987654321 Are you sure? I know that keith lives in PV. and has SC, I assume he knows.

Many people replace the Sky Satellite service with *C and just need to replace the LNB on their 60cm dish. You only get SD and one satellite. I replaced it with the dual 75cm dish because I wanted HD.

Thanks Keith,
so if I take down a receiver that has already been activated in Canada will there be another setup needed or will it just start right up. I have purchased a 60E dish.

My 530 started right up still tuned to the channel I left it on. It was disconnected for about two months (we drove down and then had to have the 4 feeds brought down from the roof and into our condo before having the dish installer come over).

Thanks to all for the input.
Got my star choice up and running in PV no problems. I took down a 60e dish purchased here for $45.00. Once the mount was true we hooked it up to a signal meter ($5.00 on e bay) dialed it straight in, 30 min. job. Sweet to get news from home. Now I did talk to a satellite pro down there and he tells me a 65E may not get good reception in the rainy season, if not I will take down a 75e or a 60 cm round dish next trip.

The larger dish is required to receive all the channels, because a bunch of them are beamed from a second satellite. Thus, the dual LNB.

The smaller dish receives broadcasts just fine as far south as Lake Chapala, and beyond, in the rainy season. Both dishes show disturbances at the beginning of storms, usually only lasting 10 minutes or so. The larger dish allows the Star Choice box to lock in again a little more quickly.

Round dishes (non-Star Choice) receive most channels pretty well, too: in fact, the bigger the dish, the stronger the signal. So if you have an old system's huge dish, try it out; they're great. They won't get you HiDef, though.

Hi Im from Vancouver my parents wanna go to Mexico City and Acapulco area any one know if the antenna 75E works for both sats (same dish)?

I will keep my receiver in Vancouver and my parent in Mexico, what do you think!!?

From what I have read the 75E dish will not be big enough to get a stable signal in Central Mexico.

You will need two separate dishes. For Anik F1R (107.3W) you can get by with a 90cm dish. The signal from Anik F2 (111.1W) gets much weaker that far south and you should use a 1.8 meter dish. If you can live without most of the HD & French channels you could just use the 90cm dish on Anik F1R. A good reference for the dishes you need for Shaw Direct (Star Choice) for use in Mexico can be found here:

http://www.global-cm.net/

There are local dealers in Puerto Vallarta specializing in Star Choice, including HD. Ex-pats especially enjoy the CBC and other TV related specifically to Canada. There are also some advantages in US programming not available in Mexico due to rights issues. The advice I hear over and over (admittedly, after some tequila, and in local bars there), is bring the receiver down yourself but have a local guy purchase and install the dish.

I'm not saying this is on my shopping list for when I retire in Mexico. I just saying ...

You will not need two dishes for a stable signal, nor will you need the larger dish. Those of us using Star Choice in Mexico, south of Guadalajara and west on the coast, have either the smaller or the bigger elliptical dish, and both work fine. The bigger the dish, the better, that is all.

A DUAL LNB is the key ingredient, whether the dish is elliptical or round, to pulling in both satellite signals. As mentioned before, though, to get Hi Def, an elliptical dish is a must.

Please note that those of us in Mexico who are receiving Star Choice are expressing facts... not opinions.

Also, in terms of stable picture and the rainy season: the newer and bigger the Star Choice receiver, the better the signal reproduction. The 505 and 535 are able to lock into the signal more quickly and reproduce it with more stability. They are affected by rain, but will adapt much more quickly than the lesser boxes... 10 minutes or less, as compared to perhaps 30 minutes or more in some cases.

Mike, are saying south of Guadalajara you can get a good signal on 111.1W with the standard 60E dish and the quad LNB?

To tell you the truth, I don't know much about the angles down here, but I do know this:

- Anik 1, at Lon 107.5, in Guadalajara it works great around 20.67 N Lat, 103.33 W Lon
- Anik 2, 111.1, (French & HD), Guad around the same...

... The signal is perfect on a 60cm elliptical dish with the Dual Quad LNB. The strength shows up under Options as anywhere between 52 and 72, depending on which channel you test on, but anything over 50 is pretty strong. Goes up about 10 points when you move to the larger dish.

I should add that Acapulco and other locations south of Guadalajara report just-fine signals with the smaller dish. I'm an hour south of Guadalajara when I'm here (Lake Chapala); south of Acapulco I don't know how fast the signal tapers off.

That's really impressive when they recommend at least a 95-120cm dish for 111.1W according to what is posted on lyngsat:

107.3W http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/maps/anikf1r_ku.html
111.1W http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/maps/anikf2_ku.html

Kudos on your dish aiming!

... pretty foreign to me, but perhaps that recommendation is for a single round dish. The elliptical design allows for the capture of both sats, maybe allows it to be smaller too? I do know that when I was using an old RCA gigantic 4 footer, the signal was up in the 80s. But I couldn't get HD on it... .

To the person above who posted about wondering if Star Choice was available in Acapulco, it is.

My friend bought a condo and they have Star Choice satellite dishes setup on the roof there.

Salud and Adios!