All of you that say you never lose signal...

[Lkr]

How do you do it? There are dark clouds right in my dish's LOS right now, and as soon as they approached, bam, searching for signal. Thunder and lightning, and pouring rain will join in the next 10 minutes. Is it just an unlucky area(Jacksonville, FL) where I get bad storms every day compared to living in the southwest? Ah well, at least my signal goes up right after the storm blows past, unlike those with Comcast

 

[raoul5788]

How do you do it? There are dark clouds right in my dish's LOS right now, and as soon as they approached, bam, searching for signal. Thunder and lightning, and pouring rain will join in the next 10 minutes. Is it just an unlucky area(Jacksonville, FL) where I get bad storms every day compared to living in the southwest? Ah well, at least my signal goes up right after the storm blows past, unlike those with Comcast

Your weather has something to do with it. What are your signal levels when the skies are clear?

 

[scoop8]

I upgraded to HD DTV last summer and I see the same "rain-thick cloud" signal losses that I saw with Std DTV over the past 10 yrs of service. Unless I missed something, isn't "rain fade" an issue that has always been with DTV due to the KU/KA Band nature of the signals?

I don't check sig strength often but my tuners 1 & 2 are usually around 98-99 in good weather.

 

[Jimbo]

Yes, the weather has a lot to do with it, however if your signal strength is normally under 85 you'll have trouble earlier , the higher the signal the longer you'll go without losing it.
Many times when you lose it, you can count on a really bad storm, if its not a real bad storm I won't lose signal at all.

One nice thing is if my sat sig goes out, I go out and move the lawn furniture inside.

 

[MikeinBaja]

Granted, I live in an area where we do experience some thick clouds (marine layer can get several thousand feet thick) but very few real T-storms.

My dish is aligned to the n'th degree (by me) and I've lost it a total of about 15 minutes combined over the last several years.

 

[Lkr]

Your weather has something to do with it. What are your signal levels when the skies are clear?

The worst is 88 and the best is 99

 

[n4uaj]

Real thick clouds and hard rain will take mine down but not as often as it used to with the smaller dish. Sometimes the SD DVR in the bedroom will go out but the HDDVR in the living room stays up. Of course my dear old granmaw would be appalled to see us watchin tv during lighting and thunder anyway : )

 

[MikeinBaja]

Of course my dear old granmaw would be appalled to see us watchin tv during lighting and thunder anyway : )

Thank you - took me back - you need to unplug the phone too right?

 

[Jimbo]

Thank you - took me back - you need to unplug the phone too right?

Use a cordless as long as you have power !

 

[raoul5788]

The worst is 88 and the best is 99

If those are your numbers on the 99 and 103 sats, I think you have issues with something other than alignment. Those are pretty good numbers.

 

[Lkr]

If those are your numbers on the 99 and 103 sats, I think you have issues with something other than alignment. Those are pretty good numbers.

Is there a way to see just the satellite signal and not all of the transponders?

 

[raoul5788]

Is there a way to see just the satellite signal and not all of the transponders?

Yes, at the bottom of the transponder strength page, go to signal meter. It will show ss strength for each transponder.

 

[Slick Vic]

I'm in Jax too and had the same problem til I realized my dish got bumped since I put it in ( on a pole- damn landscraper! ). Definetly check the signal on the 103c/a and 99c/a. If your in the 80s than you need an adjustment.

 

[Rey]

i live in florida and my dish is peaked. i have high signals. if a storm with very thick clouds comes in it will knock out your signal for a few minutes. nothing can be done about that. it's more of an issue if every little storm knocks out the signal.i don't experience much rain fade but it's impossible to say that we will never experience it. it happens.

 

[Lkr]

Yes, at the bottom of the transponder strength page, go to signal meter. It will show ss strength for each transponder.

some transponders are 0, while some are in the 40s. this is on 101 however.

everything on 103(b) is in the 90s

 

[Hemi 6.1]

i live in florida and my dish is peaked. i have high signals. if a storm with very thick clouds comes in it will knock out your signal for a few minutes. nothing can be done about that. it's more of an issue if every little storm knocks out the signal.i don't experience much rain fade but it's impossible to say that we will never experience it. it happens.

:up Exactly. I have a Slimline right now in Watertown NY, with 6 acres of wide open field in front of it and I still get Rain fade. My Strengths are are mid 90's on average. Its part of satellite tv.

Their are only a few guys that claim that Rain fade doesn't happen with the Slimline. You'll see most D* customers will tell you that rain fade does happen.

""How you been Rey , Haven't seen you in a while. Whats New? Hows Business? PM if you want.""

 

[Ronnie-]

i live in florida and my dish is peaked. i have high signals. if a storm with very thick clouds comes in it will knock out your signal for a few minutes. nothing can be done about that. it's more of an issue if every little storm knocks out the signal.i don't experience much rain fade but it's impossible to say that we will never experience it. it happens.

This is pretty much spot on with what I would say.

Rain fade is a part of sat service, however with a correct install and peaked dish, those occurances can be minimized. I rarely get it on mine, and when I do, I would say 5-10 minutes tops.
You signals sound ok, so you may need to look at other factors as well. Are there any trees, limbs, ect that may interfere with your signal during a rain/wind storm? It may turn out to be something simple.

Edit: what channels specifically go out? Is it SD, HD, both? I am trying to remember what is on sat 101. I am 90+ across the board on that one (well, there are 2 that are 0)

 

[Sooner02]

Any time a storm is south of me, it doesn't really have to be raining but cloudy enough, I start losing 99 and 103 first.

My signals on 99 and 103 are mostly high 80s/low 90s. My 101 signals are all mid to high 90s, sometimes a 100.

Is this good?

 

[cfb]

When I had the old dual lnb dish, I'd put the signal meter on and tapped it in every direction until I'd optimized the signal as high as it'd go. I had rain fade maybe a couple of times in ~10 years, and when I got the fade it was raining as hard as can be imagined, with high winds to boot.

Besides peaking the signal, I always put the dish somewhere that wind and rain will have a minimal effect on it. On my last two houses I had it mounted to a wall with a chimney on one side of it and a roof overhang over top. Wind rarely hit the dish and a little rain might have blown on it now and then but 99% of the time it stayed dry.

I also rub a little silicone caulk on all the connections and seams where water might get in, and keep the switch either mounted up under a roof eave or inside the home. Sometimes a loss of signal isnt related to signal getting to the dish, but water getting inside the lnb or switch or a connection and messing things up.

My new house, I didnt have any good options for protecting the dish, and its the larger oval HD dish. We lost signal twice in the last 2 years but it was raining so hard that 3 inches of water was flowing down the street like a river and we had very high winds (75+mph) at the same time. One of the broadcast locals lost its antenna.

So I think the keys are a peaked signal, protected dish location, solid connections, waterproofing wherever possible, and keeping as much of the gear out of the weather as possible.

 

[msajeff]

As it was explained to me, the Florida atmosphere has a lot to do with it. When we lived in Orlando we would have those issues all the time...and were thankful for OTA at those times. In Central IL we've had 1 time this summer where it went out for 5 minutes. Maybe a total of 3 or 4 times in 2 years...never in winter. To expound the atmosphere...it has a lot to do with the electricity that is a direct result of the clash of air masses between the Gulf and Atlantic...and worsened when you have a front moving in from the north. With all the electricity in the air it becomes nearly impossible for a clear signal to penetrate the clounds between the sat and your dish.