[fingpilot]

I have lived in a number of very remote places.

Thunderstorms in the south can blank the signal at the most inopportune moment. It does give you a chance to run outside and put anything that hail would damage under cover.

The winds at the mountaintop location in Jean would get the dish bowl (serving platter, really) to set up an oscillation. I rigged guy wires to right to the edges of it to stop that, but it would still find ways to do it.

The one up at Mt. Lassen is actually mounted on my utility service pole (the one that I own). My place is also surrounded by trees, but the installer found that on the pole, looking south over the top of the house, was actually plenty wide to get the signal. I'll see if I can post a pic, as it has a special mount for a pole, with an anti-torsion arm on it. The only time I lose signal here is when the dish is covered in ice, or very thick, wet snow. I have seen a fibreglass cover, mildly heated (like 1/3 watt) for sale to prevent that, but it is easy enough to go clear mine, it is 5 feet off of the ground.

I have one on the RV. Am VERY used to 'finding' the signal when on the road. Have moved the RV 3 feet forward or back to get a shot thru trees and it works. Big winds, making the RV sway would sometimes 'pixellate' or 'freeze' the picture, but the latest, greatest reciever doesn't seem to be as succeptible.

HTH. Get another installer that doesn't get paid by the job. Not sure of where, exactly you are, but give me a zip code, and I can give you the mag heading and elevation you need. It's a really small window you have to shoot for, meaning, a small gap in the trees would do it, and it sounds like you have to reverse engineer the spot.