Is My Dish Tech Full Of It?

[JayPSU]

I have a question for all of you Dish subs out there, and particularly the dish techs. About a month ago I had Dish network installed at my home, so obviously conditions at my home couldn't have changed much. During the very first cloudy and slightly rainy day we had quite a few signal losses here. During the very first thunderstorm here, the signal was gone during the entire event. So I checked the signal strength from all of my various transponders on a clear day and found out the following information. I was getting an excellent signal from my dish 500 that was pointed at the 61.5 sat. On my 1000.2 dish, I was getting an average to good signal from the 119 sat (low 50's in the new software). However, I was getting a very poor signal from transponders 7, 11, and 13 on the 110 sat (low 20's), and the same poor signals from transponders 8, 11, 19, 19, 21-23. 27, and 30 on the 129 sat. So today i had a tech come out to repeak the 1000.2 dish. The guy knocks on my door and tells me that he's surprised I have a signal at all. That the gap between trees that my previous tech aimed the dish at was the smallest he's ever seen. He said if he moved the dish, I'd probably lose signal from the 129 sat.

Here's my problem/question. Can he determine all of this without ever even going on my roof and taking readings? The guy never even took his ladder out, let alone went on the roof to check readings. I guess I would have been more inclined to believe him if he had done that. The other thing that seemed odd was he kept saying he'd have to move the physical location of the dish, not make slight directional changes to it in it's current bracket. I don't know, I left having a feeling that this guy just didn't feel like taking the time to "tweak" the dish. What do you guys think? What should I do?

 

[boba]

When it rains leaves get wet and sag, this sounds like your description of problems. Trees continue to grow so your problems aren't going to improve except for the winter when the leaves drop. Seeing you are a month into your commitment you are stuck with a penalty if you want to cancel.

 

[ajax33]

A seasoned installer can tell trees just looking. We know the distance between trees thats needed to get a good signal. And realigning the dish is 10x easier than relocating the dish. So I doubt that he just didn't want to do it, though I wouldn't completely rule it out. Maybe you you need to look at doing is going with 3 dishes, do a 500 with 119/110, a 500 with 61.5, and a 500 with 129. This might get you the best reception.

 

[JayPSU]

A seasoned installer can tell trees just looking. We know the distance between trees thats needed to get a good signal. And realigning the dish is 10x easier than relocating the dish. So I doubt that he just didn't want to do it, though I wouldn't completely rule it out. Maybe you you need to look at doing is going with 3 dishes, do a 500 with 119/110, a 500 with 61.5, and a 500 with 129. This might get you the best reception.

How much distance is needed between trees to get a good signal? Perhaps tomorrow I should take a picture and post it here. I have an unobstructed view of 110, and yet it is getting the worst signal. The 119 is getting the strongest signal followed by the 129 (which in my area should have the worst signal), and then the anemic 110.

 

[Hall]

How much distance is needed between trees to get a good signal?

No one can say. It's a factor of how far the trees are from the dish.

 

[TheKrell]

I have an unobstructed view of 110...

How do you know? On my own 1st Dish network self-install, of course I did a beautiful job until the leaves sprouted and I lost 119. To this day I am amazed that 119 was off in the direction it was, because it certainly didn't look like it from my eyeballing the situation while standing behind the dish. Yes I know it has an offset feedhorn; my eyeballing was still way off.

It's just not obvious where those sats are in the sky without special instruments. That said, I agree with you that the tech really needed to get on the roof and see if his instruments could see 110. Did he put his instruments on 110 and get behind your dish on the ground somewhere? That seems very unlikely, so IMHO he was full of it.

 

[rcdallas]

Once you've installed for sometime, you gain a sense of direction pretty much without the use of a compass/inclinometer. There's been times where it was not worth my time and effort to get out a 28' ladder just to go up top, when it's obvious on the ground.

As Hall pointed out, it's a matter of how far you are from the trees, but to answer the question the 129 is 19 degrees from the 110.

 

[tawhite]

I don't know, I have had techs that were OK and those who were idiots. The guy who brought the 622 I installed last Saturday tried to tell me that satellites were at different altitudes when I stated it seemed like we were getting alot of rain fade recently. I said, "You ever hear of the Clark belt?" There all the same distance from earth, what a retard!

 

[rcdallas]

And with the distance and all, the satellites are at different elevation look angles.

 

[Claude Greiner]

The problem is that the tech didn't want to spend 1/2 the day moving your dish and getting paid only for a service call.

The other issue is that once he touched it, he would then have to make things right since he was the last person to work on it.

 

[JayPSU]

The problem is that the tech didn't want to spend 1/2 the day moving your dish and getting paid only for a service call.

The other issue is that once he touched it, he would then have to make things right since he was the last person to work on it.

LOL...so then what do I as the customer do about that?

Edit: By the way, Claude, I signed up through your company...it was a great deal and they were very nice to me!

