Are HD Spot Beams More Focused than Standard SB?

[Jerry in OC MD]

I'm in the process of upgrading to a multi sat dish and HD receiver, so that I can receive HD content via DirecTV. I "moved" and currently subscribe to Baltimore locals. I'm within the spot beam (obviously).

When I call to switch to HD package with locals (DTV does carry Baltimore channels in HD) will I be able to pick up Baltimore's HD locals? I have heard that the answer is NO. If not will I still be able to receive the standard-def locals. Can anyone help me clear this up?

I hope this post was clear. Thanks.

[litzdog911]

Hard to say without knowing where you're actually located. But yes, the Ka-band spot beams are narrower than the Ku-band spots.

[videojanitor]

I'm going to take a guess that "OC MD" means Ocean City, Maryland. If that's where you are, I would say the chances are 99.99% that you won't have any problem, as that looks to be under 100 miles from the metro Baltimore area (at least looking at Google Maps). I'm about 80 miles outside of San Francisco, and the SF Ka spotbeam hits me with a signal level of 100.

[TyroneShoes]

Hard to say without knowing where you're actually located. But yes, the Ka-band spot beams are narrower than the Ku-band spots.
Seems like a pretty generalized statement, but OK. Let's assume that the change in downlink frequency allows this, as well as the incremental improvements in sat technology as the years go by.

But you have to look at the other side of the coin, which is they still have the technical capability of being as wide as before, or as they wish, especially since the newer sats operate at a higher power, and DTV is still motivated to cover as much area as is possible.

In a state like Arizona, it makes sense to have the spot beams cover a 400-mile area, because that enfranchises more subscribers which translates into more revenue. In New England it might make sense to focus them more narrowly, at possibly half that radius, since the DMAs are more densely packed together. But since they can use different frequencies for adjacent spots, overlap is not really a large issue, making large spot beams there practical as well, not to mention desirable.