Satellite Dish Or Cable

[porkchop]

The rear of our house is facing the North with our main TV room also in the rear facing the North. Is it true that a Satellite Dish has to placed facing the SOUTH? Why the South?
If the dish were to be placed on the side of our house in order to face the South would a cable then come from the dish all around the outside of the house to the point of entry in the wall beside our main TV room?
We have a cable provider at present who are looking for yet another yearly increase and i think its time to call a halt and for me to look for a better deal. A well known satellite provider presently have a sale which offers a 12 month contract with great savings compared to my current provider. Any advice and suggestions would be welcome.

[chrissa1]

Thinking about all the houses I've had since, Sky came into being, all my dishes have faced South. The cable does go around the house but if done properly by a Sky operative, it is done neatly and you don't notice it.

It's usually aligned with the cement line.

[woofgang]

I believe that the dish has to face the satellite which is in geosynchronous orbit. The installers ran a cable round the outside of the house very neatly

[Tilly2]

It does have to face South but it doesn't matter what room the TV is in.

[Buenchico]

The laws of physics dictate that a satellite can only remain 'geostationary' (i.e. constantly directly above the same place on Earth) if it's:
(a) over the equator ; and
(b) at a height of 22,300 miles.

So any satellite dish in the northern hemisphere must point south. (i.e. towards the equator). The group of transmitters which provides signals for UK viewers is roughly located 22,300 miles above Lake Edward in Uganda. Given that the transmitter power of a satellite is typically only a twentieth of the power of a land-based TV transmitter (where you usually need to be within about 40 miles or so to get a decent signal), it's vital that any satellite dish is aligned extremely accurately with the signal path.

You can either mount a satellite dish on a south-facing wall or put it on top of a pole (so that it's clear of your roof) mounted elsewhere on the house. The cable path from the dish to your satellite receiver is up to you (or, more likely, up to the guy fitting the system) but it's usual to keep it outside as long as possible in order to avoid (for example) having to drill holes through interior walls.

Perhaps it's time to ask yourself why you need either cable TV or satellite TV? You probably can't avoid one or the other if you want to watch a lot of sport but many AB members now seem to be switching to only using either Freeview or Freesat, possibly topped up some form of (cheap) internet-based service (such as Now TV).

[Tuvok]

My satellite cables enter the attic and then down inside the internal walls

[bookbinder]

All my neighbours have south-facing satellite dishes, and, yes, the cable does go all around their houses to a convenient point of entry. The cables are black, so they don't really stand out.