dish network and snow=not compatible

[cpw]

I'm so sick of losing my dish signal everytime the snow flies.
I'm sure it's mostly when there is snow accumulation on the dish itself but it also seems to happen when the snow is falling particularly heavy regardless of if it is sticking or not.
Anyone in snow country tried a dish cover or switched back to cable?
CPW

 

[EyeAmEye]

It just snowed in NYC last night, and I was having reception troubles. In the summer, the thunderstorms will do it all the time. Pitfall of satellite tv. I doubt a dish cover would help much, since the interference is usually atmospheric, and not necessarily build-up on the dish itself. How often do you have reception trouble? If it's excessive, cable is the way to go. I have several times, but it usually lasts minutes to an hour or two at most, so it's not too bad.

 

[remilard]

When I had dish for two years I was lucky enough to never have a big snowstorm, my service went out once, in an ice storm. I know that I lost service less frequently than people in town with cable, which went out a lot during thunderstorms. Of course, when cable went out, it was for 15 minutes usually, when my dish went out it was until the storm stopped and I climbed up a ladder and de-iced the dish. My current apartment doesn't have a south view and the place I'm moving soon is a historic building so I won't have a chance to get the dish anytime soon anyway, but does anyone have any experience with using it in the Northwest (Portland)?

 

[Aman]

I don't understand this concept.

The point of TV is to occupy one when bored. If it's snowing outside and there is nothing to do, and you don't have access to television, what's the point in that?

Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman I don't understand this concept. The point of TV is to occupy one when bored. If it's snowing outside and there is nothing to do, and you don't have access to television, what's the point in that? Just my thoughts on the matter.

I thought that's why we listened to music. I live in sunny Florida and lose the satellite reception when we have thunderstorms. It's usually for a few seconds to a minute. In our area satellite provides a better picture than cable, including digital cable. I think cable service goes out here more than my satellite service. During the recent hurricanes, my neighbors cable was out for a day and satellite went out for about 15 minutes total. The answer for you guys is, move to Florida.

 

[Kirosia]

My uncle's former restaurant has direct tv, and it goes out evertime it precipitates. Rain, snow, even semi-strong wind. Friggin' horrible. They use dgitical cable at home, cause of the inherent flaws of dish.

 

[cpw]

I just got tired of the lousy programming on digicable and them raising the price several times a yr.
I didn't care what I was getting at the time as long as I was giving my money to someone else.

CPW

 

[plus_c]

Our reception stays pretty good through precipitation at home. We have DirecTV because they have Chinese TV and cable doesn't.

 

[MrJoshua]

Either get your dish re-alligned for maximum signal strength and quality, or buy a bigger dish! (I got a bigger dish to combat this problem as it is a major PITA...)

 

[fr4c]

i used to have the same problems with my DirectTV system. now i'm back on cable, which isnt as interesting as satellite but wont loose signal. you just gotta compromise sometimes.

 

[Born2bwire]

I wish I had dish, but back when I lived with my folks in Chicagoland I do not recall snow being a problem. The signal would go out during heavy precipitation, but I can never recall having to go outside to clean any ice or snow off of the dish. I've got digital cable right now and the picture is not as good as dish and it's more expensive. I certainly wouldn't mind putting up with a few outages now and then.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Accumulation of anything on a dish can cause reception problems. I believe that there are special electrified dishes you can buy that have little warmers that can melt off snow.

Rain fade (or precipitation fade) is a constant problem with any sat reception. Your local cable company may get some of its signals from satellite, and can suffer from rain fade on some channels as well.