So... a few inches huh?

Yeah, get the dirty thoughts out of your head. This is about our Bell Expressvu Dish and our signal... or lack thereof.

We picked up a HD Bell system last year to compliment our new HD TV at the time. We decided - or should I say being the manly man that I am - I decided that we didn't need a professional install done which of course was free. Anywho, with the aid of my brother in law, Grant (who incidentally had a ladder long enough to get where we needed to) we put the dish up, ran the cable and proceeded to get a signal strength of 62% on the needed satellite (91, transponder 11 for those interested). At the time that was quite good enough.

Fast forward a couple of months.

The stucco crew came to stucco our house (as stucco crews are wont to do) last summer. After months of enjoying our Bell channels and relishing shows in HD we lost the signal completely. Of course I had to wait until the stucco dried before I could put a ladder against the wall to check what happened. Two things; 1) The stucco crew so kindly moved the dish out of alignment and 2 (after much swearing before I figured out what else was wrong) they also switch the cables from the dual lnbs into the switch. In that case, the LNB for satellite 81 needs to go to "dish2" on the switch and 91 to "dish1". So I fixed that and managed to get an acceptable signal... although much lower than before (hovering around 51% which according to Bell Customer service wasn't enough to get any channels - but we were).

Fast forward to last Saturday.

The new season of Trailer Park Boys is coming on Showcase, which is one of the channels we subscribe to but don't get because of the weak signal. I decide that I'm finally going to get up and fix it (and the ground is dry enough after the snow melt). First off I can't find satellite 91. Then I lock onto 82 using the 91 LNB. Then I lose 82. Then the received won't recognize the switch (the switch takes both LNB feeds and puts it to one cable). I get a compass and find the direction I need to point (161 SW) and then realign the dish to "stock" settings (31.8 degrees elevation and 84.1 degrees skew). Nothing. absolutely nothing. No signal anywhere.

Called Bell and they sent out a service guy for a flat fee of $75. He tells us that the roof of our house is in the way to get a signal from 91. I ask (over the phone with Marla) how that's possible when we were getting a signal before? Doesn't know he says, but there is no signal.

Then it hits me. When we put up the dish we put it up on the outmost edge of the cantilever for our fireplace. When the stucco crew came I made a plate using a pressure treated 2x6 and moved it in from the edge of the cantilever. Well, guess what? That also moved the dish in a few inches in towards the house and effectively cut off our signal. That means now that I have to either put the dish on the roof or move it to the outside edge of the cantilever so we can get everything we pay from from Bell.

Moral of the story? If you can get a free professional install on a piece of equipment as tempramental as a a satellite dish, get it.