C band and Trees

[dodge]

I recently acquired a c/ku 12 foot dish actuator and IRD. Do trees effect c and ku reception as bad as it does for the Dish and or DTV. I have a few trees to the south and west of me, If they were mine i would cut them down./

 

[voomvoom]

Unfortunately, Yes! C-band is a little more lenient, but still has the problem.

Al

 

[PSB]

ANYTHING blocking a satellite signal with affect the signal, think of it as a flashlight beam, anything blocking the beam means less (no?) signal!

 

[techno935]

Consider this a bit useful. I thought of this last night. I took my green laser pointer and pointed from the dish (top portion of reflector) to see where the laser would hit.

With the dish being at 123 West (G10R), I saw the beam hitting the tree leaves. I'm still very suprised that I'm even getting G10R. Long story short. A green laser pointer is good to find out what your dish "sees". Very useful if you don't have a nice tool like the installers have.

 

[mikekohl]

If you have a clear day this weekend, follow the sun across the sky from your intended dish mounting location. The sun should cross due south at just about 1pm local time. If it is not obstructed by trees at any time during the sun's transit from 11am to 4pm local time, you should have a clear view of the domestic satellite arc. We are very close to the time of the year when the sun follows the same elevation as the satellite arc, causing outages from a few seconds to 10 or 15 minutes per day on each satellite, peaking early next week. Before then, the sun will be 1 or 2 degrees ABOVE the arc, but makes a good marker that requires nothing but observing what time it is, and note any time of day that trees or other obstructions block direct viewing of the sun from any location.

If you want a better idea of where the sun is throughout the year, anywhere in the world, the U.S. Naval Observatory's website has a custom calculator.
Just do a search for U.S. Naval Observatory and you should be in business.

 

[sdoradus]

Its also a great time to check pointing accuracy and alignment on center mount dishes.

SD