Tech / Special Interest → Cable & Satellite TV > [DIRECTV] Directv feasibility for Michigan winters - opinions pl

[DIRECTV] Directv feasibility for Michigan winters - opinions pl

I'd really like to drop cable TV and go with satellite, probably Directv. But .. Michigan gets snow (duh).

So ... would folks with satellite TV in a snowy area kindly give me their opinions with regard to losing the signal, etc? Also, what about having to clean off the dish if it gets the heavy snow?

I know folks need a clear view of the southern sky, but that's about all I know.
THANKS !

Re: [DIRECTV] Directv feasibility for Michigan winters - opinion

I live in the Ontario snow belt. I have to get up on my roof once a winter to clean off the dish. Snow happens.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.

Thanks ! What about having it mounted on the ground-ish or side of home? As a senior, I can't get on the roof and (sigh) have pleasant but unhelpful neighbors.

Re: [DIRECTV] Directv feasibility for Michigan winters - opinion

I have had DTV since Nov. '94.
West Michigan lakeshore, with the lake effect snow.
No real problems, I have had to clear the dish about once a year.

I used to live in Massachusetts and people were able to acquire heated dishes, for extra money, from the installers. I decided to make my own heated system by taking the shortest gutter heater I could find and gluing it to the BACK of the dish I "owned" using silicone sealer. Since the heater strip came with it's own internal thermostat I just plugged it into one of the outlets we use for Christmas lights and let it do it's thing. No more problems with snow build up on the dish from then on and it did not interfere with the satellite signal. My dish was up on a 15 foot pole next to the house so snow build up on the roof of the house was not an issue.

Pole mount and either a dish heater or snow guard of some sort.

I have Dish in mid-Michigan. It rarely gives any problems from snow buildup. Maybe once a year I have loss of signal with just the right type of snow that is really heavy and sticks. My house is low enough I tap the dish and the snow usually slides off or I just wait until the sun comes up and it melts right off. My dish is far enough offset from the side of the house I don't get buildup like DKS shows in the picture above.

I hear the magnetic heaters like you would use on a car or truck oil pan work good to remove the snow. Stick it on the back of the dish, plug it in for a few minutes and it melts everything off. The other method I have heard of is using a super-soaker type water gun with car washer fluid and squirting the snow to melt it off.

Either way it is an over exaggerated issue by the satellite haters, just like they claim of constant rain fade. If it is raining heavy enough to lose dish signal, I am in the basement waiting out the storm. It is never more than a 1-2 minutes at most anyway.

When I had DirecTV, I'd spray pam on the dish in the fall, (October, November). I never had any problems with snow buildup. It would just slide off. Spray the dish, not the LNB.
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That can work fine for areas that get light snow, but in the northern states or Canada, it's not the snow that lands on the dish that's the problem. It's the build-up of snow around the dish, i.e. snow measured in feet, not inches !

Others have also used Rain-X windshield treatment saying that Pam would eventually cause small dirt particles to adhere to the dish surface.

I'm in west Michigan and I've never used anything.
A proper aim to maximize signal strength is going to allow more "headroom" for rain fade and snow ice buildup be fore effecting signal.
Any overnight accumulation usually melts off the next day as the Sun warms the reflector.

I find that other than snow burying the dish, ice can cause signal loss. That means a trip up to clear it off the dish surface.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.

Try this I have had this for years works great in Michigan winters, My dish in on the peak of my 2 story home so getting to it in the winter is not an option.

»www.thesatelliteshop.net/hot-sho···odvnsA_Q