Welcome to the DIRECTV Community Forums

New to the Community? Visit the Community How-To and Guidelines to get started.

Contributor

 • 

1 Message

Friday, November 11th, 2011 5:36 AM

Snow on dish causing loss of signal

My system is only about 3 months old, running Hd, H24 and HR24 receivers and newest hd dish available.  In the past I have had satellite with both direct(8yrs) then dishnetwork(2yrs).  in that 10 years I never once loss signal because of snow Buildup on the dish.  First snowfall of the season tonight and 1/2 of snow on the dish put it out.  

 

Is this normal for the newer systems?  I knocked the snow off and signal back.

 

Gonna be a long winter if I have to knock snow off every 1/2 inch.

ACE - Sage

 • 

46.4K Messages

13 years ago

Check your signal levels when the snow clears.  Poor dish alignment can cause marginal signals that are easily affected by snow and rain.  But note that those first snowfalls tend to be very wet, and that affects the signal more than dry snow.

 

Please post back with your signal readings for each satellite's transponders (and both tuners if applicable).  You'll find these readings under "Menu" -> "Setup" -> "System Setup" -> Satellite -> "View Signal Strength".  Note the "+" and "-" symbols next to the "Satellite" and "Tuner" entries where you can toggle the readings between the various satellites and both DVR tuners. 

 

Fill in your readings for each satellite and tuner using these examples.  A properly aligned dish will show 80-90s on most of the relevant transponders (although some will be low or zero):

 

 

Satellite transponders (32 total at 101º)

[Most of your standard definition channels are beamed from 101ºW]

1-8    #   #   #   #   #   #   #   #

9-16   #   #   #   #   #   #   #   #

17-24  #   #   #   #   #   #   #   #

25-32  #   #   #   #   #   #   #   #

 

Satellite transponders (3 total at 110º)

[Not present with Slimline3 dish. No channels are currently beamed from this satellite]

1-8    NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  #

9-16   NA  #   NA  #   NA  NA  NA  NA

 

Satellite transponders (11 total at 119º)

[Not present with Slimline 3 dish. Local SD channels for some cities, Spanish package]

17-24  NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  #   #   #

25-32  #   #   #   #   #   #   #   #

 

Satellite transponders (16 total at 99º(s)) [or 99º(b)]

[Local HD channels for some cities]

1-8    #   #   #   #   #   #   NA  NA

9-16   NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  #   #

17-24  #   #   #   #   #   #   #   #

[Note: these can be very slow to appear]

 

Satellite transponders (14 total at 99º(c)) [or 99º(a)]

[National HD channels]

1-8    #   #   #   #   #   #   #   #

9-16   #   #   #   #   #   #   NA  NA

[Note, these can be very slow to appear]

 

Satellite transponders (16 total at 103º(s)) [or 103º(a)]

[Local HD channels for some cities]

1-8    #   #   #   #   #   #   NA  NA

9-16   NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  #   #

17-24  #   #   #   #   #   #   #   #

[Note, these can be very slow to appear]

 

Satellite transponders (16 total at 103º(ca))

[National HD channels beamed from D12 satellite]

1-8    NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  NA

9-16   #   #   #   #   #   #   #   #

17-24  #   #   #   #   #   #   #   #

 

Satellite transponders (14 total at 103º(cb)) [or 103º(b)]

[National HD channels beamed from D10 satellite]

1-8    #   #   #   #   #   #   #   #

9-16   #   #   #   #   #   #   NA  NA

17-24  NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  NA

 

Satellite transponders (9 total at SWM)

[You'll only see this if you have a Single Wire Multiswitch (SWM) dish]

1-8    #   #   #   #   #   #   #   #

9-16   #   NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  NA  NA

 


NEED HELP?