Will Dish 110W pierce one branch of a pine tree?

[charliemb]

People usually get excellent reception from 110W. Perhaps what, 80?

Assume 80. By how much would reception drop if I had to go through one branch of a pine tree? Not the pine tree itself, I'm to the left of that, but just one single branch with its needles. I see plenty of sky through the branch, I'd say I see half sky, half pine needles.

(For those that want more details:
That's the hypothetical. The actual story is that I barely have good LOS now but since pine trees grow about 1 foot per year, it will go from hypothetical to real in one year. This is for a wing dish. Therefore I could go with a 30-inch dedicated dish of some kind in prep for when the branch eventually obscures. )

 

[cditty]

If this is important to you, I would cut the branch. Trees, like you said, get worse, not better.

 

[Liquidforce88]

I have seen on leaf kill a signal. Signal does not penetrate, if it is blocked it's blocked.

 

[charliemb]

That's not an option. We are talking about a branch atop a 120 foot pine tree that's not on my property.

If this is important to you, I would cut the branch. Trees, like you said, get worse, not better.

 

[cditty]

Then find an alternate mounting location or be ready to deal with outages.

 

[TNGTony]

You may get lucky and see "though" the branch when its calm.... but when the wind kicks up and waives in front of the signal...you will get brief outages and pixelation and picture freezes. Then if it rains, the branch will sag and block signal...

I speak from personal experience.

 

[Stargazer]

You can really notice a branch / leaves blocking a signal when you have one of those meters with the needle on it and watching the needle drop then rise when the branches sway in the wind.

 

[KKlare]

Remember the satellite is not perpendicular to the dish but is up by the amount the arm is down, say 15deg. So it is likely higher in the sky than you think.
-Ken

 

[charliemb]

Remember the satellite is not perpendicular to the dish but is up by the amount the arm is down, say 15deg. So it is likely higher in the sky than you think.
-Ken

There's no dish installed. I'm just basing my would-be LOS to the satellite on the elevation given at dishpointer.com, which is about 37 degrees. I presume that I don't add another 15 or 20 degrees to that 37 and that it is just 37 that I am sighting for. Correct?

 

[TheKrell]

Correct.

 

[jarvantgroup]

Think of the footprint or area that your signal is beamed from the satellite to your dish as a circle. If there is nothing inside of that circle, then theoretically, you should have a full signal. As you begin to place things inside of that circle, i.e., leaves, pine needles, a branch, then that is that much less of a full signal that your dish is able to receive. 30% of your "circle" filled with pine needles, 30% lower signal strength. Aside from that, the tree is not going to stay still. Any wind is going to sway the tree and cause more issues with the signal.

 

[KKlare]

I think the 15 deg is in the scale on the dish. That said, set the scale from the receiver numbers and you should be within 3-5 deg of elevation. With skew set, sweep the azimuth for maximum. The jigger the elevation to improve. Finally adjust the skew slightly if the outside LNBs are not enough alike. Try to limit adjustments to two passes or just start over and recheck the plumb of the pole.
-Ken

 

[gearheadchnc]

the 110 elevation in nc is 39 with 119 at 33 if using a dish 500 skew it at 128 elevation 36 if you have the raise the elevation higher the 119 will be somewhat less.