Rain Shield (Rain fade solution)

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PSB

On vacation
Original poster
Nov 5, 2003
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With nearly 20 years in satellite I have NEVER seen a product like "Rain Shield" before. There is only one word for it AMAZING!

It comes in a spray form and is applied to your clean dry satellite dish and LNBF. I recently tried it out for myself in the back yard and the results were nothing less than stunning. I masked off half of a DirecTV dish and applied a couple of coats of "Rain Shield" leaving 20 minutes between applications.

I hooked up a water hose and started to flood the dish and LNBF with the spray, no matter what I did I could not get the "Rain Shield" side wet. Rain Shield acts as a surfactant and the water beads up and rolls off the dish acting very much like mercury, this stuff is incredible and I think its only a matter of time until EVERY satellite dish will have a coating of RAIN SHIELD.

The company that developed it in conjunction with chemists is called King Controls, and they will have a booth at the Satellite Expo 2005, they will have a live demonstration where you will be able to see it with your own eyes. Stop by and say hello and tell em PSB sent you :)

Please have a look at the below links for more info and the staggering results of my test. It also includes details of how to buy some of this amazing product. After my tests I gave my 36" dish a treat and coated the relector and LNBF with Rain Shield, next day we had a summer storm so I ran up to take a few pictures.............waste of time the dish and LNBF were BONE dry, this product is a god send for people living in areas prone to rain fade and it will even work with that sticky snow that can be a real pain in winter time. In my honest unbiased opinion this is a must have product to anyone serious about satellite reception.............. Still reeling after my tests! I make no money from this product but just had to share it with the members here at SatelliteGuys.US Remember where you heard of this "stuff" first!

This product is also know as "Dome Magic" for Domed satellite systems used in the RV. industry.

Rain Shield Test Pictures

King Controls

"What is rain fade?

Rain and snow can have a negative effect on satellite signal reception making the digital picture freeze, pixel or go out altogether. This loss of signal is commonly referred to as “rain fade” or signal attenuation. Satellite television reception is affected by two factors:



1. Water in the atmosphere

2. Water on the dish and LNB



To prevent loss of picture due to attenuation, satellite service providers transmit signals down with extra power in areas where it rains frequently. This extra power is called the rain fade margin. In many cases, the loss of signal strength due to rain is not more than the rain fade margin, so you can still be watching TV when it rains. You lose picture when there is enough water in the atmosphere to completely block the signal, or more likely when the signal loss caused by a combination of water in the atmosphere and water on the dish and LNB exceed the rain fade margin.



How does Rain Shield prevent rain fade?

King’s Rain Shield eliminates the negative effects of rain and snow on the dish and LNB. While it does not prevent the reduction in signal due to excessive water in the atmosphere, it prevents rain on the dish and LNB from dropping the signal any further. In other words, when you eliminate the effects of water on the dish and LNB, the rain fade margin only needs to overcome the loss of signal in the atmosphere. It is very seldom that water in the atmosphere alone is enough to make you lose TV picture.



Snow has a similar effect on satellite signal when it starts to melt. Water or melting snow on the dish and LNB cause signal loss much the same as rain will. Without King’s Rain Shield, wet snow can stick to the dish and LNB. When the snow melts, the resulting water will run off in sheets that cause signal strength to be reduced. With King’s Rain Shield applied, snow and water will not stick to the dish and LNB. Water just rolls off in balls rather than spreading in wide sheets and therefore does not have any negative effect on signal reception.



How long will it last?

One application of Rain Shield will last about a year when applied as directed



How many applications per can?

Each 5 oz. can provides 4-7 applications on average. Customers in climates where wet snow is common will want to apply a thicker coat of Rain Shield on the dish, LNB and LNB arm to prevent snow buildup. In areas where snow is not expected, a thinner coat can be applied.



How is this different than other stuff I’ve tried?

Satellite installers have tried just about everything imaginable to prevent rain and snow from causing signal loss. While vegetable sprays and lubricants offer modest protection from snow buildup on the dish, the greasy surface attracts dirt and bugs, discolors the dish and eventually does more harm than good. Other rain repellants work on glass but will harm the plastic LNB lens. Dish covers made of waterproof materials work in certain types of weather conditions but not others. Only King’s Rain Shield works equally well in all types of weather. It’s also self cleaning, so you don’t need to worry about negatively changing the appearance of the dish.



Where can I get Rain Shield?

Call King Controls at (800) 982-9920 (Tell em PSB sent you)

King Controls Visit.
 

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Pete

Excellent review.

Have you tried Rain-X? It seems like a similar product?

I haven't tried either, but this is nice to have.

What is the retail price on a 5 oz bottle?
 
It is expensive at $29.95 per can, but for what it does GREAT value. Rain-X will do much the same but will wash off as its designed for windows, this product is there for up to a year! And it works as advertised, sure my signals were down slightly during the heavy storm but thats it................down slightly.

