Satellite and storms

mstregamer

SatelliteGuys Pro
Mar 12, 2008
182
0
Wisconsin
Just upgraded to EA also...Madison Wi. never had so many outages ever, anytime there are rain clouds it goes out....even when there is no rain, rarely had that happen when I had 110/119. Bummer.
 

s10zr2

SatelliteGuys Pro
Oct 26, 2006
241
3
Cincinnati, Ohio
Thats crazy about EA. I have had EA in Cincinnati for about 2 years now and it has hardly ever gone out. The only time it goes out is on really bad storms. The dish installer did a good job of peaking the dish, but I was able to use my receiver and peak it a little better. The one thing I noticed is that 61.5 goes out first. I thought they were replacing that sat sometime soon. Before EA I had a 1000.2 for western and it seemed to go out more often than EA.
 

Coach Knight

SatelliteGuys Pro
May 25, 2010
326
3
Wake Forest, NC
Just had the service for about a month but we've had terrible rain storms with very heavy rain during the time I've had it. I am on the EA and I can tell you I've had only one issue during which we were having near 60 mph winds and torrential rainfall. At that time we did lose satellite service for a little while. However, when the wind subsided, we actually regained signal even with the heavy rain continuing. It was raining so hard that the street looked like a small stream because the storm drains couldn't handle it fast enough. The neighbors said they had cable issues that night also.

Oh, and I had one night when storm clouds were moving in and it was raining pretty heavily that we lost satellite for like 10-15 seconds (literally that was all). By the time I found the remote it was back up and running.

Otherwise I've had crystal clear picture even when we've had very hard rainfall. I'm sure location and proper setup are critical to your experience, however.

My experience was that I'd have lost more time to the random DVR box re-boots with TWC than to this rain (some of the heaviest I've seen in a very long time).
 

JDG

Member
May 12, 2010
10
1
SC
Is what from a James Bond movie. Wrong thread? :confused:


The picture of the Arecibo Observatory. I think it was used in a Bond movie, but I'm not sure which.

As an aside, I think I need to install one of those on my roof to get EA. Back when I had my dish 500 hooked up, I thought all those people complaining about satellite going out every time it rained were either crazy or paid by the cable companies. Now I know better.
 

whatchel1

SatelliteGuys Master
Sep 30, 2006
9,098
51
Great High Plains
Not peaked correctly

The picture of the Arecibo Observatory. I think it was used in a Bond movie, but I'm not sure which.

As an aside, I think I need to install one of those on my roof to get EA. Back when I had my dish 500 hooked up, I thought all those people complaining about satellite going out every time it rained were either crazy or paid by the cable companies. Now I know better.

Sounds like you are like many that has a dish that isn't peaked correctly. What's you SS levels? I'm on EA but have 3 single LNB dishes. It's my understanding that the 1000.4 id a bit different than most techs have used and so a little trickier to peak.
 

Ghpr13

SatelliteGuys Pro
Pub Member / Supporter
Jul 1, 2009
3,212
0
Louisville, KY
Sounds like you are like many that has a dish that isn't peaked correctly. What's you SS levels? I'm on EA but have 3 single LNB dishes. It's my understanding that the 1000.4 id a bit different than most techs have used and so a little trickier to peak.

Just a few weeks ago a tech move my Dish off a pole and put it up on the roof. He said some trees were blocking the LOS...When it was on the pole I would lose my signal during heavy rains, now on the roof, I'm losing my signal whenever it's just heavy overcast...I'm thinking I need to have it re-peaked. (I'm on EA)

Ghpr13:)
 

DishSubLA

SatelliteGuys Master
Apr 9, 2006
5,450
1,416
Not so much by rain, but by the thickness of the clouds during storms.

Exactly. I have always suspected this and it was confirmed on a recent Tech Forum that it is not really the rain, but the density of the cloud that moves directly between you reflector and a satellite. My personal experience confirms this as in a heavy rain it will go out, but moments later it rains even harder but signal is restored because that particularly dense cloud has moved of out LOS for a particular satellite. One can even lose signal before the rain hits big time because, once again, it is the density of the cloud. If it is a big cloud or several very dense clouds or if they are moving slowly, it could take several minutes for signal to be restored.

