[redbox223]

Hey everyone, i just signed with directv a few days ago. I have the new slimline 5lnb dish and i have the hr-21 dvr. I have to be honest that i was nervous making the swith from cable due to rain fade. My question is how nervous should i be? My signal strength is all in the 90's. I wanted to make the swith because it was going to be cheaper than cable and i'm getting more channels and plus i got the Sunday Ticket and i'm a big football fan.

I'm in chicago and the dish has a clear view. I've been with comcast cable for a while but i grew very frustrated with them and there prices. I'm just trying to see how concerned i should be with my signal going out whenever it rains. Sorry if this is a newbie question and thanks for any replies!!!

 

[mishawaka]

the answer is "not very nervous"

 

[PoitNarf]

Welcome to DBSTalk!

Rain fade is an unfortunate reality with satellite tv, but if your dish is properly peaked (and by the sounds of your signals in the 90s it is), then it really doesn't occur all that often. My dish is mostly peaked to high 80s and low 90s and I only lose signal when it's a pretty significant rain in the area. I'm talking soaking downpour, not lite drizzle. You'll most likely be fine, sit back and enjoy the crapload of HD

 

[Grentz]

Does not happen very often, at least for me. Only in the worst of storms.

 

[redbox223]

making me feel better. Thanks for all the replies

 

[MIKE0616]

Does not happy very often, at least for me. Only in the worst of storms.

I lost picture a LOT more when I had comcrap than I have ever experienced with either DirecTV or Dish. It happens very infrequently, and when it does go, I know its time to head for the basement, as I live in "tornado alley."

 

[venisenvy]

I have to be honest, I was nervous about this when i joined directv about a year ago. I have lost the HD channels about 5 times and only once it was more than 5 minutes. One time it was a horrible storm and for about 30 minutes i lost about 75% of my channels but not all. But when i compare it to cable, in a year for directv i was inconvinienced for about 45 minutes. i must have lost cable about once a month and it sure was longer than 5 minutes when it happened.

 

[harsh]

Let's hope the OP's swelling goes down so they can once again spell switch.

 

[redbox223]

well, i was writing pretty fast so i didn't notice that it was spelled incorrectly but don't worry i know how to spell SWITCH and BTW thanks for the reply!!!

 

[redbox223]

I want to thank everyone for the replies, truly appreciated! I apologize for the misspelling but thanks for the reponses

 

[redbox223]

responses........doing it again

 

[su_A_ve]

I assume it can vary depending on the area....

From my experience in the last 8 years, in central NJ, rain fade comes in about 5 minutes before the heavy part of a severe storm, and goes away 5 minutes before the storm ends. Typically, this would last 5-10 minutes at most.

It's actually a nice warning of a storm coming or moving away...

I do have basic cable and HSI. During these same 8 years, I got at least 3-4 outages, however these lasted 3-5 DAYS. Also, a similar amount of smaller cable outages that lasted 4-6 hours.

My .02...

 

[AirRocker]

Let's hope the OP's swelling goes down so they can once again spell switch.

Must be a slow night, huh harsh? Gotta pick on a newbie for spelling errors??

To the OP:

:welcome_s to DBSTalk! As others have said, with signals in the 90's, you should be fine except during heavy downpours.

 

[rudeney]

Rain fade is annoying, but it in my case, it results in less than 30 minutes a year of signal loss. Rain fade seems to be worse when a storm front comes in parallel to LOS as opposed to being perpendicular. This means the signal is having to travel the longest direction through the storm and thus has the most moisture to block it. In my case, storms almost always come in parallel to LOS yet it takes a real whopper to cause an outage. Generally, I’ll lose the signal about two or three minutes before a torrential downpour. Once the rain starts, the signal generally comes back. If not, then I know we’re in for a real soaking (flash floods, etc.)

 

[ziggy29]

For a while when I lived in Houston, we had rain fade with almost every decent rainfall.

At one point I went up on the roof and peaked the signals, and after that it took pretty serious storms to the south to cause dropouts.

Getting signals into the 90s instead of the 70s will probably eliminate 75% of the rain fade.

 

[rmullin]

Like the others, we VERY seldom get rain-fade: just in the most intense downpours or extreme snowfalls.

However, we did experience our first rain-fade from local over-the-air digital antenna signals last week. We had a downpour (1-1/2" of rain in about 1/2 hour) and a couple of times even the local antenna feed went down, and this antenna usually pulls in a 95% signal strength.

Just goes to show that with enough rain drops in the air, digital bits can be swallowed up or scattered enough that they don't reach your home - no matter whether they are from the local 2,000 foot antenna 15 miles away, or from a bird 24,000 miles away. Bits is bits.

 

[SPACEMAKER]

As many others have stated, rain fade does occur but only during a significant downpour. The cable people would lead you to believe that you will lose signal every time it rains and that just isn't true.

 

[NXStang]

The reason rain fade used to happen was poor installs and improper alignment. Nowadays with big HSP's such as Ironwood, Mastac, Bluegrass, Directech, etc its much less common. good signal meters and proper training go a LONG LONG way in this business.

My old sidecar at my old house I installed over 3 years ago. It still works fine to this day and it went out a handful of times at most.

Good luck and enjoy that HD!!!!

 

[dtrell]

responses........doing it again

you really dont need to post again...you can go back and edit your own post if you find typos.

 

[redbox223]

Thanks for the tip and thanks to everyone for the feedback. I'm definitely enjoying the HD channels and hopefully everything works out.