Installer just left, no line of sight...

[ernste40]

So, I made the leap from E* to D*, only to have the installer show up 15 minutes ago, take a quick look in the air and tell me that the trees in my and my neighbors yard prevent me from being able to get D* service. Do I have any options at this point, or am I stuck?

[RTracey]

Was he looking just from possible dish locations on the house, or from anywhere on your property? You can mount the dish on a pole and run the coax underground to the house. You can check for yourself at dishpointer.com. If you think you have a LOS somewhere the installer didn't check, call D* and ask to have a supervisor come out and take a look.

Ross

[litzdog911]

See the link in my signature below for instructions on performing your own site survey.

[bsprague]

So, I made the leap from E* to D*, only to have the installer show up 15 minutes ago, take a quick look in the air and tell me that the trees in my and my neighbors yard prevent me from being able to get D* service. Do I have any options at this point, or am I stuck?
You can look several places. I carry a chart in my motorhome to help with lineup. Post your city and I'll tell you the compass bearing and up angle if that will help.

It is a little harder if you are aiming through a hole in the branches, but many D* customers in RVs do it all the time.

[ernste40]

You can look several places. I carry a chart in my motorhome to help with lineup. Post your city and I'll tell you the compass bearing and up angle if that will help.

It is a little harder if you are aiming through a hole in the branches, but many D* customers in RVs do it all the time.

I'm in Sun Prairie, Wis.

[msmith]

So, I made the leap from E* to D*, only to have the installer show up 15 minutes ago, take a quick look in the air and tell me that the trees in my and my neighbors yard prevent me from being able to get D* service. Do I have any options at this point, or am I stuck?

I'd call DirecTV. Reportedly some installers do that if they don't feel like doing the install or the roof is steep.

[tcusta00]

I'd call DirecTV. Reportedly some installers do that if they don't feel like doing the install or the roof is steep.

Happened to me a year ago when I called 1800-DIRECTV. So, I dealt with Comcrap for a year until I got fed up and called a local D* (not 1-800-AINT-GONNA-HAPPEN) installer who was creative with a pole mount about 75 feet from my house. No issues at all. :D

[Darkbandit]

Had the same problem just happen to me. Was told that there was no line of sight to get the HD channels, but as I have read, if I could get channels off the regular satellites then I would have no problem. Also he told me that my best option was to switch to Dish or Cable if I wanted HD channels. Called D* and now they are sending a supervisor out supposedly for a second opinion. Hope that I didn't waste my tax money on a HDTV that I can't get HD channels on :lol:

[Pink Fairy]

www.dishpointer.com I have heard is also great to get a guestimate on whether you can get a LOS or not.

[Darkbandit]

Yeah, I found that site from looking here. Seems like if the install might be a little complicated then the installer will go ahead and just say that it can't be done.

[John-MAVA]

he took one look and said no? he probably saw something in your house that made him want to head for the hills. being a technician that doesnt try to tell people they cant ever get directv service, I usually end up with more of the **** installs that nobody wants to do. call the local hsp and to get straight to a directv rep call 1866 678 9471 and press one when it picks up then ask for your local hsp for a second opinion. and tip the guy who comes out if he does your install

[bsprague]

I'm in Sun Prairie, Wis.

I'm a little slow to answer. I was off line. Others have provided you with online resources, but I'll answer anyway.

My chart says you point up about 38 degrees and aim the compass about 200 degrees from Madison. I use what many would call a "boy scout" compass. Basically, you want to point towards the sky over a spot a little south of Texas.

In my case, with an R-15 in the motorhome, I only need one satellite. If you have HD you may need a little more information.

My antenna is mounted under a dome that is permanently attached to the roof. If I can get that part of the motorhome parked so that the dome lines up with space between the shade trees, I flip a switch. It will generally find the satellite in about a minute but take longer to download the guide.

If it doesn't acquire right away based on my first guess, I get out the chart and compass. I can often drive the motorhome a few inches forward or reverse and it will "see" through a spot in the trees. If I expect a real problem I will turn it on before I ever get to the parking spot and it will lock on and track as I maneuver. If I get under a branch I can see the signal strength drop on the TV screen.

(Yes, I am capable of watch D* while driving. I don't because it is not legal and, being a DVR, the road vibration would probably damage the hard disk.)

[Darkbandit]

Just a little update on my situation. I called Direct after the installer left and told them what his recommendations were and they patched me into a 3 way call with the rep and someone from Mastec. They are sending another tech out to do a second opinion, but they said that probably he will say the same thing because of where the tree is located and how the satellites are lower in orbit.

