HD upgrade scheduled for tomorrow. Any advice?

[dodge]

I live in the Chicago burbs. The tech says I need to see sat 129 for my HD locals.

I suggested two dishes to the installer. He sighed and said he would go back up on the roof and have another look with that in mind. I thought it was strange that he hadn't already done this. When he came back, he said that the only good spot for any dish is exactly where my current dish is, and since the two dishes can't share the same physical space, two dishes won't work. I'm sure he knows more about installing dish than I do, but I am having a hard time imagining that it's true. We have a large roof, and though the area has many mature trees, we are not in a forest by any means.

He did go ahead and temporarily put the new dish up. He then came inside to check the signal on my receiver. He was getting in the 35 - 40 range on most transponders on 129 and also on either 110 or 119 (can't recall which). He said that was with optimal pointing and that a second dish would not improve it at all. I told him to put the old dish back. After he did, my signal went back up to the 72 - 76 range on most transponders for both 110 and 119. According to the tech, that signal level is just about the max any one can have with a dish 500.

I called dish back to cancel the upgrade. Based on the environmental challenges here, the dish CSR suggested sending out a supervisor to take another look. I said sure, why not.

So, what do you think? Bad karma or bad tech?

What town are you in????

 

[fiveolddogs]

What town are you in????

St. Charles, IL

 

[fiveolddogs]

Ask the supervisor during followup install to explain why signal dropped in half on 110/119 by changing dishes.

Well, I presume the signal dropped because he tried to aim the new dish in the middle of the 110, 119, and 129 sats, and there is a tree there. What I didn't get was why he couldn't leave the dish 500 alone, aimed to the left of the tree (it has been working fine for a year and a half), and add a new dish to the right of the tree directly at the 129 sat.

I will ask the supervisor tomorrow.

By the way, what are install options for mounting a dish on a mast on the roof, or attached to a chimney?

 

[vegassatellite]

I did an install once where the spacing in between trees was only large enough to get one satellite location. Needless to say, one dish wasn't going to work. I used a Suunto inclinometer and found three separate pole mount locations, one for each bird. The dishes were about 8 feet apart from each other. I was working fulfillment at the time in Georgia, but I was charging $80/hr to work out something that a Dish FSM said was not possible. Customer was ecstatic because they had no service options for cable or DirecTV.

 

[fiveolddogs]

The installer came today and took a look around from the ground. He says they can probably get a second dish for the 129 signal, but he can't say for sure without getting on the roof. Since we have snow on the roof, he can't check it out or install it today. I'm calling Dish to reschedule...