Do I get Eastern or Western Arc?

[ecarl4100]

Quick question guys. I live about halfway between Nashville and Memphis, and get the Nashville local networks. I have a clear view of both the eastern and western arc views. All things considered, which antenna should I push to get, in terms of signal strength against rain fade and stuff? Please have patience with me, I've not posted here in a long time, and I couldn't see the technical forum I was used to.

Thanks

 

[TheKrell]

Yup; the technical forum got rolled into this one because of disuse.

If I were you, I'd go for Eastern Arc, because the elevation angle is much improved over Western Arc. On the other hand, if you get much snow, it is more likely to catch on an Eastern Arc dish. Which DMA are you in? (Without looking, I don't know, but you may not have a choice.)

 

[ecarl4100]

I'm in the Nashville DMA, and certainly like it more than the Memphis area.

 

[Laddyboy]

I'm in the Nashville DMA, and certainly like it more than the Memphis area.

I think Nashville is currently on both arcs.

 

[ecarl4100]

Will either arc give an advantage in regards to signal strength against rain fade?

 

[Tampa8]

In Ct though I don't lose the signal often at all, but it happens more on the Eastern Arc. In Tampa they changed installations from the Eastern Arc to the Western Arc to reduce rain fade. The change without a doubt reduced how many times I lost the signal in the heavy sub tropical rain we can get there. In an area with not too much heavy rain, probably no real difference.

 

[stardust3]

For western arc I like the 1000.4 with a wa lnb.

It's just a tad bigger than a 1k2 dish, it also gets a slightly better signal & is easier to fine tune.

If wa doesn't work out to your satisfaction it is easy enough to swap lnbs with ea & swing dish the other direction.

 

[TheKrell]

In Ct though I don't lose the signal often at all, but it happens more on the Eastern Arc. In Tampa they changed installations from the Eastern Arc to the Western Arc to reduce rain fade. The change without a doubt reduced how many times I lost the signal in the heavy sub tropical rain we can get there. In an area with not too much heavy rain, probably no real difference.

I have seen you relate this story before, and I have got to believe it's your local Tampa conditions. Or are you saying you observed the same thing in CT?

The higher elevation angle of EA will put less atmosphere and weather in the LOS and therefore rain fade will be less with Eastern Arc. When I was mixed arc, I cannot tell you how many times I lost signal on 110/119, and never did (or for much less time) on 61.5. My experience is explained by the elevation angle, plain and simple. Less atmosphere in the LOS. I cannot explain your observations at all.

 

[dare2be]

I think it's the nature of the storm clouds in the south vs. the north. I somewhat agree with Tampa...after I switched to the EA, I noticed my frequency and duration of rain fade went up. Heavy storm cloud tops are higher in elevation compared to their width, thus a more vertical signal will have to pass through more interference than a more horizontal signal through a storm cloud off in the distance. That is my theory. We don't get regular rain here in FL...it's either sunny or a torrential downpour for 15 minutes.