Line of Sight

[sixkilo70]

I have used homemade transit[carpenters level, right angle compass,mag compass,level tripod] and used reference degree and elevation for all Direct sats,from my street address via google and dish pointing site. Removed all trees. New guy says more trees must go. Made comment that mountain rock must have drawn off compass. 15 Degrees? Don't believe it at all. Have worked in surveying before rechecked compass against new one. Perfect. Elevation was 10 degrees or more above treeline on each sat. Any ideas? Call Dish? Call Super?

[phat78boy]

I'm not saying they aren't right most the time, but it seems the installers I deal with are always wrong. Using magnetic north, your dish should be within 10-15 degrees of the recommended value. If removing more trees is an option, call his bluff and tell him you will remove the trees if he can't get a signal. Some installers also have a tripod they will keep in the truck. You could possibly have him try that first also.

[sixkilo70]

Standard comes thru the 'forest' where it now sets on roof. New site on ground 100% clearer. Same installer said new dish on roof terrible idea. {Mountain top lots of wind} I really feel I'm not that much of a dunce to not have cleared enough. Even dug posthole and cable trench[90 ft] I know some would say that's the real issue but my ego's not that attached to hard work.

[phat78boy]

You probably have done just fine. If you can't get him to atleast try, maybe finding another installer would be the way to go.

[HDTVsportsfan]

Litzdog911 has a thread somewhere that i think might help w/ your line os sight. There a 2 times a year IIRC that his method can be used. One of them jsut passed a week or two ago. But his method still may be helpful.

[HDTVsportsfan]

Heres the link.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=63277

[smiddy]

Compasses can be off, due to the ferus-ness of the ground where you are you can certainly be several degrees off. There are a few places on earth where this occurs. For best result you should use a GPS system. I'll see if I can see any anomalies on a DTED map.

[sixkilo70]

Yeah, I can borrow a GPS and get real specific. But the declination is only 5 deg 56 min W and the compass I used is good.[ Used one just like it to negotiate the jungles of South East Asia] I think how well an instalation goes is dependent on the draw of the cards. To top it off the one channel I watch the most[SUNDANCE} is now in Premier territory. I wonder how many of us only watch a half dozen or so steady channels and the rest are just there? I do see a la carte as the most reasonable choice. But that's another thread.