# Can I get Dish Network, or are these trees in the way?



## neo_sapien (Sep 17, 2007)

Hello,

I live in zip code 20878 in Maryland. To the northwest, west, and southwest there are tall trees all over the place, and to the south there are a few trees. The southeast is completely clear, only houses over there. Will I be able to get Dish Network?

In case it would be helpful, I took some pictures from my backyard:

northwest, from up in the balcony:

west, from up in the balcony:

southwest, from up in the balcony:

and an image composite of the south, from ground level:

and dishpointer.com:


I assume that I would be using something called a Dish 1000.4 dish, pointing at the eastern satellites. It says on the Dish Network site that I'd need a clear view of the southeastern sky, but on dishpointer.com it looks more like the southern sky. Would I be able to receive all the channels in the silver 200 package with HD, and my local channels?

Up until november of 2008, I had DirecTV. Then I moved to this house, and the DirecTV mover guy told me that I couldn't get a line of sight to the DirecTV satellites, what with all the trees. So, I had to switch to Comcast cable, which has a monopoly in the area, and now I'm curious as to whether or not I can switch to Dish.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

It's going to be close. Move the pointer to the north-east corner of your house and then pick the Eastern Arc sats one by one: 77, 72.5, 61.5. The line you see now is the direction the dish points, but the dish has to see all three sats, and they're in an arc. You need a clear view to the entire arc. Chances are you'll be okay.


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## neo_sapien (Sep 17, 2007)

I can't tell 100%, but just from dead reckoning it seems that a dish on the northeast part of my house pointing up at a 44.7 degree elevation towards the satellite at 77 would clear the few trees to the south of my house with plenty of room to spare, and the satellites at 72.5 and 61.5 would certainly have no line of sight issues.

Would I be charged anything if I placed an order, the Dish Network guy came out here, and it turned out I was wrong and couldn't get line of sight?


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Question; Does the dish have to be mounted on the house or balcony (HOA situation)? Or can you mount it out in the yard, or on a raised pole? If you could do that, could you get clear sky?


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## neo_sapien (Sep 17, 2007)

There's no HOA. The dish could be mounted on the roof, or in the yard on a pole. I suspect that mounting it on the roof would get a clearer line of sight than in the backyard on a pole.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

You need to look at dishpointer using only 77W as the satellite. While you may be able to see in the 184 degree direction, you may still be cut off from 77W.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Have them consider those option, but they might be considered 'non-standard installations' and cost extra.

Can't answer your no line of sight question.


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## neo_sapien (Sep 17, 2007)

@harsh:
I looked at dishpointer using only 77W as the satellite and reported on my findings in the 3rd post of this thread.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

neo_sapien said:


> Would I be charged anything if I placed an order, the Dish Network guy came out here, and it turned out I was wrong and couldn't get line of sight?


No.


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## david_jr (Dec 10, 2006)

Another thing to remember is that the look angle is higher than the elevation your dish is set for. If you're setting for 44 degrees off horizon the look angle of the satellite is actually a little higher than that. I think you will be alright, especially if they can roof mount if they have to. The further you get back from the trees the better the look angle gets. And trees do matter. My dish was installed pointing right into trees in the winter and anytime it got cloudy or the wind blew I lost signal. Had them move the dish back on the roof and now sat almost never goes out even though the trees are fully leaved out now. Heavy thunderstorms only.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

david_jr said:


> Another thing to remember is that the look angle is higher than the elevation your dish is set for. If you're setting for 44 degrees off horizon the look angle of the satellite is actually a little higher than that. I think you will be alright, especially if they can roof mount if they have to. The further you get back from the trees the better the look angle gets. And trees do matter. My dish was installed pointing right into trees in the winter and anytime it got cloudy or the wind blew I lost signal. Had them move the dish back on the roof and now sat almost never goes out even though the trees are fully leaved out now. Heavy thunderstorms only.












That's not the case. The degree scale printed on the dish is calibrated to the true angle of the sats in the sky (or, rather, the angle the dish "looks" at). What is different is that the reflector will appear to be looking 22.5 degrees lower, so it may seem like the dish is pointed directly at the trees (or roof, or other object) when it is actually looking over the top.

Example: your ZIP code says that your elevation is 40 degrees. That's the actual angle to the sats. If you set the dish at 40 degrees of elevation using the elevation scale on the dish, then measured the angle of the reflector itself, you'd get a reflector angle of about 18.5 degrees.


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