Cloth covering on certain dishes at this CATV site?

[cypherstream]

What are these what looks like black sheets stretched across every other dish at this cable company signal ingest site? Does it affect signal at all? Why do only some have them?

 

[bigjohnok]

I am thinking it's to keep ice/snow build up out of the reflector.

 

[cypherstream]

Interesting that only some have them. I wonder if the others have dish heaters instead. The cloth or teflon or whatever it is, is wrapped on those few dishes really nicely though.

 

[harshness]

It is mostly likely a synthetic that doesn't significantly absorb the signals (unless it gets rain-soaked). Kind of like the difference between glass and plexiglas.