30" Dish has rain fade durning Tstorm

jimmykce1

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Apr 5, 2004
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Well we had a good heavy thunderstorm here in hampton roads va and my 30inch dish experienced rain fade problems durning it.
 
Don't feel bad...I'm in the process of buying a condo and the one I just put an offer on has a big tree about 50 yards away somewhere in the general southeast direction.

Rain fade I can deal with. Permanent tree fade I cannot. Tomorrow I'm taking a compass out there and checking the exact direction according to the azimuth headings I figured out. I have a perfect view to the right and left of the tree. I hope that's where my dish needs to point. Worst case scenario I'll have to pay an extra 8K for another unit with a clear southeast view (yep...i'm willing to spend 8K just to get sat... well..I would get a small yard too but LOS for sat is more important at the moment)
 
jimmykce1 said:
Well we had a good heavy thunderstorm here in hampton roads va and my 30inch dish experienced rain fade problems durning it.

In "good heavy thunderstorm" all satellite signals experience rain fade. It is only a matter of how much.
 
andrzej said:
In "good heavy thunderstorm" all satellite signals experience rain fade. It is only a matter of how much.

They could still increase their signal strength. dtv gets through trees just fine.
 
Yes it was a pretty nasty storm last night, but I think Vooms signal strength should be increased higher. At least my OTA channels didn't have any problems.
 
Do you really think it's that simple?

jimmykce1 said:
I think voom needs to increase its broadcast signal strength.

If it were just a matter of "crankin' the dial" to raise signal strength, I'm sure they would. I'm certain there are all kinds of considerations: Fuel and power capacities, FCC regulations, equipment limitations...After all, IT IS ROCKET SCIENCE! :)
 
It's a little frustrating looking for a place to live since I have to nitpick about every tree or shrub everywhere I go.

Anyone know what it would take voom to increase the signal strength? Is this something they could do just by turning a dial or hitting a few keys? I know a lot of people have good LOS so it's not an issue for them, but for some of us that have to worry about it, it's a major hassle.

::edit:: techcop it looks like we posted at the same time. You addressed some of what I asked, but what would it really take for voom to up the signal?? If other companies have nice strong signal it really can't be all that hard.
 
Did anybody bother to check the weather at the Voom uplink site?

If it was raining there too, then what you were experiencing was a combination of the two.
 
JimP said:
Did anybody bother to check the weather at the Voom uplink site?

If it was raining there too, then what you were experiencing was a combination of the two.

Hey, I think you're onto something. That would be a wonderful addition to this site. 24-hour weather conditions at the Voom uplink site. Make it a sticky, so we can then tell when we're going to lose signal because of it. There can be little alerts when severe thunderstorms are rolling in. :D
 
Great Idea Funky Boss, maybe small maps of the D* and E* uplinks centres also, a 30" dish will help a lot with rain fade but thats all it can do help!
 
lostcause said:
Will a 30" dish help if there's a tree in the way??

It will improve your signal - but may not be enough. Tree trimming may be in order...
 
FunkyBoss said:
Hey, I think you're onto something. That would be a wonderful addition to this site. 24-hour weather conditions at the Voom uplink site. Make it a sticky, so we can then tell when we're going to lose signal because of it. There can be little alerts when severe thunderstorms are rolling in. :D

To top it off, they didn't locate their uplink facility somewhere where they would get very little rain.
 
VOOM put their uplink facility in Long Island New York. Not one of the better places to have an uplink facility because of the bad weather conditions.

D* & E* conversly put their facilities where their were stable weather conditions.
 
Have you guys seen the size of the uplink sat dishes? They're HUGE, they are not going to be affected by rain like the pea-sized dishes we use.
 
lostcause said:
They could still increase their signal strength. dtv gets through trees just fine.
NOPE...no DIGITAL sat signal will go through trees...it may look as though its pointed into trees but its pointing over them or no dtv
 
jellison1 said:
NOPE...no DIGITAL sat signal will go through trees...it may look as though its pointed into trees but its pointing over them or no dtv

I have seen dishes pointing directly at trees. Not over or to the side, but right AT the trees.
I don't know if the signal is making it through the small spaces between the leaves and branches or what, but I have seen it with my own two eyes...and several times.

My understanding is that voom's signal will not even make it through the tiny spaces between branches and leaves. Dtv's can and does just fine.

Anyways, for my purposes this may be a moot point if my findings are right. See my thread here .

It still sucks for others that have trees though...and, I really won't know 100% till I put up the dish anyways, so at this point all I can do is hurry up and wait.
 
Hey guys I guess it will always be something in the way.. My dish points to nice clear sky but my OTA antenna points right at a ton of trees and it gets thru until the weather gets bad and the limbs get to moving around..

I am thinking of moving my OTA antenna to the shed with a long mast and see what kinda signal I get..

Well good luck guys.. Cya Slick
 

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