Lost Signal in Snow

[az99]

So we not only lose signal every time it rains hard, we lose it when it snows also? Been out since 8AM. EA sats with no obstructions and peaked to best possible by tech.
I never had these problems with DTV.
Why is the Dish equip. so poor or the signal so weak?

 

[JSheridan]

Go out and sweep the snow off your dish and you'll be back in business.

 

[dwarren2]

It's heavey wet snow that cases the problem. One way to fight it is get a super soaker, fill with hot water and melt the snow. It's not Dish's fault that rain absorbs the signal. Blame a higher being











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[KazooGuy]

I feel your pain brother! I had been a happy DISH customer for 11 years and this past Spring I get migrated from the Western Arc to the Eastern and every time it rained moderately I lost my picture. Before that I could count on one hand over 11 years the number of time I lost my picture during a sever thunderstorm. And perhaps once a winter with wet snow I had to clean the dish off to get my picture back. Once during a blizzard where it was snowing 2 inches an hour the signal levels were not effected at all. Glad I pulled the plug when I did after the techs told me they could not figure out why my signal levels were so low on Eastern Arc birds. They tried everything new dish, new cabling, new LNB, nothing blocking the dish, but I was stuck in the mid 30s on most transponders. They never once talked about moving me back to the Western Arc, so I pulled the plug and went OTA for this fall and am now with my local cable co.

 

[dwarren2]

I remember wading thru deep snow to sweep snow off my big dish when the weight of the snow would deflect the dish.

 

[garys]

If the dish is tightened properly, it should hold snow but it would still have it's limits. As far as signal loss in rain, you may to check your signal strength, your dish may need to be tweeked. Heavy rain would cause loss of signal no matter if it's Dish or Direct.

 

[Templeton0543]

Blame a higher being

Blame a higher being? You mean there's something higher than Charlie? Oh my....
I have friends that have a place pretty high up in the Sierras and get some pretty good snow storms, only lose signal when snow builds up on dish, not a problem I have. And while we do get some pretty heavy rain on occasion, I have never in 20 years lost signal to rain fade while watching tv

 

[boba]

Remember with wet snow accumulating on the dish the microwave signal has to go through the snow to get to the dish. The dish is a reflector so the weakened signal has to reflect through that layer of snow to get back to the LNB.

 

[dare2be]

EA is definitely more susceptible to rain/snow fade than WA. It has been reported here by many people.

I can't imagine it's the elevation (should make it better). Could it be the modulation (8SPK vs. QSPK)?

 

[boba]

EA is definitely more susceptible to rain/snow fade than WA. It has been reported here by many people.

I can't imagine it's the elevation (should make it better). Could it be the modulation (8SPK vs. QSPK)?

How about forward error correction (FEC).

 

[TheKrell]

EA is definitely more susceptible to rain/snow fade than WA. It has been reported here by many people.

But not me! I had mixed arc and I cannot tell you the number of times I lost signal on 110 or 119 or (generally) both, while my 61.5 dish w/locals or foreign language programming soldiered on w/o a problem. Of course it too would go out very occasionally, but my subjective feeling is that my 1000.4 is as good (infrequent outages) as my wing dish on 61.5 was. I think this was solely due to the low elevation angle going through more atmosphere and dense thunderclouds to 110/119.

 

[Lue]

East Arc in mid Nebraska is pitiful, Dish switched us from Western Arc to Eastern, now when a medium cloud/rain comes it goes out every time, never had these problems on Western Arc. Dish is aimed spot on with no obstructions. When the snow starts flying around here and we experience even more outages, we will be forced to reevaluate our provider.
Why is Dish instructing the service guys to switch the Arcs?
Will Dish come back out and switch us back to the West Arc with no hassels or fees?

 

[dwarren2]

If the dish is tightened properly, it should hold snow but it would still have it's limits. As far as signal loss in rain, you may to check your signal strength, your dish may need to be tweeked. Heavy rain would cause loss of signal no matter if it's Dish or Direct.

Remember I said Big Dish. 10 ft C-band dish, not Dish dish.

 

[david_jr]

Had to sweep snow off our dish today. 12 inches of heavy wet snow so far and still coming down. Swept the dish and signal came right back on.

 

[Lue]

Had to sweep snow off our dish today. 12 inches of heavy wet snow so far and still coming down. Swept the dish and signal came right back on.

Where are you located?
Eastern Arc seems to work better in some regions and not work so well in others.

 

[MikeD-C05]

All I can say is that this time of the year I am glad I live in southeast Texas ,where we rarely get ice or snow. HURRICANES yes, snow no. In fact the hurricane season ends on November 30th. Made through another year with out one.

 

[Tampa8]

I have long reported EA has signals blocked sooner and longer than the WA, I have both in CT and WA in Tampa. I had EA in Fl and switched to WA when DISH changed the recommended ARC, because of exactly this. In the middle of the afternoon in Summer downpours either will go out, but WA not as long or as often.
In Ct it's an easy answer why my WA just about never has lost a signal from snow but it's a little more routine for the EA, it's the angle of the DISH. WA is closer to straight up and down, EA is angled upwards and catches the snow. Luckily most snow is the dryer type and does not block the signal. But if it stays on the DISH and the sun comes out, the moisture builds and then the signal may go out.

All that said however, if the OP has the signal go out everytime it rains something is wrong. My EA rarely goes out when it rains in CT (WA even less often) and when it does it may not even be raining, it's the dense storm head passing by. It's not unusual for it not to go out when the actual rain arrives, but only the couple of minutes as the Storm head approaches.
Also, I have never in something like 15 years had the signal go out simply because it was snowing no matter how hard or heavy, on either ARC, it's always the build up on the DISH.

 

[TheKrell]

I have long reported EA has signals blocked sooner and longer than the WA, I have both in CT and WA in Tampa. I had EA in Fl and switched to WA when DISH changed the recommended ARC, because of exactly this. In the middle of the afternoon in Summer downpours either will go out, but WA not as long or as often.

I think that is easily explained by geography. For those of us looking low to the west over land, these outages are more frequent than an EA dish. From Tampa, western arc satellites are (mostly) over water.

In Ct it's an easy answer why my WA just about never has lost a signal from snow but it's a little more routine for the EA, it's the angle of the DISH. WA is closer to straight up and down, EA is angled upwards and catches the snow.

I can attest to the snow problem in my own experience as well. More snow collects on wa than ea dishes. Wet sticky snow is the worst. Dry snow (when the dish is below freezing) just slides off without sticking.

 

[Lue]

I think that is easily explained by geography. For those of us looking low to the west over land, these outages are more frequent than an EA dish. From Tampa, western arc satellites are (mostly) over water.


This does not explain why the Eastern Arc is no good for the central portion of U.S..
Why is Dish pushing subscribers off the Western Arc in the central states?
I want my Western Arc back.

 

[AJF]

My dish is blocked with snow right now but can't seem to tune into my OTA channels:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/dish-blocked-with-snow-how-to-get-to-ota-on-722.344352/