 

[ajax33]

Well you could try elevating the issue and see if you can get a manager out to look at your house. He would most likely tell you the truth.

 

[chadzx11]

I had a customer call bs on me like this once. I was on a HNS QC, and he was complaining about his D* going out all the time. He had gone up on the roof to realign the dish himself but was not able to do any good. I'm standing on the porch, and told him "that limb is in the way." "NFW," He said. I already had my ladder out to go look at the HNS, so I told him to go put his signal meter on. Anyway, when I moved the offending limb, the signal shot way up. BOO YAH! I asked if they had a saw so I could cut it off for him (he had fell off the roof and broken his ass bone or something, anyway he was not getting up on that roof in his condition). I did my QC stuff while the missues rummaged around for his tree pruner, then I cut all the limbs that were even thinking about getting in the way---with the customer's permission of course (they were small).

Anyway, the look on that guy's face was priceless when that signal shot up. I don't think he could even watch TV after rain, because the limb would have sagged too much.

Back to the OP......was the original installer trying to shoo through 3 holes? Another thing to consider----the installer my have given up on some of the 110 to make the 119 come in at all. sounds like what happened to me.

 

[ZandarKoad]

I don't know, I have had techs that were OK and those who were idiots. The guy who brought the 622 I installed last Saturday tried to tell me that satellites were at different altitudes when I stated it seemed like we were getting alot of rain fade recently. I said, "You ever hear of the Clark belt?" There all the same distance from earth, what a retard!

Perhaps he was confusing "altitude" with "elevation." The elevation is different for each satellite... I've never heard of the Clark belt, but I surmise it must be that ring around the earth where satellites can maintain a geosynchrynous orbit. Hrm... I wonder if any of the satelites occupy the exact same Latitude and Longitude location but occupy different ALTITUDES due to a MASS differential? In fact, I bet that they DO ACTUALLY have different ALTITUDES because I think it highly unlikely that every satellite has the exact same mass... Or do they?

 

[TheKrell]

Perhaps he was confusing "altitude" with "elevation."

I think he was confusing altitude with plain-old distance through the atmosphere. Different satellites at different locations in the sky will of course have a different amount of atmosphere (and clouds and rain) in between transmitter and receiver. But perhaps I'm being too kind.

In fact, I bet that they DO ACTUALLY have different ALTITUDES because I think it highly unlikely that every satellite has the exact same mass... Or do they?

Of course not! They all have expendables for stationkeeping, so even if they left the factory as identical satellites, they would soon have different masses due to thruster firing. But the beauty of gravity and geosynchronous orbit is that mass doesn't matter. The acceleration is the same regardless of mass, as shown by Galileo (according to legend) in 1590.

 

[rcdallas]

I know... you can go up top your roof, take a superdish and a dish 500 and throw them both off the roof at the same time, see which one hits first.

 

[JayPSU]

Ok, I think the best thing to do is post some pictures of my setup outside, maybe that will help you guys in determining the facts. I'll post some pictures in a few minutes.

 

[JayPSU]

Ok, the first picture simply shows you my dish, and where it's at. The next picture is essentially the lower portion of what the dish would see, followed by a picture that gives you a much better idea of what the dish is seeing (you can see my dish to the left of the picture. Essentially you see a "V" shape with less obstruction as you go further up on the horizon.

You guys be the judge.

Edit: Unfortunately today is a bad day for pictures as we are getting HAMMERED with rain!

 

[rcdallas]

Too hard to tell from the pictures given, a picture from behind the dish itself would be more ideal, but I'm not expecting you to go up on your roof to take a pic.

Ye might be better off calling for a second opinion. Not to start a war, but I believe all of Ohio is Digital Dish, meaning your most likely going to get someone that is getting a flat rate of $25 for a service call, your chances of getting a installer that'll basically redo everything is slim to none. Personally I don't blame them, as I wouldnt work 6 hours to make $4.16 an hour to redo someone else's screwup.

My questions are, could it go on a pole at the tree line? Could you go with a Multidish setup to get LOS to the birds, what about a 61.5 wing dish for the HD, and the relocation for a Dish 500.

I don't know if you own/rent, if you live in a condo, etc, basically meaning I don't know what all your options are, and what your willing to live with.

All in all call back, ask for a management to come out and see what can be done.

If it came down to it, you can pay me and I'll see what I can do.

 

[tawhite]

Perhaps he was confusing "altitude" with "elevation." The elevation is different for each satellite... I've never heard of the Clark belt, but I surmise it must be that ring around the earth where satellites can maintain a geosynchrynous orbit. Hrm... I wonder if any of the satelites occupy the exact same Latitude and Longitude location but occupy different ALTITUDES due to a MASS differential? In fact, I bet that they DO ACTUALLY have different ALTITUDES because I think it highly unlikely that every satellite has the exact same mass... Or do they?

Well he was referring to satellites being at different miles from earth so I doubt is was a confusion between altitude and elevation. Bottom line, just to lazy to re-peak the dishes!