Losing signal during dark cloudy skies, no rain

[lwh1993]

During this weekend we had complete signal lost during Dark and cloudy skies, but no rain was occurring. Is this considered normal? My wife was really angry because if the signal goes out like that she's worried if we get any bad weather and we can't check in on the local weather.

I had to convince them to send out a Tech on Wednesday. I have a clear view of the sky without any obstructions or trees.

I've had satellite for the last 10 years and it seems like my latest time with Dish is the worst for reception issues.

 

[Bobby]

Those dark clouds have plenty of moisture in them and can block the signal. It doesn't have to be raining....

 

[Scherrman]

Generally the signal should not go out unless these are very large clouds such as wall clouds. Usually signal goes out right at the beginning of a storm when the wall clouds go over and then signal will come back even if it is raining. Very heavy rain can cause signal to go out too. If this happens a lot then I would suggest having your dish antenna repointed.

 

[garys]

You should also consider that even though it isn't raining at your location that clouds/storm isn't obstructing the signal between your dish and the sat. It is more likely your dish is just slightly misaligned and just needs a slight tweak.

 

[mitchflorida]

I actually get better reception when it is raining than when those big dark clouds gather with no rain at all.

 

[dvrexpander]

Remember how a satellite points guys, it goes at an angle. The storm approaches and you will lose it till its over head and raining which at that point its shooting right up under the storm even if it is raining you will have signal or at least most of it less pouring down. Also if the uplink in Wyoming is getting stormed on everyone will lose it and that happened 3-4 times last year.

 

[Tampa8]

You should not normally lose the signal with dark clouds unless they are the head storm of rain. On rare times it could happen if enough moisture is present. As mitchflorida said, actually during rain is less chance of losing the signal than the heavy clouds overhead. Very likely your dish needs to be aligned.

 

[Hall]

In my experience, mind you it's not that frequent, we lose signal before there's any rain coming down. I've always believed that heavy cloud cover caused outages more so than rain.

 

[Scherrman]

In my experience, mind you it's not that frequent, we lose signal before there's any rain coming down. I've always believed that heavy cloud cover caused outages more so than rain.

That's usually how it goes. If mine is starting to go out then I know the storm is here. I can look outside and see the front of the storm. After the first 5 to 10 minutes my signal comes back even though it's raining pretty hard.

 

[rusty813]

We have a lot of rain where we live in Hilo, Hawaii. Normally rain is not problem at all, my signal strength is between 20-50 on most channels since I am using the dish 1000.2. We don't get any signal loss issue, unless its a big black clouds and thunder like you describe or raining very heavily for long periods of time.

 

[SomeDishGuy]

Remember how a satellite points guys, it goes at an angle. The storm approaches and you will lose it till its over head and raining which at that point its shooting right up under the storm even if it is raining you will have signal or at least most of it less pouring down. Also if the uplink in Wyoming is getting stormed on everyone will lose it and that happened 3-4 times last year.

Yep, I have always explained it like this...the dish is usually aimed up at a 30-45 degree angle (yeah, it varies a lot depending on location). I will pull the weather map and see if there are any storms southwest/southeast of the customer (depending on location and WA/EA), especially in the 5-10 mile range away. Hypothetical, if the dish was aimed at 45 degrees, 10 miles south/southeast/southwest is about 53,000 feet, so a storm cloud that is 53,000 feet in elevation would cause a problem.

What's directly above you has little bearing, unless a lot of water is accumulating on the dish.

To the O.P., it really shouldn't cut out with light or even moderate rain. Others have said, the dish likely need repeaked.

 

[bigjohnok]

We have a lot of rain where we live in Hilo, Hawaii. Normally rain is not problem at all, my signal strength is between 20-50 on most channels since I am using the dish 1000.2. We don't get any signal loss issue, unless its a big black clouds and thunder like you describe or raining very heavily for long periods of time.

I live and work in tornado alley where giant anvil shaped wall clouds are common in the spring and not so common in the summer but when one of these giant wall clouds roll into the area forget about pulling any type of satellite signal.

 

[cashcobra]

I always recommend that people get an OTA tuner and antenna just for this reason.

 

[dvrexpander]

I always recommend that people get an OTA tuner and antenna just for this reason.

not everyone can get OTA channels... I can't get but one and that's a good day thanks to the Digital transition. I used to be able to get several analog stations when they bounced thru the mountains but ohh well lol

 

[Scherrman]

not everyone can get OTA channels... I can't get but one and that's a good day thanks to the Digital transition. I used to be able to get several analog stations when they bounced thru the mountains but ohh well lol

What lengths have you gone to in order to pick up the digital signal. I'm just curious because some people just try using their current setup and stop there when a new antenna up on the roof may get everything they are looking for.