Indoor Coverage

Satellite TV signals have really made a difference in many peoples lives. Now someone in Rural Canada or the rural United States and in fact all over the world can now receive hundreds of TV stations, many in high definition. Also they now provide much needed competition to the cable companies and have kept the price of cable down as well. Competition is always good at controlling prices, but many people are worried about mounting these dishes on the side of their home.

If you have a brick home, a satellite dish can easily be mounted on the side of the house using lag bolts drilled into the bricks on your house. There will be no leaks and the dish will be very solid. If a dish sways in the wind or moves the signal will be degraded and you may even lose the signal. So a solid mounting is critical as is a clear line of site to the satellite. You need holes for the anchor bolts and also for the cable to run from the dish into the home either at the location were you mount the dish or lower down near a window or door of your home. More on that later.

If your home has vinyl siding or aluminum siding on it, you are going to have to drill holes into the vinyl or aluminum so that you can mount the anchors in studs in the walls. This is the only way you will be able to get a solid anchor and not allow the dish to move at all. Of course now you have a hole in the wall were each anchor bolt penetrates the wall. If you have a professional doing the installation, they will automatically have a sealant that they use to seal these holes to prevent moisture and insects from getting in. Do it your self installations can be done equally well, however you need to make sure these holes are in fact sealed, otherwise you are just inviting more problems later.

Clear Line of Site to the Satellite

Each installation location must have a clear line of site to the satellite for the system to work properly. Many times this means that you need to mount the satellite dish on the side of your home on a vinyl or brick wall. Brick is preferred for mounting.

Line of site is critical both when you do the installation and later on in the year when the trees have all of their leaves full grown. Many people install satellite dishes in the late fall or winter time when there are no leaves on the trees. The system works well, the TV pictures are clear etc, but then spring roles around and suddenly our TV receptions is gone or intermittent at best. Other situations arise when the dish is installed and a few years later a tree or high shrub has grown taller and suddenly we have bad TV reception.

If you are going to mount the satellite dish on the siding of your home, make sure it is well secured, the holes are sealed and that no trees or shrubs are going to grow into your line of site with the satellite in the sky. Other wise you have to cut or trim the tree or move your dish to a different location. Now you have old unsightly holes in your wall as well as holes in a new location.

Give it some thought before you mount satellite dishes on the siding of your home.

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