Do all Satellite dishes have to look the same way?

shireknight · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:37

Posted this question in a Satellite forum and after an hour all people are doing is just staring at it. It seems like a pretty easy question to answer to me so either I'm asking a ridiculously stupid question or their all pig ignorant, so Ill ask the OC crew instead -one of you are bound to know the answer

Sky installed a dish in early spring but when the trees behind my house started to fill up with leaves the satellite signal got blocked -Sky came and re-sighted the dish but have told me It's only temporary and that I should never have been offered Sky in the first place because of the trees.

The council won't trim the trees and I'm not allowed to as the Council own them, the signal is already starting to weaken so this pretty much means Ill lose my Sky reception completely soon.

I only have trees to the rear of my house (the direction the Sky dish needs to look) do the other satellite services all have their satellites in the same place or are they all in different quadrants of the sky? -I'm thinking that maybe Freeview or someone might have a satellite that requires a dish to look at it from the opposite direction aka the front of my house -Is this likely or just wishful thinking on my part?

Margaret · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:38

They all have to be the same shape, otherwise the only channels you will pick up is the hardcore homosexual pornography ones.

MikeHunt79 · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:39

Freesat channels are on the same satillite as Sky.

Burn the tree

toosepin · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:39

Hack them to pieces and claim innocence when the council comes knocking. The trees that is, not the Sky engineers.

2StepSteve · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:40

Where is the dish on your house at the moment? Neighbour of mine has theirs on the side of the chimney which might be an option for you?

shireknight · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:40

They all have to be the same shape, otherwise the only channels you will pick up is the hardcore homosexual pornography ones.

LMAO at least It's an answer and pretty damn quick too

me227 · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:40

Would the freeview not just use a normal aerial? Maybe you have a rooftop aerial that'll go over the treeline for freeview. Could also try Virgin as that'll be cable.

snowdog · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:44

Yeah they have to point south more or less the direction of most satellites I think...

Just chop the tree and claim it wasn't you. Or set it to fire ( petrol does wonders

), claim someone else did, and hope they chop it away because of the damage ( or it'll burn long enough to burn away all those pesky leaves and thin branches).

shireknight · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:45

2StepSteve said:
Where is the dish on your house at the moment? Neighbour of mine has theirs on the side of the chimney which might be an option for you?

Unfortunately because of the way my house slopes the higher up the side of the house you move the satellite the steeper the angle it has to be to avoid the trees which beyond a certain point it's not possible to get -It's hard to explain without a picture of the house but basically Sky have said the sat would need to be on such a high pole to avoid the trees it would be unfeasible to do.

2StepSteve · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:48

Edit.

Ahh I see..

I was thinkin about this a few weeks ago, its surprising how low to the horizon the Sky's satellite is positioned in the UK. There must be quite a few people with the same problem as you.

Have seen dishes on poles.. sucks that they say they can't do it. Sky is the best way to recieve more channels, freeview quality is ok as long as you are looking at almost still pictures, and the last time I saw cable it still sucks. Mind you that was in the days of NTL dunno if virgin have managed to up the quality?

I would burn/chop the trees.

asim18 · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:49

asim18 said:
They're just plants ffs, not sheep .

Burn those damn trees down! NOW!

Tefal · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:51

As long as it wont risk other property torch the tress.

You can go plant some new ones else where.

snowdog · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:53

shireknight said:
Unfortunately because of the way my house slopes the higher up the side of the house you move the satellite the steeper the angle it has to be to avoid the trees which beyond a certain point it's not possible to get -It's hard to explain without a picture of the house but basically Sky have said the sat would need to be on such a high pole to avoid the trees it would be unfeasible to do.

What about the other side of the house, we have our sat like this on our shed but it's still far enough to get a good signal ( even though it's like half of the actual recommended minimal distance from obstacles...) :

shireknight · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:54

2StepSteve said:
Edit.

Ahh I see..

I was thinkin about this a few weeks ago, its surprising how low to the horizon the Sky's satellite is positioned in the UK. There must be quite a few people with the same problem as you.

Have seen dishes on those poles

I would burn/chop the trees if all else fails.

My house is quite close to them and they must be a good 40-50ft tall, they are all very mature huge trees, a wood was pretty much felled to make room for my housing estate and I just happen to live right on the edge where the last of the treeline was left behind. If I was to set them on fire and one fell over it could do some serious damage to blocks of flats nearby so that's out of the equation -plus as I have complained in writing to the council about them they would be knocking on my door the next day

BigglesPiP · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:55

Kill!

bum · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:56

Get cable?

2StepSteve · 12 Aug 2008 at 01:59

shireknight said:
My house is quite close to them and they must be a good 40-50ft tall, they are all very mature huge trees, a wood was pretty much felled to make room for my housing estate and I just happen to live right on the edge where the last of the treeline was left behind. If I was to set them on fire and one fell over it could do some serious damage to blocks of flats nearby so that's out of the equation -plus as I have complained in writing to the council about them they would be knocking on my door the next day

Damn.. well if its any consultation it sounds like you live in quite a nice place with a nice view!

Are their any neighbours that could join in efforts with you to moan at the council?.. they might take more notice if a bunch of you start moaning about not being able to get sky.

shireknight · 12 Aug 2008 at 02:07

2StepSteve said:
Damn.. well if its any consultation it sounds like you live in quite a nice place with a nice view!

Are their any neighbours that could join in efforts with you to moan at the council?.. they might take more notice if a bunch of you start moaning about not being able to get sky.

As a group of about 8 houses we have been complaining for over 5 years as they also block sunlight from coming into our gardens but the council are not sympathetic to our cause -It will cost them lots of money if they agree to do it plus I suppose it will leave them open to requests from people all over Northampton.

I guess cable is the way to go which is a shame as I fell out with them earlier this year and moved to Sky heh.

Monkeynut · 12 Aug 2008 at 02:11

Does it just weaken the signal or completely block it? If the former you can get replacement reciever block thingies that boost the reception by 20db or soemthing similar. We got one and it fixed bad corruption on BBC 1.

EDIT: Also if all of you burn the trees it might be too much for them to handle!

Or cut them down at night when less people will notice.

BloodyL · 12 Aug 2008 at 02:15

toosepin said:
Hack them to pieces and claim innocence when the council comes knocking. The trees that is, not the Sky engineers.

Rofl, class answer!