Snow and Ice fading problem

[Jeff_in_MA]

I live in MA and during last 2 snow storms, I lost satellite signal completely. A few weeks ago, the outage lasted almost 2 days and last night, I lost it for hours. The signal strength is still low, down from 96 to 86. I wonder if there is ice buildup on the antenna.

Does this sound typical?

 

[DarrellP]

Did you look at your dish? Snow can build up. You could look into a dish heater that has a built in thermostat, it kicks in only in freezing weather to keep your dish ice free. At 86, you should have a picture, it doesn't go away until 71.

 

[Couch Patato]

OK, this happened to me just a couple of months ago. I couldn't figure it out for a few snow storms. It would start snowing & the signal would finally drop down to nothing. The dish was clear & it still had a very week signal. I finnaly got up on the ladder to check a few things. I made sure there was no ice on the end of the LNB(Round plastic part). While wiping it of & stuff I noticed that the whole thing moveed up & down in the metal arm about 1/16th to 1/32nd of an inch. The nut was tight but NOT tight enough. Water was getting between the LNB & the mount. When it froze it moved the LNB up just enough to lose the signal. After really tightening the nut it didn't budge & no more freezing UP! Now during a snow storm my signal stays at a steady 97%.

Oh, & I will lose my signal at 84%.