Satellite : Dish / Noggin Update

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Dish / Noggin Update

April 24, 2009

Scott Greczkowski

Dish Network customers will soon (finally) have their Noggin available 24/7 on Dish Network.
On late Wednesday night Dish Network informed it’s retailers that the popular pre school channel Noggin (which will be changing its name later this year to Nick Jr.) will be made available 24/7 on Wednesday May 27th.
Currently Noggin is sharing space with “The N” network, Noggin airs from 6am ET to 6pm PT, and “The N” airs from 6pm ET until 6am ET.
Two weeks ago Dish Network started carrying “The N” twenty four hours a day on channel 9576 but for some reason kept the split Noggin / The N lineup on channel 169.
Back in 2007 when Noggin and The N split into two separate channels most cable and satellite companies replaced Nick Games and Sports (Nick GAS) with The N. Dish was the only multichannel provider carrying Nick GAS in the USA until this week. Nick Gas was dropped to make room to move The N to its place.
The question now is why will it be over a month before Noggin and The N are split? While we may never know the answer for many of us parents hearing that Noggin will soon be 24/7 is some good news we have been waiting a long time for!

Spring Satellite Tune-up
This weekend is supposed to be an amazing weekend here in Connecticut with the highs in the mid eighties, which means its perfect time to tune up my motorized satellite system.
A motorized satellite system are a lot different then Dish Network and DirecTV and is often called true free to air satellite television.
My setup at home is a 4 Foot (1.2 Meter) KU band dish with a motor which can move this dish across the entire satellite arc.
The hobby of free to air satellite viewing is really interesting, there are hundreds of channels up there all available for FREE, including many foreign and religious channels. My favorite channels which are available free to air include the Retro Television Network (RTN), This Television Network (THIS) and Retro Jams.
Unfortunately the Free To Hobby is not known as a set and forget it type setup like a DirecTV or Dish Network type setup is. I find that my Free To Air Dish must be realigned about once a year.
If your one to tinker you can learn a lot of how satellite works when you setup and tune your own moving free to air satellite dish. Remember it takes patience and time and I also recommend a good satellite meter, but if you do this you could be enjoying all the free stuff that is in the skies.
If you going to be like me and doing a satellite tune up this weekend, the best advice I can give you is to make sure you tighten all the nuts on your dish as much as you can. Loose nuts on your Dish means that you Dish is more likely to become out of line over the year due to the wind and rain. Don’t be afraid of tightening the nuts on your free to air dish! I learned this the hard way and I found myself outside repeaking my dish many times over the summer.
Have a great weekend everyone!