[Bruin Rick]

Originally Posted by baily23

Have your girl ask the lady of the house how they get the channels, since you would rather ask strangers on the internet than your neighbor.

I don't really know them. My girl knows them. I don't want to come off with somebody I don't know well yet as "interrogating" them. Especially if they are doing something on the sly or illegal. It is much easier to ask people I don't know who, if they say NOYB, won,t cause a rift with people I live by.

[Bruin Rick]

Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant

Their account has an LA service address. How you get that is up to you. Using a friend or relative's address who doesn't have Dish Network service works well. Using a private mail box might not work that well if Dish Network checks the address before turning on your service. You could also try establishing service with a Las Vegas service and billing address, then change your service address to an LA address after a while and switch to the Los Angeles locals. If you do this, you probably shouldn't plug your receivers into the phone line or give them Internet access, which limits you to four receivers (beyond four they want them plugged into the phone lines or accessible via the Internet to prevent account stacking).

Canadians who want to receive Dish Network use US-based address brokers, since Canadian law prohibits them from receiving USA satellite TV.

Cards and receivers are married on the Dish Network system, so your neighbors would have to be bringing the entire receiver with them from LA.

There is also something called "Distant Networks", which requires either a qualifying address or an RV exemption. Qualifying for distant networks is more work, and gives you fewer out of area stations, so I wouldn't bother trying.

Note that only NY and LA locals are available nationally, since every other DMA's local channels are now on spot beams, and can only be received if the receiver is inside or within a hundred or so miles of the DMA. LA and NY are on beams that illuminate the entire continental US.

I am going to make a few calls today and see what my options are. If it is technically possible to do this, I am going to do it. I have many family members in L.A. with addresses I can use. If it is possible, I will find a rogue installer that will work "off the clock" and put it in for me. I do not need more than 2 boxes which is what I have now with cable. I would love to have the L.A. stations and then I can just get rabbit ears for the L.V. stations.

[Bruin Rick]

Originally Posted by MSchu

local LA is only the local news(5,9,11,13, PBS, KCET), is that what you are talking about?
pretty much everything else is syndicated.

The local news and sports is what I want to see so I can keep up with what is going on in L.A. and especially at UCLA.

[AA702]

I get the local LA sports channel on dish network and it shows all the LA pro sports, but I didn't notice if they play the college games too.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by Bruin Rick

I am going to make a few calls today and see what my options are. If it is technically possible to do this, I am going to do it. I have many family members in L.A. with addresses I can use. If it is possible, I will find a rogue installer that will work "off the clock" and put it in for me. I do not need more than 2 boxes which is what I have now with cable. I would love to have the L.A. stations and then I can just get rabbit ears for the L.V. stations.

I just checked and I was wrong about LA locals being on a continental US beam. They're on a spot beam, and therefore separate from the LA networks on the Distant Networks package, so depending on the shape of the spot beam, Las Vegas could be outside the normal reception area. Since your neighbors appear to be receiving the LA locals, you can probably assume you can receive the signal, though it's possible you'll need something larger than the standard double or triple LNB satellite dish, such as a 36" diameter round dish that receives just a single satellite.

According to HD - Ciel 2 at 129.0°W - LyngSat, LA locals on Dish come from spot beam 33, off Ciel-2 at 129 degrees. The spot beam map at Spot Coverage from 129° shows that the spot beam does hit the Las Vegas area.

I just checked transponder 4 signal strengths at 129, and I'm getting 51, which is ample for reliable reception, so if I've checked this correctly, it appears you can easily receive the LA spot beams in Las Vegas (I have a Dish 1000.2 three-LNB satellite dish).

If you can wait a month of so, take advantage of the free install and discounted programming available to new subscribers. Have a normal install done at your Las Vegas home, then in a month or so, "move" your service address to one of your LA relatives' homes. Dish will want to install at your "new address", so you'll have to tell them there was already a satellite dish there and you connected your equipment and everything works.

Note that if you lie about your service address, you're in violation of your residential customer agreement with Dish. The only reason they care is that it violates federal law to offer out-of-area programming to non-qualifying customers, so they have to show they perform some due diligence to prevent this.

I suggest you post this question on the satelliteguys.us Dish Network forum to see what the current gotchas are for receiving out-of-area programming. This same question has come up several times before there.

[AA702]

How about a sling box? This could be possible right?