So one can should last two years with a 36" dish, thats about 2 applications per year!
 

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This product goes against everything that I've read about rain fade in the last several years. It's not the rain ON the dish, it's the rain between the dish and the satellite, i.e. the atmospheric rain. I'll agree that it can help in snowy or icy locations as it creates a surface that helps prevent accumulation of thick layers, but for preventing true rain fade, I don't bite. It might help a signal that's right on the threshold of being usable, but it definitely isn't going to prevent raid faid like its advertised.

$40 will buy a lot of Rain-X if you want to go that route, or just wax your dish. Same idea.
 
Yes it does really help! I have seen it with my own eyes! SOLID signal during a HEAVY storm, with very little drop in signal quality :D
 
I heard PAM (the cooking spray) does a pretty good job also. Lately we have been getting about 2 inches of rain a day around here but I lose my signal when the storms are rolling in from the everglades. By the time the rain is actually upon me I usually have my signal back.
 
Seems I made a mistake the price of Rain Shield is only $29.95!

An AMAZING Product!
 
PSB said:
It is very seldom that water in the atmosphere alone is enough to make you lose TV picture.

This happened to me just yesterday. Not a drop of rain, just heavy clouds and an incomming storm. Totally lost signal on the 110/119 satellites from Dish.
 
seandudley said:
This happened to me just yesterday. Not a drop of rain, just heavy clouds and an incomming storm. Totally lost signal on the 110/119 satellites from Dish.


This is the way it always happens to me in Maryland too. The signal will be lost about 15 minutes before we get a heavy rain storm. By the time we see raindrops outside, the signal is back and we're watching TV. Rain water on the dish doesn't degrade the signal enough to interrupt service. Heavy storm clouds on the southwest horizon do.


The only time I've experienced problems with water on the dish is during late season snow / sleet storms where the temperature hovers around freezing and a lot of ice or really wet snow builds up on the dish. The ice / really wet snow problem only happens once or twice a year and is usually solved with a broom and/or emptying a bucket of warm water onto the dish.
 
Sure you can use any/all of the above but they wash off over time. If you loose signal before the rain then your dish may not have been pointed correctly using a signal meter.
 
Every time I have experienced Rain Fade I could walk outside and it wasn't raining. The fade was due to the approaching clouds to the West. After the clouds got overhead and the rain began I would regain picture because the dish was now looking behind the clouds to the satellite. :no

Now if this also helps with accumulated snow in a dish, I'm interested.
 
A 10 cent garbage bag over the dish will keep it dry. Rain fade isn't from water on the dish!!!! This glamorous product will part a fool and his money though!!!!!
 
I have lost count of the number of times over the years where I have been watching TV and the signal has cut out, I go outside wipe the dish off and BANG the signal returns. This is what Rain Shield does as I have seen with my own eyes, and tests.

I also like the bag over the dish Trick (as I have posted here many times), I used that before I discovered Rain Shield, it looks a lot better than a black bag over the dish.

I am SOLD!
 
boba said:
...This glamorous product will part a fool and his money though!!!!!

Get'em boba :)

For the record up here in north central Illinois, we get pretty bad thunderstorms, and heavy snow fall.

The only time there is a signal loss is when there is/are thick moisture rich clouds between my dish and the sat. Not once has precipitation on my dish caused any loss of satellite signal.
 
we had very bad storms and high winds here last night, and the only time it went out was about 15 minutes before the storm hit us when the real heavy clouds were to the south of us...
i don't believe the water on the dish will kill your signal unless you have really weak signal to start with.
as a test today i stood outside with a water hose and let the water just run from the top of the dish down, while my wife stood inside and watched the tv, and she said it never went out, i'll do it again later and see if i can get some pictures for ya
 
I have been a D sub for 10 years. I live in the lower Hudson Valley in NY. Over the past 10 years we have had every kind of weather here that you can imagine, hurricanes, to blizzards, and the odd tornado. The only times I have loss of signal is about 10 minutes before a very heavy rain. The other times are when we get about a foot of snow. The snow can build up and block the LNB from picking the signal off the dish. In that case I simply go outside with a broom and carefully wipe the snow off. I know everyone can't reach their dish as easily as I can, but it works for me. Somehow I have my doubts that this product would work with heavy snow build up. It makes no sense at all that it would work for rain fade.
 
My opinion:

Two way satellite internet users should be interested in this product, especially now WildBlue is making an appearance.
The uplink signal is every bit as important as the downlink.
Nobody can control rain-fade caused by atmospheric conditions and it's a simple fact that satellite will be disrupted because of it.
It only makes sense to squeeze every bit of performance you can out of your setup.

Water droplets on a dish and LNB mouth will distort the parabola thus disrupting the focal point of the dish, it could mean the difference between a watchable signal and no signal at all.
 
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