No clearance for Satellite dish...help please 911 (1 Viewer)

[Shana]

Directv guy is at my new house. He says due to large trees the only possible way to get a signal is to put the dish on the middle of my house which entails drilling into shingles. He says that could possibly cause leaks.

Does anyone know of another way around this or if that it is very likely that it will cause leaks? I really hate to be w/o my DTV.

Thanks so much!

 

[Robert_J]

I've read some postings by installers at the forums dedicated to satellite sytems. If done properly, you will not have any problems.

What about a chimney mount? They strap your dish to the chimney rather than bolting it. There may be other options also but without being able to see the house and the surrounding obstacles, it's hard to give suggestions. If it is a free install, then the installer is picking the location that is easiest for him. You may want to try a different installer but it will probably cost you.

-Robert

 

[Shana]

Thanks for your reply.

We discussed a chimney mount but he said the trees are too tall even for that (which I don't doubt).

Looks like back to cable after several years with DTV. :frowning:

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Well, there’s no reasin the antenna has to be mounted to the house. It can be mounted to a fence, storage shed, etc. If there’s a location on the property with a clear line-of-sight in the right direction, you can plant a 4” x 4” pole and mount it there. ‘Course, don’t expect the dish installer to do that for you.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[SimiA]

What Wayne said is correct. There is almost always a solution to dish placement. You may not enjoy the solution, but it usually can be done with some perseverence on your part.
I think that the PQ over cable is worth the investment.
Vb

 

[David Norman]

The October Solar convergence isn't too far away and will allow you to do your own site survey. Depending on your latitude somewhere in early October the Sun will line up with the satellites and anywhere the sun shines freely will be a clear line of sight for a dish. I've been surprised how often a unique solution presents itself when the consumer can do his own survey. Of course, now with 2 or 3 satellites to line up, your have to have a bit of luck and patience or be willing to put up multiple dishes to get clear reception.

 

[Mike Up]

The fact is, that the most common installation is on the roof. If your installer says it'll cause leaks, it because he's incompetent and isn't able to do the install correctly.

I would call DirecTV and have their contractors do the install. I've had Apex do the install twice and these guys are competent and do an excellent job.

In my current home, I have 4 room service. The dish is on the corner of the home. The installer used professional cable. He used 2 sections that uses 2 coaxial and one ground cable all in the molded cable. The ground cable is the most important one as MANY incompetent installers disregard this 'code required' ground. The ground wire is connected the dish housing but the coaxial cables must also be grounded with a ground block. That way if lightning strikes, all paths are grounded properly. My code states that grounds can go to the cold water piping, which is also grounded to the main electrical grounding rod. This is how my grounds are done.

The dish on the roof has all hardware mounting sealed. The bolts are siliconed so that no water can find there way PLUS the mounting bracket is tarred as another waterproof precaution.

Some installers only do the silicone. Since your installer insisted that there would be water leaks, he most likely does nothing to waterproof the installation. I'm sure that would be against DirecTVs installation policy. My buddy had a large superstore do his install "TWICE", which neither time was done correctly. The first time, no grounds were connected, AT ALL! The second time, the dish housing was grounded, not the coaxial cable. Since the coaxial cable was NOT grounded, the lightning strike made it into his home and fried his equipment. If that strike would had caused a fire, his insurance could had fought paying for damages since the install was against state electrical code. He then would had to sue the installer. None of which would had been fun, without considering the loss of life consequences.

My advice, get another installer, DirecTV approved!

Have a good one.

 

[Gordon Wakim]

I had the same problem, Dish Network came to my house to install a dish and could not find a good line of sight from my roof due to tall trees. He was able to get a good reading from my back yard. For an extra $25 he installed my dish on a metal pole in my back yard. It is not exactly what I wanted, but it works good.