[Bruin Rick]

OK today I spoke with a Dish installer who is in the know. He explained to me that Dish actually provides the local TV stations over a special satellite which can take the stations and beam them back down to earth in a small geographic area. I always had thought they just grabbed them off the air with that dish but he said that it is like using a flashlight as opposed to a lamp. He told me that the stations in L.A. are on a certain slot in this special satellite that they effective bleed over into Las Vegas most likely because they have to cover San Bernardino which borders Nevada. He told me many L.A. people here do the same thing. So this is what he said to do:
1. Order Dishnetwork to be installed at my family home in Van Nuys.
2. Once it is installed, take down the dish and the 2 boxes and bring them back to Vegas but don't tell Dishnetwork that you are doing it.
3. Call him and for $100, he will have it up within an hour and install the boxes in the living and bed rooms.
He told me that as long as you don't call Dishnetwork or plug the boxes into a phone line, they will not be able to catch you. He said the boxes do not have GPS or anything that would tell them you are here. He said that, while technically it is a crime, the worse that would happen if you get caught is that they would just turn you off and that he knows of no cases where Dishnetwork has sent the police out to arrest and fine or jail violators. I will be getting it come March 1st. I can't wait!!

[Bruin Rick]

Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant

I just checked and I was wrong about LA locals being on a continental US beam. They're on a spot beam, and therefore separate from the LA networks on the Distant Networks package, so depending on the shape of the spot beam, Las Vegas could be outside the normal reception area. Since your neighbors appear to be receiving the LA locals, you can probably assume you can receive the signal, though it's possible you'll need something larger than the standard double or triple LNB satellite dish, such as a 36" diameter round dish that receives just a single satellite.

According to HD - Ciel 2 at 129.0°W - LyngSat, LA locals on Dish come from spot beam 33, off Ciel-2 at 129 degrees. The spot beam map at Spot Coverage from 129° shows that the spot beam does hit the Las Vegas area.

I just checked transponder 4 signal strengths at 129, and I'm getting 51, which is ample for reliable reception, so if I've checked this correctly, it appears you can easily receive the LA spot beams in Las Vegas (I have a Dish 1000.2 three-LNB satellite dish).

If you can wait a month of so, take advantage of the free install and discounted programming available to new subscribers. Have a normal install done at your Las Vegas home, then in a month or so, "move" your service address to one of your LA relatives' homes. Dish will want to install at your "new address", so you'll have to tell them there was already a satellite dish there and you connected your equipment and everything works.

Note that if you lie about your service address, you're in violation of your residential customer agreement with Dish. The only reason they care is that it violates federal law to offer out-of-area programming to non-qualifying customers, so they have to show they perform some due diligence to prevent this.

I suggest you post this question on the satelliteguys.us Dish Network forum to see what the current gotchas are for receiving out-of-area programming. This same question has come up several times before there.

The installer told me to have them install it at my parent's house in Van Nuys and then to remove the dish and boxes and bring them back here and he will install them here on the sly for me. He also said that, while it is illegal, he knows of nobody that has went to prison or been fined or even arrested for it and that the worse that would happen is that Dishnetwork would cancel the account and turn me off. I hope he is right because, if I had a guest over and they just happened to notice the L.A. stations and called the police, I don't want to go to jail over it.

[repru]

Originally Posted by Bruin Rick

The installer told me to have them install it at my parent's house in Van Nuys and then to remove the dish and boxes and bring them back here and he will install them here on the sly for me. He also said that, while it is illegal, he knows of nobody that has went to prison or been fined or even arrested for it and that the worse that would happen is that Dishnetwork would cancel the account and turn me off. I hope he is right because, if I had a guest over and they just happened to notice the L.A. stations and called the police, I don't want to go to jail over it.

Don't sweat it. Not a police thing. You are at no risk it is the dish supplier who gets dinged if it becomes an issue.

I had the tech in a couple of times and he loved mine. He said he had never seen one before with all channels enabled. I believe I was even legal as I was a beta site for the new gear.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by Bruin Rick

He also said that, while it is illegal, he knows of nobody that has went to prison or been fined or even arrested for it and that the worse that would happen is that Dishnetwork would cancel the account and turn me off. I hope he is right because, if I had a guest over and they just happened to notice the L.A. stations and called the police, I don't want to go to jail over it.

IANAL, but violating your residential customer agreement with Dish network is a civil matter, not a criminal matter. The police wouldn't care, and the worse Dish would likely do is cut off your Los Angeles locals. That's a lot different than being caught account stacking (sharing an account among more than one location), where they would bill you for all of the unpaid service.

If you don't plug your receivers into a phone line, you can't order PPVs through the remote. I always order PPVs through their web site, as that way every receiver I have gets the PPV, rather than just the one it's ordered from.