DBSTalk Forum banner

Rain fade all day long...what a drag.

3K views 40 replies 26 participants last post by  russdog 
#1 ·
Rain fade since 8:30 am here in mid-Michigan. Other than a few breaks I haven't been able to watch more than 3 hours aggregate of any HD programming today.

I've been a D* customer for 11 months and this is the worst I have ever seen. Is anyone else in the area south of Lansing MI experiencing this misery?

Also, this is the first steady rain I've experienced in this home. Is it possible that my dish was not aligned properly from the outset?

I guess this is one instance where I am glad I don't get HD locals through D* because the OTA HD is all I have had all day.
 
#2 ·
There's more coming your way.

Where I am next to O'hare International Airport in Chicagoland, we got 6 inches so far (and new record for O'hare) and plenty more coming tomorrow.

Thick, wet clouds are known to cause rain fade, and moreso on the new MPEG4-HD channels. You'll probably have better luck on the SD channels than the HD channels when this occurs, so try that. Turn off the "Hide HD Duplicates" setting temporarily to see the SD feeds of those HD channels.

Something is better than nothing.
 
#3 ·
As for how good your signal is, we won't be able to help you measure that until you find a clear day and post your signal strengths (for each transponder on each satellite) for us to evaluate.
 
#4 ·
Thanks. I guess I should have known that the thick wet clouds are the real culprit. When the installer was here I made him stay as I checked all the signal strengths and they were great at the time of install. I just have never experienced such prolonged and steady service interruption.

I do have OTA so I will be able to watch tOSU tonight as well as the race and NFL tomorrow so all is not lost. It's just frustrating. I guess if having to deal with rain fade is the most stressful part of my day I should consider myself a very fortunate individual. Probably best if I just turn off the TV and do a puzzle with the family. I watch too much TV as it is.

Sorry for the ramble...
 
#5 ·
SPACEMAKER said:
Thanks. I guess I should have known that the thick wet clouds are the real culprit. When the installer was here I made him stay as I checked all the signal strengths and they were great at the time of install. I just have never experienced such prolonged and steady service interruption.

I do have OTA so I will be able to watch tOSU tonight as well as the race and NFL tomorrow so all is not lost. It's just frustrating. I guess if having to deal with rain fade is the most stressful part of my day I should consider myself a very fortunate individual. Probably best if I just turn off the TV and do a puzzle with the family. I watch too much TV as it is.

Sorry for the ramble...
Yes I have had the same problem with my HD in Arkasnas. I need to check the transponders on a clear day, we may need a dish alignment.
 
#7 ·
Guys... hurricane weather is NOT the norm. Given all the damage that such a storm can cause, a few hours without HDTV is far from the worst thing that can happen.
 
#8 ·
I've had the same problem all day with HD shows. I would be upset if I didn't have a million things to watch on my DVR. I went on vacation 2 weeks ago and still have programs I gotta watch.
 
#9 ·
IIP said:
Guys... hurricane weather is NOT the norm. Given all the damage that such a storm can cause, a few hours without HDTV is far from the worst thing that can happen.
I've been watching weather channels all day and this is the first I've heard of a Hurricane in the Michigan area.
 
#10 ·
spartanstew said:
I've been watching weather channels all day and this is the first I've heard of a Hurricane in the Michigan area.
Well...the amount of rain that we have had today rivals that of some hurricanes. Almost 7 inches here. It doesn't happen like this all the time...plus we ALL KNOW that rain fade happens. It sucks when it does, but that's what we get with a signal from space. FWIW D* and E* have less downtime than cable does.
 
#13 ·
May not be a hurricane in Michegan, but its sure the moisture flow from on getting sucked up into a cold front.

I've had 5 rain fade events today in central Arkansas... 4 on KA only, and one on Ka and Ku. OTA solid. Bands from IKE are ripping by at 40-60 knots, so my fades never lasted over two minutes.

When gustov was sitting right over us for 2 days (9 inches of rain), I had a steady KA signal of 50. Normal is 85 for me. KU's were in 80's, normally high 90's.

Hope that helps.
 
#18 ·
I have been with D* for over 10 years, Yesterday was the worst rain fade I have ever seen...
 
#20 ·
SParker said:
Hmmm I think I had one hiccup with my HD local via Directv today during ND vs U of M but I didn't have much of an issue with cnn hd.
According to the radar, Cedar Springs is north of the maing rain/storm system. You just missed the bulk.

After checking an MSU message board it appears that the rain fade is widespread.

Hopefully it's better today.:)
 
#22 ·
We've had over 6 inches since yesterday morning (Kzoo area). Haven't really had any rain fade at all other then during the tornado warning for about 5 minutes last night. While it's been raining hard there haven't been much in the way of towering thunderclouds which is what usually drops signals.

My dish is peaked low to mid 90s across the boarding including the KA sats. I checked signals yesterday afternoon a couple times during the worst of it and 101 was down in the 70s and the KA sats were still going strong in the 50s. Although that is on the edge, you'll start to see breakups once it gets below 40 or so.

And even my FTA 1 meter dish never went out.

So unless you are really unlucky, if you have been getting a lot of rain fade your dish probably isn't aligned as well as it could be.

Unfortunately Ike is supposed to be on top of us for the start of the 1pm NFL games so we'll see how the rain fade is then!
 
#23 ·
luckydob said:
Can you prove it to be wrong...? I used the tilde because I thought it would look nice. Geesh.

http://www.dish-system-tv.com/satellite-vs-cable.html

See PDF...very official. :D
Hehe. VERY nice PDF. :lol:

But repeating a fake statistic from a website that sells satellite services doesn't make it true.

Repeating a lie over and over in the hopes it becomes the truth only works if you're a politician. :lol:
 
#25 ·
Supervolcano said:
There's more coming your way.

Where I am next to O'hare International Airport in Chicagoland, we got 6 inches so far (and new record for O'hare) and plenty more coming tomorrow.
How bad does it have to rain before you lose your SD channels? I have found that using the National Weather Service's live doppler radar display, I only lose my SD's (101/119, etc) when the radar displays the precipitation as ORANGE or RED. GREEN or YELLOW and I'm fine (although sig strength drops to the 50's & 60's).

While (luckily) I didn't get blasted like you in the Chicago area (90 miles made a BIG difference-I'm 20 miles north of the IL-WI border right along I-94) I got plenty of rain since Friday afternoon and I never lost DirecTV once. Good thing, too since I'd be irked if any of the FREE Starz! movies being recorded got interrupted... :D
 
#26 ·
SPACEMAKER said:
Thanks. I guess I should have known that the thick wet clouds are the real culprit. When the installer was here I made him stay as I checked all the signal strengths and they were great at the time of install. I just have never experienced such prolonged and steady service interruption.
How great were the signal strengths at installation time?

Here's why I ask: I live where tropical storms and hurricanes are a normal feature of life. When my original installation happened, dense wet cloud cover would cause me to lose signal for extended periods. I then redid the installation myself (required getting the top part of the mast exactly plumb, which the installer failed to do) and the problem disappeared. Since then, I might lose signal for 20 minutes at a time, maybe 4 times per year. With my recent upgrade with Slimline-5, the installer took proper care and got me signal strength ranging from 96 to 100, depending on the sat (he was kinda surprised about the 100 ;-)

So FWIW, based on my own experience, I would think that if you don't have at least mid-90's signal strength on a clear day, then you're asking for wet-cloud signal loss. Of course, maybe you have that already and the recent cloud cover in your area is a freak thing.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top