Curious question re Sky / VM in poor weather

[Begize]

My parents also suffer in bad weather with their Sky picture, although it has to be really bad (i.e. a few feet of snow, very high winds, extremely heavy rain).

I remember once they lost signal all together and a few times there would be groups of channels missing but usually it was just "sparkles" on the picture on the old analogue box and then more pixellation / drop outs than usual on the digital one.

They had a new dish put up and the box moved by a proper installer earlier this year and they still get problems. It's not exactly show stopping, just the odd blip here and there, but it does happen.

Whenever this subject has come up on here on the past, the more Sky-centric posters always like to deny there are ever any problems with Sky reception anywhere, and yet lots of people then post stories to the contrary. As Cable Guy puts it though, a properly installed and alligned dish shouldn't cause any major issues.

A lot of it can probably be put down to the age / quality of dishes, LNB's, cable and boxes, as well as where people live.

My in-laws live on the Med coast in southern Spain and have two satellite boxes running from the same dish. One is a proper Sky digital box, the other a generic freesat type thing. They proper Sky box works fine most of the time although they sometimes get picture breakup in heavy rain and electrical storms. The free box can stop receiving a signal if the weather gets too hot! Obviously, living on the edge of the Sky footprint, and not being officially able to receive Sky anyway, it's sort of to be expected though.

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by Begize

Whenever this subject has come up on here on the past, the more Sky-centric posters always like to deny there are ever any problems with Sky reception anywhere

Next time, post a link to Sky's own website
http://www.sky.com/portal/site/skyco...icleId=2328710

Other natural phenomena that affect cable are sunouts when the sun goes directly behind the satellite and obliterates the signal, and atmospheric conditions that interfere with reception of the DTT channels.

[sollp]

Originally Posted by mr,m

Never heard of Sky breaking up in bad weather before.I was thinking of switching to them too,so how bad does the weather have to be to spoil things??

My installation is very good,(Sky that is) but it does in really extreme weather get affected, this isn't very often though.

---------- Post added at 21:04 ---------- Previous post was at 21:02 ----------

Originally Posted by WHISTLED

Cable has the opposite, it gets a bit warm and half the cabs overheat and faults g through the roof

Yes this problem is being worked on in various areas, better ventilation and fans are being fitted where necessary so in time this won't be such a problem.

[altis]

Here are the dishes on the roof of the Baguley head end:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl...01717&t=h&z=19

About the same size as the cars!!!

Requires IE to view satellite images

[Stuart C]

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

thats in Zone 2 areas, most of the UK is Zone 1 where a 45cm dish is all thats required

Whether it's 45 or 60cm, it's still more likely to be affected by bad weather than a 3 metre dish with a commercial grade LNB, which is what VM use.

Not saying that either system is better, as while Sky can suffer due to bad weather (and I have seen it), Cable can suffer due to hot weather. Swings and Roundabouts, as they say.

[joglynne]

Originally Posted by altis

Here are the dishes on the roof of the Baguley head end:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl...01717&t=h&z=19

About the same size as the cars!!!

Requires IE to view satellite images

I was looking at that shot yesterday, trying to find a picture that conveyed how big those dishes are. Looking up at them as you drive passed they are so much more impressive.

[beeman]

Originally Posted by altis

Requires IE to view satellite images

google maps (including satalite images) works just fine in FF (and i assume crome too)

[the-cable-guy]

Originally Posted by Begize

My parents also suffer in bad weather with their Sky picture, although it has to be really bad (i.e. a few feet of snow, very high winds, extremely heavy rain).

I remember once they lost signal all together and a few times there would be groups of channels missing but usually it was just "sparkles" on the picture on the old analogue box and then more pixellation / drop outs than usual on the digital one.

They had a new dish put up and the box moved by a proper installer earlier this year and they still get problems. It's not exactly show stopping, just the odd blip here and there, but it does happen.

Whenever this subject has come up on here on the past, the more Sky-centric posters always like to deny there are ever any problems with Sky reception anywhere, and yet lots of people then post stories to the contrary. As Cable Guy puts it though, a properly installed and alligned dish shouldn't cause any major issues.

A lot of it can probably be put down to the age / quality of dishes, LNB's, cable and boxes, as well as where people live.

My in-laws live on the Med coast in southern Spain and have two satellite boxes running from the same dish. One is a proper Sky digital box, the other a generic freesat type thing. They proper Sky box works fine most of the time although they sometimes get picture breakup in heavy rain and electrical storms. The free box can stop receiving a signal if the weather gets too hot! Obviously, living on the edge of the Sky footprint, and not being officially able to receive Sky anyway, it's sort of to be expected though.

the sparkles are a common problem with analogue satellite tv around the world, as thats how a low signal or interference shows up, where as with digital satellite you get pixalisation. as to different receivers it can depend on the quality of the tuner, as iv used both Grundig & Sony receivers on the same dish & found that the Grundig had problems where as the Sony is fine.

---------- Post added at 02:12 ---------- Previous post was at 02:11 ----------

Originally Posted by Stuart C

Whether it's 45 or 60cm

i was merely pointing out that there are two different zones, not one

---------- Post added at 02:14 ---------- Previous post was at 02:12 ----------

Originally Posted by beeman

google maps (including satalite images) works just fine in FF (and i assume crome too)

it sure does

[tvtimes]

Green boxes in the streets get flooded in bad weather causing cable to go off sometimes.

[MikeyB]

Originally Posted by Begize

Whenever this subject has come up on here on the past, the more Sky-centric posters always like to deny there are ever any problems with Sky reception anywhere, and yet lots of people then post stories to the contrary. As Cable Guy puts it though, a properly installed and alligned dish shouldn't cause any major issues.

Yes, I'm sure the quality of the Sky installation has a lot to do with picture problems.

At the other end of the scale from my good luck! was my Uncle.
Had Sky installed probably 4 years ago, and the picture was always breaking up and freezing on pretty much every channel, no matter what the weather or time of day.
I kept telling him to get onto Sky about it but he never would!
Don't know if he's got it sorted as not been round there for a while.

[confucious]

I had Sky for a looong time. Occasionally the picture would pixalate or freeze in very bad weather but not that often.

Never had a problem since I got Cable (when I moved to an area that had it!) - but then we've not had a lot of hot weather in the past year have we?

[mentalis]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

Not saying that either system is better, as while Sky can suffer due to bad weather (and I have seen it), Cable can suffer due to hot weather.

And recently the weather has been both wet and quite warm. Is BT trying to get people to use BT Vision?

[BexTech]

Originally Posted by mr,m

Never heard of Sky breaking up in bad weather before.I was thinking of switching to them too,so how bad does the weather have to be to spoil things??

I've had satellite since the early mid 80s and have lost picture only 2 or 3 times.

The problem is with the tiny mini-dishes, they are really only borderline. Also many people's dishes move slightly so are not correctly aligned this can affect the picture.

In the few years I've had cable I've had many many many more issues with picture breaking up, channels going missing, sound issues etc etc with cable than in 22+ years of satellite.