The way it was explained to me, and I am not saying this is correct, is the further east you go, the harder it is to beat the curvature of the earth. The higher up, is that much more in the direction, and above the curvature. It is 22,500 miles from earth surface, however it is also about 300 miles west from the coastline on the equator in South America. Thus, raising it, gives you a better line of site then in the ground. Now, in my case, I'm in Arizona, I could put it on the ground, and I do not have as much curve on the earth surface(the earth is round if you had not guessed by now) so it is easier for me to see those sats.
Now as disputed as this may be, while I worked in the RV department(before they merged it with advanced tech support), I had dozens of customers with issues, complete this task, and voila, they have signal. So it is Tried and proven statistically, in my experience, along with a single run of 50' or less of RG6 coax cable, not connected to a wall plate or barrel connector.