Snow+ Sat=0Q

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Last time we had snow our signal dropped out, so I took a broom out and swept the dish off. But it was snowing so hard it went out again. The next time I made the wife go out and sweep. We developed a path in the snow to the dish.

If a person had power out by the dish, you could get some of that electric wire/tape that you wrap your water pipes with and tape it to the back side of the dish using that metal duct tape. I think you might be able to use nicad wire too, again taping it on with that metal/foil duct tape.

We get snow so rarely, we just walk out with the broom and sweep the dish


PS
Last night about 10:30 (PST) there was a great Southpark episode about global warming (G18)
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Days_Before_the_Day_After_Tomorrow"]Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:908_high_water.jpg" class="image" title="The people of Beaverton stuck on their roofs"><img alt="The people of Beaverton stuck on their roofs" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f1/908_high_water.jpg/200px-908_high_water.jpg"@@AMEPARAM@@en/thumb/f/f1/908_high_water.jpg/200px-908_high_water.jpg[/ame]
 
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Anole;

Something we see all the time in the winter that you never will, is a parking lot at the supermarket full of running cars with no one in them.

The city passed a bylaw here that only cars that have remote starters can be left running unattended. I don't think it stops anybody without one from doing it though since most cars nowadays have them. With so many cars running unattended are the police going to walk up to everyone to make sure the keys aren't in the ignition?;)

I don't believe in plugging my cars in. Everyone I had that I did wouldn't start if I forgot and the ones I never plugged in always started. I even had one car that didn't even have a block heater. That one must have came from somewhere warmer originally as it was the only car I've ever seen that didn't have one.:confused:
 
Last time we had snow our signal dropped out, so I took a broom out and swept the dish off. But it was snowing so hard it went out again. The next time I made the wife go out and sweep. We developed a path in the snow to the dish.

....


Last year we had about 4' of snow on the ground, and I had to dig out my Ku dishes because the snow was about half way up the dishes.

Even in low snowfall years, it's not possible to make a path by walking, mainly because the snowblower I use on my driveway creates a BIG pile of snow you have to walk through just to get to the dish. Last year we had about 8' deep snowbanks around our driveway, and then 4' on the other side of that. Only way I got to my dishes last year was by snowmobile, and twice I turned the darn thing over trying to get up over the darn snowbank. Most years it isn't that bad though, but I still tend to use the snowmobile to get to the dishes, at least to pack down a path, and I usually build snow steps to get up over the snow bank to get to the path. Last year, I could walk right up onto my roof, which is 10' off the ground.

I do wish that we only had dry snow, and envey the poster who said he only got dry snow. Here in Maine, we usually get the big snows from storms coming up the coast from down south, and if the storm comes inland at all, we end up with wet snow, and if if stays off coast, then it's dry snow. I hate it when we get a foot of snow followed by rain that freezes on top of the snow. My big dish is now out of commission because we got several inches of snow, then a couple inches of freezing rain, so now I have a couple inches of ice covered snow on the bottom half of my dish, which is going to be hard to get off without denting the darn thing even more than I already have. The storm didn't bother my little dishes. Nasty storm, 220,000 homes without power in Maine, and 400,000 in New Hampshire, and yet not half as bad as the storm we got about 10 years ago. That storm made it dangerous to walk in the woods, because BIG tree limbs were crashing down every few minutes.
This storm was bad for us though, because, when the storm started, my furnace (which I can run via generator a couple hours a day) broke, then my hot water heater started leaking, then my roof started leaking, then we lost power, and without power, no water, then tried starting up the generator, then it started smoking...... luckily, I had shorted out the wires from the battery that helps me start it, and the smoke was the insulation on the wires burning off.
Anyway, everything back up now, except C-band. Have to knock the ice off that tomorrow.
 
Now that's global warming !

We use a burner gizmo to burn weeds that we got at Home Depot. It's about 3' long and has a little tiny propane bottle that is about 1/3 the size of the typical RV propane bottle. Maybe you could use a burner like that to melt the ice and snow off?
 
You guys down south just don't know how to deal with snow :D Make an extension broom and keep the dish low in the arc during the storm. It's not really much of a deal for me been doing it since 87. Us Northerners have to deal with it. I still have frozen fingers from working on a dish in 15 degree temperatures yesterday :D

same here...worked on the dish in like +4 the other day

balmy 35 right now...was outside at 9:00 at night with a t-shirt on....dang its nice out

too bad tomorrow the temp is suppose to drop 40 degrees in like 8 hours :eek:
 
Anole;

I'll be happy to sent you some snow, how many cubic yards do you need? Everyone has engine block heaters installed in our vehicles, and plug them in when things get -15F or so forcasted for tonight. Most gas engines hard start at -20, and diesels will not start at -30 period without a block heater. Something we see all the time in the winter that you never will, is a parking lot at the supermarket full of running cars with no one in them.

got a block heater in my Ranger...was built in [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Cities_Assembly_Plant"]Twin Cities Assembly Plant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Aford.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7f/Aford.jpg/300px-Aford.jpg"@@AMEPARAM@@en/thumb/7/7f/Aford.jpg/300px-Aford.jpg[/ame] and if I remember right those made in St Paul have block heater standard for the cold climates :) There use to be a 2nd plant but that one closed a couple years ago

During the winter I carry two truck keys....one to start it and one to get in after it warms up :D
 
I can't believe nobody mentioned that our elevation is alot less here in the north. I think it helps us greatly when it comes to lack of snow accumulation. We are in for a long cold spell as rv1pop said.... and it's not going to be pretty. We are supposed to be -1f and -4f the next couple of days.
 
