trying to find Rain Shield

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spacebug42

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Feb 22, 2009
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Woodland, CA
I had my first rain fade last night while watching RTN and I was not very happy about it. For a while I had some pixelation and no choppy audio and then the picture turned into a "mosaic" before it blacked out for several seconds before the signal came back. I looked at the other satellites and had a couple of pixelations but no loss of audio or picture. I remembered reading in this forum about a product to spray or wipe on to waterproof the dish. I did find PSB's topic on King's Rain Shield and checked out the links at the end of the discussion, but Sadoun no longer carries it. Is there another similar product that I can use to make my dish rainroof? What about Rain X - will it work on dishes as well as windshields?
 
checking with Camping World

I did a search for King Controls and found several local dealers who carry King Control Products. One of those dealers is Camping World. I'm going to call them when they open and see if they have something to waterproof a satellite dish.
 
you do know that heavy dark clouds kills a signal more then rain right?

I've had a downpour and didnt lose a signal yet when dark clouds are to the south that can kill a signal...and it wasnt even raining.

I usually know when its gonna rain because the dark clouds come first....then a little bit later the rain comes :)
 
going to Camping World

I did some searching around and there is another product similar to King's Rain Shield. It's called Dome Magic Rain Fade and it's available in both 5 oz. spray cans and single use wipes. I checked again on the Camping World web site and bingo - they do carry it! As proof of this, I'm posting the link to that page: Dome Magic Satellite Antenna Treatment - Product - Camping World. I will make a trip to CW today and get the rain fade problem solved.

Iceberg, I didn't know heavy clouds can stop satellite reception even when it's not raining. When I was watching the A-Team on RTN, the reception problem came and gone several times. It could have been not just the rain, but the clouds moving as well.

Pismire, I started out with a 90cm dish and I think that's the way it's going to be for a while. There's hardly any room for even the smallest C dish in my backyard. The only place to put it would be next to the fence and it's also directly below the power lines. I'd love to have a bigger yard for a bigger dish, but it's not going to happen anytime soon.
 
Iceberg, I didn't know heavy clouds can stop satellite reception even when it's not raining. When I was watching the A-Team on RTN, the reception problem came and gone several times. It could have been not just the rain, but the clouds moving as well.

what do you think is in those clouds? ;)
 
Maybe try to tweak that 90cm a bit. That is a good size really. As well as your cloud cover it can depend on the cloud cover on the the uplink station as well.
 
I agree with the above opinions, it would be best to save up that money and get a bigger dish or tweak the one you have for best alignment. In the end, you won't escape rain fade altogether, even with a bigger dish, you will always have to deal with it on weaker signals.
 
There was no rain, nor significant clouds in my locale yet I had a problem receiving RTN yesterday .

Reilably, how do you know the cause of your problem?

Could it have been a problem at the TX side?
 
Well that won't help rain fade from the clouds. I had to add a shield on mine to prevent the face from getting soaked and blanking out the marginal s2 signal I was trying to get.
 
will treat the dish in the next few days

I was successful in getting the can of Dome Magic Rain Fade treatment. Unfortunately, it has been raining off and on all day today. I'll see what the weather will be like tomorrow or Monday. The good news is that the reception of RTN was better than last night. I did get a couple of pixelations, but no dropouts at all. I enjoyed watching Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica tonight on RTN. I think I got a bad case of RTN fever. :p

Gray1, thanks for the info, but unfortunately, I had already driven 22 miles each way to CW to pick up Dome Magic this afternoon. I will keep it in mind for future reference. There is a new Best Buy here in Woodland which opened two weeks ago and it will simplify my life instead of having to drive 20 miles to another Best Buy store.

As for the others, I will try tweaking the dish when the weather is drier. I will try to go beyond 87%, but I think it is already at peak efficiency. Perhaps I should save up for a Birddog meter instead.
 
Do not bother applying Rain Shield to the reflector. The sheeting effect of the water running off of the reflector will not significantly attenuate the reflected signal. Applying Rain Shield to the LNBF face will significantly improve signal reception caused by water build-up on the LNBF face.

Rain Shield was developed to prevent water sheeting on the domes that cover mobile dish systems. This undesired sheeting effect severely affects reception by preventing the signal from passing through the dome. The water actually begins to build-up and form a shield against the RF signal. Rain Shield creates a smooth surface which quickly sheds the water.
 
I learned from my other hobby, endurance motorcycle riding, applying a light coat of carnuba wax to the bike's windscreen works very well to shed water. Its is effective on both Acrylic and Lexan windscreens. I use wax on both sides of the windscreen and helmet visor. Just a thought.
 
What about Rain X - will it work on dishes as well as windshields?

I have used Rain-X on my dishes in the past but got to watch it around the lettering on the dish!

A word of caution: It wants to rub the lettering right off!

Car wax I have done before too but eventually anything you really put on has to be re-applied at some point and can be a bear to get too to do it.

Honestly I agree with others in the post about using anything that sheets the water off the dish, it is really an Earth's atmosphere problem and clouds.

Now, bet the Rain-X on the LNB would help you out better in the long run!

Always make sure you "peaked" the best you can in your alignment!!

K E V I N
ftabman0_avitar-cordoba.gif
 
Heres another one to try cut out a 4" * 4" square from 2 lit. pop bottle and black tape it to top of lnb overhanging eye face and slightly pointing up works for me to keep rain off eye face, the bag trick worked for me also as long as the wind is strong enough to move the bag and flick the rain off the bag, if it just laying on the face of the lnb usless in my trials. might be something to try. Cost Free.
 
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