DirecTV's azimuth for Louisville is 206 degrees with an elevation of 43 degrees. You can set up a pretty easy jig to find an ideal spot in your yard.
My apartment manager said I could install it as long as it wasn't permanent and no holes were drilled for the cable. I mounted my dish on a galvanized pipe about 6 feet long that I strapped to my balcony railing with hose clamps. This also helped with the grounding issue. Other people I know have done things like bolting it to a wooden box that they nailed to the balcony floor or setting a pipe in a five-gallon bucket filled with cement. I ran the cable behind the porch lamp in the chase with the wiring. The cable comes out through the light switch. There are also special connectors available that let you go through patio doors or windows. In the 12 years I had DirecTV, I only lost the signal about half a dozen times. Especially after I got the larger dish. And I'm not sure about a rooftop antenna, but my powered "rabbit ear" antenna loses the local stations during bad storms also. Marta, a court-ruling from several years ago says small dishes can't be banned as long as they're installed on property that is exclusively used by you. I'm not sure of the exact wording, but the backyard of a house or the balcony of an apartment qualifies. If your neighbors complain, you've got the right to look them in the eye and say "I'm sorry, the US Supreme Court disagrees with you." My biggest problem was the tree across the street. The first three years I was shooting over it. Then it grew. Every couple of years I had to move the satellite pole back a few feet to compensate. My biggest problem, and the reason I took it down, is that the programming began to suck so bad I wasn't watching but three or four channels. And eventually, I was able to find those channels on the Internet. On Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 7:35 AM, Neal Hammon<noham...@earthlink.net> wrote: > On this subject: > > When installing a satellite dish, they need to have a clear view to the > southern sky, at least with the Dish service. Therefore my dish is installed > on the south side of my brick house, just above the telephone service box, > and about nine feet above ground. I would have liked to have it lower, so it > would be easier to clean off the snow in the winter, but they needed that > height to have a clear view thru the trees. > > Also, be aware that big thunderstorms will stop all satellite transmissions. > To get around that, I have a large, old fashion aerial in my attic, so that > during storms, I can at least switch off the satellite, and go back to using > the aerial, and get the local stations such as 3, 11, 32, 15, etc. > > Placing the dish on a post, as Marta suggested, is ok too, but you may want > to check your neighborhood zoning. In some places, they do not allow you to > have a dish in your front yard, and who knows what other restrictions some > little village committees might come up with. > > Neal Hammon > rural Shelby County > > On Aug 421, 1120092007, at 10:47 PM, Marta Edie wrote: > >> No, they sit in the yard and you can camouflage them with plants, they >> only need enough free space above to focus on that satellite, therefore you >> are not free to choose the spot. >> Marta >> >> >> On Aug 21, 2009, at 22:36 pm, Andy Arnold wrote: >> >>> Good ideas. Do you have to have a dish hanging off your house to get Dish >>> and the others? I think they are banned in my neighborhood! >>> >>> >>> On Aug 20, 2009, at 11:57 PM, Robert Kersting wrote: >>> >>>> IIRC, DirecTV and Dish offer hundreds of digital channels at no extra >>>> charge. Cheaper than Insight, better support and it's cheaper. Yes, >>>> you get all the local stuff too. >>>> >>>> I'm really amazed more people don't take this route. Sure, your >>>> internet access may go up a bit but it's a small price to pay. >>>> >>>> Step two would be to call Insight and tell them you're discontinuing >>>> your cable TV in favor of a satellite dish. I'll bet they'll come up >>>> with some special pricing to keep you on board. >>>> >>>> Just some thoughts. >>>> >>>> On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 11:15 PM, Andy Arnold<andyarno...@mac.com> >>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Any cable TV experts in the group? >>>>> I can't figure this whole racket out... I have a couple HD TVs with >>>>> built-in >>>>> tuners... Insight wants $15 per month for their DVR which is supposed >>>>> to >>>>> carry many more HD channels than if I plug the cable wire directly into >>>>> the >>>>> HD TV. But this is a crude solution for many reasons (one of which is >>>>> that >>>>> you can't sync the boxes) Plus I don't watch that much TV, so $30 a >>>>> month >>>>> just for the box is crazy. I had heard that some TVs can contain a >>>>> cable >>>>> decoder card that will allow the signal from all of Insight's channels >>>>> to >>>>> come thru in HD. But now most manufacturers have abandoned that >>>>> strategy >>>>> because all TVs have a digital tuner built-in and if your cable company >>>>> is >>>>> outputting unscrambled channels then you can tune all the stations >>>>> through >>>>> the TV without a cable box or CableCard. Is the problem that Insight is >>>>> behind the national curve and still scrambling most of their stations? >>>>> Stop >>>>> the madness! Would love to hear what others are doing about all of >>>>> this... >>>>> BTW, this is still a Mac topic because I have an AppleTV thrown into >>>>> the mix >>>>> as well :-) >>>>> thanks >>>>> Andy >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> MacGroup mailing list >>>>> MacGroup@erdos.math.louisville.edu >>>>> http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> MacGroup mailing list >>>> MacGroup@erdos.math.louisville.edu >>>> http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> MacGroup mailing list >>> MacGroup@erdos.math.louisville.edu >>> http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup >>> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> MacGroup mailing list >> MacGroup@erdos.math.louisville.edu >> http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup > > > > _______________________________________________ > MacGroup mailing list > MacGroup@erdos.math.louisville.edu > http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup > > _______________________________________________ MacGroup mailing list MacGroup@erdos.math.louisville.edu http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup
