Northern US vs Southern US Reception

[SATire]

I've been trying to find information on the following but so far it's not completely clear to me what I can expect.
Right now, my setup includes a couple of 39" KU dishes and a 6' dish which I'm using for W5 services. My location is in MN, northern US.
I am building a house in Northern AZ and I'm trying to figure out what I might be able to do with my setup. The local ordinances don't allow 6' dishes which means I might be SOL for my W5 service. The KU dishes will be fine.

The question is, since I will be more Southern, might I be able to use a smaller dish to pick up the W5 signals? And if not, on my KU dishes, should I be able to expect better reception as well?

It's not clear to me if being more South will make all that much difference.

Thanks.

 

[FaT Air]

Take a look at satbeams. Might give you some insight. But I'm of the opinion that 6 ft would be the smallest you'd want as anything smaller will allow even more adjacent satellite interference. Camouflage the 6ft as a canopy over a table on a deck?

 

[Lak7]

The local ordinances don't allow 6' dishes.....

What if it was not a Permanent Setup? Meaning mount a Pole to something that has wheels?
By Federal Law, that over rides all local ordinances, you are allowed a 1 Meter Dish. You could always ask for a Variance, and point them to this ......
Dishing it out » Home Page » The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

 

[SATire]

I wondered if being more South might allow for a smaller dish. Maybe I was thinking angle. The angle would be higher right.
As for hiding it, it's a local thing, even if I hide it, someone will probably complain.
I'll certainly look into local variances once everything is done but was wondering what to do with my setup here when we move.

 

[Mr Tony]

being further south doesnt have anything to do with it. It all depends on the satellite and the footprint

Some sats have a beam where the southern US it is better. 116.8 KU comes to mind. Here in MN its bunk but in southern US its really good. Then again the Anik Sats (107.3 & 111.1) work the best in Northern US.

Alot of sats use the center part of the US as the "hot spot"

 

[SATire]

I could not recall if someone had once told me that when you're more South, you are closer to the birds, your angle is higher and your reception is better.
I have to admit I'm tired of having all this HD gear but SD signals on W5 so maybe I'll not have much choice and a good reason to go back to the usual providers I guess.

 

[SATire]

Well, here is what I found out from the city ordinances.

Dishes: Satellite dishes shall have minimum setbacks equal to the height of the dish and attached base

What the heck does that mean? They told me there is no size restriction and only the above regulation.

 

[eurosport]

I live in Florida, and my W5 service works great on a 5ft solid.

 

[SATire]

The board seemed to disappear for a while.

Thanks for the input from FL. Even with this news, I'm starting to have a harder time convincing myself to keep 4DTV (I think I keep using the term W5).
The 4DTV service has all of my favorite channels but none seem to be available in HD. There is a notice of a new receiver but even there, it only states 'High definition video where available'.

 

[waylew]

Well, here is what I found out from the city ordinances.

Dishes: Satellite dishes shall have minimum setbacks equal to the height of the dish and attached base

What the heck does that mean? They told me there is no size restriction and only the above regulation.

Essentially it means however tall the dish on it's mount is,it has to be at least that far from the property line.So say you have a 10' dish on a 10' pole,top of the dish would be about 15' high,so the dish would have to be at least 15' from the nearest property line.I think ; )

 

[SATire]

That's how I interpret it also but it's weird that they don't have any actual size limit. Cool, I'll try to find a surplus industrial giant then! hehe

 

[AcWxRadar]

being further south doesnt have anything to do with it. It all depends on the satellite and the footprint

Some sats have a beam where the southern US it is better. 116.8 KU comes to mind. Here in MN its bunk but in southern US its really good. Then again the Anik Sats (107.3 & 111.1) work the best in Northern US.

Alot of sats use the center part of the US as the "hot spot"

Well, here is what I found out from the city ordinances.

Dishes: Satellite dishes shall have minimum setbacks equal to the height of the dish and attached base

What the heck does that mean? They told me there is no size restriction and only the above regulation.

Essentially it means however tall the dish on it's mount is,it has to be at least that far from the property line.So say you have a 10' dish on a 10' pole,top of the dish would be about 15' high,so the dish would have to be at least 15' from the nearest property line.I think ; )

SATire,

The above replies/posts are in agreement with what I believe and would say to you. The only thing I would add is that you don't have much to worry about. You can take your dishes with you and plant them in the new location as long as you keep them back from the lot lines in accordance to the local reg's. That shouldn't be a problem at all.

However, you are going to have to ask them to clarify one point... What if you install the dish atop your roof? Does the dimension of the base foundation of the house and the height of the peak of the roof add to the "attached" base of the satellite dish? This may be the local ordinance's way of slyly writing in a loop-hole to prevent you from attaching a dish upon the roof. See what I mean? The foundation of the house is X by Y feet and the peak of the roof is Z feet high. Add those dimensions to the mast of the dish and the size of the dish and you might not have the clearance to install the dish in your yard (on the roof) because your yard isn't big enough.

i.e. The base (now considered to be the foundation of the house) is 50', the roof height is 23' and the dish mast is 6' and the dish itself is 6'. Then the dish has to be 85 feet back from any lot line. Follow my "conspiracy" way of thinking? You'll just have to ask the local authorities if the home dimensions add to the "height of the dish and attached base".

RADAR

 

[SATire]

Radar, that's a good point . However, I did contact the official in charge and said that it would be in the yard. He was friendly but only repeated pretty much what I originally posted. I would not install a 6' dish on the house of course so it'll be somewhere on the property.
My next issue though might be the local architectural committee, which sounds like finicky folks from what I've heard who go around the neighborhood approving or disapproving things which people want to do to their homes. It's not a gated community but it is a managed one in terms of of it's having an association governing the locals in terms of what they can or cannot do to their homes/properties. Ugh