A Question About Sat Signal Strength

[eacalhoun]

First, I contacted DIRT the other day to ask what signal strengths I should be getting. To summarize my issue (which may not be an issue), it's seems as though recent "rain fade" events for me have lasted longer than they have in the past. Although, it's normal to experience "rain fade" that lasts for 10 minutes or so I have recently had a couple of events that lasted 30-40 minutes. These were slow-moving storm cells with heavy downpours, so I guess that duration could be normal for the existing weather event. But, this all got me to wondering if I'm getting adequate sat signal. DIRT replied with a thread link that included a spreadsheet of average and minimum signal strengths for each DMA. I live in the Charlotte DMA. My results are that I am getting signal that is in line with the listed values for the Charlotte DMA, with 3 exceptions. I am getting nothing on sats 61.5, 72.7, or 77 or its transponders. In fact, I cannot select 72.7 in my signal level menu - the closest I have is a 72. But, there's no signal on 72, either. Do I have a problem or are these sats (61.5, 72.7, and 77) now obsolete for me - in the Charlotte DMA?

Eric

 

[ZachS@DISH]

First, I contacted DIRT the other day to ask what signal strengths I should be getting. To summarize my issue (which may not be an issue), it's seems as though recent "rain fade" events for me have lasted longer than they have in the past. Although, it's normal to experience "rain fade" that lasts for 10 minutes or so I have recently had a couple of events that lasted 30-40 minutes. These were slow-moving storm cells with heavy downpours, so I guess that duration could be normal for the existing weather event. But, this all got me to wondering if I'm getting adequate sat signal. DIRT replied with a thread link that included a spreadsheet of average and minimum signal strengths for each DMA. I live in the Charlotte DMA. My results are that I am getting signal that is in line with the listed values for the Charlotte DMA, with 3 exceptions. I am getting nothing on sats 61.5, 72.7, or 77 or its transponders. In fact, I cannot select 72.7 in my signal level menu - the closest I have is a 72. But, there's no signal on 72, either. Do I have a problem or are these sats (61.5, 72.7, and 77) now obsolete for me - in the Charlotte DMA?

Eric

Charlotte's DMA is also on WA (110, 119 and 129). What satellites do you have listed on the System Info screen?

 

[eacalhoun]

I'm not at home, but I called my son and he sees nothing about satellites on the system info screen - accessed by pressing MENU twice, correct?

 

[levibluewa]

Menu 6-1-3

 

[eacalhoun]

I'll have to resume this later - I'm 8 miles from my TV. Thanks so far for the info.

 

[eacalhoun]

The screen shot I've attached - is where my son hit menu twice. Not the same as MENU 6-1-3?

 

[ZachS@DISH]

Correct, it is not the same. Menu 6-1-3 will list the satellites you have.

 

[boba]

First, I contacted DIRT the other day to ask what signal strengths I should be getting. To summarize my issue (which may not be an issue), it's seems as though recent "rain fade" events for me have lasted longer than they have in the past. Although, it's normal to experience "rain fade" that lasts for 10 minutes or so I have recently had a couple of events that lasted 30-40 minutes. These were slow-moving storm cells with heavy downpours, so I guess that duration could be normal for the existing weather event. But, this all got me to wondering if I'm getting adequate sat signal. DIRT replied with a thread link that included a spreadsheet of average and minimum signal strengths for each DMA. I live in the Charlotte DMA. My results are that I am getting signal that is in line with the listed values for the Charlotte DMA, with 3 exceptions. I am getting nothing on sats 61.5, 72.7, or 77 or its transponders. In fact, I cannot select 72.7 in my signal level menu - the closest I have is a 72. But, there's no signal on 72, either. Do I have a problem or are these sats (61.5, 72.7, and 77) now obsolete for me - in the Charlotte DMA?

Eric

Is this a result of tropical storm Andrea going through, she did bring some strong rains up the coast. Also strong winds may have moved the dish slightly.

 

[DNSTrainer]

. . . . My results are that I am getting signal that is in line with the listed values for the Charlotte DMA, with 3 exceptions. I am getting nothing on sats 61.5, 72.7, or 77 or its transponders. . .
Eric

Sounds to me like you have a Western Arc Dish, which sees the 119, 110, and 129 orbital locations. If you see nothing on the Eastern Arc orbitals (61.5, 72.7, and 77), but are still receiving a signal, then you must be getting that signal from the WA. In most cases, it is either WA or EA (there are some exceptions).

If, as you stated, your signal is in line with the listed values for the Charlotte DMA, then the longer than normal rain fade outages are simply due to larger than normal storms.

BTW, the 72.7 orbital is normally listed as 72, much the same as 118.7 being listed as 118.

 

[eacalhoun]

UPDATE...

Okay, got around to digging deeper here. Last night, I hit MENU-6-1-3 and waited for the information to populate. It showed I'm getting sats 110, 119, and 129 - that's it. So, I go to the "check switch" page (but do not perform a check switch) and look at my signals for sats 110. 119, and 129 as well as selecting the transponders listed on the previously referenced spreadsheet. Here's what I'm getting, which I believe to be well above the minimum with a few exceeding the average values stated on the spreadsheet - my signals are in parentheses - "T" is for transponder:

For 110 - T14 (73) - T15 (73) - T16 (73) - T21 (73)
For 119 - T14 (71) - T15 (82) - T16 (81) - T21 (78)
For 129 - T19 (46) - T20 (54) - T29 (58) - T30 (54)

So, it looks like I've just been a victim of slow-moving (drenching) t-storms, right?

Eric

 

[thomasjk]

Most likely cause. I lost the signal the other night during the intense rainstorms. I believe the mountains were worse than Charlotte.

 

[3HaloODST]

Signals look fine. Rest assured it was definitely the storms. Rain fade is a fact of life with the Ku band, unfortunately. Even with the best signal on clear days and the largest dish possible, at various points during rain fade there is absolutely no signal making it to the ground from the sats, due to attenuation from water droplets. Ironically it's the clouds, not the rain, that causes "rain fade." So how strongly it's pouring often times has nothing to do with the signal loss. It can be pouring rain and yet you still have signal, while at other times there is no rain at all and signal loss from a cloud many miles away (particularly southwest/southeast clouds.)

 

[eacalhoun]

Signals look fine. Rest assured it was definitely the storms. Rain fade is a fact of life with the Ku band, unfortunately. Even with the best signal on clear days and the largest dish possible, at various points during rain fade there is absolutely no signal making it to the ground from the sats, due to attenuation from water droplets. Ironically it's the clouds, not the rain, that causes "rain fade." So how strongly it's pouring often times has nothing to do with the signal loss. It can be pouring rain and yet you still have signal, while at other times there is no rain at all and signal loss from a cloud many miles away (particularly southwest/southeast clouds.)

Oh, yes, I understand that "rain fade" is a simplistic term for ALL customers to understand w/o getting into a scientific/meteorlogical discussion that the culprit is the cloud producing the rain. I've experienced what you described in your last sentence. Many times, I've had "rain fade" several minutes before the onset of rain and on some rare occasions the rain never made it to my house. But the rain and its cloud were close enough to kill my signal for a few minutes.

Eric