We have been getting LOTS and LOTS of rain at my house over the last three months, and I was losing the satellite signal a lot more that usual. Last Thursday we had a power outage during one storm and when the power came back on I was getting a "Complete Signal Loss" message so I just watched some programs I had on the DVR. I took Friday off, so I could cut the grass, and when I turned the TV on it showed a "Partial Signal Loss".
When they put the Dish antenna up 8 years ago the tech put it in the front yard with it pointing through a clearing in the trees and when they put an HD antenna up last year they put it in the same place pointing to the western arc. In those 8 years the Crepe Myrtle trees have grown by leaps and bounds and are in full bloom now. When I got the partial signal loss, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, I went to the set up menu and the receiver could not get a signal from satellite 129. I went outside and look from behind the antenna to what it was pointed at and figured there was no way it would ever get 129 since it would be the lowest on the horizon and the trees were only going to get bigger. My internet connection at the house sucks so much that I figured I would call Dish rather than get on SatelliteGuys and contact a DIRT member. I was prepared to have to go through the scripted menu with a CSR having me do the reset, then unplug the receiver, yada yada yada. I got a rep on the line without much of a wait and told him what was going on and then I told him that I was 99% sure that the trees were blocking the antenna and that was why I wasn't getting 129. To my surprise he said that he would transfer me to someone in tech support and they would schedule a tech to come out, just like that no hassle or anything. When the tech support person came on the phone she asked me a coulple of questions and then set up the technician to come out on Sunday morning, since I wasn't going to be home on Saturday.
Sunday morning the technician came out, took one look at the antenna and agreed that the trees were blocking the signal. Then he looked all over the house for another place to mount the antenna and decided he would mount it on the roof. He is a brave man. My house is elevated 8 feet off the ground and it is a 2 story house from there, so he was up pretty high when he mounted the antenna up near the peak of the roof. He did say that I probably had another 30 years before the trees get tall enough to block it this time, though.
When they put the Dish antenna up 8 years ago the tech put it in the front yard with it pointing through a clearing in the trees and when they put an HD antenna up last year they put it in the same place pointing to the western arc. In those 8 years the Crepe Myrtle trees have grown by leaps and bounds and are in full bloom now. When I got the partial signal loss, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, I went to the set up menu and the receiver could not get a signal from satellite 129. I went outside and look from behind the antenna to what it was pointed at and figured there was no way it would ever get 129 since it would be the lowest on the horizon and the trees were only going to get bigger. My internet connection at the house sucks so much that I figured I would call Dish rather than get on SatelliteGuys and contact a DIRT member. I was prepared to have to go through the scripted menu with a CSR having me do the reset, then unplug the receiver, yada yada yada. I got a rep on the line without much of a wait and told him what was going on and then I told him that I was 99% sure that the trees were blocking the antenna and that was why I wasn't getting 129. To my surprise he said that he would transfer me to someone in tech support and they would schedule a tech to come out, just like that no hassle or anything. When the tech support person came on the phone she asked me a coulple of questions and then set up the technician to come out on Sunday morning, since I wasn't going to be home on Saturday.
Sunday morning the technician came out, took one look at the antenna and agreed that the trees were blocking the signal. Then he looked all over the house for another place to mount the antenna and decided he would mount it on the roof. He is a brave man. My house is elevated 8 feet off the ground and it is a 2 story house from there, so he was up pretty high when he mounted the antenna up near the peak of the roof. He did say that I probably had another 30 years before the trees get tall enough to block it this time, though.
