View Full Version : Rain = no tv.
Everytime it rains heavily the reception on my skytv goes awol. Are there any fixes for this? I mean, is the rain affecting the signal getting to the dish, or is it the water on the dish itself that causes this problem? Its so frustrating that a heavy downpour is the time when most people choose to stay in, and invariably decide to watch tv, that the reception is at its most unreliable.
to be perfectly honest that's one of the reasons i switched to Virgin ,i got fed up with heavy rain ,wind,snow and thunder knocking the signal of .I was told by sky that they can't help what the weather does ,which is true but it wasn't any good for me .So as far as i know no there isn't
Yeah, sky customer services said pretty much the same thing. They quoted 'acts of god' not being their fault. ...and of course, its not something anyone from sky will tell you before you sign up.. ...do you know though, is it a problem with the signal getting through a rain cloud, or is it the water on the surface of the dish that causes the problem? No real reason for that question really, i'm just curious.
Yeah, sky customer services said pretty much the same thing. They quoted 'acts of god' not being their fault. ...and of course, its not something anyone from sky will tell you before you sign up.. ...do you know though, is it a problem with the signal getting through a rain cloud, or is it the water on the surface of the dish that causes the problem? No real reason for that question really, i'm just curious.
i always wondered that myself but heard such an array of different answers i came to conclusion that there must be a number of different reasons from electro magnetic interference during thunder storms to ice on the dish in winter .I do know that putting a plastic bag over the dish does not work as was suggested to me :D
i always wondered that myself but heard such an array of different answers i came to conclusion that there must be a number of different reasons from electro magnetic interference during thunder storms to ice on the dish in winter .I do know that putting a plastic bag over the dish does not work as was suggested to me :D
a plastic bag? Hmmm. Bet that looked stylish. Lol. ;)
oh well, i'll just have to develop a hobby that involves going out in the rain. Water sking or something. Lol.
If you're losing signal every time it rains heavily then it suggests your dish is not correctly aligned. A correctly aligned dish should cope with even the heaviest of downpours.
If you're losing signal every time it rains heavily then it suggests your dish is not correctly aligned. A correctly aligned dish should cope with even the heaviest of downpours.
that may be the case with the op but i had mine re-aligned three times with no improvement
If you're losing signal every time it rains heavily then it suggests your dish is not correctly aligned. A correctly aligned dish should cope with even the heaviest of downpours.
Surely if its raining then an adjustment in the direction that the dish is facing won't matter? I mean, the rain falls in all directions. ...or do you mean something different by 'alignment'?
wearerayner
02-05-2010, 14:29
Used to have a similar problem with VM, might have been cos someone put a fork through the conduit and cable sheath though? The wife has never lived it down.
Surely if its raining then an adjustment in the direction that the dish is facing won't matter? I mean, the rain falls in all directions. ...or do you mean something different by 'alignment'?
what can happen is if your dish is slightly out of alignment with the saterlites then bad weather i.e rain can further weaken an already weak signal ,but as i stated earlier it didn't make any difference to me as i had mine re-aligned a few times with no improvement ,unfortunately this has been a problem with sky digital from day one and probably always will be
what can happen is if your dish is slightly out of alignment with the saterlites then bad weather i.e rain can further weaken an already weak signal ,but as i stated earlier it didn't make any difference to me as i had mine re-aligned a few times with no improvement ,unfortunately this has been a problem with sky digital from day one and probably always will be
Aye. It's pretty damn common especially when there's a huge amount of Sky installers don't actually set the dish up properly and just look at whatever direction the rest of the Sky dishes on the street are pointing and point it in the same direction (I've seen them turn up at a road with no Sky dishes installed and ask the home owner which way it should be pointed).
I'm assuming you were using a mini-dish? These are notably bad anywhere northern, and a larger dish probably would have solved your issues.
There's really no reason why you shouldn't get a perfect signal in all but the heaviest of storms, especially given the strength of the signal from Astra.
Surely if its raining then an adjustment in the direction that the dish is facing won't matter? I mean, the rain falls in all directions. ...or do you mean something different by 'alignment'?
