To get clear satellite reception, you need a clear line of sight. Trees will attenuate the signal, particularly after they leaf out. There may be other spots on the roof that give the dish a "clear shot" at the satellite.

For Karen, geosynchronous satellites or geostationary satellites orbit the earth at 22,300 miles above sea level and are positioned over the equator. This is why dishes in the northern hemisphere need to point south. Their orbit's period is exactly the same as the earth's so they "hover" over the same spot all the time. If they didn't, your dish would have to move precisely to "track" the satellite.

What stations you get is dependent on what content is carried on each transponder (there are many on every TV satellite). A transponder is like an electonic mirror. Service providers beam the programming content up to the satellite and the transponders "bounce" it back down to be picked up by our dishes. The area that receives a particular signal is called its "footprint". The most common footprint for us in the US is known as CONUS, or continental U.S. So a satellite that would serve us would not serve Masaki.

Probably more than you wanted to know...

Bill