Am I correct in thinking that the only way to avoid (the frequent) interference from rain is to fit a bigger dish?
Sky - rain interference
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daveh75
Well-known member
Generally speaking, the further south and east you are, the stronger the signal will be, and the greater the' rain fade' margin will be, i,e less chance of signal drop out due to poor weather. Same with a bigger dish, assuming its a quality dish.
However having said that, signals from the cluster of satellites at 28.2/28.5 East as used by channels broadcasting on Sky/Freesat platforms are very strong and reliable reception should be possible even with an eliptical mini-dish,if properly aligned/set-up.
'Rain fade' should only be a problem in extreme weather,if at all. So if it's happenng every time it rains there's a problem somewhere!
For example a 'zone 1' 45cm dish was fitted, when a 'zone 2' 60cm dish should have been fitted, the dish wasn't properly aligned/set-up in the first place, the LNB is faulty or there's water/moisture getting in somewhere, either the LNB connections aren't adequately weatherproofed or the cable is shot and is letting in moisture.
So i would have your system checked out.
However having said that, signals from the cluster of satellites at 28.2/28.5 East as used by channels broadcasting on Sky/Freesat platforms are very strong and reliable reception should be possible even with an eliptical mini-dish,if properly aligned/set-up.
'Rain fade' should only be a problem in extreme weather,if at all. So if it's happenng every time it rains there's a problem somewhere!
For example a 'zone 1' 45cm dish was fitted, when a 'zone 2' 60cm dish should have been fitted, the dish wasn't properly aligned/set-up in the first place, the LNB is faulty or there's water/moisture getting in somewhere, either the LNB connections aren't adequately weatherproofed or the cable is shot and is letting in moisture.
So i would have your system checked out.
Thanks daveh75. I live in South Wales so we get a quite a bit of rain here!
Whenever we have "heavy" rain here I get some interference. If the rain is light or moderate then it is not a problem.
Would you say that is acceptable?
Whenever we have "heavy" rain here I get some interference. If the rain is light or moderate then it is not a problem.
Would you say that is acceptable?
byronmorris:
Thanks daveh75. I live in South Wales so we get a quite a bit of rain here!
Whenever we have "heavy" rain here I get some interference. If the rain is light or moderate then it is not a problem.
Would you say that is acceptable?
If it helps to quantify "heavy rain" , we had very very heavy rain down here in mid Kent, probably arouind 50mm over 18 hours, and there was some Sky drop out during the heaviest par of the down pour
Lost signal on ITV HD a few times (during Spurs magic win!), on checking other channels (as you do) it seemed fairly general however the drop out lasted no more than 30 secs to I minute
So overall this is the first time this year we have experienced any lost signal due to weather
Thanks daveh75. I live in South Wales so we get a quite a bit of rain here!
Whenever we have "heavy" rain here I get some interference. If the rain is light or moderate then it is not a problem.
Would you say that is acceptable?
If it helps to quantify "heavy rain" , we had very very heavy rain down here in mid Kent, probably arouind 50mm over 18 hours, and there was some Sky drop out during the heaviest par of the down pour
Lost signal on ITV HD a few times (during Spurs magic win!), on checking other channels (as you do) it seemed fairly general however the drop out lasted no more than 30 secs to I minute
So overall this is the first time this year we have experienced any lost signal due to weather
To lose signal once or twice a year during torrential rain would, in my view, be ok but it is occuring more often than that with me.
Perhaps I will get my system checked as per dave's advice.
Perhaps I will get my system checked as per dave's advice.
byronmorris:
To lose signal once or twice a year during torrential rain would, in my view, be ok but it is occuring more often than that with me.
Perhaps I will get my system checked as per dave's advice.
Agreed, could be the way to go as we get very few issues with "Satellite Signal Lost"
To lose signal once or twice a year during torrential rain would, in my view, be ok but it is occuring more often than that with me.
Perhaps I will get my system checked as per dave's advice.
Agreed, could be the way to go as we get very few issues with "Satellite Signal Lost"
daveh75
Well-known member
byronmorris:
To lose signal once or twice a year during torrential rain would, in my view, be ok but it is occuring more often than that with me.
Perhaps I will get my system checked as per dave's advice.
It definitely shouldn't be a regular occurance.