The dish has to be pointing precisely at the satellite in order to get the best signal. If it is, then the signal reduction that occurs during bad weather will not affect your viewing pleasure. However if the dish is off by even a modest amount, it will be receiving a reduced signal even in good weather. You probably won't notice that - until it rains, and your already-compromised signal is reduced to almost nothing.
The dish may not have been properly aligned to start with, or it may have shifted if it's particularly exposed to wind, or are there perhaps trees nearby that have grown up and begun to get in the way?
You need the services of a competent, independent aerial installer.
The dish has to be pointing precisely at the satellite in order to get the best signal.
Indeed. Just to put it into perspective how precise it needs to be, you're trying to find something the size of a caravan that's 22,000 miles away.
Its either poor alignment or the coax feed has deteriorated (bad connection or possible water ingress). Worth checking both.
LondonRoad
02-05-2010, 17:46
Indeed. Just to put it into perspective how precise it needs to be, you're trying to find something the size of a caravan that's 22,000 miles away.
6 or 8 berth? :D
Its god's will, Virgin's fortune looool
The dish has to be pointing precisely at the satellite in order to get the best signal. If it is, then the signal reduction that occurs during bad weather will not affect your viewing pleasure. However if the dish is off by even a modest amount, it will be receiving a reduced signal even in good weather. You probably won't notice that - until it rains, and your already-compromised signal is reduced to almost nothing.
The dish may not have been properly aligned to start with, or it may have shifted if it's particularly exposed to wind, or are there perhaps trees nearby that have grown up and begun to get in the way?
You need the services of a competent, independent aerial installer.
There's no trees in the way, no. There's an unobstructed view of the sky. ..i do live on the coast though. And it gets pretty windy here sometimes. So i guess the mini-dish could be prone to being moved.. I don't think it's wire degradation or anything like that. The set up is less than a year old, and seems in pretty good condition.
Something i've just thought of though, does the number of feeds coming of one dish make a difference to picture quality? Downstairs i've got two feeds going into a humax freesat+ box, and another feed going upstairs to a sky digibox. Would splitting the signal 3 ways like that reduce the picture quality, or does that not make a difference?
Remember as well that the further north you go the weaker the signal is. If suffering from signal attenuation due to rain (rain drops of particular sizes can block a 10Ghz sat signal) then the only way of improving that is to raise the signal level. Which means a lower noise/higher gain LNB and also a larger dish. Proper alignment might help but some areas are known for local weather that will constantly drop out the signal.
I remember during Sky's analogue days that they used to recommend an 80cm dish (over the usual 60Cm dishes) for anyone above a certain latitude. The digital dishes are also now even smaller.. Looking though at the footprint charts they do say 95% of UK mainland can get astra2 on a 50cm dish, these though are ideal scenarios ;)
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I am vare Locky hardley lose a singel expert a relley bad Stome at the momet cat get to to the tv The city concell ary dione up the Kitch and Barthroom other that no probs
Remember as well that the further north you go the weaker the signal is. If suffering from signal attenuation due to rain (rain drops of particular sizes can block a 10Ghz sat signal) then the only way of improving that is to raise the signal level. Which means a lower noise/higher gain LNB and also a larger dish. Proper alignment might help but some areas are known for local weather that will constantly drop out the signal.
I remember during Sky's analogue days that they used to recommend an 80cm dish (over the usual 60Cm dishes) for anyone above a certain latitude. The digital dishes are also now even smaller.. Looking though at the footprint charts they do say 95% of UK mainland can get astra2 on a 50cm dish, these though are ideal scenarios ;)
http://www.marconi-marine.com/products/seatel/images/Footprint_Astra_North.jpg
First thing I noticed when we went south to visit family the other week was that all the dishes are smaller. I hadn't even realised, of course, because round here everyone has the same size dish ... but our dishes are all bigger than yours. :D
papa smurf
04-05-2010, 22:04
First thing I noticed when we went south to visit family the other week was that all the dishes are smaller. I hadn't even realised, of course, because round here everyone has the same size dish ... but our dishes are all bigger than yours. :D
its not the size of your parabolics its the way you use them :)
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