So I finally got Dish network installed Tuesday. A few months ago, the Dish techs came out twice to tell me there was no LOS to the 129 satellite due to a tree that is in my neighbor's yard. At the time, I asked them about the possibility of installing 2 dishes to get the programming from 61.5, thanks to a tip from this forum. They said that there was no way to do that, to many trees, etc.
I was sorely miffed, but I am also fairly stubborn.
I spent the rest of the afternoon in my yard, convinced that if the people next door to me could get Dish, and their dish was almost at my fence, then if I put a dish next to my fence, I'd be golden. I did my homework. I read this forum religiously (many thanks to all those who answered my newbie questions), I purchased equipment from eBay, dug post holes and set my posts, dug about 200' of trench in my backyard, ran the cables, drove an 8 foot copper rod into the ground, installed and peaked the dishes... etc. I had it all set up and waiting to go when the Dish techs arrived.
My setup included a Dish 500, and a 75cm FTA dish that I had cobbled a DP Dual onto, both of those running into two DP21s. I would have used a DPP Twin, but the distance between the 110/119 dish and the 61.5 dish is about 110 feet, so that was out.
When the techs arrived, I told them as soon as they rang my doorbell that I had no LOS to 129. They looked at me a bit askew, and when they saw my setup, they were taken aback. They asked me what I did for a living. After quizzing me on what grade cable I used in the yard, I passed some mark for them, and the lead tech told me "Though there are a lot of trees, you have signal now, so this will work. We are going to stay here until this works." After wrangling with my cables for a while, one looked at the other and said "Don't we have an extra DP34 in the van?" So one installed the DP34 while the other cleaned up my cable run. (I had zip tied my cabled to a rain gutter, the Dish tech drilled cable holders into the brick of the house)
During the install, the lead tech asked me who the other techs were that wouldn't install a dish at 61.5. I told them the names, and one of them had been the field service manager, and he was the one who told me that there was no way in Hades that I was gonna get High Def at my house. Then the tech offered my a job installing for them if I ever needed some extra work. He said it was the best self install job he'd ever seen, and it was better than some of the techs in my area.
Needless to say, none of this would have been possible without the excellent help available on this forum. Thanks for everything, satelliteguys!
I was sorely miffed, but I am also fairly stubborn.
I spent the rest of the afternoon in my yard, convinced that if the people next door to me could get Dish, and their dish was almost at my fence, then if I put a dish next to my fence, I'd be golden. I did my homework. I read this forum religiously (many thanks to all those who answered my newbie questions), I purchased equipment from eBay, dug post holes and set my posts, dug about 200' of trench in my backyard, ran the cables, drove an 8 foot copper rod into the ground, installed and peaked the dishes... etc. I had it all set up and waiting to go when the Dish techs arrived.
My setup included a Dish 500, and a 75cm FTA dish that I had cobbled a DP Dual onto, both of those running into two DP21s. I would have used a DPP Twin, but the distance between the 110/119 dish and the 61.5 dish is about 110 feet, so that was out.
When the techs arrived, I told them as soon as they rang my doorbell that I had no LOS to 129. They looked at me a bit askew, and when they saw my setup, they were taken aback. They asked me what I did for a living. After quizzing me on what grade cable I used in the yard, I passed some mark for them, and the lead tech told me "Though there are a lot of trees, you have signal now, so this will work. We are going to stay here until this works." After wrangling with my cables for a while, one looked at the other and said "Don't we have an extra DP34 in the van?" So one installed the DP34 while the other cleaned up my cable run. (I had zip tied my cabled to a rain gutter, the Dish tech drilled cable holders into the brick of the house)
During the install, the lead tech asked me who the other techs were that wouldn't install a dish at 61.5. I told them the names, and one of them had been the field service manager, and he was the one who told me that there was no way in Hades that I was gonna get High Def at my house. Then the tech offered my a job installing for them if I ever needed some extra work. He said it was the best self install job he'd ever seen, and it was better than some of the techs in my area.
Needless to say, none of this would have been possible without the excellent help available on this forum. Thanks for everything, satelliteguys!
