Dish Location - a couple of questions

[TomC]

I'm new to this satellite stuff - so please forgive me if these is are stupid question....

1. Before I invest in my new kit (receiver+dish etc) I've been checking to see the best location to position my dish. I'm planning to target Hotbird 8. Using Dishpointer.com I've sourced the elevation+azimuth and have checked for a clear line of site with a theodolite. Unfortunately a telephone cable in my neighbours garden (about 20m away) crosses my line of site to Hotbird 8 - bang on. Will this be a major problem?

2. Hotbird 8 is shown on websites to have the same location as Hotbird 6 and 7A. Presumeably this is a single satellite with 3 zones of transmission?

Cheers

TomC
Edinburgh

[Robbo]

Hi Tom,
Welcome to Techwatch,

Yes thats right, the Hotbirds are all in the same nominal orbital location, they are so close together they can be thought of as one.

Not sure about the cable, I don't think it will cause too much of a problem as it is only thin and the rest of the dish surface will pick up enough to get enough signal.

I'll have an experiment later with my dish and see how I get on with a cable in the way and post back.

In the meantime hopefully other members may have some experience of this.

Robbo