Rain fade and SuperDish

[Hall]

Unless someone can prove to me that we have "thicker" rain nowadays than we used to in the past few years, this post won't be relevant. If the rain is the same, read on....

We had DirecTV for 2-3 years and in that time, I could count on two hands the number of times we lost signal because of rain or thunderstorm-related clouds. From the best of my recollection, my signal strengths were in the mid-80s.

In March, we switched to Dish and because of our location, got a SuperDish as our locals are on 105'. Here are ballpark numbers from each satellite and scrolling through the transponders on each:

105: 62 - 66 (I'm aware this is a low-power satellite and those numbers aren't unreasonable)

110: 120 - 124

119: 98 - 103

Problem is, and I hate to say it, but we lose signal quite often... In the months we've had Dish, I'd guess we've lost signal as many times as we lost it with DirecTV in those 2-3 years !!

Is it just a matter of fine-tuning the Dish more ?? Given the numbers for 110', it's not possible to keep those numbers that high and improve the others at the same time (is it ??). There has to be a tradeoff, right ?? Without understanding the shape of the dish itself, it makes sense that the "middle" is the best. If I were to improve 119', 105' could only worsen.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Actually, the SD's prime focus is pointed at 105. 110/119 are secondary - exactly because 105 is low-power. Your 110/119 numbers are fine - same or better than mine, and I don't get any rain fade to speak of - a little during the hail storms we've been having lately (almost daily), but not even a lost lock - just some pixellation.

So, all I can conclude is that the rain there must be REAL thick.

Can you get some signal numbers at the time of loss for us?

Oh - and I assume these numbers are for transponders 11 & 12 - that's 'standard' and lets us do apples to apples comparisons.

 

[Hall]

The numbers are from no transponders in particular. I simply scrolled through the list of all of them. Some got no signal at all, which I understand. The numbers are the highs and lows, from memory. For example, on the 110', first one came up 124... scrolled through and don't recall ever seeing anything lower than 120. They're not *exact*, mathmatical averages by any means.

 

[SimpleSimon]

OK - they're definitely good numbers. Depending on where you are, some spotbeam transponders could skew the results, so 11-12 is still a good idea.

 

[mike123abc]

105 is weak right now, the new satellite goes up soon (2 months) should help with your 105 signal since it will be more than 2x the power. You probably could get your 119 higher, it should be as high as your 110.

 

[lawman1627]

I am in Rochester NY and use the 121 for locals, I understand that its been a bad spring but I am having the same problem with rain fade, it is more frequent than with the 500 system. Is this common to the superdish? My number are 121- 76, 110- 108, 119- 116, all on transponder 11 wich is where my locals are. I still have the 500 up, so maybe next time this happens I will run a line from the 500 and see if it has the same problem.

 

[Hall]

Here you go:

Satellite: Transponder 11, 12
105: 65, 68
110: 103, 103
119: 102, 100

(I mentioned 120+ numbers and those are on transponders 02, 08, and others.

 

[SimpleSimon]

hall: Those numbers make more sense, and are quite nice.

You should NOT be getting rain fade enough to nail you (with the possible exception of the 105 bird of course). I have about the same numbers for 110/119, and I'm only getting a touch of fade (pixellation) during HEAVY rain/hail which has been common here this month.

 

[Stargazer]

The 119 numbers are fine where they are at. Rainfade will be less of an issue on 105 when the new satellite is launched and used so it may actually stay in longer than 110 and 119 in some cases. I would try to concentrate mainly on peaking 105 then 119 after that (if that is possible) since that is where most of the channels come from.

 

[DishBacker]

I get rain fade off and on, but it really depends on what direction the storm is coming from. I'm beginning to wonder if its more related to wind then rain. Plugged my 921 in last night into my dish 500 and it got:
110 - 105
119 - 123

The dish is on the south side of my house, but is exposed to the west as well. Maybe they should make a 3 sided mount that removes the wind hitting the dish from all but south/southwest and it will reduce the fade? Not that it would look pretty or anything... might as well get a BOD instead.

That's just my thought. It could just be something loose on my dish for all I know.

 

[shilton]

I do not have a Superdish...but when I went from my Dish300 to Dish500 I got triple the rainfade.
I asked Dish about it once and they said that yes...anytime you go from a dish concentrated right at one sat location and move to one that pulls from 2 or more, the dish becomes less focused and threfore rain fade may be more of an issue than in the past.

A single dish is pointed smack dab at the satellite in question whereas Superdish or Dish500 are kinda of pointed in between if you will. Tune it as much as you want...but it is not a good as a dedicated dish pointed at the spot you are looking at. Guess you have to learn to live with it.

For me, my TV has become my first warning that a storm is coming. If the dish fades out, its gonna rain

 

[LarryG]

On the 105 should the signal strength be checked on 11/12 or the TP that my locals are on? (in this case TP 7)

 

[Bruno]

Well i dont care about any of the transponders on the 105 bird except the one my Wichita locals are on. In my case its number 13 and the best i have been able to get it is 56 and let me tell you that $ucks.

If you peak any of the 105 transponders out it should be fine but its nice to know what the one with ur locals is.

 

[Tony S]

hall, since you are getting good signal strength numbers it might be worth checking all of the connectors that are outside. Rain leaking into the connectors could cause the "rain fade" problem that you are seeing.