Dish keeps going out with the rain, boxes reboot

[jhferry]

Hi everyone,

Love my D* however my wife wants to dump it for cable. The issue is when it rains, the dish goes out. I have 2 HR21's and when they lose the signal they reboot and it takes like 5-10 minutes to come back. Is there anything I can do to keep the signal?

 

[jhferry]

I talked to D* again. They said I had an excellent signal. They suggested I buy a wedgie cover?

Satellite Dish Covers - WedgieCovers.com - Satellite Dish Cover

I did a search here and I have seen people using sprays and RainX, I really need to get these boxes to stop rebooting. Any ideas?

I dont get much rain fade, I get complete lose of signal.

 

[oldford]

the CSR you spoke with could be wrong. A well-peaked dish won't go out all that often or for long enough to cause a reboot. Mine has done that once since last october.

GL, Eric

 

[jhferry]

I live in PA, its not like I am in a hurricane area. This happens at least twice a month or more. It wouldnt be bad if I just got some fade, Its the total shutdown of all the boxes that is the killer. So if the CSR is wrong what are my options?

 

[oldford]

Sounds to me like you need a service call. If the install is relatively recent, there should be no charge. If it has been a while, add the home protection plan before you call back to request the service call. 2 failures a month is way too many.

E.

 

[cfb]

You could be getting water somewhere its not supposed to be. Do you have a multiswitch and is it exposed to heavy rain?

It rains like cats and dogs here in the winter and I get maybe 2-3 instances of rain fade per year where I lose signal and get a 771 error for maybe 5-10 minutes. I havent ever had a receiver reboot as a result although on some older firmware versions the 771 wouldnt go away on the second tuner until you rebooted the receiver.

 

[jhferry]

Sounds to me like you need a service call. If the install is relatively recent, there should be no charge. If it has been a while, add the home protection plan before you call back to request the service call. 2 failures a month is way too many.

E.

I have the protection plan, D* refuses to send anyone.

 

[jhferry]

You could be getting water somewhere its not supposed to be. Do you have a multiswitch and is it exposed to heavy rain?

It rains like cats and dogs here in the winter and I get maybe 2-3 instances of rain fade per year where I lose signal and get a 771 error for maybe 5-10 minutes. I havent ever had a receiver reboot as a result although on some older firmware versions the 771 wouldnt go away on the second tuner until you rebooted the receiver.

There is no multiswitch inside the house so it must be split outside.

 

[mccoyrj]

I had the same problem. I'd get fade for the slightest storm, and total shutdown/restart for a heavy one. Had the dish tweaked by D* and the problem was resolved. Now it takes a heck of a storm to just fade. Might want to give that a try.

 

[jhferry]

tweaked how?

They refuse to come out even though I pay for the plan,

 

[cfb]

There is no multiswitch inside the house so it must be split outside.

Could be water getting into the multiswitch, either an external one or the switch/lnb inside the dish. Maybe in light rain its okay but in a heavy rain water eventually gets in. Or your dish needs a tweaking. Your signal levels even in torrential downpours should be better than zero.

Tell them to come fix it or you're out of there. Boxes that reboot when it rains is not the norm.

 

[oldford]

tweaked how?

They refuse to come out even though I pay for the plan,

Escalate to a supervisor or customer retention?

E

 

[jdspencer]

I'd like to see the signal strengths!!!

 

[jhferry]

Normal conditions:

Satellite transponders (32 total at 101°)
[COLOR="red"]1-8   98 95  95 95 94 100 96 100
9-16  95 96  95 97 94 100 96 100
17-24 93 100 95 100 95 100 95 100
25-32 96 99  96 0  98 100 96 100[/COLOR]

Satellite transponders (3 total at 110°)
1-8  N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 97
9-16 N/A 95  N/A 98  N/A N/A N/A N/A

[COLOR="Red"]Satellite transponders (11 total at 119°)
17-24 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 98  100 96
25-32 92 99  100  98  97 99 87 100[/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"]Satellite transponders (16 total at 99°(c))
1-8   96  93  91  91  92  91  89  92 
9-16  92  89  89  90  95  90  N/A N/A
17-24 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
25-32 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A[/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"]Satellite transponders (16 total at 103°(s))
1-8   98 51 0 0 97 34  N/A N/A 
9-16  N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 86 80 
17-24 79 86 92 85 0 76 96
25-32 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A[/COLOR]

[COLOR="Red"]Satellite transponders (16 total at 103°(c))
1-8   93 87 91 86 91 84 89 83
9-16  90 80 87 82 89 81 N/A N/A 
17-24 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
25-32 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A[/COLOR]

Satellite transponders (16 total at SWM)
1-8   100 96  95  96  100 0   100 96
9-16  95  N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
17-24 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
25-32 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

I cant get signal strength when this problem happens due to the box rebooting.

 

[jhferry]

Escalate to a supervisor or customer retention?

E

What is the number for retention again?

 

[JMikeH]

Signal strengths doesn't look too bad, but the 103 could be better.

I have seen dishes mounted on exterior walls, with no gutters on the roof above. Of course in this case, rain water will run down and interfere with the signal.

To get to retention, just say cancel at the prompt.

 

[jhferry]

Which 103, I am a little knew to trouble shooting this. What is the difference from 103s/103c?

So should I tell them to come out?

 

[harshness]

The "(s)" satellites are the (s)potbeams. National HD comes on the (c)ONUS (continental US) feeds.

Technically, your within specification but the spec doesn't seem to be tight enough. Regrettably, until your receiver reports signals that are below spec, they won't roll a truck. I bet that if you installed one of those wedgies (or "rain" on the dish for a few hours), they signal would drop enough and they would approve the roll.

Hurricanes aren't necessary to cause fade. Hurricanes bring with them torrential rains that also accompany many good old fashioned thunderstorms. In many cases these are more than enough to kill a Ka signal.

 

[jhferry]

I had the same problem. I'd get fade for the slightest storm, and total shutdown/restart for a heavy one. Had the dish tweaked by D* and the problem was resolved. Now it takes a heck of a storm to just fade. Might want to give that a try.

When the tech came out there I assume you couldnt reproduce the problem because it wasnt raining. How exactly did he adjust the dish? In other words, he seemed to fix your issue but how did he know?

 

[jhferry]

The "(s)" satellites are the (s)potbeams. National HD comes on the (c)ONUS (continental US) feeds.

Technically, your within specification but the spec doesn't seem to be tight enough. Regrettably, until your receiver reports signals that are below spec, they won't roll a truck. I bet that if you installed one of those wedgies (or "rain" on the dish for a few hours), they signal would drop enough and they would approve the roll.

Hurricanes aren't necessary to cause fade. Hurricanes bring with them torrential rains that also accompany many good old fashioned thunderstorms. In many cases these are more than enough to kill a Ka signal.

I got retention on the phone and they are sending someone. I really think the dish itself needs adjusting, maybe the angle accumulates the rain, who knows. The multiswitch you guys are talking about, your saying it could be on the dish itself (I think it is, I dont see a switch anywhere else.)

If I wanted to protect that from elements, how would I do it?