Newbie w/ rain fade

[j25a]

I have had SBC/Dish Network for just over a week and have had three different signal losses due to rain, with 2 of them lasting over 30 minutes. Judging from searching these forums signal loss from rain fade should only happen in extreme situations??? This evening for instance we had some heavy rain but I wouldn't call it a big storm, the heaviest stuff was just north of us but we lost service for about 10 minutes the first time and 30 minutes the second time within about a 45 minute time frame. Last week we did have a big storm go through so I was disappointed but not surprised that it went out for about 30 minutes. I live in River Falls, WI and have a 522 receiver. Here are my signal strength numbers as of 11:15 pm:

Sat 110 Transponder 11: 89, Transponder 12:81
Sat 119 Transponder 11: 97, Transponder 12:95

Are these numbers OK or should I try to tweek the dish? I wasn't overly impressed by the installers so I wouldn't be surprised if it could have been dialed in a little better. I hope this can be fixed or at least improved because I'm willing to pay a little more for comcast cable as I never had any issues with them except for price! This evenings outage to me was unexceptable. Also, I am correct in thinking that the dish is getting its signal 20 degrees higher than where it is aiming? Thanks for any help anyone can provide!

 

[C1787GJ]

I don't think those numbers are good, they should be 3 digits at least... thats probably why

 

[C1787GJ]

you should be able to have dish come out for free and fix it if it is within 90 days of install.

 

[boba]

you should be able to have dish come out for free and fix it if it is within 90 days of install.

Your a SBC customer call SBC not DISH.

 

[mudder1310]

I would say your signal levels are typical, your 110 could stand to be higher. I would have Dish come back and mess with it. As said you have a 90 day carte blanche warranty so they should come take care of it.

Something you can do is the next time you lose signal, go directly from that channel to the signal strength screen (menu, 6, 1, 1) and write down which satellite and transponder it's on, and the strength. Each transponder is it's own sender (sort of) so signal levels vary for each one. You might have an abnormally low level transponder reading coming from a bad lnb or receiver.

 

[bookwalk]

I have had SBC/Dish Network for just over a week and have had three different signal losses due to rain, with 2 of them lasting over 30 minutes. Judging from searching these forums signal loss from rain fade should only happen in extreme situations??? This evening for instance we had some heavy rain but I wouldn't call it a big storm, the heaviest stuff was just north of us but we lost service for about 10 minutes the first time and 30 minutes the second time within about a 45 minute time frame. Last week we did have a big storm go through so I was disappointed but not surprised that it went out for about 30 minutes. I live in River Falls, WI and have a 522 receiver. Here are my signal strength numbers as of 11:15 pm:

Sat 110 Transponder 11: 89, Transponder 12:81
Sat 119 Transponder 11: 97, Transponder 12:95

Are these numbers OK or should I try to tweek the dish? I wasn't overly impressed by the installers so I wouldn't be surprised if it could have been dialed in a little better. I hope this can be fixed or at least improved because I'm willing to pay a little more for comcast cable as I never had any issues with them except for price! This evenings outage to me was unexceptable. Also, I am correct in thinking that the dish is getting its signal 20 degrees higher than where it is aiming? Thanks for any help anyone can provide!

I've had this exact problem since my install May 7--same type of readings, too--on 61.5, 110 and 119.

I called Dish--they said to call local retailer who installed, which I did and now, 2 months later, still no one has shown up.

Who else should I call if they don't show up--in another month, then 90 days will be over--are they waiting for that so I have to pay?

 

[RandallA]

Just repeating what everyone else said, call SBC and tell them your problem. They will schedule a technician to take care of it. Do it before your 90 days warranty expires.

 

[Matt]

Your a SBC customer call SBC not DISH.

Since he is a sbc/dish customer, when he uses his homephone to call them, he'll be outomatically transferred to SBC/Dishnetwork.
When I was sbc/dish "bundeling" - whenever I called them, I never was transferred to a country far away and their customer service was always VERY friendly.

 

[boba]

Since he is a sbc/dish customer, when he uses his homephone to call them, he'll be outomatically transferred to SBC/Dishnetwork.
When I was sbc/dish "bundeling" - whenever I called them, I never was transferred to a country far away and their customer service was always VERY friendly.

