Pole Mount v. Roof

[Mulliniks]

I'd really like to not have to use a pole mount.

The tech who came to do an install for me this morning told me that he could only do a pole mount in the front yard in order to get LOS. I currently have E*, and the dish is on the roof with no LOS problems. The tech said if we put the D* dish where the E* dish now sits, we wouldn't get local channels. I assume (and this is only an assumption, I know very little about these things) that D* and E* use different satellites due to what the technician told me. I have no desire to put a satellite dish in the front yard on a pole, and besides, it's cold and there is a ton of snow on the ground, so how would he even be able to dig a trench? And we have a sprinkler system that I don't want to risk damaging, especially since we only moved into the house in December. The last thing I need is for the neighbors to wonder why the new people decorate their yard with satellite equipment.

So I rescheduled the install for 2/21 because the tech also said that he could try the roof on the same side of the house where he wanted to put the pole mount but there was too much snow on the roof right now to do that. I believe the E* dish is on the southwest side of the house, but I'm at work right now and can't check to make sure. The D* dish was supposed to go on the opposite side of the house (so southeast), which is also the side opposite where the television cables enter the house. So, with what little information I've provided, and without ever having seen my property and the trees bordering it, would someone have an educated guess about whether the D* dish on the roof would work just as well as on a pole mount? I'd hope so, but if not, then I guess I'm stuck with E*, even though I'd much rather have 24/7 SNY HD and the host of other, better sports options with D*.

And, for what it's worth, I was scheduled to have installed one SD receiver, 2 HD DVR receivers, and 1 HD receiver. I have no idea which models I was getting since I wasn't there this morning, which is why I rescheduled for a Saturday a few weeks from now, when, hopefully, the temperatures will have risen and the snow melted enough to check out the roof option. Right now with E* I have one dual tuner HD DVR (I think a 612), one 722, and one 211.

 

[shibby191]

Yes, DirecTV has different sat locations then Dish, depending on where you live. DirecTV has 101 as their core with 99 and 103 as the HD core. 110 and 119 are farther off to the west and carry SD locals and international. So my guess is you have LOS issues with 119 for your SD locals. But if your HD locals are available they will come from 99 or 103. So assuming you don't care about the SD locals then you could ask if the installer has a "Slimline 3" dish which will get just 99/101/103. Then you don't have to worry about 119 at all. Again, assuming you are ok with no SD locals. Being your market is on 119 though the installers probably don't even have a Slimline 3 dish as they normally wouldn't install it and would normally install a Slimline 5 to get all 5 sats.

As for Pole vs. Roof, I would always recommend someone to get a pole mount as it is so much easier to realign the dish yourself or to brush off snow/ice if needed. I will never put a dish on my roof unless I can't help it. And frankly, who cares what your neigbor thinks about your dish, I certainly don't care what any of mine think. Matter of fact, they almost all have one themselves!

 

[Mulliniks]

Yes, DirecTV has different sat locations then Dish, depending on where you live. DirecTV has 101 as their core with 99 and 103 as the HD core. 110 and 119 are farther off to the west and carry SD locals and international. So my guess is you have LOS issues with 119 for your SD locals. But if your HD locals are available they will come from 99 or 103. So assuming you don't care about the SD locals then you could ask if the installer has a "Slimline 3" dish which will get just 99/101/103. Then you don't have to worry about 119 at all. Again, assuming you are ok with no SD locals. Being your market is on 119 though the installers probably don't even have a Slimline 3 dish as they normally wouldn't install it and would normally install a Slimline 5 to get all 5 sats.

As for Pole vs. Roof, I would always recommend someone to get a pole mount as it is so much easier to realign the dish yourself or to brush off snow/ice if needed. I will never put a dish on my roof unless I can't help it. And frankly, who cares what your neigbor thinks about your dish, I certainly don't care what any of mine think. Matter of fact, they almost all have one themselves!

After some playing around with dishpointer.com and lyngsat.com, it looks like the LOS issues have to do with a stand of mature oak trees that might be blocking 119. I suppose I could come around to having a pole mount. I see your point re: access to the dish, and I really don't care what the neighbors think. My wife probably does, but I could try to convince her otherwise. I also don't care about doing without the SD locals, but again, I think my wife might care. So I suppose I'll spend the next 2 weeks convincing myself and my wife that we can go with a pole mount.

I only went with Dish in the first place because I couldn't get an install date for DirecTV sooner than a month and a half after I placed an order with them last November. The Dish guys recommended the dish on the roof, so I just went with that. I refuse to give money to cable companies ever again, and I'd really like to switch to DirecTV (especially now with AT&T's bundling of services, which is how I get Dish), so if that means pole mount, then pole mount it is.