For those of you who have Dish equipment and can change your spot beam choices (for local network TV), here's an easy way to verify the coverage areas for specific local city channels.
I got interested in this after returning from a trip up in Bloomington Illinois where I was able to receive St. Louis local stations on my Dish Tailgater. I called Dish and they really couldn't provide me information as to why the St. Louis stations were available, almost 220 miles from home.
I found this information though and it answers a lot of questions. Take this link.
SatelliteGuys.US_TheList - Subscription dishnetworkmarkets
Go to the state and choose the city of the local network you are looking for. Once you click on the city, you will get a list of all the transponders and satellites that serves the city. Find your local station and click on the spot beam information. From there you will get a map which will show you a map of the state(s) that the spot beam covers. One circle (green) is the coverage. The area outside the green that is circled is areas that also may receive signals but are not guaranteed.
It's really nice in situations where you may be in an area that has multiple city spot beams which overlap. This allows you a choice when you call Dish as to what city you may wish to receive.
One thing to remember though is that if you ask for a change for your local channels, those changes will affect any receiver on your account. So if you have a receiver at home which is scheduled to record local channels, you most likely will get no recording since your spot beam will have changed and your home unit is most likely out of range of that beam.
Jack