Sky Dish and bad weather

Eire-Dearg

As soon as there's any bit of strong rain, the picture stutters and cuts out, and I get those "No Signal" warnings.

Any quick fix tips? I read it's a box on the dish that can be sheltered?

steveon

If you are having problems during light rain periods then it is more than likely that your dish is badly aligned, you shouldnt need to cover your lnb..

watty

The "dish sheltering" thing is a bit of a myth. Some polish or WD40 works better. It's all the rain between the dish and space.

If you have loss (even pixelation) in even quite heavy rain then most likely your dish is misaligned. If you live in Donegal, West Cork, Kerry and BBC is OK but some other channels are poor then you need a bigger dish. At extreme North West and South West an 80cm is needed.
A 60cm to 65cm dish is fine most of the country. South East can possibly use a good 50cm dish.

If a sky dish is badly rusted then wire brush and a couple of coats of hammerite on both sides (back first so drips are wiped off front).

iPlop

I too have this signal loss in heavy rain.My dish is new with a quad lnb.Input 1&2 are at nearly 100% until it rains heavy then most channels are lost.I have had the dish aligned and even got a better alignment myself after I noticed some of the kids channels were pixalating.I'm not sure how much more of a signal I can get

watty

But
Did the Installer have a Spectrum Analyser and Align on the weakest beam?
Where are you?
What size and make of dish?

There is no certification of Installers other than voluntary ISAA

iPlop

watty wrote: »

But
Did the Installer have a Spectrum Analyser and Align on the weakest beam?
Where are you?
What size and make of dish?

There is no certification of Installers other than voluntary ISAA

He sure did! I noticed some of the channels were pixelating so I adjusted the pitch(up/down) with a sat finder and got a better signal until the bout of heavy rain last week!!:(
I'm in Wicklow ,not sure of the dish make ,it's a sky mk4 60cm dish ,got it with HD subscription

watty

He couldn't possibly have aligned with a spectrum analyser on weaker beam if a dumb meter was better.

You sure not just a digital meter?

In Wicklow a standard Sky dish should be fine. Someting is badly aligned, or damaged cable or a fault.

iPlop

He had some kind of metre reader hanging around his neck ,i'm not sure what type.Anyway thanks for the info I'll go check the connections at the lnb:)

championc

Simulate rain by draping a wet J Cloth over the LNB face and then allign to the optimum position. Save you messing about while it's raining


C

Trevord

watty wrote: »

If a sky dish is badly rusted then wire brush and a couple of coats of hammerite on both sides (back first so drips are wiped off front).

Tech advice AND a DIY tip all in the one post.

Now that's service !

snaps

The sky mesh dishes are an absolute pain. Here on the west coast (eg Achill), these dishes dont last a year, before they have rusted. As soon as the mounts rust they will move in high wind and sometimes just break off.

I always recommend a good solid 65cm dish instead.

Also another problem is the 2 satellites that we receive UKFTA from are at 2 different positions, 28.2 and 28.5, but Eurobird has recently moved to 28.6, So if your CBS channels are loosing signal your dish is more than likely been aligned on 28.2, with it being possibly really looking at 28-28.1east.

Ive found that Irish people are like Lemmings, they always have to follow each other. Even though you can say to people the mesh dishes wont last a year here, I suggest a solid galvanized mounted dish, which will last you a good while, they still want a mesh dish just because everyone else has one. Low and behold a year or so later they ring you up saying the dish has rusted/broke/fallen off the wall, then expecting you to replace it free of charge!!!