OK - after experiencing rain fade with the 18" dish, I requested a larger dish. I got a 28" dish a few weeks ago, and while it improved my signal somewhat, I still get rain fade with even a light rain. I live in SE South Dakota, have a clear line-of-sight, and do not have diplexors or attenuators. The cable run is perhaps 80 feet. My signal strength as reported on the installation menu was 95, while it was 85 on the status screen (ch 412 Fox News).
Figuring it was an alignment issue, I got out the radios and my son and I set about re-peaking it. After re-peaking it was exactly as it was before - no improvement. Wouldn't you think that with a 28" dish, clear LOS, decent inclination, re-peaking, and no diplexor that I should be getting a better signal than 85?
Since I have 2 cable runs, I am thinking of swapping the cables to see if one cable may be lossy. When I had DirecTV, the 18" dish worked great in all but total downpours (using different cable run). Granted - their sat was positioned better and probably higher power. Any thoughts on what I should be checking next - or is 85 about as good as it gets?
Figuring it was an alignment issue, I got out the radios and my son and I set about re-peaking it. After re-peaking it was exactly as it was before - no improvement. Wouldn't you think that with a 28" dish, clear LOS, decent inclination, re-peaking, and no diplexor that I should be getting a better signal than 85?
Since I have 2 cable runs, I am thinking of swapping the cables to see if one cable may be lossy. When I had DirecTV, the 18" dish worked great in all but total downpours (using different cable run). Granted - their sat was positioned better and probably higher power. Any thoughts on what I should be checking next - or is 85 about as good as it gets?
