Satellite TV is awesome. Sure, internet is great too. It’s even better to have both. There’s a time for leaning into the internet experience, but don’t you just feel like sitting back and watching TV sometimes? I know I do. It’s a great way to unwind, and life on the water is all about relaxing, right?
Occasionally, our tech support reps will take a call from someone who says their satellite TV works great while they’re on the water, but stops working when they pull into the slip. It’s frustrating of course, because plenty of people spend the night in the marina and just want to relax. So, let’s talk about the most common reason that you’ll lose signal when you’re in the slip.
In order for your satellite TV to work, you’ll need a view of the sky to the south. If you’re in Florida, for example, the dish needs to point more upwards, but if you’re in Seattle, Boston, or any northern city, the dish needs to point closer to the horizon in order to work. No matter where you are, if the satellite dish can’t get signal because it’s blocked by something else, it won’t work.
In the marina, you might be next to other boats. You may not realize that something on one of those other boats is blocking signal. Certainly, if you’re a smaller boat parked next to a very large one, it’s obvious. But you may not realize how much your signal is being blocked.
If you’re interested in doing a little bit of research, check out a site like dishpointer.com. You can put in your address and see where you need to point in order to see the satellites you need to see. It’s all overlaid on a map so you can get an idea what might be blocking you.
The site is pretty easy to use. All you do is put in your location or press the “location” icon to the left of the image. For most of our commercial marine customers, you would choose the DIRECTV 101 satellite as shown here:
If you have DISH or a larger boat with an Intellian s6HD or KVH UHD7, you would choose the appropriate multi-satellite dish, which is going to be one of the ones highlighted in blue:
It should be easy to figure out what’s blocking your boat’s satellite dish from there. If you put in the address and it’s not exactly on your boat, you can even drag the marker if you need to.
Well, really there’s only one. You can go to the marina office and ask to be put in another slip. The satellite signal isn’t going to penetrate through another boat. A lot of folks who have smaller boats will put the satellite dish up on a taller post to try to compensate, but that’s going to take time, money, and planning which won’t help you this very moment of course.
If you have questions about your marine satellite service, call the experts at 888-233-7563 or fill out the form below.
The post Lost satellite signal in the marina? Here’s why appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
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Occasionally, our tech support reps will take a call from someone who says their satellite TV works great while they’re on the water, but stops working when they pull into the slip. It’s frustrating of course, because plenty of people spend the night in the marina and just want to relax. So, let’s talk about the most common reason that you’ll lose signal when you’re in the slip.
It’s usually a bigger boat
In order for your satellite TV to work, you’ll need a view of the sky to the south. If you’re in Florida, for example, the dish needs to point more upwards, but if you’re in Seattle, Boston, or any northern city, the dish needs to point closer to the horizon in order to work. No matter where you are, if the satellite dish can’t get signal because it’s blocked by something else, it won’t work.
In the marina, you might be next to other boats. You may not realize that something on one of those other boats is blocking signal. Certainly, if you’re a smaller boat parked next to a very large one, it’s obvious. But you may not realize how much your signal is being blocked.
If you’re interested in doing a little bit of research, check out a site like dishpointer.com. You can put in your address and see where you need to point in order to see the satellites you need to see. It’s all overlaid on a map so you can get an idea what might be blocking you.
The site is pretty easy to use. All you do is put in your location or press the “location” icon to the left of the image. For most of our commercial marine customers, you would choose the DIRECTV 101 satellite as shown here:
If you have DISH or a larger boat with an Intellian s6HD or KVH UHD7, you would choose the appropriate multi-satellite dish, which is going to be one of the ones highlighted in blue:
It should be easy to figure out what’s blocking your boat’s satellite dish from there. If you put in the address and it’s not exactly on your boat, you can even drag the marker if you need to.
What are your options if something’s blocking your dish?
Well, really there’s only one. You can go to the marina office and ask to be put in another slip. The satellite signal isn’t going to penetrate through another boat. A lot of folks who have smaller boats will put the satellite dish up on a taller post to try to compensate, but that’s going to take time, money, and planning which won’t help you this very moment of course.
If you have questions about your marine satellite service, call the experts at 888-233-7563 or fill out the form below.
The post Lost satellite signal in the marina? Here’s why appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
Continue reading...