SBC made a $500 million investment in DISH Network so they own their customers DISH Network dosen't so there service is handled differently from most DISH Network customers.

 

[j25a]

Update

I called SBC/Dish Network today. My signal strength number were 3-4 higher than what I posted last night in my original message. He said that these number were pretty good but he would write it down on my account that I was having problems and I should call back again when my signal goes out.

I found out a couple more things today.
1) for my zip code, my elevation should be set at 33, mine is set at 37.5. (To me this means my mounting bar probably isn't plumb??)
2) As I sprayed water into my dish, I had my wife watch the signal meter. It went from 98 to 72, is this too big of a drop??

Thanks for replying everybody, keep them coming!

 

[boba]

If that is the attitude of SBC I would give Directv a call.

 

[SimpleSimon]

I called SBC/Dish Network today. My signal strength number were 3-4 higher than what I posted last night in my original message. He said that these number were pretty good but he would write it down on my account that I was having problems and I should call back again when my signal goes out.

I found out a couple more things today.
1) for my zip code, my elevation should be set at 33, mine is set at 37.5. (To me this means my mounting bar probably isn't plumb??)
2) As I sprayed water into my dish, I had my wife watch the signal meter. It went from 98 to 72, is this too big of a drop??

Thanks for replying everybody, keep them coming!

A1. Most likely.
A2. Not necessarily. How much water? A full blast garden hose onto the dishpan will probably kill the signal completely.

 

[TNGTony]

Have we considered that the connections of the LNB or switch or both are loose and water is getting into the actual cable? This will kill the signal for far longer than the storm is present. It will cause rain fade in light rain.

For the record, I have signal levels comperable to those listed above and only experience rain fade in the most severe storms or in storms with large black clouds passing between me an the satellite.

Keep in mind that the term "rain fade" is technically not correct. It should be "moisture fade". Water molecules scatter the DBS signal. Where do you find the most concentration of water molecules in the atmosphere? Clouds. (Thank you Mr. Science!) Anyway, you could experience rain fade without a drop of rain if there is a massive storm cloud passing to your southwest (between your dish and the satellite).

Anyway, check the connectors, the LNB and (if you have one) the switch to see that they are not leaking.

See ya
Tony

 

[R-U-Q-R-U]

I have had rain fade for the last hour due to a slow moving storm in the Orlando area. See attached radar image...

 

[AlaJoe]

I am sure there will be those who disagree with me but as far as I am concerned there is no such thing as rain fade if you system has been installed properly.
Yesterday for the second time since I have had my dish we had a tropical storm (Hurricane Dennis) come threw where I live. Since the weather was so bad I did not want to get out I stayed in and watched TV all day. I did not loose my signal once all day and we had over 6 inches of rain yesterday with wind in the 30 mph range. Since that weather was not bad enough for me to loose signal I do not want to be around in the weather it would take to make me loose signal

 

[Rlanham]

I have similar signal readings, and haven't had any rain fade problems. I used to get it with DirecTV, but not with my Dish installation.

 

[TNGTony]

Another thought...

j25a, is your Dish pointing though, under or around a tree or two? If this is the case, in clear contidions, the tree branches are out of the way and you have signal. However if it rains even a little, the tree branches are weighed down by the water and block your dish until the water evaporates and the tree branch springs out of the way. Check that out to see if that is part of your problem.

See ya
Tony

 

[R-U-Q-R-U]

I am sure there will be those who disagree with me but as far as I am concerned there is no such thing as rain fade if you system has been installed properly...

Well, we got the outer rain band from Dennis on Sunday and did NOT have any rain fade either. But the T-storm we had yesterday just hovered over my area for about an hour. There were very dark dense clouds and I was able to get spotbeam on and off, but the other channels were not locked.

My clear day readings are:

Sat 110 Transponder 11: 111, Transponder 12: 110
Sat 119 Transponder 11: 123, Transponder 12: 118

Since these readings seem pretty good from what I have read in these forums, I disagree that "there is no such thing as rain fade."

 

[SimpleSimon]

Since these readings seem pretty good from what I have read in these forums, I disagree that "there is no such thing as rain fade.

You're 100% correct.

 

[TNGTony]

Taking into account that Dish sometimes has rain fade issues from the UPLINK center, (you can't tell me they do not have a good signal going to their satellites!) the is too such a thing as rain fade!

See ya
Tony