Also really raining hard and lost one satellite, but not the other 2, then a bit later, the first sat signal is restored, but now a different sat signal is lost. That is the cloud moving. Of course, they can also block all your satellites at the same time.

Spotbeams, the ones meant for you, are least affected as their signal strength is MUCH higher than than the ConUS transponders. I can almost always watch my LIL's when all the other channels may be lost.
 

pabeader

SatelliteGuys Pro
Jul 18, 2004
1,709
0
OTP Georgia
how? doesn't your receiver stop working while any one satellite is blocked? any receiver i've had just goes to the aquiring satellite screen, and stays there until the cloud passes. can't even watch recorded programs.
 

jadiff

SatelliteGuys Family
Apr 21, 2006
79
3
Can someone tell us what our signal stregth should be? I know when the tech was last here he chose a certain transponder to check and I believe it was around 60, but some others were in the mid-upper 40's.

Can anyone give me advice on which transponder, sat, etc to check and what the strength should be?
 

RichManitoba

SatelliteGuys Pro
Mar 5, 2010
189
19
Madison, WI
Just upgraded to EA also...Madison Wi. never had so many outages ever, anytime there are rain clouds it goes out....even when there is no rain, rarely had that happen when I had 110/119. Bummer.

When I posted earlier, I didn't mention my location. I'm also in Madison, WI. I wonder if it's a location problem?

I've never had a "snow-out" problem, but I'm starting to wonder about it now.
 

whatchel1

SatelliteGuys Master
Sep 30, 2006
9,098
51
Great High Plains
Same problem

When I posted earlier, I didn't mention my location. I'm also in Madison, WI. I wonder if it's a location problem?

I've never had a "snow-out" problem, but I'm starting to wonder about it now.

I would say you have the same problem. The dish isn't peaked correctly. You may even have gotten the same installer or company.
 

Ghpr13

SatelliteGuys Pro
Pub Member / Supporter
Jul 1, 2009
3,212
0
Louisville, KY
how? doesn't your receiver stop working while any one satellite is blocked? any receiver i've had just goes to the aquiring satellite screen, and stays there until the cloud passes. can't even watch recorded programs.

Same here...no signal, no nothin'.

Ghpr13:(
 

Ringthane

SatelliteGuys Family
Jun 12, 2010
50
0
USA
I've been noticing this in Illinois as well. We've had Dish since April, and we've never had problems until the last week or two. First was the tornado that swept through our town last week (this I expect to happen - it was a tornado, after all), and then late one night this week and today. We've had storms before and everything's been fine, and then all of a sudden, it's going out every time it rains.

How would I tell if the dish needs to be readjusted? Everything seems fine otherwise.
 

gdarwin

Supporting Founder
Supporting Founder
Lifetime Supporter
Feb 9, 2005
4,299
113
Lousville, KY
how? doesn't your receiver stop working while any one satellite is blocked? any receiver i've had just goes to the aquiring satellite screen, and stays there until the cloud passes. can't even watch recorded programs.

You can watch recorded programs by selecting menu. There you can go to guide to watch OTA or select your recorded programs.
 

MikeD-C05

Pub Member / Supporter
Pub Member / Supporter
Nov 25, 2003
33,225
31,606
Nederland , Texas
I find that if you hit menu and then program guide from the menu, you can often get the guide to come up and hit on an ota channel & get it to display. But this has to be done soon after you lose sat signal or no dice.
 

Ringthane

SatelliteGuys Family
Jun 12, 2010
50
0
USA
And here we go again. Storm just started, and as soon as it did, down goes Dish.

Honestly, if this is what I have to look forward to, I might as well go back to cable. Yeah, I won't have as many channels or anything, but at least I'll be able to watch what I'm paying for.

Edit: I'm also interested in jadiff's question - what should the signal levels be? At least one of mine is in the 50's.
 
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whatchel1

SatelliteGuys Master
Sep 30, 2006
9,098
51
Great High Plains
dish repeak

And here we go again. Storm just started, and as soon as it did, down goes Dish.

Honestly, if this is what I have to look forward to, I might as well go back to cable. Yeah, I won't have as many channels or anything, but at least I'll be able to watch what I'm paying for.

You just need to have the dish repeaked. It's should lose signal so often.
 

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