Question about rain fade.

[gor88]

I live in Central Mississippi, right outside of Jackson. Our area sees severe thunderstorms fairly frequently.

Lately, I have been noticing more occurrences of rain fade. The other day, we had a severe thunderstorm with a fairly heavy downpour. Apparently, there was a massive amount of moisture still in the clouds b/t the dish and the birds. This occurred Tuesday. I noticed signals dropped to 37-58 on both 110 and 119, with 119 having slightly better signal strengths. It went out for roughly 15 minutes on affected channels.

In clear weather, I usually see 92-115 signal strength on the varioius transponders, with one spotbeam at 125. The Dish 500 installation screen shows roughly the same signal strength for both birds. It varies from 114-118 at night with clear skies.

Therefore, I am estimating a rain fade of 55-60 points. Some channels went out (mostly those in the 37-45 range), the others still came in. :(

I may try to reaim the Dish500 this weekend to see if I can improve on the signal strength. An improvement of 10 points during rain fade would probably keep the signals in check (except for probably hail storms b/t the dish and birds).

If I still see rain fade, I might consider buying 2 larger dishes, one for 110 and another for 119. The Dish500 would be reaimed to pick up 61.5. I saw a posting referring to check with an installer to ensure that you don't send too high a signal strength, which could mess up LNB's and/or the receivers. Given the information shown above, would 24" dishes be enough to eliminate the rain fade on my end, or should I consider the 30" model?

Also, which multi-switch should be used to pick up all three birds? I have one PVR 508 and plan to add a 301 for the bedroom once I get married.

[Mike123abc]

I use 24" dishes for 119/110 they seem to add about 15-25 "signal units" for me. I use a 35" on 61.5 it boosted it by about 25-35 "signal units" (many on 61.5 are pegged at 125).

On 119 with 24" I see all transponders over 115.
On 110 with 24" I see all transponders I see a few 105-110, rest over 110, with about half over 115.

This is at 11am CST with overcast skys.

[shilton]

You know...when I had the old Dish 300 I never had rain fade...since upgrading to the Dish 500 I get rainfade quite frequently and my dish is peaked to 100% maximum capacity to virtually full signal strength on all transponders. It only happens in rain conditions and then after the storm...115-125 again for signal strength on nearly all transponders. Wonder if the Superdish will be worse yet???

[lastmanstanding]

I am in northern Ohio and typically pull 110-115 on both 119 and 110, and I still get rain fade.

We can anticipate the severity of a storm based on the length of the loss of signal. Only the larger storms cause a problem, and then for only a couple of minutes. Two weeks ago we had a 40 minute signal loss. When the rain arrived, we got 3 1/2 inches in 30 minutes, flooding our basement by overwhelming two sump pumps.

So when we get more than 15 minutes of rain fade, we know to get the mop and stand ready for high water. Actually, we put in two much bigger sump pumps.

[ocnier]

I recommend what Mike123abc says. I use the 24" oval as well and it has cut down on rain fade tremendously (what can I say directv equipment ovals are better for dish than dish equipment). I suggest you look on ebay for some deals on the them just make sure you get the older kind that does not have the integrated switch.

[gor88]

I just realigned my Dish 500. I spent from 5-6:30pm doing it, but it paid off. After trying several positions, I was able to noticeably improve the signal strength.

The elevation of 44 deg. was not exactly correct. It turns out that 47 deg. works better. Although, the 110 bird would normally be reached at 41 deg., it had the greatest amount of improvment. :) Also, subtracting roughly 2 deg. from the azimuth improved it further(moved it a tad toward the east). :D

Some examples of improvement:

Bird 110 - Tp 14 (where my locals are and the weakest tp on the bird): 102 to 111
Out of the 24 regular tp's, 7 are 120 and up. 6 more are 118 or 119.

Bird 119 - Tp 14(weakest tp): 95 to 110
Out of the 16 regular tp's, 6 are 120 and up. 3 more are 118 or 119.

Not counting out of area spotbeams, every signal strength in the clear afternoon sky was 110 or better. The weakest tp's showed the greatest improvement. :D :D :D

This improvement should hopefully allow the dish to lock accurately enough to keep the signal strength above 50 on all the channels to handle these severe thunderstorms. If not, I may consider the 24" dishes.

Thanks to all for the advice.

[Bob Haller]

Settings arent exact. I have two perfectly plump 500 dishes side by side on my deck. Both have 115 to `125 signal strength on all transponders. I spent hours in the cold peaking them. When a E tech asks me for my numbers they are surprised they are so good.

Odd thing is they arent pointed the same and you can see it just by looking at them.

This caused trouble on original install, I peaked number one then set number 2 to look the same. The results were very poor.

I figure its minor variations in manufacturing over time.

Just think of the DP and apply it to a 500. They arent all EXACTLY the same...