Gen5 SmartBrowsing?
Does Gen5 have SmartBrowsing like Gen4 did, or are the new, higher FAP speeds taking the place of "SmartBrowsing"?
Forum Discussion
I cant really judge by using the obstruction feature. The trees are on a slight hill from where my dish is located. But yeah I think I want to be better safe than sorry and cut the questionable trees down before I get Gen5 installed. (My dad cuts down trees for a living, so its not a big problem)
When I had my HN9000 system installed, the installed mentioned that the trees may be an issue, and recommended them be taken down. But my service and signal has always been around where it was when installed and never had much of a problem with connection issues. My inital install in 2008 was with an HN7000s modem, I dont know what satellite I was on at that time, but I believe it was further East and there was no trees to cause a problem.
If you go to http://www.n2yo.com/?s=41893 and input your address, you'll see what should be the elevation of the satellite for your location. It was correct for mine. Although, without the proper tools it's difficult to tell for sure, it may give you an idea as to whether the tree(s) will be in the way. 0 degrees is the flat horizon and 90 degrees is straight over your head. REMEMBER TO CHANGE THE SITE TO YOUR ADDRESS TO GET WHAT SHOULD BE THE CORRECT ELEVATION. Again, though, never take anything like this as 100%. Sites can be wrong.
You're lucky that you have someone that can cut it down so easily. I had to use Black & Decker Aligator Loppers to cut down a 15" thick, very dense and very heavy tree. I couldn't get the chainsaw I was hoping for. It was VERY difficult. The Loppers are not designed to cut anything near that size, let alone actually cutting down an entire tree.
There is an app for iphones, if you have one, that is called satoolz, and that should show you where the satellite is in the sky just by holding your phone up.
I don't know if this might help, but take a look at SatFinder. It's for Android devices. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.esys.satfinder&hl=en
From the looks of the pics when searching on Google pics, it looks like it might be something that could show you the same type of info. Scroll through the pics on the app's page, too. There are a couple that definiltey look like they would help.
As for a chainsaw, there wasn't a place I could rent one, and the cheapest one to buy was nearly $200, which I didn't have at the time. The people I was supposed to borrow one from never came through. I think they may have simply forgotten, but I didn't want to keep bugging them.
This is the tree that I had to cut down. And yes, Loppers. It was amazing that I could do it. You can see near the right edge of the picture, and closer than the tree in question, the stump of another one I cut down with them a few years back. It was one of those trees with HUGE, THICK thorns, and it got me every single time I mowed the lawn. I've gotten pretty adept at using the Loppers for things other than what they are made for. LOL.
BTW, I also cut down the smaller tree that's closer and to the left of the tree in question. It wasn't tall enough to be in the way yet, but in a few years it would have been. That's more like the size of the things the Loppers are meant for. :)
Another thing to consider is that look angle is considerably higher than the angle of the dish arm.
(graphic courtesy of Alan)
I checked all the details for the Spaceway 3 satellite and checked the adjustments on my dish, and everything is pretty much exact as what the site says, maybe 0.5 - 1 degree difference... But yeah, the Echostar 19 details may be more off, but will give a good idea.
I only have Android devices, I want to get an iPad but I dont know if that app is compatible with iPads. I was trying to find an app for Android but never found or tried to test any.
WOW, thats amazing you used Loopers to cut down an entire tree... LOL... You couldn't go to a local hardware store or something and rent a chainsaw? If you live in a wooded area maybe would have been good to invest in a chainsaw, I believe you should be able to get one under $100. But anyway, im glad to hear you got the tree taken down safely and successfuly!
Here is the trees in my situation... The group of trees that are circled is my main concern. And possibly the limbs from another tree that are coming into picture from right (shown best in first picture). That tree gets huge leaves which weigh the limbs down. It is a good bit to the right from my current Spaceway3 install though. We will find out here in a few days or weeks after I have Gen5 installed.
Also, I have tried the SatFinder app on my one Samsung tablet and I was not able to get it to locate satellite and find any obstructions. I did notice with a compass app that I tried using it was saying no sensor found. This tablet is a POS. I wanted to try using my phone or another tablet but haven't had any outside and think of trying them.
That doesn't look like it would be a very fun tree to cut down if it is, in fact, in the way.
I know that knowing the elevation of the satellite, but not having the proper tools to show that elevation, can only give a very general idea if the height of the tree would be too much. I sort of guessed with mine, only to find out later that the guess was right.
Here's an idea, though. A person I talked to, who happens to be an installer, suggested that I call the installers to see if they may be in the area before the date of the installation to see if they could stop by to let me know if my tree would be in the way. I didn't do so, but it actually might be advantageous for you to try that.
The number of the installer should be in the email Hughesnet sent you. They may not want to do that, but the guy I talked to suggested that they may want to in order to know what they may have to do when the time comes to do the installation.
It's just an idea.
I am hoping my dad can be here when they are doing the install that way if it needs taken down he can. I don't think it will be too bad to take down, There is nothing in the way just woods and open yard, I believe should be able to just notch and drop it probably in the yard it's pretty much right on the edge of the yard.
