we’ll see King, KVH, Intellian, Winegard, or another manufacturer put the money into a retrofit kit that would let you see the HD channels instead, even if it was only half of them at a time. (DIRECTV’s HD channels are on two different satellite locations.)
Or it’s possible that’s the end of your investment. I doubt that very much, but anything could happen.
shannon02
ACE - Expert
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21.1K Messages
4 years ago
There is no word on what if any channels will be left on the 101 sat but it will not be in MPEG2 but in MPEG4. SD only dishes will become obsolete sooner rather then later.
Sats last 20+ years so of course there are no plans to replace them yet.
Winegard and KVH both make HD DTV dishes they are both self aiming but are stationary only but then there is the Intellian S6HD in motion for boats.
(edited)
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rkfrazier66
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4 years ago
I agree SD is gone, however, since it would be relatively easy to switch to the MPEG-4 and HD is possible with these dishes, after all Dish does it.
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Juniper
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22.9K Messages
4 years ago
SD itself is not gone, only the MPEG-2 feeds which are SD-only. MPEG-4 alongside HD still carries SD channels, so they are around for a bit still. But as SD-only TVs haven't been made in over a decade and DirecTV grandfathered SD-only service in late 2015, they have been moving forward with it being an HD world.
At this time a slimline SWM dish on a tripod/sled mount, Winegard Trav'ler, and the Intellian S6HD for marine options. The mobile dish makers seem slow with new options and clear information on this, supposedly so they can offload all their MPEG-2 equipment stock while it technically still works for some.
This is a big changeover time for DirecTV. Though it started on time (April 2019), it has gone slow because of some internal challenges mentioned (no specifics that I saw) and of course low staffing and everything from Covid delaying it that much further. So some people got extra time to change over their equipment as needed.
Just because Dish can get HD with those dishes does not mean that DirecTV can (at least not easily or cheaply). Yes they are both satellite providers, but it should not be assumed that one provider can do everything another does.
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rkfrazier66
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4 years ago
Thanks Juniper,
I use this setup all the time with my RV because I travel for work so I’ll be one of the first to see any changes. I will be interesting to see what happens especially with these old setups.
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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22.9K Messages
4 years ago
As long as your boxes are H or HR models then it is just the dish and cabling that need to be updated. Any D or R boxes must be replaced, except R22 as is MPEG-4 capable as long as you have at least one H or HR model on the account.
DirecTV has an MPEG swap program which is free, no new service agreement because required to continue using the service. The updates on the RV would be at your own cost, though if you move a box back and forth from home the box itself would be covered. Just don't say "upgrade" when speaking with an agent, unless there is a legitimate upgrade you wish to take advantage of, and make sure to read the order confirmation.
As a caution, do NOT upgrade to the Genie-2 (HS17). This only allows Clients on the account. It forbids mixing dedicated receivers, so is very unfriendly for RV setups.
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rkfrazier66
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2 Messages
4 years ago
That’s very good information, I’ll certainly keep this information for future use.
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