[whynot83706]

I have a question, how far of are the HD satellites from the regular ones.......I had installer other day at my house to install Dishnetwork but he told me he cant do that because I dont have line of sight for Dish.....but he can install regular DirecTV but not HD DirecTV....are HD satellites so far out from the regular ones

[pratttech]

I have a question, how far of are the HD satellites from the regular ones.......I had installer other day at my house to install Dishnetwork but he told me he cant do that because I dont have line of sight for Dish.....but he can install regular DirecTV but not HD DirecTV....are HD satellites so far out from the regular ones

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=117306

[whynot83706]

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=117306

Hmm...thanks for the link but its simply to complicated for me.....I guess i will have to go with the what ever installer told me.....get a regular DTV and not HD DTV

I was trying to see if Installer was not willing to do the job since I was his last call and he was very cranky or I can really only get regular DTV only

[pratttech]

Hmm...thanks for the link but its simply to complicated for me.....I guess i will have to go with the what ever installer told me.....get a regular DTV and not HD DTV

The links at the bottom of the thread show you where the satellites are. Basically they are all geosynchronous at the equator. The degrees is the offset from the prim meridian-- for us all west. 99, 101, 103, 110, 119 degrees west of Greenwich-- 0.

No idea what the installer saw, but I have found that the folks on this board are your best resource. If you have no LOS two options that I have seen discussed here are pole mounts and multi-dish setups. I can't comment too much more as I'm still fairly new to this stuff too. Good luck! :grin:

[ernste40]

he took one look and said no? he probably saw something in your house that made him want to head for the hills. being a technician that doesnt try to tell people they cant ever get directv service, I usually end up with more of the **** installs that nobody wants to do. call the local hsp and to get straight to a directv rep call 1866 678 9471 and press one when it picks up then ask for your local hsp for a second opinion. and tip the guy who comes out if he does your install

I would have tended o agree, but he never even made it into the house. i met him in the driveway and followed him around back. That said, after doing weeks of research and getting excited for what D* offered over E*, I was more than frustrated at the experience and chose as a consumer that I just didn't want to put up with having to take more time off of work for any further opinions, which would then lead to another appointment for install.

So, I made a call to E* and asked what the best was that I could get to upgrade my current setup to HD, they gave me what I think is an equivalent deal to the D* offer along with an upgrade install on a Saturday morning.

So, I took it. I guess my point in all of this, and it probably doesn't need explaing to most of you, is that the first point of contact or service is most important for a consumer, and if an installer was lying just o get out of doing the job, I don't want to put up with even taking a chance on further hastle when we are all shelling out so much money for these services in the first place.

I appreciate all of the help I have received from this board, however. Boy, if D* and E* hired the people here to work for them, both systems would work so much better!

[Darkbandit]

I would have tended o agree, but he never even made it into the house. i met him in the driveway and followed him around back. That said, after doing weeks of research and getting excited for what D* offered over E*, I was more than frustrated at the experience and chose as a consumer that I just didn't want to put up with having to take more time off of work for any further opinions, which would then lead to another appointment for install.

So, I made a call to E* and asked what the best was that I could get to upgrade my current setup to HD, they gave me what I think is an equivalent deal to the D* offer along with an upgrade install on a Saturday morning.

So, I took it. I guess my point in all of this, and it probably doesn't need explaing to most of you, is that the first point of contact or service is most important for a consumer, and if an installer was lying just o get out of doing the job, I don't want to put up with even taking a chance on further hastle when we are all shelling out so much money for these services in the first place.

I appreciate all of the help I have received from this board, however. Boy, if D* and E* hired the people here to work for them, both systems would work so much better!

I am beleiving to think that the same installer came to my house that came to yours lol. I am going to call Dish and see if they can do the same thing as well.

[John-MAVA]

oh man that reminds me of this install i did, and it sucked I could look at the house and tell. it sucked so bad the installer managed to convince the customer that there was no line of sight, man I wish i had a picture, you could look all around and in any given field of view there were 15-20 dishes of all types all pointing to clear blue sky. I couldnt believe the customer believed no line of sight

[Darkbandit]

Last update on my Directv install. The installer came out earlier today for the second opinion and found a spot to mount the dish. The odd part was that he was able to find the 119 satellilte, however couldn't find any of the other satellites. So the install was cancelled and now I have called Dish to see if they are going to run into the same problem or not being I have heard that Dish satellites are higher up than Direct's.

[BNUMM]

For the eastern U.S. DishNetwork satellites are lower in the sky ( except for the 119 which would be the same. I install them and the 129 sat. is a real pain when trees are nearby because it is so low in the sky. As for DirecTv SD and HD, you should be able to get HD if you can get SD. The 99, 101 and 103 satellite are so close together that in most situations you can get HD if there is LOS to SD.