rain fade

[sdsumann]

so here is my issue. I have a 522 and a new yellow lab. I live in fontana ca which is outside of la and as most of you know I have been getting terrible rains here for like 14 days in a row.

Long story short my dog ate through the rg6 that feeds my 522. so i did a temp fix and bought a barrel connector and crimp on connectors to fix the problem. so far so good.

the rains come and i have severe rain fade issues. tv is basically unwatchable with even the lowest drizzle.

obviously i am going to re run the rg6 to the switch with compression connector so that will relieve the crimp on connector problem but i have other questions.

First off what should be my average reading for 119 and 110 i think my dish may be out of alignment due to high winds in the area.

second would a bigger dish help? if so what size and how do i mount it to an eve or stucco wall? do i use the same lnb that is on my dish now? any help would be appreciated.

I have to prepare for my 2wire sbc box that is coming out i am counting down the days that box looks sweet. I know scott loves it but does not know when it will come out. I am hoping 6 months or less then i can get my 1080p samsung dlp and live high on the hog.

Tyler

 

[SimpleSimon]

Use transponders 11 & 12 for strength comparisons. You should be getting well over 80, and 100 is not uncommon. Note that is DOES vary by receiver model.

You do NOT need a bigger dsh in SoCal.

 

[TNGTony]

I have been using an F barrel connector to join a 50 foot cable to a hundred foot cable for 7 years on one of my receivers. I have TWO barrel connectors hooked up on another cable run connecting two 50 foot cables and one 40 foot cable going to another receiver for 6 years. Neither had any rain-fade problems at all (no more rain fade than any other receiver I've used on other "straight" connections). The signal levels on all three receivers (4 tuners) are comparable. One of the 721 tuners has a barrel connector in the line from the satellite dish. Both tuners show similar signal at all times.

If the connectors are all tight, the center conductor undamaged and the shielding in good shape, using a good quality F barrel adaptor is not a problem.

Good signal with a clear sky should be a minimum of 80 on most receivers. As Simon stated, getting 100 is also not uncommon in SoCal.

Another problem might be water in the line on the switch. When my SW64 switch was dying a slow death, it read as multiple rain fade events during a very light drizzle. I knew there had to be something else wrong. That is how I discovered the SW64 was failing due to moisture. I also discovered that one of the feeders to the SW64 from the Dish had a center pin that was corroded. I snipped back the corroded part and attached a new connector...three years later, everything is still okay.

Do you need a bigger dish? No. Not in SoCal anyway.

Would a bigger dish guard against rain fade? Yes, but it would not eliminate rain fade. In that part of the country, the cost of the dish would far outweigh any benefits. It's not really worth it. A well aimed dish500 should get a strong enough signal to guard against rain fade except in the biggest storms with very thick rain clouds. Remember it's the thickness of the clouds (the amount of water between you and the satellite) that causes rain fade. It's not necessarily the rain itself.

See ya
Tony

 

[WeeJavaDude]

Just as a reference point.. I am in SoCal (Orange County) and the last set of storms that came through resulted in some rain fade situations. Not all the time, but I did get my share. This is the first time in a long time I saw rain fade in SoCal. I checked the dish signals and it looked like it dropped 30+ points during the storms and then some.

Also caused me a lot of dropped OTA.

 

[sdsumann]

I would assume that rain fade would occur, I am just trying to make sure thats its a normal occurence. I have a dp 34 switch under an eve so it should be protected from moisture.

My bigest problem now is that my dog chewed through the rg6 the installer had placed on the outside of my home. I have a spool of rg6 with compression connectors and the tool to re wire it with new rg6 once i can borrow the ladder. so that problem will be solved.

I am just concerned that my dish has gone out of alignment, maybe just slightly. I know that signal strengh varies with transponders but with the 125 point scale i would love to get 100 that way if it drops 30 points in rain i should still be ok with 70 right? I am glad to hear that a bigger dish is not necessary because my wife would have issues with that. I called dish and they want 99 bucks for service call, I can do it myself but need some pointers on dish aiming. My wife might get annoyed just looking at the signal strength numbers and playing a guessing game. what tools are needed to align dish compass level anything else? how do you rough in then fine tune the dish?

sorry but im a newbie to the dish pointing affair.

 

[SimpleSimon]

At this point, the only thing that might help is a signal meter - but for the final tuning, the actual receiver is better. In other words, you've already got everything you need.

If your wife doesn't care enough to help you, find another wife.

Actually, it's better to just crank the volume all the way up and do it by ear - at least in the beginning.

Your signal is in the "decent" category - just because you can see TV. This means you're already WAY beyod the "rough in" stage. From here, it's VERY small moves. Start by pressing "a little" on an edge of the dish. You obviously don't want to press hard enough to break anything, but some firmness should be necessary.

The receiver is slow to respond to signal changes - much patience is needed, but you'll get the idea of how much knudge makes how much of a change.

If you're lucky, you'll get an idea of which way it needs to move at this point.

Once you've got a bit of a feel for it, then and ONLY then, loosen the azimuth or elevation bolt(s) a LITTLE - there needs to be some drag or you'll lose what you've got and end up having to start over. It's a good idea to mark things before you start - just in case.

P.S. You must have one STRANGE dog to have chewed up RG-6 where you need a ladder to fix it.