New to FTA

[AdamJonny]

You can, if you want to climb a tower every time you need to work on your dish! I'd put it on the ground if at all possible, it's really tough to work on those things when they're off the ground, and you're hanging from a tower or ladder.

Well the tower is close to the house, so I could climb the tower and stands safely on the roof to work on the dish. My only question is if the wind picks up, will the tower sway enough that I loose signal. I can't put the dish on the ground because there are trees in the way.

I was reading in another thread about the M1 and M2 systems from Sadoun, will the better choice be the M2 for the LNB?

 

[toucan-man]

Well the tower is close to the house, so I could climb the tower and stands safely on the roof to work on the dish. My only question is if the wind picks up, will the tower sway enough that I loose signal. I can't put the dish on the ground because there are trees in the way.

How did you do your site survey?

I had thought a roof mount would be my best bet, but was surprised to find a sweet spot right behind the house. It looks like some of the dishes would hit the side of the house, but they don't, which was kind of counter-intuitive to me as a newbie.

 

[AdamJonny]

How did you do your site survey?

I had thought a roof mount would be my best bet, but was surprised to find a sweet spot right behind the house. It looks like some of the dishes would hit the side of the house, but they don't, which was kind of counter-intuitive to me as a newbie.

All I did is get up on the roof where my Dish Network dish is and scan the sky with a compass. I don't know for sure what dishes I can see and what I can't. The house faces south so the back yard is a no go. The front yard is OK for some dishes; however, there are small trees around our house that make it hard to get a clean shot unless I'm on the roof. The tower was just an idea to keep from putting holes in the roof.

 

[toucan-man]

The house faces south so the back yard is a no go.

My house faces south too, but I didn't have to move my dishes very far back in the back yard to hop over the house and the neighbor's trees.

You know what you've got to jump over in your situation, I'm not second guessing you. But I do agree with the others that a dish mounted sky high can be a real headache.

I looked through a pvc tube held at the correct angle and aimed with a compass to do my survey. I have a pretty awful location for satellite, but so far I've been able to "thread the needle" and get signals.

 

[AdamJonny]

...I looked through a pvc tube held at the correct angle and aimed with a compass to do my survey. I have a pretty awful location for satellite, but so far I've been able to "thread the needle" and get signals.

I'm at work now, but I can try that in the morning... how do I get the elevation angle right? As for the back yard, if I could I would. Our back yard is small and I mean relay small. It would be hard to get far enough back to get over the house... but I will look again.

 

[toucan-man]

I'm at work now, but I can try that in the morning... how do I get the elevation angle right?

I made a rig out of wood with an upright piece, then I screwed 2 flat pieces of wood at the correct angles for two of the birds I wanted. I just held the pvc pipe tight to either of these. I also added a pendulum centered in a eyehook with a fishing weight to hold the line taught, to know when I'm plumb. (Probably a good sobriety tester, too.)

It's a one person rig, but kind of convoluted. There is probably a better way, can someone else help?

By the way, the nearest dish of mine is on 123W, is about 3 feet off the ground, and is about 20 feet from the back of the single story house, which has a tall, steep pitched roof. People think we're a two story, for what it's worth.

 

[AdamJonny]

...By the way, the nearest dish of mine is on 123W, is about 3 feet off the ground, and is about 20 feet from the back of the single story house, which has a tall, steep pitched roof. People think we're a two story, for what it's worth.

That wouldn't work for me, our back yard is less than 10' to the property line.

 

[AdamJonny]

OK so universal Linear dual Ku 0.4 dB LNBF or QPH031 Quad LNBF?
Fortec MPEG2 DVB Receiver or Coolsat 6100?

 

[AdamJonny]

I did it! Ordered my setup with plans to upgrade to a PVR receiver in the future.

FTA Dish: 90cm Offset Dish, PowerTech DG280B Motor, Dual Linear Ku LNBF
FTA Receiver: Fortec Star DYNAMIC

 

[AcWxRadar]

How did you do your site survey?

I had thought a roof mount would be my best bet, but was surprised to find a sweet spot right behind the house. It looks like some of the dishes would hit the side of the house, but they don't, which was kind of counter-intuitive to me as a newbie.

All I did is get up on the roof where my Dish Network dish is and scan the sky with a compass. I don't know for sure what dishes I can see and what I can't. The house faces south so the back yard is a no go. The front yard is OK for some dishes; however, there are small trees around our house that make it hard to get a clean shot unless I'm on the roof. The tower was just an idea to keep from putting holes in the roof.

AdamJonny,

I wanted to give you a little enlighting information here about the FTA sats (or any sat in general). The arc where the satellites orbit, is a lot higher in the sky than you realize. So, some of the trees that you are worried about may not be as large of an issue as you think.

Twice a year, the sun follows this arc nearly precisely. This occurs once in the spring and once in the fall. When this happens, you can look at the suns position at a given time and know where a specific satellite is located. The sun continues to move, but the satellite is always in that location.

If the sun isn't behind a tree at that time on that specific day, then that particular satellite is always in a clear view from the point where you where standing.

You can determine the appropriate days and times of the day with this calculator...

h++p://www.satellite-calculations.com/SUNcalc/SUNcalc.htm

You will have to replace the ++ in h++p with tt to make this a live link. I wasn't sure if it was acceptable to post a live link here.

AcWxRadar

 

[AdamJonny]

AcWxRadar thanks for all the help. Went outside and the backyard looks like it will not be a problem. In addition, the trees hat are close are also not a problem. Since I posted I have mounted the dish on the house... Still have a slight alignment problem and am waiting for some nice weather to get up there and fix it. I will keep the backyard in mind for a DUB dish in the future!