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FureverFurry
RIP Daphne: 3/12/05 - 6/19/12
Premium Member
join:2012-02-20
49xxx
Zoom 5341J
ARRIS WBM760
Vonage VDV-21

FureverFurry

Premium Member

[Satellite] Anyone in MI or midwest with satellite TV this winter ?

Does anyone in Michigan or another snowy state currently have satellite TV, please? If so, I'd appreciate your candor on reception and/or outages with all the mountains of snow.

My dream is still to ditch cable TV for satellite; ground mounted for easy clean-off if needed.
Thanks.

bmetelsky
Premium Member
join:2005-10-16
Elyria, OH

bmetelsky

Premium Member

I have DISH here in Elyria, OH (just west of Cleveland). Lots of harsh weather this winter. Had to clear the dish only once through it all.

gwalk
Premium Member
join:2005-07-27
West Mich.

gwalk to FureverFurry

Premium Member

to FureverFurry
I have Directv here in west Michigan. Lots of snowfall, cleaned the dish off twice.

FureverFurry
RIP Daphne: 3/12/05 - 6/19/12
Premium Member
join:2012-02-20
49xxx

FureverFurry

Premium Member

gwalk, How was your reception during our lovely periods of heavy "fluffy rain" ? Thanks.

DKS
Damn Kidney Stones

join:2001-03-22
Owen Sound, ON

DKS

I live in the Ontario snow belt. Other than keeping the disk clear of snow or ice, no reception issues in snow. Rain can cause brief outages at either uplink sites or home.
ke4pym
Premium Member
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC

ke4pym to FureverFurry

Premium Member

to FureverFurry
Don't let them mount the antenna on your roof!

Make them pole mount it somewhere so you can wipe the snow off of it. Heater options are available.

»www.solidsignal.com/pvie ··· rfkit%29

We don't get much fluffy rain in these parts. But when we do, the signal is just fine. The solid rain? That'll mess the reception up real quick like once the dish ices over.

DKS
Damn Kidney Stones

join:2001-03-22
Owen Sound, ON

DKS

said by ke4pym:

Don't let them mount the antenna on your roof!

Make them pole mount it somewhere so you can wipe the snow off of it. Heater options are available.

ROTFL! Mine is on the rook to get the height. No other options to get above the tree line. Heated dish? Don't make me laugh. It's -30C here this morning. I don't need another power sucking device to drive up my hydro bill. I can do a lot of sweeping for what it costs.

gwalk
Premium Member
join:2005-07-27
West Mich.

gwalk to FureverFurry

Premium Member

to FureverFurry
said by FureverFurry:

How was your reception during our lovely periods of heavy "fluffy rain"

Being a digital signal, it is either "on" or "off". It not like it gets "fuzzy" if the weather is getting bad.
Having said that ...there can be a period of a few seconds where the pictures may pixalate before going out.

A snow storm doesn't effect it other than if it builds up very heavy on the dish surface.
Even then my "outages" didn't happen until later when the sun caused the snow to "slump" and gather at the focal point of the reflector.

Rain storms have to be VERY bad before they have an effect. Normal rain ...nada ..it has to have a lot of electrical activity before the signal goes out and then that is only for a very brief period.

As mentioned by others, roof vs pole mount.

The pole mount sure would make it easier to keep clear of snow and ice ....the downside being it is more easily damaged or knocked out of alignment on a pole.

Mine is a roof mount.
I purchased from Lowes a telescopic pole that extends to 16', add my height and arm length and I have no problem sweeping off the dish. the pole has a standard screw end so a 8" or so brush will screw on and provide an angle to sweep the dish. The pole is about $30

Keeping the dish surface clean can prevent build up also. Don't use "non stick" coatings like Pam, they will actually attract dirt.
Rain-X works real good.

That one is important as I also, being rural, have satellite for Internet and that is much fussier than Directv.

Overall, weather is not a factor other than short outage periods lasting no more than minutes if not seconds.
For what its worth, I have had DTV since November of 1994.
ke4pym
Premium Member
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC

ke4pym to DKS

Premium Member

to DKS
said by DKS:

ROTFL! Mine is on the rook to get the height. No other options to get above the tree line. Heated dish? Don't make me laugh. It's -30C here this morning. I don't need another power sucking device to drive up my hydro bill. I can do a lot of sweeping for what it costs.

It's all fun and games until you fall of the ladder....

Considering that the heater draws 7A at 24v, I would suspect it will provide plenty of heat to keep the dish free of snow and ice. It has a thermostat. But it would probably be easy to rig something up to reduce the run time even further.

Are you even supposed to have DirecTV in .ca?
westdc
join:2009-01-25
Amissville, VA

westdc to DKS

Member

to DKS
If you use an Ice Zapper It only on when you connect it - Leave it unplugged when you don't need - as in NOT sucking power.

DKS
Damn Kidney Stones

join:2001-03-22
Owen Sound, ON

DKS to ke4pym

to ke4pym
said by ke4pym:

said by DKS:

ROTFL! Mine is on the rook to get the height. No other options to get above the tree line. Heated dish? Don't make me laugh. It's -30C here this morning. I don't need another power sucking device to drive up my hydro bill. I can do a lot of sweeping for what it costs.

It's all fun and games until you fall of the ladder....

Considering that the heater draws 7A at 24v, I would suspect it will provide plenty of heat to keep the dish free of snow and ice. It has a thermostat. But it would probably be easy to rig something up to reduce the run time even further.

Are you even supposed to have DirecTV in .ca?

Ladder safety is a no brainer. I have ExpressVu, which is Canada's version of Dish. SatTV is SatTV.

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall to DKS

MVM

to DKS
said by DKS:

I don't need another power sucking device to drive up my hydro bill.

Why would that increase your water bill ?
Hall

Hall to FureverFurry

MVM

to FureverFurry
said by FureverFurry:

I'd appreciate your candor on reception and/or outages with all the mountains of snow.

Please don't believe the myth that satellite TV goes out all the time - or doesn't work - in rainy or snowy weather.

Vchat20
Landing is the REAL challenge
Premium Member
join:2003-09-16
Columbus, OH

Vchat20 to FureverFurry

Premium Member

to FureverFurry
We had Dish a few years ago at our old house in the Northern half of Ohio. I forget which sat cluster we were on. I think it was the western sats so we had a pretty steep angle going for us. Never had any issues in the winter. Dish always seemed to remain clear even in the heavy stuff. Pointing at the western sats probably helped though. I imagine if we were pointing to the eastern ones it would be a much different story.

DKS
Damn Kidney Stones

join:2001-03-22
Owen Sound, ON

DKS to Hall

to Hall
said by Hall:

said by DKS:

I don't need another power sucking device to drive up my hydro bill.

Why would that increase your water bill ?

Ontario Hydro is the provincial electrical utility. We call electrical power "hydro" in Canada. The reason is that a significant amount of electrical power was originally produced from hydro-electric dams. Today, the majority of electricity in Ontario (which we sell to you in the US) comes from nuclear plants. But we still call it "hydro".

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall

MVM

Sorry, I knew that - I thought it was an old joke on here by now.

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County

CylonRed to FureverFurry

MVM

to FureverFurry
Live in Ohio - our area has had 41.5 inches of snow so far with another couple of inches of ice and only had an issue with one storm for about 1 to 1.5 hours - never cleaned off the Dish that is on the roof with Dish - YMMV.