He could probably realign his dish.
are hd channels any better in the rain yet?
are had channels any better in the rain yet? My coworker down here in south florida says he switches to SD during the rain, is that the only solution?
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well he says he has, considering it rains constantly during the summer and usually during tv time at night. i'd like to be able to watch HD, are bigger dishes even an option if I wanted to go that route as I really want to get away from uverse.spartanstew said:He could probably realign his dish.
Pretty much so. He could cut the signal loss time about in 1/2 with a 1.2 meter dish, but if the radar is red (>50 dbz) between his house and the satellite, he is going to lose HD. until the cell passes by.robl45 said:are had channels any better in the rain yet? My coworker down here in south florida says he switches to SD during the rain, is that the only solution?
Have had DirecTV for over 15 years in S Fla without, what I would consider, a rain fade problem. Yes, you will lose HD channels briefly during heavy rain. It is usually a very short time and the summer rains almost always occur in the late afternoon, mostly before 6 PM. GOOD dish alignment is a must, good enough won't cut it.robl45 said:well he says he has, considering it rains constantly during the summer and usually during tv time at night. i'd like to be able to watch HD, are bigger dishes even an option if I wanted to go that route as I really want to get away from uverse.
I don't know about where you are but I live in Winter Haven and with a standard Slimline 5LNB dish I only lose my signals during the heaviest of storms when the cell is due South West of me. If you added up all my signal loss time during an entire calendar year I bet I don't lose my signal for much over an hour all told over the year.
I will concede that I lose HD signals before I lose the SD but even then it is a rare event doesn't last very long.
And my experience is that during the rainy season it rains in the afternoon when the temperature peaks and the Atlantic winds and the Gulf winds collide inland. In the evening when things start to cool down there isn't much rain at all. It rains for half an hour every afternoon (if we're lucky...the last 6 rainy seasons have been pretty damn dry. My dock on the lake is all but out of the water) and then 45 minutes later you never know it rained at all.
I will concede that I lose HD signals before I lose the SD but even then it is a rare event doesn't last very long.
And my experience is that during the rainy season it rains in the afternoon when the temperature peaks and the Atlantic winds and the Gulf winds collide inland. In the evening when things start to cool down there isn't much rain at all. It rains for half an hour every afternoon (if we're lucky...the last 6 rainy seasons have been pretty damn dry. My dock on the lake is all but out of the water) and then 45 minutes later you never know it rained at all.
I noticed your signature has an outdoor antenna and HR20's so like me with AM21's, I suspect you watch some TV OTA and thus don't experience the rain fade as often as others who have no OTA antenna.davring said:Have had DirecTV for over 15 years in S Fla without, what I would consider, a rain fade problem. Yes, you will lose HD channels briefly during heavy rain. It is usually a very short time and the summer rains almost always occur in the late afternoon, mostly before 6 PM. GOOD dish alignment is a must, good enough won't cut it.
Being in S. Fla also I would say in the summer months, lose about 10-20 mins of Sat a week on average. With a dish aligned so well that the 99c and 103c's are all mid 90's.
But when cable goes out, its usually an hour or two at a time.
reason i got rid of dish 4 years or so ago is that i got sick of losing 15 minutes of my shows during the summer every time it rained and I had that thing aligned perfect.
I don't mind buying a bigger dish if it will help, but more than me, my wife will flip out if she loses signal.
I just really can't take paying uverse to watch only 3 channels at a time with crappy quality and increasing prices.
I don't mind buying a bigger dish if it will help, but more than me, my wife will flip out if she loses signal.
I just really can't take paying uverse to watch only 3 channels at a time with crappy quality and increasing prices.
i just worked in FL all of feburary
You readings on HD sats should be all 100's or 99's
You readings on HD sats should be all 100's or 99's
You want the Alaska/Hawaii 1.2M dish with appropriate LNB. If you dont get the 3 sat LNB, you will need two of those dishes, and they arent cheap, so unless there are some SD locals on 119 you just have to have, just get the one dish.robl45 said:I don't mind buying a bigger dish if it will help, but more than me, my wife will flip out if she loses signal.
I think if you get just one dish, you will have to run the four cables to an SWM8 multiswitch, or you might lose guide data from 119. I dont know if they have an 99/101/103 SWM LNB available for that dish.
http://www.thesatelliteshop.net/directv-alaska-hawaii-dish-c-810_820.html
Looking at about $500 + shipping. If you are handy, you can use a 1M or 1.2M FTA dish, with a SL3S LNB, and just rig a mounting bracket for the LNB like I did. Then you are in the $150 range.
