Line of sight question

[Sirus]

Is there any sure way of telling if something is blocking my line of sight to a pacific sat?

When people say stuff like "a tree half a mile away is starting to give me a weak signal" and stuff it confusing beacuse in that Youtube video about the motor setup(its the main english youtube one), near the start it shows an example pic of how you can still get a signal even if behind something like a house as long as you have line of sight.... so then i figured it is all about the beam steepness angle at how it strikes you location

Well that vid is almost an identical pic of the way the outside of my house is layed out only instead of being mounted on a wall out the back it will be in a simular location only on the back of my garage pointing the same way

I know about the nearer the equator the more upward pointing your dish has to be hence signal coming down steeper.... problem is im in N.Ireland 55N

But I figured that vid must be shot in england since its narrated in english accent and all, and if a beam comes down like that in england surely then it cant be much less steep in Ireland..

The back of my garage is about 30ft away from the back off my house then it will also be on a 5ft pole sticking up from the garage peak... do i have any chance like that pic i pointed out or am I way to north

Thanks for any insight, its confusing the hell out of me

[.: JaCkPoT :.]

The angle and steepness of signal depends on where you live and which sat you are after..in ireland 5west is the due south satellite so to receive that your dish will be looking more upwards than if you were trying to watch turksat..
1w is highest here in england..
A tree half a nile away will do no harm at all..its only really close things..
If you use a 5feet pole then you will have to make sure it is very steady and has reenforcing to keep it 100percent vertical at all times..

[krazylegz]

from the sounds of it your dish will be ok your garage as long as facing south.

some satellites are higher than others but you shouldnt have any problems with being bout 30foot away

[C64]

Is there any sure way of telling if something is blocking my line of sight to a pacific sat?

Never heard of that Satellite myself

Is it private

[carshalton]

You are wasting your time trying to watch a pacific satellite in Northern Ireland.If it was possible the size of dish would not fit in your back garden.

[Sirus]

OK, ok.. I meant "specific" and not pacific.. I was half asleep when typing that

Thanks Sadiq and krazylegs for that info, I was reading up on it more last night and learnt abit about the "arc" and stuff so its starting to make sense to me a bit

Is that what dish elevation means?... does that mean the angle at which the beam will strike the dish, so if a sat Im trying to pick up is behind something and I find out what my dish elevation needs to be for that "specific" sat and if I adjust my dish to that elevation then is it just a case of looking somewhat into the sky from the eye of my dish to see if I have line of sight?

If thats not what dish elevation means then could someone explain what it really means please

[.: JaCkPoT :.]

Dish elevation is basically shows the different heights of sats..

[Sirus]

Well my top of the arc sats are around 27deg high,... not much dish elevation needed meaning not a very good chance of a signal from behind a house

Plus if I do it anyway and turn to 28.2 that sat from my location is 20deg high and I was outside using one of them graph like 45deg angle finder things and 20deg from the top of my garage runs into the houses going down my street and it definitly wont recieve a signal over a house with a small 20deg angle beam coming at it... thats if I have this dish elevation sussed out that is

although I may just go ahead anyway as I have a good view of the sky down my driveway between mine and next doors house near the top of my arc so atleast it wont be pointless putting the rig up

So thanks for the help Sadiq, although this procedure may well lead to alot more ulimately noob questions from me

time to get the drill out

[sahy]

dish size

we called engineer today to allign our 80cm mesh dish, about 10year old, and after no luck with thor1west, he replaced it with 100cm solid grey dish (orbital make), and he was able to align it without any problems, we are in center of town in birmingham

Well my top of the arc sats are around 27deg high,... not much dish elevation needed meaning not a very good chance of a signal from behind a house

Plus if I do it anyway and turn to 28.2 that sat from my location is 20deg high and I was outside using one of them graph like 45deg angle finder things and 20deg from the top of my garage runs into the houses going down my street and it definitly wont recieve a signal over a house with a small 20deg angle beam coming at it... thats if I have this dish elevation sussed out that is

although I may just go ahead anyway as I have a good view of the sky down my driveway between mine and next doors house near the top of my arc so atleast it wont be pointless putting the rig up

So thanks for the help Sadiq, although this procedure may well lead to alot more ulimately noob questions from me

time to get the drill out

[Sirus]

Im going for a 1metre myself, since its the most commonly mentioned one.. although mines is getting ripped off the old redundant bookies near by, if things go as planned

Better me have it than the DOE dumping it or something

[.: JaCkPoT :.]

How much you paying for it?
You will need to change the lnb too..

[Sirus]

How much you paying for it?.

Nothing, its been up on their wall sitting in dormant for about 6 months now.. i figured I may nab it before someone else does or it get dumped when someone takes over the premises

You will need to change the lnb too..

Really...do bookies use different lnbs from other regular TV viewing Sats?

[.: JaCkPoT :.]

Yep..they have a lnb which is used to send data as well as receiving it i think.

[mm009b]

bookies lnb is different band and dish is different too i think its a direct feed and not offset im pretty sure of this i had a 2.4m dish and it was same senario good luck mate hope im wrong

[Sirus]

Im no dish expert but the place has 3 dishes.. 1 on the roof and 2 above the arch way above the door which will be my standing place when I take it off one of these dark quiet nights

Im just gonna cut the cable at the wall bracket and take the dish off the bracket leaving its wall mount still there.. the dish in question is one of them offset ones I think.... its a 1m triax dish with the web-like support backing behind the dish(seen them on a few satshop sites)

The other one on the roof is one of them big prime focus things I think and the other one beside mines is the same only smaller.. thats why Im opting for the offset one, so my house wont look like a command centre of some sort and also it turns out then if the lnb needs changing then it should just be a case of getting another one and sticking it on the arm... I hope