Satellite Signal Strength?

[edtorious]

Hello, we are having rainshower here in San Diego, California as I type this, this is the first time I'm seeing how the rain is affecting my voom. So here's what happened, when my voom was first installed w/ 18" dish, the voom got a signal strength of 96 and so I was setup that way. So now w/ the rain my voom signal strength went down to 94 and at one time I saw it went down to 92 , and mind you this is just a rainshower and not a rainstorm. The rain is even on and off. Although I didn't notice any disintegration in the picture so I can't complain but then I'm no expert in determining if the quality of the picture went down . Even the SD channels or my local channels looks ok. So my question is should I get an upgrade of my satellite dish to 24"? I'm worried that if San Diego gets a rainstorm the signal will get worse? Will voom authorize an upgrade if I complain that my voom signal strength went down to 92? or does Install Inc authorize them? How does it work if I want to upgrade? Any help or advise will be greatly appreciated. I'll call CSR after I hear from you guys. Thank you.

 

[TYORK]

First of all you will not lose a picture until it get below 85 maybe even 80 , I am not sure how offten you get these rain storm or shower but until you lose signal i am sure they will not upgrade a dish if you tell them your signal got down to a 92. And Installs Inc can not approve this for you voom has to Installs has nothing to do with the approvel part of voom. I mean you can try to get one and might get lucky exspecially if there are alot of complaint in your area and they install alot of the 24' dish. So it will not hurt to try to get one the worse they can say is no.

 

[jimmykce1]

I would call Voom and tell them where you live and that you experience rain fade problems and would like to upgrade to a larger dish. I believe people on the west cost can get a larger dish.

 

[richard_rd]

First of all you will not lose a picture until it get below 85 maybe even 80 , I am not sure how offten you get these rain storm or shower but until you lose signal i am sure they will not upgrade a dish if you tell them your signal got down to a 92. And Installs Inc can not approve this for you voom has to Installs has nothing to do with the approvel part of voom. I mean you can try to get one and might get lucky exspecially if there are alot of complaint in your area and they install alot of the 24' dish. So it will not hurt to try to get one the worse they can say is no.

A signal strengh of 96 is very good. I live in Pennsylvania and have had VOOM, DirecTV, and DishNetwork and all of them had good signal strengths of 94 to 98% on clear days. But this is satalite folks, during a heavy T-Storm or heavy snowfall you will loose your signal for a few minutes until the heavy stuff passes by, Usually less then 3 minutes for T-storm, Heavy snow you may have to sweep the dish with broom.

In my opinion you should not bother VOOM to install the new 24" dish. Since your signal is a strong 96 you will loose signal a few times a year and only during the severest weather. This is one of the reasons that VOOM is having trouble surviving, people want perfect reception 100% of the time, learn to live with 99.98% of the time and save voom the expense of dispatching to upgrade your antenna. And even if you get the 24" there still is a good chance that during that same heavy T-Storm you will still loose signal for 3 minutes.

Anything over 90% on a clear day is considered good signal strength, 95 and above is great!!!

 

[SeattleVoomer1]

Rain in San Diego? I thought it wasn't allowed!

Living up here in "rain country" we did lose siganl off and on in moderate to heavy rain. Checked with VOOM and was told we were in one of the ZIP codes slated for an automatic upgrade. Not sure about the automatic but upon calling set up a date and had an upgrade to a 24" antenna. Have had one period of less than 30 min. where we suffered partial or complete loss of signal but we had record rainfall that day and the signal was good down to SSQ of 72. By the way, when you lose signal you will know it. The PQ doesn't get worse. You will get pizilation or complete loss of the picture as this is digital and not analog where the PQ would slowly get worse until you lost the whole thing.

So, I'd give VOOM a call. If you qualify let them(Installs, Inc.) fit it into their schedule since you don't seem to be having any problems yet.

Still enjoying HDTV under slighty foggy (where's the rain?) Seattle skies, Gill

 

[Shawn95GT]

I asked for a 24" dish (Phoenix, AZ) and Voom said if they can get it to the installer in time they'll install it. If it doesn't make it, they'll put the 18" on till they can upgrade it.

Out here the slightest cloud in the sky would make my D* crap out.

Shawn

 

[The Stone Man]

Voom installed January 2004. Still using the original 18" dish. The dish has been through rain, freezing rain, light rain, heavy rain, fog, light snow, wet snow, heavy snow, ice, etc. The picture holds steady until satellite signal strength drops to about 72. The picture turns into a indistinguishable mass of pixels, or goes completely black. The longest it ever lasted was about half an hour, and it has happened 4 times in 13 months.

When it happens, it knocks out the satellite signal, but we still have OTA since we have dedicated lines for each application. I simply switch to watch something on OTA, or watch a DVD. It is a little annoying, but if that was my biggest problem in life, I'd be a lucky man.