All of you that say you never lose signal...

[cfb]

Yep i'm sure geographical location also has a lot to do with it. I seem to have heard of more people in the northern latitudes having trouble than the southcentral and southwestern areas.

All of my directv experiences have been in california. We do have some hellacious rainy weather in the winter but can count on 8 months without much more than excessive sunshine.

I also have heard that some lnb's and switches start losing sensitivity in colder weather.

 

[cfb]

Other thing that occurred to me with regards to msajeff's comment about electricity in the air.

If you have an ungrounded dish and run a lot of air across it, it'll gather a nice static charge. Thats gotta go somewhere and if the system isnt properly grounded, there arent a lot of options.

A whole lot of directv installs arent grounded properly. In fact, I've had three directv contractor installs and none of them were grounded by the installer, who assured me there was no way to do it because the ground points they could use were too far away from where the dish would be mounted. I ended up grounding those myself through an attic or crawl space to the main electrical ground.

I'd bet at least some of these signal loss problems are caused by a static discharge from an ungrounded or improperly grounded dish.

 

[Bill_KY]

How do you do it? There are dark clouds right in my dish's LOS right now, and as soon as they approached, bam, searching for signal. Thunder and lightning, and pouring rain will join in the next 10 minutes. Is it just an unlucky area(Jacksonville, FL) where I get bad storms every day compared to living in the southwest? Ah well, at least my signal goes up right after the storm blows past, unlike those with Comcast

We have had Direct for for eight years now, the only times we lose signals is when there is a bad storm approaching. Or if there is snow and ice on the dish (we have a long pole with a broom to handle that). I see it as a minor inconvenience.

 

[Slick Vic]

Other thing that occurred to me with regards to msajeff's comment about electricity in the air.

If you have an ungrounded dish and run a lot of air across it, it'll gather a nice static charge. Thats gotta go somewhere and if the system isnt properly grounded, there arent a lot of options.

A whole lot of directv installs arent grounded properly. In fact, I've had three directv contractor installs and none of them were grounded by the installer, who assured me there was no way to do it because the ground points they could use were too far away from where the dish would be mounted. I ended up grounding those myself through an attic or crawl space to the main electrical ground.

I'd bet at least some of these signal loss problems are caused by a static discharge from an ungrounded or improperly grounded dish.

so you basically introduced a ground into your home from the dish? What do you think would happen if your dish got struck by lightning? As far as the subs are concerned, thier idiots. Ground only has to be 20ft max from where the ground block is even it means wrapping the house with cable to be able to get a decent ground.

 

[raoul5788]

so you basically introduced a ground into your home from the dish? What do you think would happen if your dish got struck by lightning? As far as the subs are concerned, thier idiots. Ground only has to be 20ft max from where the ground block is even it means wrapping the house with cable to be able to get a decent ground.

I don't know what your local code is, but you might want to check the NEC.

 

[Slick Vic]

I don't know what your local code is, but you might want to check the NEC.

Geez, you make it seem like I'm making this stuff up to be a douche. This is how we are told to do it.

 

[raoul5788]

Geez, you make it seem like I'm making this stuff up to be a douche. This is how we are told to do it.

I don't think, nor did I say you are a douche. If I thought so, I would say it. I am sure you are doing what your boss says to do. My point is that you aren't nearly following the NEC with your grounding technique. It MAY be okay where you are, but not here in CT. Where I am you have to ground within 5 feet of where the water service pipe enters the house, assuming it is copper.

 

[vurbano]

i live in florida and my dish is peaked. i have high signals. if a storm with very thick clouds comes in it will knock out your signal for a few minutes. nothing can be done about that. it's more of an issue if every little storm knocks out the signal.i don't experience much rain fade but it's impossible to say that we will never experience it. it happens.

Thats what I experienced. Its just something you live with if you have satellite. I think all of my levels were 95-100 normally

 

[src]

I just called DirecTV about this exact problem. We lose our signal for 45 minutes to an hour every time it rains. It can be overcast (with no rain) and we're getting pixelated signals. I had had enough last night. Was happening again beofre we went to bed so I said I would call to have them re-alling the dish, after all. I am paying for the protection plan.

I call when I get home today and find out they won't send anyone unless we have a problem RIGHT NOW. All I told her was thank you and that answered every question I needed to know. Verizon is breaking ground in my area so I will deal with this until then. I've been a subscriber for 8 years but I won't put up with this.

I do actually have a question though. If I cancel the protection plan and prove to them I have bad signals, do I still have to pay for the truck to come out? Sorry, I'll calm down. I just got off the phone with them....

 

[Lkr]

How do I know if my Dish is grounded properly?

 

[cfb]

so you basically introduced a ground into your home from the dish?

No, I ran an insulated ground strap from the dish and the grounding block to a screw in the frame of the electrical box, just like its supposed to be done.

