You are sitting at home, watching TV, and while your show is entertaining you, outside the weather is getting worse. It starts raining, the wind is getting stronger, but your Satellite Antenna is doing its work as if it is a sunny quiet day.
This is the experience of most people that enjoy satellite TV; Smooth reception no matter what weather it is outside. (Of course an hurricane that can destroy your house may be capable of moving your satellite dish as well.)
Bad weather doesn’t do much to Satellite antenna reception. But sometimes your antenna can loose reception completely and generally there are some obvious reasons for it that you can solve your self very quickly:
No Satellite TV but Free Coffee
You come home from work, sit down in the couch switch on the TV and your Satellite TV Receiver and….. Nothing! Your son brings you a cup of coffee and asks how your day was.
When these 2 very rare events occur at the same time and your son is not playing with his basketball outside in the yard like he usually does, you better go check your antenna on the roof (or where ever your antenna is located.) If a very familiar basketball got stuck between the dish and the receiver, you know what to do!Gardens, Trees and Satellite TV
It is the middle of summer, every day is a sunny day, your garden is doing great, you need to water the plants and trees practically every day, but it is worth it. They grow very fast, you get compliments from your neighbors all the time and you’re very happy. You don’t even get upset because your satellite tv seems to have problems every now and then. However, it is getting worse as the weeks pass and you don’t have a clue why. You look at your antenna, trying to follow the line of sight to the skies where somewhere, though invisible to the naked eye, the satellite is doing its work. But your eyes don’t get any further than one of your trees that has grown so much it is now in the line of sight to the satellite. 2 possible solutions; either cut the top out of the tree, or move your antenna so that it can “see” over or along the side of the tree.Kites, Birthdays and Satellite TV
You got your son a kite for his birthday. The next day all Satellites seem to have fallen out of the sky.……. Well, you get the picture.
Of course the examples described above are not to be taken too serious. However, in very rare cases reception problems may occur. In case you hired an installation company for the installation of your Satellite TV system, it is best to call them if you have any problems. However, if you are able, do check if there are any problems that can can be cause by external factors. They may be easy to solve and save you the costs of the installation company visiting. Do not take any risks climbing on the roof to reach your antenna. Have qualified people take the risks for you. They are trained and use safety equipment to prevent injuries.
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Satellite Orbits
Any object that moves around the earth has an orbit. The orbit is defined by 3 factors. The first is the shape of the orbit, which can be circular or elliptical. The second is the altitude of the orbit. The altitude is constant for a circular orbit but changes constantly for an elliptical orbit. The third factor is the angle the orbit makes with the equator. An orbit that brings the satellite over the poles or close to it has a large angle. An orbit that makes the satellite stay close to the equator has a small angle.
How a Satellite Dish Works
A satellite dish is an antenna designed to focus on a specific broadcast source. The standard dish consists of a parabolic (bowl-shaped) surface and a central feed horn. A controller sends it through the horn, and the dish focuses the signal into a relatively narrow beam.
DirecTV and DISH Network Merger
It was in October 2001 that General Motors Hughes (Parent company of Direct TV) and EchoStar Communications Corp., trader of Dish Network agreed to a merger. The new company would have improved the services for satellite TV clients by adding many HDTV channels and local channels would then be available to all satellite TV viewers.
