Rain Fade - Signal Strength

[OhioFestivus]

Newbie to the forum here. Been with Dish almost a year and have had rain fade issues since day one. Had the dish peaked three times now. I get a signal from 3 birds, can't remember the numbers. I think 129, 119, and one other. I get Columbus OH locals and HD.

My dish is a 1000, my receivers are the 622 and the 322 (soon to be swapped for another 622).

I have rain fade way too often. A moderate rain zaps my signal. My locals are usually the first to go.

Dish looks to have changed the signal strength meter recently. What is now a good signal strength? What strength in clear weather dictates an issue?

 

[uhf]

I have the same question. I rarely had rain fade on my self installed Dish 500, but with my pro installed 1000.2 I get fade all the time. Been thinking I should try to peak it.

 

[RockinHARD26]

As per the manual, it states to contact Dish for them to "tweak" your system for issues like this. HINT HINT

 

[Van]

As per the manual, it states to contact Dish for them to "tweak" your system for issues like this. HINT HINT

As per the obvious you didnt read the first post wich said he has had it repeaked three times.

The problem is with the 1000 model dishes wich doesnt allow for proper tuning and reception of signals, the only fix is to have a split dish configuration with one dish looking at the 110/119 and another dish focused on 129. Look through the dish tech forum and you'll see threads in there to this effect. The issue is a common one and is well known through the industry but so far Dish network has come out with any better solutions such as a redesigned dish reflectors to correct the design flaw.

 

[Hall]

I have to admit, with the Dish 1000, I get more rain fade and signal loss than I ever used to. Previously, I had a 105' Superdish and it was pretty good. Before that, was DirecTV with a standard 18" (single LNB) dish and in 2+ years, I could count the outages on one hand.

It's hard to give numbers of what is "good" unless you get people in the same general area and use the same transponders. I don't trust my numbers to give as reference though. One of these days I'll have Dish out to re-peak it though.

 

[mdwatt]

A well-tuned dish 1000 or 1000.2 should have a signal strength as follows:

322 and 211 model receivers:

119 - 65%-75%
110 - 55%-70%
129 - 40%-50%


Models 625/522, 622:

119 - 95%-110%
110 - 75%-100%
129 - 75%-85%

Models 301, 811, 510, and other legacy receivers:

119 - 100%-125%
110 - 85%-110%
129 - 75% - 90%



Keep in mind that these are normal ranges from low side to high side. There may be some extreme isolated cases where the signal may read higher/lower depending on many different factors such as weather, cable quality, line of sight, etc. The other thing that determines how well your signal holds up during rain is the type of dish you have. A superdish, which has a large reflector, tends to hold the signal very well in rain/snow sonditions. A dish 1000 however has a smaller reflector which is more prone to rain fade. I noticed a big difference when I switched from a superdish to a dish 1000. My Superdish hardly ever lost signal, now with the smaller dish, most of the time my signal goes out somtimes up to 5 minutes BEFORE it even starts actually raining on the ground. Nothing you can really do about it. About the only way to make sure that you don't lose signal in almost any weather condition is to get 3 - 3 foot dishes and line them each up to a specific satellite. Even then it's a crap shoot. But it would certainly do better than a dish 1000. But then, who wants three - 3 foot dishes in their yard? Except me of course. That's one of my planned projects for the future. IF...I can talk the wife into it.

 

[Hall]

Where did you get those numbers ? I presume the differing numbers are based on some receivers having the "new" signal meters vs the old meters.

I'd love to see a setup with the last numbers. Since you're supposed to peak on 129', the odds of getting up to 125 on 119' are pretty slim.

And again, what transponders ?? Certainly not all of them.

 

[mdwatt]

The numbers on the 322 and 211 receivers reflect changes in the new software/new signal meter. The rest are what we're all used to. As we all know, dual tuner receivers read lower than single tuners do. Getting 125% even on a 301 is rare, admittedly. Though it's easy to get close. I replaced a superdish today with a 1000.2 on a 301 and had 123% on 119 (TR 11), 115% on 110 (TR 11), and 90% on 129 (TR 32 & 21). Again, the numbers I gave are merely acceptable normal ranges. They're not what everyone has or can get. As always, "...your mileage may vary." That customer today was lucky. Even after hours of tweaking, I can only get 85% on my 129, and that's with a 1000+ which has a larger reflector. As I noted in another thread, I forget where, all of these dishes are just stamped aluminum. You can put three dishes together, and set them one at a time all on the same mount, and get different peak signal strengths out of all three of them. It's luck of the draw.

 

[Hall]

You get lower numbers because the receiver is a dual-tuner ?? That's a new one to me.... You get lower numbers of multi-satellite dishes, that's for sure ! Do you have that mixed up ??

 

[mdwatt]

Nope. Dual tuner receivers read lower on signal strength than single tuners. Like if you have a 625 and a 301 in the same system, for instance, the 301 will read 120% on the 119, and the 625 will read maybe 105%. Just a difference in the software. It's always been that way ever since dual tuners came on the market.

 

[RandallA]

You get lower numbers because the receiver is a dual-tuner ?? That's a new one to me.... You get lower numbers of multi-satellite dishes, that's for sure ! Do you have that mixed up ??

He's right Hall. Dual tuners always have lower SS than single tuners.

 

[Eric_C]

I had rain fade problems with D*, Voom, and E*.

That was until I got the new 30" oval dish, now the sky could be falling and the signal is perfect.

They did move it to a new location on the house but both offered clear line of site.