To the OP, another thing to consider is where you usually camp. The satellites are in a geosynchronous orbit directly above the equator. So if you set up you camp directly on the equator all you need to do is make sure there are no trees directly overhead because your dish will point straight up. If you camp at the North pole your dish will be pointed directly at the horizon. At least you won’t have to worry about trees getting in the way at the North pole. But the point of this is the further South you camp, like in Florida or Arizona, the less of a factor trees will be because the satellites will be higher in the sky. If you head up to Maine or Washington, the Satellites are much lower and trees will be much more of an issue.
2004 National Tropi-Cal T-350, Class A, Triple slide, 330 HP Cat DP. 2006 Dodge Dakota 4x4 or
2002 Harley FLSTF Fat Boy on a Trailer or
2004 Polaris Quad on the Trailer
old guy wrote: my son is an installer for a satellite company. he says the higher the better, never know if a rig behind you will block your signal if you are on the ground. and you get a better sight picture up high. He told me a lot about if we were to put a antenna on my new rig and one thing stood out in favor of high mount and that is if you put in the big antenna, the one for all of the satellites, it is not round but more oval, if you have it on the ground you will need a base that can hold up to eight concrete blocks for enough weight to hold the dish steady. a ladder mount or a roof mount would be better. the wind will blow any thing on the ground over unless it is weighted down solid
I can't believe you are getting slammed for this responce!
If you are surrounded by obstructions, the higher the dish is mounted the wider the angle of possible satellites received will be, it has nothing to do with the shorter distance to the sat........thanks for posting!
Altho this MAY be true (my son is an install district supervisor for DISH)the MAJOR reasoning for height at a house is to reach above obstacles such as trees and surrounding buildings in a congested area. As for the "wider angle" I'm afraid you will find the 3 sats for DISH are within 3 to 5 degrees of each other...doesn't take much of a turn at the dish to change your "aim" by several miles when reaching the sat locations...I use the "portable" method so as to have the flexibility of going around, through or over cg obstacles...as said before, height means very little if anything at a cg....all this is said not as an attack on other posters but only as advice and info...take it for what it's worth....IMHO, of course
maybe we are saying the same think, I don't know......
imagine your dish is on the ground surrounded by 10' obstacles 10' away, you would be able to view 90 degrees of the sky from say 45 degrees to 135 degrees if horizon was 0 degrees. Now raise that dish up 10', you can now view 180 degrees of the sky, thus the wider the angle the of possible satellites received will be, maybe I'm not saying this right, but around obstacles, higher is better! Now, if you are around 100' trees, you need to be much higher!
Regarding height... Yes, I'm fond of saying height is might when talking about VHF/UHF TV.. Not so much on Sat.. but the poster who mentioned seeing over obstructions (like another RV) is 100% right.
This is also why I say that the proper answer is BOTH with an A/B (Above/below) switch.. That way if you have a clear view from the roof, easy simple one button set up. and if you don't.. Use the ground mount.
Nothin adds excitment like something that is none of your business
Kenwood TS-2000 housed in a 2005 Damon Intruder 377
If my VuCube does not have a clear line of sight from it's ladder mount postion, my goal is to find a clear sight-line as close to the RV as possible, preferably up on the roof. Using the DishPointer App on my iPhone makes setup a 10min deal at most.
wa8yxm wrote: Regarding height... Yes, I'm fond of saying height is might when talking about VHF/UHF TV.. Not so much on Sat.. but the poster who mentioned seeing over obstructions (like another RV) is 100% right.
This is also why I say that the proper answer is BOTH with an A/B (Above/below) switch.. That way if you have a clear view from the roof, easy simple one button set up. and if you don't.. Use the ground mount.
Paul & Sandra
New Bedford, MA
2003 Monaco Executive M43 DS2
wa8yxm wrote: Regarding height... Yes, I'm fond of saying height is might when talking about VHF/UHF TV.. Not so much on Sat.. but the poster who mentioned seeing over obstructions (like another RV) is 100% right.
This is also why I say that the proper answer is BOTH with an A/B (Above/below) switch.. That way if you have a clear view from the roof, easy simple one button set up. and if you don't.. Use the ground mount.
Height is might only goes so far. On top of the MH is good enough, due to angle to the satellite, to shoot over any other MH, unless that MH is 20+ feet tall and right next to you. If you are in Alaska, as I have found out, any object taller than your MH would be a problem, as you have to shoot nap of the earth to hit a satellite. at the North pole, because of the nap of the earth, you would never see the satellite, even though there are not objects in front of you.
I am looking at the Tailgater for those few situations where the trees set between me and the sat. Moving the dish around a tree is much easier than finding a height to shoot over it.
May God bless your travels
Me, The Wonderful Wife
and two Spastic Border Collies U.S. Army Retired 2004 Coachmen Aurora, 3480DS 2007 Saturn Outlook, FROG
I have had both and would never go back to a roof mounted. We stay at state and federal parks a lot and could not get sats about 80% of the time then we went to a portable automatic and get the sats most of the time. If you have a smart phone I recommend an app called Dish Pointer Pro, it actually shows you where the sats are in the sky. Really makes the setup easy.
Kiwi_too wrote: you have to shoot nap of the earth to hit a satellite. at the North pole, because of the nap of the earth,
What does the term 'nap' mean?
NAP of the Earth, NOE, is a military term used to fly really low to avoid detection. Said another way, it's simply the CURVATURE of the earth...but military guys like things shortened.........Dennis
Dennis and Debi
Monaco Executive M-45PBQ Quad Slide
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and as some have said. Height doesn't matter. Just get a clear shot at the sky. My method works when nothing else can get a lock.
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