Holy Rain fade batman!

[Shawn95GT]

In spite of having 96 Signal when it's clear out, I still lost signal when the rain came today. It went all the way down to zero.

It went dead for about 10 mins and then it came back.

Now I'm a reasonable person... I figure a nasty cloud is going to take out satelight every once and a while.

Concidering the signal went to nothing... should I still call and ask for the dish upgrade? I asked for the 24" up front but of course the installer brought a 18" dish.

Shawn

 

[Sean Mota]

if you are prompt to get a lot of rain, yes. Here in NYC we get storms that will knock any in the summer during T-Storms. They are few and very infrequent. It is up to you to decide.

 

[richard_rd]

Even with the 24" dish, if a heavy rain cloud gets between your dish and the bird you will still loose your signal. I live in PA and have dishnetwork (35" superdish) and Voom 18" dish. They both go out the same amount of times a year. You can upgrade to 24" but you will still have rain fade pblms. Some people get confused because the signal might go out and it is not actually raining were they are located, but remember that Tstorms are usually very small area wise and it is possible it is raining hard 10 miles away from were you live and the dish is pointing right through that area.

It is common with sat service to loose your signal for 3-10 minute periods as heavy rain rolls through. I have never actually counted them , but i would guess that i loose signal maybe 20-30 times a year because of weather. You just have to get used to it with sat service. Usually the signal is back in 3-10 minutes. You usually only loose signal during downpour type rain, in moderate rain the signal will hang in there, but when it is the type that would bother your visability if you were driving a car expect to loose your signal.

 

[n0qcu]

Its LOSE not loose.

 

[Shawn95GT]

That has been my experience in the past with D* service. It kind of just comes with the territory.

Thinking back I don't think a larger dish would have been of much help. It wasn't like it was hovering around 70% or anything... it was down to absolutely zero and when it came back it shot right up to the high 70's and within a minute it was back up.

A 24" dish certainly won't hurt anything but it probably isn't worth the hassel.

Shawn

 

[PSB]

Get a 30" dish and forget about it! Even then sometimes you will lose signal in the very worst weather, thats satellite technology. Wait a few minutes and you are back in action : )

 

[Shawn95GT]

I think it my case it wasn't the dish getting wet that was causing the issue so much as the signal trying to pass though a thunder cloud.

I have a surplus Primestar dish in the backyard.... Maybe I'll put it up with a D* LNB for comparison's sake.

Shawn

 

[who_the]

Well, if we're going to get picky...

Its LOSE not loose.

Right. And, it's, not its.

Question on rain fade: Is it rain at the dish, at the horizon, or somewhere else, that is the main culprit? Just curious.

 

[n0qcu]

I know, I just didn't feel like going back and editing.

Basically it can be rain anywhere in the path between the dish and the satellite.

 

[SeattleVoomer1]

Actually, you have to watch out for those "loose" signal. Watch your back!

However, at the moment still enjoying HDTV under very, very clear Seattle skies,Gill

 

[Shawn95GT]

Actually, you have to watch out for those "loose" signal. Watch your back!

However, at the moment still enjoying HDTV under very, very clear Seattle skies,Gill

Speaking of loose signal - hehe

I unplugged the cable from the wall for the Voom reciever while watching a local OTA channel and much to my suprise the channel just kept on playing like nothing was wrong. It did studder here and there but the 'no sat / no OTA' performance was pretty impressive with just a piece of coax hanging off of the box!

Shawn