Line of Sight Issues with Install

[prushing]

I am trying to get a 5LNB installed at the house I just bought. I have a bunch of pine trees in the back yard, so line of sight is an issue. The first guy said there was no LOS and left. So I had a lead tech come out and he found 2 spots to put the dish. The best one is in the front yard near the street, other is at the back of the backyard, but there still could be issues.

I just got a cheap indoor antenna from Walmart and I was able to pickup all the locals without any problems facing the antenna to the backyard through all the trees. So should I expect the 5LNB to be able to perform the same or better? I want to know if I really need to put the dish in the front yard.

[bonscott87]

I just got a cheap indoor antenna from Walmart and I was able to pickup all the locals without any problems facing the antenna to the backyard through all the trees. So should I expect the 5LNB to be able to perform the same or better? I want to know if I really need to put the dish in the front yard.

Different kind of signals. OTA signals are basically FM radio signals. They will go thru just about anything but a mountain. Trees can be an issue if you are far away from the towers.
Sat signals are 23,000 miles up in space and it doesn't take much to get no signal. You can't go thru the trees.

How about up on your roof to get you over the trees in the way? Otherwise there is always the chainsaw. :box:

[FastEddie]

Depending on your location you will need about 40 deg window on azimuth and 20 deg on elevation for your sight line window. For the installs I do here in the Pacific NW that means 120-160 deg azimuth and 23-43 elevation. In some cases you can get the dish higher to clear trees but as a rule if the tree would hit your house if it fell your too close to the trees.

[litzdog911]

Next week you'll have the perfect opportunity to perform your own site survey using the Sun's location in the sky. This opportunity happens twice each year, in March and October. More information here ....
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=63277

[prushing]

Thanks for your replies, it will probably have to go in the front yard as the pine tress are all really tall.

How high can the dish safely be mounted on a pole? If I put it about 10' in the air it should clear the small tree the neighbor has and I could take down the small one in my yard.

[litzdog911]

10' might be rather tall, unless you can secure the pole to prevent ANY swaying. Aligning the dish at the top of a 10' pole might be challenging, too.

[fiveputts]

I am trying to get a 5LNB installed at the house I just bought. I have a bunch of pine trees in the back yard, so line of sight is an issue. The first guy said there was no LOS and left. So I had a lead tech come out and he found 2 spots to put the dish. The best one is in the front yard near the street, other is at the back of the backyard, but there still could be issues.

I just got a cheap indoor antenna from Walmart and I was able to pickup all the locals without any problems facing the antenna to the backyard through all the trees. So should I expect the 5LNB to be able to perform the same or better? I want to know if I really need to put the dish in the front yard.

I had an old dish getting SD signal fine. Upgraded to HR20 and 5 LNB (dish in same location) in October and couldn't get HD signal. Was told the HD satellite is lower on the horizon and my neighbor's trees were blocking the signal. Neighbors were up for me trimming their trees at not cost to them, but with estimates at $600to $1K, I was ready to switch to cable. Many hrs on the phone later, I got an installer (7th one to visit) with 1/2 a brain and he tried a new dish and bam!, got the HD signal.

Happy customer since.

[rrcrosby]

I am trying to get a 5LNB installed at the house I just bought. I have a bunch of pine trees in the back yard, so line of sight is an issue. The first guy said there was no LOS and left. So I had a lead tech come out and he found 2 spots to put the dish. The best one is in the front yard near the street, other is at the back of the backyard, but there still could be issues.

I just got a cheap indoor antenna from Walmart and I was able to pickup all the locals without any problems facing the antenna to the backyard through all the trees. So should I expect the 5LNB to be able to perform the same or better? I want to know if I really need to put the dish in the front yard.


The trees are your friends.
When my instaler came out he said there was no line of sight and left.
Having been thru this before I went down to my local satelite installer and bought a AT9 dish. Mounted it 25 ft up in a oak tree and my HR 20 works fine.
All the bull about tree movement is just that bull!

I do not understand how an installer will climb on a slippery roof 40 feet in the air but be afraid to climb a ladder 20 ft to attach it to a bare tree trunk.

[prushing]

Well, I finally got a supervisor to come out, after 2 previous ones were "lead/supervisor". He says, yeah you have line of sight and the tree shouldn't be an issue. Install is tomorrow, but with rain, I doubt they will come out.

[SunSpots]

Prushing... You give me hope... Installer came yesterday to upgrade from the regular installation to the new slimline dish and HD20. First the installers balked at my balcony holding the weight of the dish which seemed ludicrous, then they said that a faraway tree (I'm talking like 10 2-lane road widths away) would block the line of sight for the satellite that currently has ESPN HD. He said this would only be a problem in the summer. After asking him to attempt the install and I would see how it goes in the summer, he then claimed that my building (I live in a high rise) blocks the line of sight, not the faraway tree. I called D* today to cancel since they can't support HD for me and they offered to send out a "Senior technician" who will be coming on Monday. I didn't even embellish the story and the CSR said "It sounds like the installers just didn't want to do it." The CSR also told me that if the senior tech says no, I should call Dish before Comcast because their satellites are in different positions.

[prushing]

The installer came out today, put the dish where I told him, and everything is great. I would definitely keep on these installers, just by doing some research online, I found a place to put the dish when the installers said it couldn't be done.

Thanks to everyone here for the links and help.