trying to understand rain fade

Taron1 said:
It just so happen I was scheduled for the installer to come out today and peak the DisH. Strength is 66 (Highest) Quality is 95 (Highest).

Then some one at Voom Called today and said that my Larger Dish has been ordered and will be sent to the installer. But so far no problems slight wind today with lots of clouds. I now have the option for the larger dish if I have anymore problem with the signal.

Will VOOM automatically give you a bigger dish if you call them, as well as install it?
 
Taron1 said:
It just so happen I was scheduled for the installer to come out today and peak the DisH. Strength is 66 (Highest) Quality is 95 (Highest).

Then some one at Voom Called today and said that my Larger Dish has been ordered and will be sent to the installer. But so far no problems slight wind today with lots of clouds. I now have the option for the larger dish if I have anymore problem with the signal.

Sounds good. I know the larger dish helps retain the strength of your signal during bad weather, so that can always be helpful, yet I do have to warn that it is pretty big. I was surprised just how big it was when I put it up. Luckily it doesn't bother me, and I have a good wife that understands my technical needs. ;) Also with the bigger dish you will most likely increase your power by at least 10 points, (mine went up 14).
 
Jay, I've had my dish peaked by installers MANY times. I have a meter and do it myself as well. I also had a 24" dish installed (BTW, the new 24" does say Voom on it, an older one I had installed was just grey). Still get rain fade. Voom says 30"-ers won't work in our area due to aiming difficulties with low angle. The main problem for me is I'm shooting through some distant trees that cut some of the signal away. Hence, a little rain fade and I'm screwed. My only solution at this point is to try a few more roof placements (I've tried 3 already). This summer, we are remodeling the whole house...then I'll be golden because we are adding another story and I'll be over the trees.

My wife thinks we are remodeling to add more space for the kids. Wait until she hears it is just so we can get a clear Voom shot, LOL!
 
Vince2 said:
...The main problem for me is I'm shooting through some distant trees that cut some of the signal away...
Well, that explains everything! What you are seeing is not exactly a rain fade. It's just the leaves on those trees get wet during the rain and become less transparent for satellite signals. Bigger dish may or may not help...
 
Nice theory Ilya, only there were no leaves on those trees up until two weeks ago and I've had this problem for months! The branches and leaves no doubt cut my signal down, but standard rain fade drops me below the threshold.
 
Rin fade...

I must say I've had more problems with rain fade with Voom than I EVER had with DTV. Anyone know why this might be? Different frequency? Birds a little farther away? I'm kinda curious since I've never really experienced too much of a problem with DTV. I only had problems when there were bad thunderstorms rolling in. And then, I didn't have outages for more than a few minutes at most.

Just curious...

The Rickster
 
Vince2 said:
Nice theory Ilya, only there were no leaves on those trees up until two weeks ago and I've had this problem for months! The branches and leaves no doubt cut my signal down, but standard rain fade drops me below the threshold.
May be wet branches are less transparent too? :)
In any case, it looks like the trees are your main problem, not the rain. Can you find a better place for the dish? Can you raise it a bit with a tripod?
 
Vince2 said:
My wife thinks we are remodeling to add more space for the kids. Wait until she hears it is just so we can get a clear Voom shot, LOL!

Way to go!!! I wish I could convince my wife we need more space for the kids to watch movies (hidden agenda: a bigger home theather :D)
 
Vince2 said:
BTW, the new 24" does say Voom on it
Any chance you could post a picture of it? It's nice to know that VOOM now has its own 24" dish...
 
I think I maybe experincing the "wet leaves" problem also. My signal comes through some tall trees about 500 ft. away and I never had any problem during rain through the winter (sig. quality ~ 90-94).
Now the last 2 days my signal went down to the 60's under rain and I lost it. The only different I can think of is that that the trees now have leaves.
The interesting part is that under clear skies conditions the leaves do not seem to affect my signal quality.
 
Walter, I have a clear shot to the sat and I get the same thing depending on the type of rain we are having. Last night's rain I had a 94 signal, same as a clear day, go figure, then last week with a light drizzle I was down and out with a 49.
 
For the Oregonians (Darrel & vince): can you report whenever you have problems on this other thread. I'm try to figure out what problems are specific to our area.
 
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