Ground only has to be 20ft max from where the ground block is even it means wrapping the house with cable to be able to get a decent ground.

As I understand it, most codes require the dish to be grounded directly to the homes single ground rod or to the electrical box's frame, providing thats grounded to the single earth ground.

One thing I hadnt thought about because I've never done it...if you have a pole mounted dish and the metal of the pole is in contact with the earth, I wonder if thats satisfactory and isnt going to create a ground loop? I know the ground rod is supposed to be ~6' deep and thats deeper than most poles are set.

Or would it be better to isolate the dish and ground block from the pole and run a separate ground line to the homes earth ground?

 

[raoul5788]

How do I know if my Dish is grounded properly?

Contact your local electrical inspector and ask what the local code requires.

 

[Slick Vic]

How do I know if my Dish is grounded properly?

since your in Jax, you should see a splice where all 4 wires come in at on the outside before your wires enters the house, and a 10 gauge (green) ground wire going to the main house ground or the electrical box. If you dont see those you need to get into contact with directv and generate a service call for us to come out and put one in. be sure to check everywhere and let us know before calling.

 

[PMKS]

I live in South Texas, I used to get rain fade bad with the old single LNB 18" dish, even though I had a signal strength of 90-99 for all transponders.

Sometime around 1998-1999 I replaced my 18" dish with a pole mounted 36" primestar dish with a DirecTV LNB rigged up on it. The pole and grounding blocks were all grounded to a ground rod. This set-up worked extremely well and I rarely ever got rain fade. During hurricane Claudette in 2003, I watched TV until the power lines got knocked down .

So... Bigger dish equals less rain fade. some of the local installers used to sell an aftermarket single LNB 24" steel dish to help with rain fade.

But the 36" dish finally got the boot when I got my Slimline installed in 2007 on the same pole. The rain fade problems have returned, but not as bad as when I had an 18" dish. I wish they made a bigger dish for the slimline, I'd buy one. I thought about putting a Slimline LNB on one of the 36" primestar dishes I got stashed away, but the Primestar mount won't tilt...

I live in the sticks on 2.5 acres, so having a big dish is no problem, I can see how this would be a problem for those in the city, etc.

 

[Jimbo]

I live in South Texas, I used to get rain fade bad with the old single LNB 18" dish, even though I had a signal strength of 90-99 for all transponders.

Sometime around 1998-1999 I replaced my 18" dish with a pole mounted 36" primestar dish with a DirecTV LNB rigged up on it. The pole and grounding blocks were all grounded to a ground rod. This set-up worked extremely well and I rarely ever got rain fade. During hurricane Claudette in 2003, I watched TV until the power lines got knocked down .

So... Bigger dish equals less rain fade. some of the local installers used to sell an aftermarket single LNB 24" steel dish to help with rain fade.

But the 36" dish finally got the boot when I got my Slimline installed in 2007 on the same pole. The rain fade problems have returned, but not as bad as when I had an 18" dish. I wish they made a bigger dish for the slimline, I'd buy one. I thought about putting a Slimline LNB on one of the 36" primestar dishes I got stashed away, but the Primestar mount won't tilt...

I live in the sticks on 2.5 acres, so having a big dish is no problem, I can see how this would be a problem for those in the city, etc.

Interesting .....
The came out with the SlimLine for those that wanted somewhat SMALLER dish, I don't know if they make a BIGGER SlimLine ...

 

[lateachret]

I'm trying to find out what reception is like in southern Maine. I'll be moving from So. Cal. where we have no weather problems that impact reception, but don't know if it's smart to stay with Directv in Maine.

 

[Jimbo]

I'm trying to find out what reception is like in southern Maine. I'll be moving from So. Cal. where we have no weather problems that impact reception, but don't know if it's smart to stay with Directv in Maine.

Well that's quite a drastic change.
As for reception in Maine, I don't see why there would be any problems with getting D* there, I'm sure there are plenty of people with D* in Maine.

 

[cfb]

You can get it, but there might be a few differences.

In socal, you dont get snow, rain in the summer, no nor'easters, no weather below 30 degrees, yada yada yada...

 

[Jimbo]

You can get it, but there might be a few differences.

In socal, you dont get snow, rain in the summer, no nor'easters, no weather below 30 degrees, yada yada yada...

Yes, but if he's moving from SoCal to Maine, you would think he's aware that the climate is quite different and should be ready to adjust

 

[lateachret]

I Get That

You can get it, but there might be a few differences.

In socal, you dont get snow, rain in the summer, no nor'easters, no weather below 30 degrees, yada yada yada...

My questions is NOT about the differences in the weather. I know that. My question is about RECEPTION in southern maine with all the weather conditions you describe! I want to find out if others have ongoing reception problems with the weather up here OR is D* OK?