Another thing to check regarding poor pefromance.

[ItPROPENDER]

I'll never forget being called to a viewers house and finding poor reception about four and a half miles from the tower.  It looked great on the portable television analyzer.  The company engineer and I scratched our heads over it.  Something out of the blue, struck me and I asked, "What's on the other side of the wall?"  What's on the other side of your wall.  Do you have one of these thinqs: a humidifier, attic fan, whole house fan, or anything electrical on the other side of the barrier (roof included).  What about close by on the roof is there an attic fan or humidifier in the beam or just plain nearby.  The culprit on my occassion, a plastic band digital watch under the television. Certainly the electronic equipment should be given some leeway,  Some space.  The cable will not pick up much noise; however, it is possible.  Give a visual inspection to make sure along the entire legnth of the cables they have "breathing room" of about two and one half inches on any direction from electrically inductive equipment. 

[ItPROPENDER]

i apologize for not using modify.  a judgement call: it would not make sense to move anything until a technician arrives on the scene.  there is a lot of sky out there and the window the satelite you are pointing at is about one half a degree tall and less than one half a degree wide.  to put that in perspective, i don't have a calculator, but the formula is a simple one: one foot square=x times tan 0.5 degree,  x is the approximate distance you are from the window, and that's a mighty big number, you probably could not see it.  and you know you can't see the satelite.  my guess is that for every one foot the satelite dish focus moves at fifteen hundred feet angular, you've lost the lock on the satelite, presuming you had the lock on the satelite. call a technician.  on the other side of the wall is where the judgement call exists.  you couldn't do it with a flashlight, don't try it with satelite.  

Edit by RTB: Dude, caps OFF. I won't warn you again, the next time's it'll be a temporary ban.