As an example, i live in the North East and have a Zone 1 dish (45cm) that is arguably too small for up here, yet the only time i suffer 'rain fade' is when the rain is torrential (the sort of rain that could strip paint
) or heavy snow, though thats usually down to a build up of snow on the feed arm/LNB rather than the actual snow fall blocking signal.
Though i know my dish is accurately aligned/well set-up and LNB/cabling are in good working order, as i fitted it.
So i'd say its definitely worth getting yours looked at, and maybe a bigger dish fitted, if its happening often enough to be an annoyance.
To lose signal once or twice a year during torrential rain would, in my view, be ok but it is occuring more often than that with me.
Perhaps I will get my system checked as per dave's advice.
It definitely shouldn't be a regular occurance.
As an example, i live in the North East and have a Zone 1 dish (45cm) that is arguably too small for up here, yet the only time i suffer 'rain fade' is when the rain is torrential (the sort of rain that could strip paint
Though i know my dish is accurately aligned/well set-up and LNB/cabling are in good working order, as i fitted it.
So i'd say its definitely worth getting yours looked at, and maybe a bigger dish fitted, if its happening often enough to be an annoyance.
As a cable-TV user, I find it deliciously ironic that Sky has problem with such things!
Maybe a suitably sited fishing umbrella or some form of trace heating (for snow) will help?
Maybe a suitably sited fishing umbrella or some form of trace heating (for snow) will help?
ESP2009:
As a cable-TV user, I find it deliciously ironic that Sky has problem with such things!
Maybe a suitably sited fishing umbrella or some form of trace heating (for snow) will help?
Oooooooooh....................somebody's tired!!
As a cable-TV user, I find it deliciously ironic that Sky has problem with such things!
Maybe a suitably sited fishing umbrella or some form of trace heating (for snow) will help?
Oooooooooh....................somebody's tired!!
fayeanddavid:Oooooooooh....................somebody's tired!!
I'm surprised you haven't suggested they might have a crease in their dish...
I'm surprised you haven't suggested they might have a crease in their dish...
Andrew Everard:fayeanddavid:Oooooooooh....................somebody's tired!!
I'm surprised you haven't suggested they might have a crease in their dish...
Ouch - a wicked cross-thread!
I'm surprised you haven't suggested they might have a crease in their dish...
Ouch - a wicked cross-thread!
ESP2009:Andrew Everard:fayeanddavid:Oooooooooh....................somebody's tired!!
I'm surprised you haven't suggested they might have a crease in their dish...
Ouch - a wicked cross-thread!
Nicely done though..................reminds of the OH logic during our occassional discussions
I'm surprised you haven't suggested they might have a crease in their dish...
Ouch - a wicked cross-thread!
Nicely done though..................reminds of the OH logic during our occassional discussions
fayeanddavid:ESP2009:Andrew Everard:fayeanddavid:Oooooooooh....................somebody's tired!!
I'm surprised you haven't suggested they might have a crease in their dish...
Ouch - a wicked cross-thread!
Nicely done though..................reminds of the OH logic during our occassional discussions
Oh, too true! Always catches us out, does that!
I'm surprised you haven't suggested they might have a crease in their dish...
Ouch - a wicked cross-thread!
Nicely done though..................reminds of the OH logic during our occassional discussions
Oh, too true! Always catches us out, does that!
Gozaradio
Well-known member
byronmorris:
To lose signal once or twice a year during torrential rain would, in my view, be ok but it is occuring more often than that with me.
Perhaps I will get my system checked as per dave's advice.
Definitely worth doing, Byron. I'm in Cardiff and I use a 45cm eliptical dish for Freesat (originally installed for Sky+). As has been mentioned, you should only experience any breakup or signal loss in the most extreme weather conditions. I can't actually remember the last time this happened.
45cm eliptical dish should be fine in Wales. Have you had a look at your signal strength and quality meters in the service menu? It's not a perfect indicator but it's a starting point. They should all be pretty high in normal dry conditions. There are a number of possibilities if things are worse than when originally installed; Dish could have moved or damaged slightly due to wind, being knocked by a ladder or scaffolding. Another possibility is an obstruction that didn't exist hen the dish was installed. Have any trees grown in the dish's line of sight or a new building / extension partially blocking line of sight?
To lose signal once or twice a year during torrential rain would, in my view, be ok but it is occuring more often than that with me.