Rain fade discussions always remind me about the 2004 hurricane season here in FL. When the last of four hurricanes (Jeanne) in six weeks came through, I miraculously only lost power for a very short time while almost everyone in the area was out. On Sunday, not only did I have power, but my DTV would only fade for very brief moments occasionally with a hurricane going on outside. When word leaked out that my NFL ST was working, the phone started ringing like crazy with guys looking for score updates. I spent that afternoon with the phone in one hand, and the remote in the other hand. :lol:
I switch over to my OTA via my AM21 and that works until the storm goes by.
I also had a larger dish installed before I went to MPEG4 and it helped to reduce the amount of Rainfade I had but I don't know if one exists that works with MPEG4.
Maybe Solidsignal has one so I would check there.
I also had a larger dish installed before I went to MPEG4 and it helped to reduce the amount of Rainfade I had but I don't know if one exists that works with MPEG4.
Maybe Solidsignal has one so I would check there.
Doing some math this morning, the gain of the 1.2 meter dish over the Slimline dish is in the 4-5 dB range, which just doesn't seem to be that much, considering the cost.Davenlr said:You want the Alaska/Hawaii 1.2M dish with appropriate LNB. If you dont get the 3 sat LNB, you will need two of those dishes, and they arent cheap, so unless there are some SD locals on 119 you just have to have, just get the one dish.
I think if you get just one dish, you will have to run the four cables to an SWM8 multiswitch, or you might lose guide data from 119. I dont know if they have an 99/101/103 SWM LNB available for that dish.
http://www.thesatelliteshop.net/directv-alaska-hawaii-dish-c-810_820.html
Looking at about $500 + shipping. If you are handy, you can use a 1M or 1.2M FTA dish, with a SL3S LNB, and just rig a mounting bracket for the LNB like I did. Then you are in the $150 range.
A 3db gain is double the signal strength. A 4.7 bd gain would be triple the strength.veryoldschool said:Doing some math this morning, the gain of the 1.2 meter dish over the Slimline dish is in the 4-5 dB range, which just doesn't seem to be that much, considering the cost.
We've been through the "big dish" discussion many times. The signal loss when a storm cell is between you and the satellite at Ka frequencies (the ones used for HD) is so large that using a bigger dish would essentially have no real effect. 5db isn't much use when you are losing 30db plus because of the storm. The best it can do for you is cut a few seconds off the time during which you get no signal, at the "edges" of the storm event.
There's a whole stack of data about rain fade at these frequencies, accumulated through measurement of the effect on satellite communications not TV. Models applying to different parts of the world have been developed. Just to say that parts of Florida and Texas have the highest incidence of rain fade effects in the country.
There's a whole stack of data about rain fade at these frequencies, accumulated through measurement of the effect on satellite communications not TV. Models applying to different parts of the world have been developed. Just to say that parts of Florida and Texas have the highest incidence of rain fade effects in the country.
"Yeah" as long as I've been working with RF.....HobbyTalk said:A 3db gain is double the signal strength. A 4.7 bd gain would be triple the strength.
Now when the rainfade is on the order of 30-40 dB of loss, a 4.7 dB gain, is a "drop in the bucket".
You have to love these discussions :lol:texasbrit said:We've been through the "big dish" discussion many times. The signal loss when a storm cell is between you and the satellite at Ka frequencies (the ones used for HD) is so large that using a bigger dish would essentially have no real effect. 5db isn't much use when you are losing 30db plus because of the storm. The best it can do for you is cut a few seconds off the time during which you get no signal, at the "edges" of the storm event.
There's a whole stack of data about rain fade at these frequencies, accumulated through measurement of the effect on satellite communications not TV. Models applying to different parts of the world have been developed. Just to say that parts of Florida and Texas have the highest incidence of rain fade effects in the country.
"If money wasn't a concern", one might use the 1.2 meter dish, then a SWiM, and finally an amp with 13 dB of gain. There really isn't much more you can throw at the problem.
Does such an LNB exist? The spread between the satellites in AK or HI is non-negligibly less than the separation in Florida.Davenlr said:You want the Alaska/Hawaii 1.2M dish with appropriate LNB.
This would depend on what the spread was set for.harsh said:Does such an LNB exist? The spread between the satellites in AK or HI is non-negligibly less than the separation in Florida.
The difference between AK and HI is the same as the difference between AK and FL.
If it was centered for AK, then it would work for FL the same as it would for HI.
If, on the other hand, it was split between AK & HI, then FL would be degraded.
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