Where are DISH satellites in relation to Voom and DTV? (LOS question)

[crash331]

I live in Calhoun GA (30701) and just signed up for DISH. I'm a little concerned about LOS. I got Voom a few months before it shut down. If I remember right, I got Voom in December and it shut down the following April. Voom had to point Southeast and it was fine in the winter, but when spring rolled around and leaves starting growing, Voom's reception got terrible. They went out of business before I could complain.

We also had DirecTV, but it seems like the dish pointed to the southwest for them, and LOS wasn't a problem.

I'm hoping DISH points to the south or SW, and not the SE from where I live.

 

[HDRoberts]

You should be fine for Dish, as most of their stuff is in the southwest (110, 119, and 129). This is further west than DirecTV, who's main location is 101. 61.5, one of the options for HD, is the same as the old Voom location.

If you are in an Eastern Arc DMA, though, they may want to use the Eastern Arc, consisting of 77, 72.7, and 61.5. Dish will soon be mandating Eastern Arc installs for Eastern Arc DMAs.

This site might help:
Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com

 

[crash331]

Thanks for the link.

My location is 34.4997° -84.8362°

As you can see, the 1XX sats are fine, as the point over the pool and into that clearing, but something like Rainbow 1 points right at a tree. Works in the winter, but not in the summer.

I think I would be in the EA DMA, but I don't know that much about it. I just know pointing at 6X or 7X would be a PITA logistics wise.

 

[HDRoberts]

I think Chattanooga and Atlanta are current EA cities. I'm not sure which DMA you're in. I'd talk to the installer (or at least the installation company) to make sure they bring a Dish 1000.2. However, perhaps with some effort the installer can find a place with good LOS for the eastern arc. Google doesn't have good enough images to really zoom in to get a better idea, and installer may have better equipment to check LOS.

 

[Pepper]

Did you use the Obstacle Checker?

If you put the dish on the northwest corner of the roof, that tree would need to be >60 feet tall to be in the way.

Is that your pool?

Dish anywhere near the pool should have no LOS issues for Eastern Arc.

 

[crash331]

Ok, I just did some testing walking around the yard with my compass. It looks like ANYTHING on the house is going to be obstructed, even the NW corner. The trees in my back yard I estimate at 100+ feet, but I'm not sure. I estimated the 47 degree inclination with my compass and they seemed to block the LOS.

The one place it will work is the pool deck. My one question about that is will the installer mount it where I ask, or do they have to follow some sort of guidelines? The pool deck has railing all the way around and if the dish is visible while at the pool my fiancee will kill me. The pool deck is elevated about 4 feet and there is a 4x4 that we can mount the dish on, but the dish will be about 2-3 feet off the ground so that you can't see it while on the pool deck. Will the installer do this?

 

[primestar31]

The trees in my back yard I estimate at 100+ feet, but I'm not sure.

Cut the tree down that obstructs 61.5 sat, and then measure it with a long measuring tape. You'll then know how tall it was, and it'll no longer be in the way of that satellite!

You don't really have to have the 61.5 sat, but without it, you won't have most of the high-def channels.

 

[crash331]

You don't really have to have the 61.5 sat, but without it, you won't have most of the high-def channels.

Considering I ordered Turbo HD, that could be a problem.

 

[primestar31]

Considering I ordered Turbo HD, that could be a problem.

I live on a fully wooded, nearly 4 acre tract of land. ALL my trees are a minimum of 85ft tall. I have to have separate dishes on ground poles, 1 for each sat, mounted in different locations to get through the tree line, and they are all 1 meter size besides. (I like overkill, and I have a LOT of full-size Primestar dishes!)

PLUS, I still had to drop some 85-125' trees! or do some strategic "trimming" with a shotgun, and large buckshot. Works well with softer pine trees.

So, it all depends on how BADLY you really want satellite.

Me, I mostly did it for MONSTERSHD channel, and then Dish pulled the plug on that like 4 months later, which pissed me off. However, I'm going to still stay with them, as they are still better then our local Charter cable (but then, who isn't better than Charter!).

 

[Pepper]

um, Mediacom? (isn't better than Charter)