Perhaps I will get my system checked as per dave's advice.
Definitely worth doing, Byron. I'm in Cardiff and I use a 45cm eliptical dish for Freesat (originally installed for Sky+). As has been mentioned, you should only experience any breakup or signal loss in the most extreme weather conditions. I can't actually remember the last time this happened.
45cm eliptical dish should be fine in Wales. Have you had a look at your signal strength and quality meters in the service menu? It's not a perfect indicator but it's a starting point. They should all be pretty high in normal dry conditions. There are a number of possibilities if things are worse than when originally installed; Dish could have moved or damaged slightly due to wind, being knocked by a ladder or scaffolding. Another possibility is an obstruction that didn't exist hen the dish was installed. Have any trees grown in the dish's line of sight or a new building / extension partially blocking line of sight?
I spary my dish and LNB with either GT88 or WD40, had my dish fitted so I can get to it with a step ladder. This apprears to stop all rain fade.
I live in London and use a 1 metre dish. I used to have a multi sat system but when Sky Digital arrived, I had the motor disconnected and the dish permanently alligned on the Astra sat. I have only once lost signal during a thunderstorm when a large cumulo-nimbus cloud was directly in the line of site of the satellite.
stevee1966
Well-known member
byronmorris:
To lose signal once or twice a year during torrential rain would, in my view, be ok but it is occuring more often than that with me.
Perhaps I will get my system checked as per dave's advice.
I don't think you need to get your dish checked out. I also live in South Wales. Heavy rain often breaks up the signal and viewing picture. I've had Sky in 4 seperate addresses in South Wales area and it's been the same at all of them. Mathematically speaking from my experience, it's not your dish, it's the lovely South Wales loacation and weather.
It does make me wonder though in this age of technology, that we never had this problem before digital tv. Seem we've gone backwards.
What if i put a big umbrella over my dish to stop the rain from hitting it ?
To lose signal once or twice a year during torrential rain would, in my view, be ok but it is occuring more often than that with me.
Perhaps I will get my system checked as per dave's advice.
I don't think you need to get your dish checked out. I also live in South Wales. Heavy rain often breaks up the signal and viewing picture. I've had Sky in 4 seperate addresses in South Wales area and it's been the same at all of them. Mathematically speaking from my experience, it's not your dish, it's the lovely South Wales loacation and weather.
It does make me wonder though in this age of technology, that we never had this problem before digital tv. Seem we've gone backwards.
What if i put a big umbrella over my dish to stop the rain from hitting it ?
On a related topic we always have very poor reception on most terrestial analogue channels, and last year purchased a small TV for the kitchen that can receive Freeview. However I noticed that this summer there were many times when we lost the digital signal completely with 'blocking' for several minutes at a time, but we still continued to receive the (very degraded) analogue signal on another TV. I put this down to the leaves on the trees between us and the transmitter.
My problem / query is that when we convert all our AV equipment to digital at 'switchover' will I need to move to a satellite based solution, or will the new terrestial digital signal (Sutton Coldfield) be of higher power so that during the summer I will be able to receive a Freeview signal. The (not preferred) alternative is to move to a completely Freesat based solution.
My problem / query is that when we convert all our AV equipment to digital at 'switchover' will I need to move to a satellite based solution, or will the new terrestial digital signal (Sutton Coldfield) be of higher power so that during the summer I will be able to receive a Freeview signal. The (not preferred) alternative is to move to a completely Freesat based solution.
Ah well - at least I am not the only one suffering
I have refrained from calling my installer yet (I have used the same independent Sky agent for over 10 years on the journey from analogue to digital to HD) as I am wary of incurring a call out charge if he could find no fault - especially as the PQ is currently excellent.
I was thinking of mentioning the issue to him on the next time I need to call him out for a repair or upgrade. On the occasions when when the interference occurs, we can,depending on the channel, swap the TV input to Freeview and carry on viewing!
I have refrained from calling my installer yet (I have used the same independent Sky agent for over 10 years on the journey from analogue to digital to HD) as I am wary of incurring a call out charge if he could find no fault - especially as the PQ is currently excellent.
I was thinking of mentioning the issue to him on the next time I need to call him out for a repair or upgrade. On the occasions when when the interference occurs, we can,depending on the channel, swap the TV input to Freeview and carry on viewing!
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