One year ago this month I fired Comcast and went with DirecTV, purchased a three room, triple LNB RCA dish/receiver rig from Best Buy because I didn't know any better and set up an appointment with a local installer. When the guy finally came he hemmed and hawed about the tree line, my apartment complex's dumbassed rules about dishes, (they grudgingly tolerate them, but have all kinds of stupid stipulations in their lease which everyone who lives here blatantly ignores...I think somone read them the FCC ruling not too long ago, but they still try stuff) and spoke of having to charge me extra for building a bucket mount and routing cables. This for a "free install". So I told him thanks but I won't be requiring his services. I constructed my own bucket mount, found the direction of the sats (which were many degrees off from where he thought they were) and tuned them in. Well, the 101 and the 110. For some reason I could get absolutely no joy on the 119. No matter, I don't have HD and I don't care for the international channels so I lived with it. I figured that the trees that the "professional" installer hemmed and hawed about was probably blocking that bird.
He also said that those trees would grow. That aspect I knew was a fact of life, but I figured I'd get away with it for awhile.
Well, one year later and the Time of Arboreal Reckoning has arrived. I noticed that we were getting more frequent rain-fade outages during the T-storms of summer. Sure enough, the signal meter on the 110 was showing peaks of 60 at the best. Looking at the trees, and they are indeed visibly fuller in this very wet and bountiful summer. No problem, I've always had a "time to elevate the dish" plan. This plan was executed yesterday, and I have now mounted the dish 2.5 feet higher than it was. As expected, signal strength on the 110 was restored to a peak of 90-93.
But still no 119. So is it reasonable to assume that since I'm not getting a signal strength of 100 on the 110 (I get 100 on the 101) that the 119 is still blocked by the treeline? Here is a picture of the dish/trees:
Yes, I know those trees are an unalterable fact of life, but while I can pretty blatantly attach a pole to my balcony, there's NO way I'm gonna get away with mounting it on the roof, nor do I want to.
Oh, and yes, it is grounded.
He also said that those trees would grow. That aspect I knew was a fact of life, but I figured I'd get away with it for awhile.
Well, one year later and the Time of Arboreal Reckoning has arrived. I noticed that we were getting more frequent rain-fade outages during the T-storms of summer. Sure enough, the signal meter on the 110 was showing peaks of 60 at the best. Looking at the trees, and they are indeed visibly fuller in this very wet and bountiful summer. No problem, I've always had a "time to elevate the dish" plan. This plan was executed yesterday, and I have now mounted the dish 2.5 feet higher than it was. As expected, signal strength on the 110 was restored to a peak of 90-93.
But still no 119. So is it reasonable to assume that since I'm not getting a signal strength of 100 on the 110 (I get 100 on the 101) that the 119 is still blocked by the treeline? Here is a picture of the dish/trees:

Yes, I know those trees are an unalterable fact of life, but while I can pretty blatantly attach a pole to my balcony, there's NO way I'm gonna get away with mounting it on the roof, nor do I want to.
Oh, and yes, it is grounded.