Snow dropout
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Don't know about snow, but 1/4" of ice was enough to knock out service for me last winter. Why do you ask out of curiosity?WANDERER said:How much snow (accumulation) does it take to interrupt service? I'm curious and would like to hear stories of snow induced problems!
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You have Bird's Making Nests, Now you are worried about snow accumulation.
Where in Dallas do you live?
Anyway, to answer this question..
I have had maybe two or three "snow" accumulations on the dish in 10+ years, that got to the point that it blocked the signal.
And this was the "sticky" stuff, that just packed onto the dish.
Each area is going to be different on how much is enough to cause the signal loss... in my case, about 75% of the dish was covered with as much as 1" of the heavy wet stuff.
Where in Dallas do you live?
Anyway, to answer this question..
I have had maybe two or three "snow" accumulations on the dish in 10+ years, that got to the point that it blocked the signal.
And this was the "sticky" stuff, that just packed onto the dish.
Each area is going to be different on how much is enough to cause the signal loss... in my case, about 75% of the dish was covered with as much as 1" of the heavy wet stuff.
Well here its not trouble - but I just read where the great lakes region just go 2+ feet of snow - that must knock out service no? That would be a damn hassle. Up there they get that kind of result all the time. See here they will mount your dish right off the roof (maybe 6" off the peak) - it just occured to me that in colder regions maybe they hold the dish higher? Just trivia?Rob55 said:Don't know about snow, but 1/4" of ice was enough to knock out service for me last winter. Why do you ask out of curiosity?
Earl Bonovich said:You have Bird's Making Nests, Now you are worried about snow accumulation.
Where in Dallas do you live?
Are you gonna hunt me down?
I'm right in the middle near White rock lake. :grin:
And don't get me started about damn carpenter ants that go up there all the time!
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Do those covers that you can buy for your dish actually help prevent snow knockout and rain fade?
I don't relish the idea of getting outside in the middle of a blizzard to clear the dish. I was also told by the installer that the elevation of the AT9 is higher than the previous dish - meaning more chance for accumulation.
A cover, if it works, might be money well spent. Anybody using one?
I don't relish the idea of getting outside in the middle of a blizzard to clear the dish. I was also told by the installer that the elevation of the AT9 is higher than the previous dish - meaning more chance for accumulation.
A cover, if it works, might be money well spent. Anybody using one?
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I live in Lake Effect snow city and I've never lost signal due to snow, even a blizzard with 50 mph winds and 2 feet of snow, in the 10 years I've had DirecTV. The only winter weather related outage I've had is during an ice storm about 2 inches of ice accumulated on the dish (think frozen rain fade). About 5 minutes of warm water from a super soaker melted that mess away.WANDERER said:
I never lost signal in any of the heavy snow showers the past 2 days.
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Last Christmas I lost signal for most of the day, watching a Christmas movie at the time (was sick last Christmas so stayed in watching movies, or tried to). We had a wet, slushy snow for a couple of hours. I'd say the 3LNB dish that I had mounted on the deck out back was maybe a little over half way covered with less then an inch of snow, but again it was the heavier, slushy snow. My brother happened to drop by and kindly cleared the dish with a swipe of his jacket sleeve and I was back to watching my movie. I've probably lost signal due to snow maybe three times since 2001. I now have the AT 9 dish I'll be anxious to see if it does any different in snow. Not that we ever get snow in Central Indiana anymore.
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I used one on my old small dish and it helped. I couldnt find one for the AT9 and now it is up on my roof all naked. I did have the installer spray some of my friend's rain fade spray on it while he was up there but who knows if that stuff works.chicagojim said:
If I could find a cover that fit it I would buy it.
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The installer that put in my AT 9 dish told me that I should spray the dish with PAM cooking spray to keep the snow from sticking. I haven't actually done that but I thought I'd throw the idea out there and see if it sticks, sorry, a little late night humor, very little. :eek2:
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Here is what I used. A friend let me borrow his. I guess time will tell if it helps or not.MercurialIN said:
I still would be interested in a cover if one is available that fit the at9.
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The only AT9 cover that I have found is through Montana Satellite. Haven't bought it yet, still hoping more will hit the market in the next few weeks. Have already had two signal losses during light snow showers this fall. Can't wait till the lake effect machine gets cranked up in Cleveland. Link to Montana Satellite is below.ouijal said:
http://www.montanasatellite.com/tools/index.html?lang=en-us&target=d37.html
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Sometimes I hate living in Californiabighurtm said:
We never get any excitement. heck I've only lost DTV signal 1 time for 20 seconds in a huge rain storm.Seriously though, good ideas here. My mom called me from Colorado, she just moved, and was complaining her satellite was dropped during the recent pre-winter blizzard.
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Oh well, with my house, we have trees on the entire side where the dish needs to point, the only truely clear signal would be if we put up a 20 ft pole in the corner of our lot.
But where we have it currently, it shoots through a 10 foot hole in a tree, we get a big storm, branches break off, and by by direct tv till thehy fall off the tree completely
But where we have it currently, it shoots through a 10 foot hole in a tree, we get a big storm, branches break off, and by by direct tv till thehy fall off the tree completely
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Everything has a flat roof out here -- still, the AT9 is like 10-12' up. A year or so ago, I found a "satellite dish sweeper" which has a brush like a push broom -- ab't 12" wide -- and a telescoping handle that goes from 7' out to about 12'. Pretty neat.
It's common to collect several inches of snow here in a storm -- albeit powder. But, I've gotten some reduction in signal when the storm hit just after a sunny afternoon and the first hit melted and froze.
Looking forward to see how the larger area of the AT9 reacts.
It's common to collect several inches of snow here in a storm -- albeit powder. But, I've gotten some reduction in signal when the storm hit just after a sunny afternoon and the first hit melted and froze.
Looking forward to see how the larger area of the AT9 reacts.
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