Yuk! Last night we had a little wind and some cold rain, but not that cold here near Paine Field (747,67,77, 87 plant). I lost all G19 (25) except Daystar, then I lost Daystar. I crawled up on the roof and tried to see if I could adjust it in, but could not get a thing, even though I adjusted to my marks. So I went to bed and tried again this noon. TV and receiver on the roof and no signal in 45 minutes. For me that should have been a sign after 5 minutes, but....

Anyway, I had a original Glorystar dual LNB (Bullet) setup with me, so I replaced the KUL2 and brought the dish back to the mark for the dual and powered up G19 and AMC4 both on the spot. I guess LNBs can fail. We have a full inch of snow in two + hours and both sats are still strong. One the west side of the cascades here we are not too cold yet. Just at 32°, but I am only 480 feet above Puget Sound.

Keep warm badhat. And the rest of you also. My bigger MH generator has decided not to work, but I do have the 4 KW 120V in the small MH if the power does go out, so I should be able to stay quite warm. For those of you who know the area. "Keep Clam!"
POP
 
same here...worked on the dish in like +4 the other day

balmy 35 right now...was outside at 9:00 at night with a t-shirt on....dang its nice out

too bad tomorrow the temp is suppose to drop 40 degrees in like 8 hours :eek:

Neither Rain or Sleet or Snow or Cold will stop the dedicated dishhead from working on his dishes. My first C band dish was installed during December with an average temperature of +5 outside all week. While as I get older I'd rather work when its warmer outside. If it needs to get done it needs to get done. The flip side of the coin I also worked on my dish at 4am in the summer because it was suppose to be 100 outside that day and 80 at 4am was a bit better without the sun. :D
 
Well it's 30° and we got about 3" of snow last night. The dog loves it. Guess we will stay home today as the Christmas madness plus the slushy roads will make it a real gamble to get off the hill (270' elevation)
 
Sounds like nobody is immune. We got probably a foot of it in the past 12 hours so I spent some time blowing/shoveling.
As for the vehicles, my work van and my fiance's truck stay in the garage which I've decided to keep heated this winter so it stays about 60°. I install remote car starters on the side so it's nice to have the heated shop. And yes, I have seen many many vehicles left running with nobody in them but there are plenty with remote start.........I know mine does!
I didn't watch any FTA over the weekend so I don't even know how much is on the dishes, a bit on the 6' C-Band I think but it seems to handle it pretty well. One of the Ku dishes sits pretty low so it might need some attention..........it's the one I get the weather channel on, what a coincidence!
 
Definitely Inno,

I even have a rare dusting of 4" here and it almost never snows here @ 120' Above Sea Level

Must be dry stuff since everything is coming in fine with the dishes covered like they are.

Too bad it's icy out, cause I would have loved to see what the 8 footer looked like.

Attached is the Starband and a D* 500 covered in the white stuff
 

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Us northerner's don't usually worry about snow. I do nothing unless I lose signal, then go outside with a broom and waste a couple minutes sweeping them off. I rarely have to do it with offsets (unless they are upside down) and when I had a cband dish and it needed cleaning that usually meant that the side walks and deck needed to be shovelled anyways.:)

I'm the same way. I'm in Pennsylvania. My 6 footer pointed at AMC 1 gets a good coating when it snows because of it's 34 degrees of elevation. I usually wipe the snow off anyway, before or after I get home from work. My 8 footer is at a very low elevation, 15 degrees or so, so the very bottom of the reflector gets some accumulation. With the prime focus dishes, the snow changes the shape of the parabola when you get a lot of it, so it will decrease the gain. Only when I get a lot of snow, more than a couple inches on the reflector, will i lose a lot of signal quality.

With my one 36" offset for Ku, the reflector is elevated 86 degrees or so from the horizontal, so the snow will build up on the LNB arm and LNBF, and ofcourse with Ku, that will attenuate the signal.

Jonathan
 
One more factor about snow collection by a dish. I have a very low F/D dish, and even though up north, as others have said, the dish is at a fairly low elevation, the low F/D causes it to collect more snow at the bottom, and even makes it hard to sweep off with a broom at times. One more reason that a high F/D dish is better.
 
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