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The current positions strike me as very odd that they're so low.

"Low" is a relative term. Actually, every television satellite is at the same altitude. They're in a very carefully-managed ring around our planet that orbits exactly above the equator at an exact altitude. They call that "geostationary", meaning that the satellites orbit at exactly the same speed the earth turns. This allows the satellite antennas to stay pointed at a satellite without having to move and track it.

So it may strike you as "odd", but the laws of orbital physics say that the birds can't be anywhere else but in that ring. It's the exact opposite of odd, it's the only orbit they can have.

In terms of their chosen slots within the ring, the direcTV satellites are placed to sit more or less above the middle of the USA, but they orbit down at the equator, so all the direcTV dishes have to point South.

"Low" to someone might mean that you're on the East coast, and so the dish has to point pretty far southwest. Or you might be on the East coast and so the dish has to point pretty far southeast. Or maybe you're in the extreme north of the US and therefore your dish has to point very close down towards the horizon. But technically all the satellites are at the same height, and unless you're in the shadow of a building or a mountain, you should be able to get a shot at the birds.

Yeah, topping trees is an issue, but there's almost always someplace you can go with the dish to get a decent shot.
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Tony Fabris