To: Jeffrey B who wrote (524 ) 12/22/1997 10:23:00 PM From: Jim P Mitchell Read Replies (2) | Respond to
I understand what you are saying. Isn't it plausable though, that DISH could manufacture and supply to the consumer an antenna with a motor driven equitorial mounted base. Theoretically if this were done, you still keep the 18" size. I understand the fixed dish system as a low cost entry approach , but it sure would seem logical to migrate to a more capable antenna system once multiple satellites (slots) are in use up there. Three dishes inherently seems more expensive than a single motor driven base. Each dish has an active LNA in it making the dish cost about 100$. For the price of three stationary antennas one could afford a single nice motor driven system for less. It is not like moving a "house" as with the old 10 foot dishes, so I would expect the base and motor to be fairly low cost relative to the old systems. Could this conceivably be a future hardware upgrade? It would sort of make sense - why sell receivers and antennas capable of several satellite slots when there is only one (now two) slots to select from. The systems now are rock bottom priced, and work well. I wonder if the digital port will / could offer control to an antenna too? Who knows what will evolve, but I think there are a few elegant options available to solve this.
