Locating Satellite Dish

[Diansul]

I'm not now a subscriber to Directv, but might be soon. Although I will have Directv install the system, I'm trying to determine where my dish might be put. I live in Texas, the Directv pointer says that the Elevation of the satellites is 52 and Azimuth is 188. Elevation, I think, is just the angle above the horizon and azimuth is the compass reading from my location. If not, please correct me.

The residential lot where we live is heavily, heavily treed. Using the given elevation and azimuth readings, I can find two locations that might work. The best one would require a pole mount and gives a clear view at azimuth 188 from about 40 degrees elevation up, and side to side about 5 degrees.

The other location would be mounted to the corner of the house, and gives a clear view at 188 degrees from about 45 degrees up and 2 degrees side to side.

So the question is, if I'm trying to get local channels and HD channels, how much side to side clearance from 188 degrees do I need to see all the satellites I need to see? How much clearance up and down - that is, just at 52 degrees elevation, or do I need, say, from 47 degrees to 55 degrees?

 

[Bob Nielsen]

See Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com. You can see the az and el angles to each of the satellites and zoom in on your house and overlay the azimuth angles on the picture.

One thing you need to determine is whether or not you might need to see the 119 satellite (used for SD locals in some areas), or if 99/101/103 would be adequate.

 

[Diansul]

Thanks for the Google site - it was very helpful.

A couple of questions:
1) How can I determine if I would need the 119 degree satellite?
2) If I did need the 119 degree satellite, how will Directv hit it and the other three that I might need? In azimuth readings, it is about 30 degrees from the 99 to the 119 at my location - how does one satellite dish hit both of them?

 

[Jimbo]

Diansul,
One thing to remember is the actual signal comes in much higher than it looks, don't look at the LNB arm to determine the height, it's higher than that.

I would think you would want about 15* left and right.
Also as Bob said, you may be able to get by with the newer sat dish that only sees the 99,101 and 103, this would increase your left and right angle.

Jimbo

 

[Jimbo]

Thanks for the Google site - it was very helpful.

A couple of questions:
1) How can I determine if I would need the 119 degree satellite?
2) If I did need the 119 degree satellite, how will Directv hit it and the other three that I might need? In azimuth readings, it is about 30 degrees from the 99 to the 119 at my location - how does one satellite dish hit both of them?

That's where the TILT comes in on the dish, the sats are placed in orbit in a way that with the proper tilt it can hit all three, actually 5 sats.

Jimbo