I've been dealing with the frustration of losing signal everytime it rains. I've tried waxing the dickens out of it on the advice of several others, but it only helped marginally. Is there anything else a person can do? I would normally set up the tripod at this point, but this park is very small and sights are limited on space. My awning is less than 2 feet from my neighbors slide.
Help, Will
It's not the rain on the dish -- the sat signal can not penetrate the rain.clouds.snow if it too thick overhead. Only thing you can do is set up for the highest number signal as you can when you first setup.. - or move to a drier climate!
JimH
RAIN X will do an exellent job on your dome.>>>Dan
Yea exactly what Dan said but another iption that had worked is drape some clear plastic over the whole dish. Put weights on the corners so it won't blow off and it will keep the rain off directly and prolong your signal loss!
You won't believe this one guys but I see some in Quartzsite that belong to the Escapees use a onion to prevent loss of signal in the rain I never tried it hell I can't make ours work on a clear day and never knew if they used a red,white or yellow onion lol and never wanted to ask
good luck
Onions!!? :D I wonder if they'll help cell phone reception? You already know we are going to try it Cliff!! ;D
We also have the same issue when it rains, when we get some that is! :o
Onions, now I've heard of everything! ???
We just moved further south, seemed to have solved our problem.
Satellite is over the equator so moving south would logically improve signal strength, not to mention it doesn't rain (or snow) much down in the desert... Changing to a larger dish will improve results as well. As I understand it the dome dishes are quite small compared to a typical home dish. I lose signal only when my home dish is covered with sticky snow, or if there is a severe thunder storm cell in the path of the signal. Normal rain doesn't do anything to it.
Brian
observation only ::: during a sever storm our sat goes out. we switch to our weinguard hd antenna and watch local tv.
I've had satellite TV for many years. I still remember the warm fuzzy feelings I got when I canceled the monopolistic cable co.
You can wax the dome, rainex, rub it with onion, garlic maybe some snake oil from Ebay.
There is no dome on my home dish, I still lose the signal to cloud cover, it does not have to be raining on me.
The only option to losing a signal to weather is to learn to live with it. Resistance is futile. Books, DVD's, crossword puzzles, conversation. There was life before TV.
JIm
Heard from a old Trailways driver about the onion post he told me the drivers used the onion on the inside of the old buses to stop fogging and the outside to shed water you never know what people used before all the stuff sold today,he couldn't remember the color of the onion lol but I like the red onion ( to eat)
good luck
As the government has a hold on me for the next 4 months, moving south isn't an option. Sure is tempting though LOL. An ONION? Seriously? I've heard of using a potato, but never an onion. Fortunately, it doesn't rain much here in the deserts of Eastern Oregon, but if it does, I'll have to find a place to set up the tripod and the standard dish. We rarely had a problem with weather affecting reception with it, unless a large storm cloud passes over.
Quote from: Ace on July 20, 2011, 08:28:39 PM
Yea exactly what Dan said but another iption that had worked is drape some clear plastic over the whole dish. Put weights on the corners so it won't blow off and it will keep the rain off directly and prolong your signal loss!
And prolong your signal loss? Uh, Ace, we're trying to achieve the opposite. ;D
Thanks for all the suggestions. Anyone up for a friendly game of 5 Card Stud?
Will
I looked at the dish under one of those domes. Its so small your lucky to get any signal at all. There is a reason all the telecom companies have 18 foot and larger dishes. Those Sats are up 23000 miles over the equator, shining down with all of about 40 watts. Think how much a 40 watt bulb would light up North America at night from 23000 miles away. Your dish is only able to draw something like 1/10 billionth or less of a watt. And its high frequency with a very short wavelength, dust will even fade it. Fog, rain, its all going to cloud the signal.
Double the diameter of your dish, youll pull in 4 times the signal.
This is getting a bit off topic, but does satellite really save over cable? My cable bill is up to $95 now and the only special feature I have is the DVR, The prices look good up front for satellite, but I have no idea what it costs when the promo is over.
When I built our bus I put a KVH in-motion satellite on it. If there was heavy dew or rain the thing didn't work. If I got within 50 foot of a tree the thing didn't work. I had some other problems with the thing so I changed to a Winegard ( I can't remeber the model but it was not a dome). We have not lost a signal since I put it on. We have even been in some spots with trees and been able to get out. Yes the things are butt ugly but they work. I will say I painted the KVH dome that didn't help things.
Wayne
Directv with the full package, HD, and DVR is $125 a month. They package it so that if you want local channels, HBO or Showtime, you just about have to take the full package.
Don and Cary
1973 05 Eagle
GMC 4107
Neoplan AN340
My satellite tv with local channels, no HD and no dvr but lots of timeshifting - same show, same network, three different timezones - is $68 canuck bucks a month. I have no idea if that is good or not, I didn't comparison shop. I need my F1, Nascar, and Rachael Ray... If it wasn't for Rachael I'd probably starve... ;D
Brian
Dish Bronze 120 with locals = $44.95/mo. no contract. They run specials all the time for $29.95/mo for the first 6 months if you agree to a year. HTH Will
If you don't have HD satellite, a standard 18" portable dish is a sure cure for most of what ails domes. Even a heavy dew has been known to degrade sat signals thru domes.
I'll often park under trees and need the portable dish anyway. They are almost free on ebay.
Setting up an HD dish is too much trouble for me...might not be for you.
The only time I lose a signal with the portable dish is when someone bumps into it, or a heavy thunderstorm gets between the dish and sat. That'll de-razz it. Rain won't have any effect on a portable dish.
A portable can almost always be set up with a good signal even in trees if you got some time to dink with it.
I hang my wife's bluetooth on the TV, turn on the signal strength feature in the sat setup menu, walk outside and usually takes a minute to lock the sat. The bluetooth allows instant, hands-free listening without my wife trying to interpret what's happening. I've replaced all the nuts on the az and elevation adjusters with big thumb nuts. This makes a tool-free setup.
The only trick is to level it accurately and anchor it once you settle on a location.
I set the portable dish up and it sat there for 6 days at the Red, White and Blue festival in Morganton, NC. Wasn't even anchored.
JR
I hang my wife's bluetooth on the TV, turn on the signal strength feature in the sat setup menu, walk outside and usually takes a minute to lock the sat. The bluetooth allows instant, hands-free listening without my wife trying to interpret what's happening.
Pure genius!