[ChrisQ]

Is this a thing of the past?

I live a mile or 2 from the Baltimore Inner Harbor. I know that Sandy was not as strong as expected here, but it was still substantial and we have lost signal for much less of a storm many times over the years. We got pounded for some 18 hours by torrential rains and all that wind, and water poured into the house from places never seen before. We were ready for several hours of no signal during the middle of the storm; however we never lost the picture for 1 second. It pixelated a couple of times, but that was it.

I did have an actual Directv tech come to my house for a broken mounting bracket about a month ago and he inspected my entire system and made some tweaks while he was there. He told me they had stopped using subs for support calls and were working on getting rid of subs altogether. In this case, that seems to have made all the difference

That tech got a grateful text msg this AM.

 

[carl6]

A thing of the past? No. But a properly installed and aligned dish will greatly reduce rain fade situations. Glad it is working good for you now.

 

[ChrisQ]

Yes I guess my point was that in 15 years of DTV service not one of the many subcontractors ever aligned a dish properly because any decent storm would knock it out for at least a minute or two. This was by far the worst storm in my personal experience and that dish just laughed at it. DTV should have taken this road years ago.

 

[fleckrj]

Signal loss depends greatly on the direction from which the storm is coming. Sandy was coming from the east or southeast, but your line of sight to the satellite is to the southwest, so there was no interference. It all has to do with how much water is between your dish and the satellite. I have never lost my signal during a hurricane (at least not before I lost electricity ), but I do lose signal when normal thunderstorms are approaching from the southwest.

 

[jdspencer]

Although Sandy was a very large storm, there probably wasn't enough rain laden clouds to disrupt the sat signal.

A few times this past summer there were several severe T-storms that came through here and those did block my signal. This storm didn't.

 

[Capmeister]

I was very impressed (also in Baltimore area) that we didn't lose a moment's signal. Bravo.

 

[P Smith]

I was very impressed (also in Baltimore area) that we didn't lose a moment's signal. Bravo.

Applaud to "Sandy" ?

 

[n3ntj]

Sandy affected my area (south central PA) and at no time did I lose D* service. I was watching local HD channel coverage (until the fiber feed issue that affected many markets last night) occurred. I was impressed though, although we never did really ever have heavy downspours..mostly wind driven rain all day. The heavy downspours are what kills Ka band RF...just too much water volume for that band of RF to pass through.

 

[RunnerFL]

I only lose signal here during extremely heavy downpours. Unfortunately in S. Florida that's a daily occurance in the summer. It's just something I live with and have learned to cope with by doing things like having a DVR with AM21 recording my "must have" shows on local channels just in case.

 

[tonyd79]

I did not lose either in Maryland. Noticed my signal levels were dramatically low when I thought the locals issue may have been rain fade related. Mostly because the clouds were not that thick but I did lose HD signal for a short while during Irene which was less of a storm. Perhaps the exact angle.

With very low values but still locked in, I wonder if something had changed to what signal level can still be processed, though.

 

[iceman2a]

I had no signal loss thru the duration of Sandy on Monday.
Last night we had a thunder storm blow thru wit torrential down pours from the south, lost signal for about 5 mins!

"rainfade" well not a thing of the past, is not as bad as it once was!

 

[dlt4]

I moved from Arizona to Florida and my D* service was installed in August. I've been really surprised, and frustrated, at how little rain it sometimes takes to knock out my signal. Obviously it didn't rain as often in AZ, but even a hard downpour usually didn't kill the signal.

I had the tech come back out and check signals, etc., but he basically said that's part of having satellite service in FL. I even considered switching to Prism from CenturyLink, but quickly came to my senses!

 

[Special Ed]

10 years ago or so I was talking to my neighbor about Directv and how they liked it. He said he was going to Comcast because they always lost the signal during storms.

I switched to Directv, had a pro aim it perfectly and am glad I did. Over the years I have only had few disruptions that interfered with something I was watching. I remember once we missed about 10 minutes of Sopranos, also during this year's WS we missed one batter and a pitching change as a few big storms rolled through. Sure there have been a few 1 or 2 minute fades here or there each year if a storm comes from the exact right direction but nothing that ruined my viewing experience - screen pixelates and freezes momentary - I say rain is coming - the rain starts and picture is back.

On the other hand, we live in a neighborhood with trees that take out power and cable lines 2 or 3 times a year. I just fire up my generator and watch TV off the satellite while my neighbor sometimes has to wait a day or two for cable service to be restored. One bad storm in the area probably gives him more downtime than I get in 10 years (as long as I can start the darn generator).

On Sandy not affecting Directv, it was mostly a Nor'eastern and our dishes point to the southwest.