Rural Satellite TV not available everywhere?

[ultrarunner]

A friend has been trying to get Satellite TV without luck in rural Thurston County Washington State.

So far the only suggestion has been to take out or severely top 5 heritage trees in the hopes of getting a signal...

The people that previously occupied the home had Satellite TV and Satellite Internet...

Is it normal to take down trees when on a property with 10 plus acres and previous satellite service and currently served by Blue Sky Internet?

I think he needs to get someone else out to take a look instead of a 20 minute look around to determine it's not feasible.

Never having lived in a home with cable or satellite TV... am I missing something?

 

[dgl24087]

Dish Network has had signal issues in the Northwestern US due to a satellite (129w) that was damaged when launched. Most installations require 2 dishes.DISH 500 (two dishes??) vs. 1000 for new install Washington state [Archive] - DBSTalk.Com

 

[jpm]

if it was dish try direct or reverse or just a instaler not intested in working

 

[ragkar]

First determine the elevation and magnetic azimuth of the satellite for your chosen provider. Then using compass and whatever tool you can find for angle of elevation do a survey. I used a boating sextant. Remember, the satellite signal won't go through leaves.
My house has seventy foot oaks surrounding it and it was a real problem to find a location. for the dishes.
Instead of using a dual or triple satellite dish it may help to use separate dishes in different locations with a switcher.
In my case, I clamped a four foot 4x4 onto a wheel barrow and mounted a dish on that. A satellite receiver and a small tv went into the wheelbarrow and then I moved the contraption around the yard and tried to find the satellite. On my five acres I only found one ten foot diameter location that I could use. So I put an eight foot mast there.

 

[Mousefield]

Up our way we have two companies that offer satellite, their different dishes get pointed in different directions depending on which satellite you are getting the signal from. I have satellite from Starchoice but did use a different company before and they even mounted the dish on a different part of the house. The angle and direction also varied to some degree. Best would be to pay a tech to come out and sight a location.

 

[CurlyDave]

First determine the elevation and magnetic azimuth of the satellite for your chosen provider.

This is one thing that absolutely astounded me when I had satellite internet. Most of the installers us magnetic north rather than true north.

I cut down a fairly large Madrone to give a clear view at the specified azimuth, believing that someone selling satellite services would at least use, if not understand true north, which is important for orbital calculations. Nope, they used magnetic. At least check with the local provider to be certain.

And, there is no need to take out 5 heritage trees. Put the antenna on the other side of them, or at least get close enough to the stand to only take out one.

 

[s78wingrider]

Found out here, some installers are better than others. For second Dish installer, I did have to take down a couple low hanging limbs that were in the way anyway, so was no problem. You may need just to talk to someone else at witch ever provider your trying to get.

 

[mbosma]

I had to take down three large limbs off an oak tree in my back yard next to the house for them to get an internet signal - the previous owner had TV sat. signal - but this points a different direction.

I wish I didn't do it. The service sucks and isn't much faster than dialup. I'll never get that half of tree back and will regret it every day I sit on the deck for the next 50 years.

 

[dmccarty]

We have Directv. And it points through some big trees which does not seem to effect the signal.

HOWEVER if we get a ice storm the signal can have problems. This really surprised me since I figured the leaves would be an issue not ice.

I certainly would not cut down a tree until the signal strength was measured. We had a real dufus of an installer. No way would I cut down a tree based on what he said.

Later,
Dan

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

I just got Direct TV for the motorhome, I have a satellite dish from the manufacturer on top and got a regular dish on a tripod if I can't park to get a signal. Maybe one of the tripods will work.