Satellite possible in the woods?

PILMAN

The Cable Killer
Original poster
Supporting Founder
Jan 2, 2005
198
0
Fort Walton Beach, Florida
My grandpa lives up in Tomhawk, Wisconsin. Most of you guys probably never heard of that area but it's wayyyy up north and it's a very small town. They don't even have a walmart there it's just fishing stores with bait and some small craft places. We go up there once a year for like a month and sometimes it's just too darn hot to go outside or anything. I had a question though. I've considered bringing up one of my dishes there for those boring hot days so we can watch tv. My grandparents have an antenna and some kinda crank to raise it or lower it and they get about 3 channels but normally are very fuzzy. The problem is the area they live in has a TON of trees, they live practically in the middle of the woods in a cottage. they might have a clear view facing towards the lake but I don't think that faces to the south. Seeing as there so far away from anywhere nearby dealing in technology is it even possible to get satellite up there? Heck are there parts where it's just not possible to get satellite in the world? I would figure if they can get antenna it could work but even then their picture comes in very very fuzzy as it looks like there picture is very distant and the antenna is huge due to how far away everything is.
 
I found it on a map...not that far north. Its near Rhinelander...probably the Wausau/Rhinelander DMA.
Ashland is much farther north than that and can get Dish. Heck, the signal does go into Canada.

But back to the question.....yes you could put a dish there. If all you want is Dish Network, a Dish500 would work fine. You could even mount it on the TV mast :)

As for locals, a Superdish would be needed.

How tall are the trees? You know that satellite is not line of sight..the signal reflects off the dish and hits the LNB. So it may look like it is aimed at a tree, but you could get signal. :)

ran some numbers and the azimuth is about 215, which would be SSW
 
When I drive through heavily wooded areas, I see a lot of dishes on pole mounts wherever they can point over the road, which is the one place where you hope the trees don't grow. If there's a road to the south, you'll probably find a place to successfully mount a dish.
 
You might be able to put it on the roof

We've got a cabin on Lake Mille Lacs in Northern MN and there are trees everywhere there. People have them out away from the house near the road. Some are bolted to trees. Our neighbor has his about 1/2 way up his antenna tower.

Where theres a will theres a way :D
 
Hmm. Are there areas in the united states or parts of the world that cannot get satellite? if so what would be the reasons. Are there just areas the satellite doesn't beam?
 
Each satellite has a footprint and if you're within the footprint, you should be able to get it (Line of site issues excluded)

Dish 110 & 119 cover the CONUS (Continental US) and Alaska/Hawaii and Puerto Rico. There are 2 Dish satellites (105 & 121) that are lowered power, so its tougher to get them. 121 is where the locals for Tomahawk would be (Wausau/Rhinelander) but you could get them.

A satellite aimed at the UK we could not get, because we are out of the footprint
 
I have a cabin that is located about 25 miles west of Tomahawk. I plan to be installing a Dish network system there sometime in April. I fully expect that it will work just fine. My system at home in Appleton, Wisconsin has a big tree in its line of sight but doesn't seem to cause much of a problem with the signal. At the cabin site, there are a few trees in the way, but they are more spindly than the tree at home, and I think I can get the dish at the cabin fairly high up in the air which should help too.
 
There's a "line of sight" finder you can make with a few items
-protractor
-piece of string
-lead washer
-cardboard tube

take the protractor and put the string in it and hang the washer from it.
put the cardboard tube on the flat side

then you tilt the protractor to the elevation that you need and look through the tube
If you see a tree, then there is issues
no tree or objects...you'll be OK :)
 
Iceberg said:
There's a "line of sight" finder you can make with a few items
-protractor
-piece of string
-lead washer
-cardboard tube

take the protractor and put the string in it and hang the washer from it.
put the cardboard tube on the flat side

then you tilt the protractor to the elevation that you need and look through the tube
If you see a tree, then there is issues
no tree or objects...you'll be OK :)
There is another line of sight finder you can make with a few more items:
-chainsaw
-can of gas :rolleyes:
 
dizzydean said:
There is another line of sight finder you can make with a few more items:
-chainsaw
-can of gas :rolleyes:

I agree. What the hell does he need all those trees for anyway? All they do is block your view of the forest!

Besides a good oil rig produces money and you can mount your antenna on it. Or just cut down the trees and open "Forest Theme Park". Better yet, name the streets for the trees you cut down. Soon there will be plenty of McMansions so your neighbors can help do the cutting for their dishes and fireplaces.

John :D
 
Seeing as there so far away from anywhere nearby dealing in technology is it even possible to get satellite up there?

there might not be any local retailers in your area, but you can call dish directly and they will get someone out there to install it.. they do anywhere in the 48 states
 
nanovation said:
You can also try contacting a local Dish retailer in your area to see what the coverage is like. Try doing a local search by zip code at Deleted to find your local retailer.
Regards,
Brendan
That site is a
RIP OFF
It never returns anything except the same 3 RIP-OFF internet sellers.
 
SimpleSimon said:
That site is a
RIP OFF
It never returns anything except the same 3 RIP-OFF internet sellers.

The "results" page is basically a static page pretending to be a dynamic page. I also wouldn't trust any site that can't spell check!

"With over 5,000 authorized DISH Network Retailers in our database, we've build the largest directory of retailers anywhere on the web."
 
But... that site has gotta be 4 ril since it knows my area's special zipcode of "not!" and it told me this:

The following Dish Network Retailers service your ZIP Code: not!
...
 
35 ft. high tree's with an elevation of 32....you would need to be about 56 ft. from the trees at ground level to go over the top(if my calculations are correct). Less of course if you put the dish on the house. The dish should be on the northern most high point of the house, not the south if you have to go over any objects...back it the day of self-installs I remember that happening often.
 
nanovation said:
You can also try contacting a local Dish retailer in your area to see what the coverage is like. Try doing a local search by zip code at CRAP LINK REMOVED to find your local retailer.
Regards,
Brendan

Well, well, well. Guess who owns this site? BRENDAN! Just looked up the whois information. The site was created on Apr 5. Pretty quick to compile that big database. If anyone would like to let Mr. Monahan know how much you appreciate his spam, you may write to him at (courtesy of the WHOIS database of internet registrations):

Brendan Monahan
533 Pine Wood Lane
Los Gatos, CA 95032

You can also email him at brendanmonahan@hotmail.com.

I absolutely detest spammers.