Bad weather and Sky

[Chavvychase]

Well, it happened again. I was just ready to watch tonight's big match when the signal went. It happens when it rains hard. I switched to Sky from Telewest earlier this year. The cable box used to seize up now and again, but I rarely lost a signal due to bad weather. The Sky box is more stable, except in bad weather. Is this a feature of Sky or am I just unlucky to be living in an area with lots of trees around?

 

[Baron Von Doom]

the picture goes on mine in really hard rain, but it does have to be really hard

 

[Starburst]

The signal from the satellite in orbit can be blocked by heavy rain/snow.
If you are losing the signal in only very heavy rain (storm conditions) then you are just unlucky, any loss in just bad weather could point to a less than optimal installation which can be corrected.

If the trees are not in the line of sight of the dish then you'll be fine in good and bed weather, if they are then in nasty weather the wind may shift the trees and block the signal.

Northern and western regions can benefit from a Zone2 dish (60cm) which gives the reception more tolerance of a weakening signal.

 

[Chris Muriel]

The signal from the satellite in orbit can be blocked by heavy rain/snow.
If you are losing the signal in only very heavy rain (storm conditions) then you are just unlucky, any loss in just bad weather could point to a less than optimal installation which can be corrected.

If the trees are not in the line of sight of the dish then you'll be fine in good and bed weather, if they are then in nasty weather the wind may shift the trees and block the signal.

Northern and western regions can benefit from a Zone2 dish (60cm) which gives the reception more tolerance of a weakening signal.

Good description of what is technically known as "Rain fade margin".
Suggestions are spot on.

Chris Muriel , Manchester (author of somewhat old "Digital Satellite FAQ")

 

[xxTinkerbellexx]

Hi Everyone! I'm new

Well !! Don't get me started on the losing signal scenario. I have had this problem every since I had sky installed and calls to CS results in "Well it is normal to expect some signal loss in bad weather"

Sometimes it doesn't even rain, and I lose signal or the picture starts breaking up. When it does rain, it certainly doesn't have to be of storm proportions for it to take a rest for a few hours It has even been known to conk out when the weather is too HOT!

Anyway, it's something I have just got used to I guess. but when they eventually come round to install SKY+ I'll get them to look at it.

Hopefully it will be raining when they come round

 

[Chris Muriel]

Where you are (Surrey) the standard size dish should work fine.
I suspect that either your dish is misaligned, the LNB is wrongly positioned, you are looking at the satellite partly through an obstruction (trees, roof or chimney of building etc.) , your connections or coaxial cable are not up to scratch or the LNB itself is faulty.

Chris Muriel, Manchester.

 

[xxTinkerbellexx]

I think it's an "installation" issue myself. The person who came to install it was somewhat on the - shall we say "creepy side". I guess because I did not respond to him he did a shoddy job and left...Don't know why I didn't report him at the time to be honest. I just wanted him out my home. Felt very uncomfortable

Next time I'll get someone to be with me if it's a bloke again, and again pray for rain

 

[grimoor]

I have a problem when it rains hard, but the second multiroom Sky box doesn't suffer. As it only happens occasionaly I haven't bother looking in to it, but I presume it a cable problem (receivers are both the same brand/model).

 

[Starburst]

I have a problem when it rains hard, but the second multiroom Sky box doesn't suffer. As it only happens occasionaly I haven't bother looking in to it, but I presume it a cable problem (receivers are both the same brand/model).

It could be a weakness in the cable or perhaps the LNB that feeds the cable is less tolerant of a weaker signal. If the opportunity ever crops up using a spare output on the Quad LNB (If you have a quad) may solve the problem making sure the connection is water tight afterwards.

As an experiment why not swap the boxes over and see if the fault follows the box or stays with the feed.

 

[grimoor]

It could be a weakness in the cable or perhaps the LNB that feeds the cable is less tolerant of a weaker signal. If the opportunity ever crops up using a spare output on the Quad LNB (If you have a quad) may solve the problem making sure the connection is water tight afterwards.

As an experiment why not swap the boxes over and see if the fault follows the box or stays with the feed.

Might try the box switch just to see. Unfortuantely for the cable check to get access to the roof I have to go through the flat above me and we're not on very good terms at the moment. So I'm just waiting to see what will be needed with SKY HD, before having to worry about getting access to the roof.

 

[mh123]

We get this in extremely bad weather and have a perfect view of the south sky with no obstructions with excellent signal quality normally.

Standard sky dish but then being on the Isle of Wight helps (ie pretty much south of most UK customers!).

The thing that p!sses me off no end is the refusal of the Sky+ box to play back pre-recorded material if the weather trashes the signal!! Aaargh!! 9 times out of 10 this happens in the middle of the night when I'm dumping 8 hours of stuff out to my HDD/DVD recorder for archiving.

 

[StooMonster]

With Sky Digital I got signal breakup in bad weather, and also with original Sky+ install. But after complaining about picture breakup in regular nice weather I had follow-up team arrive, the week after the Sky+ install.

First thing they did was replace the dish, as they said the Sky+ installer had simply replaced LNB with Sky+ quad one when he should've put new dish up. They claimed the focal length of the arm is different and new dish (with longer arm) should've been used.

Secondly they turned dish angle until 100% signal quality (can see solid bars on the Sky box), strength is less but they said that doesn't matter.

Got to be about three years ago now, and never lost the signal ... not even in the worst weather.

StooMonster

 

[sunderland]

i also get the no signal and its not just in bad weather it will do it in any kind of weather. and when i went to sky+ they just put a new quad LNB up and left the old dish. so do you think that could be the problem as for a year now ive never had a signal over half way.

 

[xxTinkerbellexx]

Checked status messages at the wk-end and this is what it told me:

Signal Strength = 75%
Signal Quality = 30%

That's not good is it?

 

[Knyght_byte]

mine seems ok in any weather so far, had a bad storm the other week and no probs, signal strength seems to stay at 60% in my room and 80% in my parents lounge (multiroom Sky+ package)......quality is around 70% by the looks of it on mine and 90% on theirs......
we are quite high up as far as landscape goes tho so that might help.....