Lose satellite EVERY time it rains

[FitzAusTex]

His signals are good. I have similar numbers. But some of us lose signal with properly aligned dishes MUCH more than many of you in other parts of the country realize. I live in "Flash Flood Alley" in Central Texas, and often the charcoal gray clouds can knock out signal 5 to 20 minutes in advance of any actual rain.

One Tuesday, I got 2.15" of rain within 26 minutes. (Yeah, I timed/measured it).

I know many of you consider yourself satellite technology experts, and many of you are, but unless you live in areas that get quite severe cloud cover/rain, please be careful about telling everyone that there must be something wrong with their dish alignment. In most cases, you're probably right, but not always...

 

[Jim5506]

The lower the satellite is in the sky, the more atmosphere the signal must traverse.

Water molecules absorb microwave energy at the frequencies thet Dish uses, so low look angle means more water to look through.

You are dealing with 129 as a wobbling duck plus looking at it through a lot of atmosphere.

Try 61.5.

 

[Rangers484]

To add to the story, in the last few weeks I have had problems every time I try to access my locals. I am in Charlottesville and 3 of them are on 129 transponder 32.

For some reason the fox affiliate is on a different one and I never lose it.

When I try to tune in NBC, CBS or ABC I get the "acquiring satellite" message for a split second then it immediately changes to an error message on T32. If I leave the error message up anywhere from 5-15 minutes magically I reacquire the signal.

I do get the "it is almost raining" signal loss as well.

I don't bother watching the weather channel to see if it is going to rain, I just turn on Dish to see if I have a signal or not and then I know what the weather is....

 

[Quantum]

Next time you guys get this, hit Info and write down the sat, transponder, and channel the failure happened on. I'll bet it never happens on 119, and I'll bet it happens when the clouds are at least southeast.

Get us the weak transponders and then check their signal strength.

 

[Rangers484]

Next time you guys get this, hit Info and write down the sat, transponder, and channel the failure happened on. I'll bet it never happens on 119, and I'll bet it happens when the clouds are at least southeast.

Get us the weak transponders and then check their signal strength.

Sat 129, transponder 32 where my Charlottesville locals reside. Channels 7931,7930 & 7929.

When it check the signal strength, it initially reads 0, sat not locked. As I wait for it, within a few minutes (5-10 usually) it acquires the signal at a strength of about 39.

I also get rain fade commonly on sat 129.

I am getting another VIP 722 installed, is this something the installer can check and possible repoint the dish or check the LNB if needed?

 

[Rey]

can't a separate larger dish aimed at 129 help him out?