DirecTV, Dish or Digital Cable? (1 Viewer)

[Arthur S]

Robert

Thanks for your input. I would point out, however, that I said medium to heavy rain, and not light to medium rain as you went on to discuss.

John is a perfect example of what I experienced.

In any case, while the OP has not said what she went with, I stand by my estimation that she went with cable

 

[Richard Gallagher]

I've had DirecTV for 11 1/2 years, and my impression is that "rain fade" is a misnomer. It should be called "lightning fade." I have never lost my signal in even the heaviest of rainstorms unless there also was heavy lightning activity between me and the satellite.

People who live in states which experience a high incidence of thunderstorms are likely to encounter the problem of signal fade with much greater frequency than people who live in areas where thunderstorms are not so frequent.

 

[Mary M S]

my impression is that "rain fade" is a misnomer. In Tx I have a dish about 26 feet from grade, clear shot to the South no trees, clean line of sight.
We tuned it ourselves and self installed on the 1st dish (dual LNB's) we had 100's. We would still loose signal in many storms some of these consisting of just sheets of massive rain, whenever the bulk of any heavy blanketing storm moves across the South.
Some storms (we have some big ones) can knock out reception for a couple of hours. I had the dual LNB replaced with a triple when my husband was too tied up to do it, the tech did not dial us in very well, when last I checked the numbers were all over the board. And since the roof is extremely steeply pitched we have not gotten around to tweaking it.
These new lower numbers do not appear to increase the frequency of loss dramaticly. Our storms are so massive, we either lose it or we don't. I've had snow days (more often really 'ice' storms) take it out for a bit, when a blanket of grey soup is heavy enough to the South. The winter weather does not normaly include lightning.

 

[dan-0]

If you were a cheap bastard like me you'd just do over-the-air HD. I get 12 HD channels for free. I'm also on 9.99 dial up. I have no problem paying thousands for audio/video stuff though.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

I've never had a problem with snow, but like you I've lost the signal due to sleet, freezing rain, etc.

My dish is reachable from a window, so I can clean it off and spray de-icer on it when there is sleet and freezing rain.