So if I lived in Brazil:

[NotTy]

If I lived in Brazil, right under the equator, and my satellite dish was on, say, B3 ( 75W ) would my 7.5 foot dish be pointing basically straight up?

 

[FaT Air]

If your dish is on the equator, Yeah, straight up. And if you're south of the equator, you dish aims North. Up here we look for our "true" south sat, "down" there, they have to look for their "true" north sat. But for 75w, and a "straight Up" dish, you'd be a bit west of Brazil. -75.0000, 00.000 - Google Maps

 

[NotTy]

That's interesting. I saw a documentary a couple days ago & there was a dish in the background that was facing straight up. It really looked odd. So I guess the N. & S. poles would need a clear line of sight just above the horizon since the satellites would be just above the horizon. The satellite dish would almost be facing horizontally. In fact, wouldn't there be like a blind window for a couple months for those that live near the north or south pole where they wouldn't be able to even see the Clark belt. One satellite tracking map I'm looking at doesn't show any satellite footprints that reach Antarctica.

 

[Pepper]

In fact, wouldn't there be like a blind window for a couple months for those that live near the north or south pole where they wouldn't be able to even see the Clark belt. One satellite tracking map I'm looking at doesn't show any satellite footprints that reach Antarctica.

No, the Clarke Belt follows the Earth's inclination not the Sun's. But close enough to the poles the look angle would be so low as to be unusable, year round.

If there were enough people there to justify the expenditure you can bet some engineer would have figured out how to extend a footprint a lot further south than where they currently are though.

 

[FaT Air]

justify the expenditure you can bet some engineer would have figured out how to extend a footprint a lot further south than where they currently are though.

Well, the Russians did it for the north way back when with the Molyina satellites. I think they still use this method.