satellite sucks!

[DaWhim]

I am watching SNL....DAMN! signal is gone now :|:|:|
this is the first time I actually sit down and let the commerical to spam me.
anyone captured it?

 

[MichaelD]

This is not encouraging. I am on DirecTV for the first time....had it a week, but I've only watched it once. It was a nice night and the picture was perfect.

Is it always a crappy picture if it's raining? I hope not!!!

 

[crab]

Mine goes out only during serious thunderstorms.

 

[Balt]

We have horrible thunderstorms here occasionally, but we usually keep our signal. If your connections are good (ie, not wet) and your signal is almost maxed out under normal circumstances, you should very rarely lose the signal to the point that you get a black screen.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Balt
We have horrible thunderstorms here occasionally, but we usually keep our signal. If your connections are good (ie, not wet) and your signal is almost maxed out under normal circumstances, you should very rarely lose the signal to the point that you get a black screen.

Thanks much. When the guy came to set it up, he pulled up the "strength menu" or whatever it's called (I know nothing about DTV, can you tell?) and I was at 95 or above on all the major channels. I'd imagine that is a good thing?

 

[Balt]

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: Balt
We have horrible thunderstorms here occasionally, but we usually keep our signal. If your connections are good (ie, not wet) and your signal is almost maxed out under normal circumstances, you should very rarely lose the signal to the point that you get a black screen.

Thanks much. When the guy came to set it up, he pulled up the "strength menu" or whatever it's called (I know nothing about DTV, can you tell?) and I was at 95 or above on all the major channels. I'd imagine that is a good thing?

95% is pretty good. As long as there aren't branches that will droop during the rain and block your dish's path, it will take a really strong storm to kill your signal. You may see some pixelation, but in most cases that's it. At least, that's been my experience.

 

[MichaelD]

Nope, no branches. I live in an apartment complex. The buildings all have12 units in them. One dish on the roof of each building, and I'd imagine a distribution amplifier somewhere in the chain.

There's a wiring closet in my laundry room where you take the feed and hook it to whatever room you want it to go to. Now to find a black box for sale....

 

[DaWhim]

I thought you always lose your signal when raining or snowing. at least it is to me.

 

[Subzero]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
This is not encouraging. I am on DirecTV for the first time....had it a week, but I've only watched it once. It was a nice night and the picture was perfect.

Is it always a crappy picture if it's raining? I hope not!!!

I have not lost my signal yet even over the winter and all the snow and a few wicked storms this spring..
I love my directv...

:beer:

 

[Subzero]

damn my first double post....:beer:

 

[dartworth]

Originally posted by: DaWhim
I thought you always lose your signal when raining or snowing. at least it is to me.

Why would you buy something like that then...?

 

[sillymofo]

If you have a good bin, the signal won't drop off. It's not the rain, rain won't bother the signal if you had your dish pointed properly in the first place.

 

[Insane3D]

Since my dish on way up on the peak of the roof, and it has a clear shot to the satellite, my signal is always like 95-100+. The only time I lose it is during those torrential downpours in a serious T-Storm...there is just so much water in the air, it makes it break up. I haven't had an outage last more than 5 minutes or so...

 

[arod]

If your dish goes out in anything but a hurricane your dish isnt aligned as good as it could be.

 

[Fiveohhh]

I'd tell them to get it re aimed for you or re aim it yourself, It should only go out if your weather is real bad My friend and parents have it and I've only seen it go out once.

 

[OutHouse]

I have had Dish for about 5 years now. during that time i have lost my signal for an approx total of one hour. The only time i have lost it is during the spring thunderstorms and i have noticed that if a thunderhead that is big enough to block the signal in my area it ususally means a tornado warning was or is about to be issued.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: arod
If your dish goes out in anything but a hurricane your dish isnt aligned as good as it could be.

That's not quite true. Even DirecTV tells you that in a thunderstorm, the clouds can be so dense that it will block the signal, regardless of how good it's aimed.

 

[vi edit]

I've had 6" of wet, sloppy snow caked on my dish and haven't lost a signal. In two years, I can only remember one instance when I lost signal for more than a few seconds and that was during a storm that had about half a billion tornado warnings around the area.

 

[Insane3D]

The snow shouldn't affect the signal...it's only extremely dense clouds that are usually associated with Thunderstorms..

 

[RossMAN]

When we had DirecTV, the signal would get scrambled a little but it would take HARD POUNDING RAIN to get to that.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: SubZero

Originally posted by: MichaelD
This is not encouraging. I am on DirecTV for the first time....had it a week, but I've only watched it once. It was a nice night and the picture was perfect.

Is it always a crappy picture if it's raining? I hope not!!!

I have not lost my signal yet even over the winter and all the snow and a few wicked storms this spring..
I love my directv...

:beer:

Same at my parents'... their dish has served them fine through the worst NY has to offer the last 3 years... no weather interruptions ever.

 

[Chaotic42]

We lost our DirecTV signal at work when it rained. Even just a little rain.

 

[DaWhim]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
We lost our DirecTV signal at work when it rained. Even just a little rain.

same here
in face, I will know the rain is falling from the sky when i lose the signal before I can hear it from outside.

 

[Insane3D]

It sounds like your dishes (Chaotic42 & DaWhim) are not properly aligned and/or have a poor signal strength. The weaker the signal you have on a clear day, the easier you will lose the signal in bad weather. What does your box report the signal strength to be?

 

[nsafreak]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
We lost our DirecTV signal at work when it rained. Even just a little rain.

Poorly installed dish then. You either need to have it realigned or there are some other issues with it. When a dish is properly aligned and is pulling in a good signal strength it is very hard for the signal to get knocked out.