It's the trees, not my dish. Right?

[oldsmobile]

So, when I had my roof done last year, I had a few CommDecks installed. This week, I decided to brave the heights and do some fixed dish installation.

Top one is a 75e aimed at 97 w. No problems there.

Second one is a Geosatpro 90 with two lnb kit for 121 & 125. I had the pole plumb and found 121 without too much trouble. I moved the dish down and rotated, and got a transponder on 123. But I could not get a lock on 125. I know there's a signal of sorts, as my micro hd hovered at 0 - 10% on 125.

Is it at all possible that my 97 dish is in the way of 125? I can swap locations if needed.

But I strongly suspect my trees are prohibiting reception at 125. Pictures attached, and input is much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[oldsmobile]

I should add that the pole isn't plumb in photos. I couldn't drop elevation sufficiently to the 23 degrees area necessary for 125. So, I tried to compensate. Still no dice.

 

[KE4EST]

Hard to tell for sure, but it sure looks like a tree problem.

 

[harshness]

I'd be willing to say it was the trees if not the chimney.

It looks from the picture that it is pointing more than 2 degrees down.

From what I can gather, the factory dish offset is 24.62 and the elevation of 125W is 22.3 (arbitrarily using Level Corner, PA as a reference).

Since the difference is 1.4 degrees and you can get 123W, I would hope that moving to the upper deck would buy you the elevation you need to clear the trees this year.

 

[fred555]

Just curious, is 125W lnbf centered or offset?

 

[oldsmobile]

I was trying for 125 on both direct and offset, you know, covering all bases. When I got tired of being on the ladder, 121 was reachable on the offset but there was no 125.

Hmmm...my trees are going to keep growing and cut off 125 again. Perhaps another solution is in order.

I could put a nprm on the flat roof behind the chimney, but it doesn't buy much time.

Perhaps I will move the 90 to the top this weekend and see if there's any difference.

 

[FaT Air]

Tree pruner? Chainsaw? Two of the three options I can think of. The third you don't want to hear. (It's much more drastic)
At its present location, my 30W dish, will only work for a few more years.

 

[Radioguy41]

Kinda looks like a tree problem but I would also swap those 2 dishes. I would also mention you could be having a reflection issue with the OTA antenna. Reflected/deflected OTA signals can cause all sorts of issues. My 7.5 C-band dish sits approx 100' in front of, and approx 20' below my antenna but if I'm watching OTA and move the dish at the same time you can see it affecting the OTA signal and there is one position of the dish that really whacks the OTA signal. Not saying it is your problem, or part of it, but it's possible. Try tuning in an FTA channel as best you can then rotate the antenna while you're watching the TV. See if anything changes.

 

[oldsmobile]

Okay, I moved the 97 75e down one position. (By the way, CommDecks make things so easy and neat.)

I can get 121 on the main position, but not on the sidecar. The 123 bird is no longer coming in...only a hint of signal up to 10 percent.

I'm a bit reluctant to move my am and fm antenna stack visible in the photos, as it's the best height I have for fm, which is a priority for me.

In the photos, my tree is the maple. The pine or something evergreen belongs to my neighbor. I'm thinking that there is no chance of 125 with the trees.

 

[oldsmobile]

Hmmm...can't upload photos. I'll have to try from my computer instead of the app.

I have a 76 cm dish that I think I'm going to use up top for 121. Save the 90 for something weaker.

 

[oldsmobile]

Well, that didn't work. Weird. 76 cm dish had no hint of signal at 121. So I'm back with the 90 up on top. Plan b for pbs might be a mini bud with the Andrews 1.2 I have in the backyard. I know 103 is visible from there.

 

[oldsmobile]

 

[oldsmobile]

Well, I can only conclude now that the growth of that evergreen tree, which unfortunately isn't mine, has cut off 125 quite effectively. That rather stinks. Once upon a time, I was able to get 125 with just a 75E down closer to the gutter, but things have changed.

Thanks for the ideas, folks.

 

[fred555]

If you can't get what you've got to work,
It might be time to think outside the box.

If it was me, I would start with something similar to this.
You can get 6 foot long galvanized tubular chain link fence posts and
put the dish right on it and look right over that pesky evergreen.

I use the fence posts for all my in ground Ku dishes,
I have a tree line to see over and I plant them tall.

There is nothing that says, as in the picture above, that you have to put the pole at the roof peak.
Something could be put together to put all your poles to the left.

Some metal bar stock for the cross piece and these to mount to the soffit perhaps?

Or two of these per pole.

Or even take the existing poles off your mounts and put a long piece of the galvanized fence post
in its place to bring your dishes up higher?

Or if you can weld, a customized NPRM with three tall poles attached?

Just some thoughts.

 

[oldsmobile]

Hmmm...height would definitely make a difference. One thing that concerns me, though, is continued growth of that tree. It has blocked 125 from the lower portion of the roof, and has also potentially blocked 121 from my motorized 90cm that's in the front yard. If I go up with a mount like that (is that a gable mount?), it'd certainly buy some time.

The pics show that I have one more pole available for something. I was originally planning for 87 on the spare 76cm, but it's too small now. The signals from 87 that I want to watch are now breaking up pretty bad on my 90cm.

I'm not in a financial position to do it now, but I wonder whether a Geosatpro 1.2m for 125 on my roof would make the difference.

 

[fred555]

Here is the mounting I used for my OTA antenna.
Same principle could be used for a dish.

The antenna is about 6 feet above the peak of the roof.

 

[fred555]

Hmmm...height would definitely make a difference. One thing that concerns me, though, is continued growth of that tree. It has blocked 125 from the lower portion of the roof, and has also potentially blocked 121 from my motorized 90cm that's in the front yard. If I go up with a mount like that (is that a gable mount?), it'd certainly buy some time.

The pics show that I have one more pole available for something. I was originally planning for 87 on the spare 76cm, but it's too small now. The signals from 87 that I want to watch are now breaking up pretty bad on my 90cm.

I'm not in a financial position to do it now, but I wonder whether a Geosatpro 1.2m for 125 on my roof would make the difference.

Some here use a minimum of a 1.2m for 125.
I tried it with a 90cm on the East Coast and was not too happy.
The bigger the better.
I use a 6 foot Prime Focus Cband dish converted to Ku for 125 personally.
I had it laying around and decided to use it for 125.

My 125W PBS Dish:

Not that great for C band, but works good for me on Ku, in the rain too.

 

[fred555]

is that a gable mount

Yes, it is a gable mount.

 

[waylew]

Hard to tell from the pics but,would it help to move it to the other end of the roof?

 

[Jason S]

Plan b for pbs might be a mini bud with the Andrews 1.2 I have in the backyard. I know 103 is visible from there.

There is a fixed 1.2m dish on 125W here and except for brief times during heavy thunderstorms with heavy rain, reception is fulltime (i.e, good reception in clouds or moderate rain).

Have you tried dishpointer.com? It can be quite handy to find out where line of sight will be and what obstacles you have to shoot over (or under). My 1.2m on 125W and a dish on 30W are placed in certain spots here based on the look under and over trees/obstacles from dishpointer results.