[BC] Re: chain link fence effect on satellite dish?

[Glen Kippel]

On Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 3:46 PM, radioranger <radioranger at comcast.net>wrote:

> I need to mount a receive only 3.8 meter Comtech dish near a galvanized
> wire
> chain link fence.  Does anyone have a feel for how much the satellite
> signal
> is attenuated by the fence when it blocks part of the direct path to the
> dish?  I'd like to mount the dish far enough away from the fence so it
> isn't
> a problem in the path, but it looks like it's going to be easier to elevate
> the dish--- I just don't want to have to go too high.  Roof mounting isn't
> an option here.
>
> Thanks for any insights.
>
Remember, the actual beamwidth of a 3.8-meter dish is 1.4 degrees.  However,
you may need the whole dish aperture depending on how much signal you have
available.  Look at the "footprint" of whatever bird you are looking at and
see how much signal there is.  If a foot or so of the bottom of the dish is
obscured it may not be such a big deal in any case.