How to Stop Rain Fade for D* HD

[Chinatown]

And lets not forget sun fades with satellite reception. They usually happen in March and October.

That only happened when I had cable.................Never with Satelite....from either "D" or  "E"..................

[Mark Strube]

Here in Elm Grove, at least once every summer from a storm, the cable goes completely out for hours... sometimes it isn't back on until the next day. I don't know what kind of crappy connections they have here that causes this, but it happens every single summer.

[Chinatown]

Here in Elm Grove, at least once every summer from a storm, the cable goes completely out for hours... sometimes it isn't back on until the next day. I don't know what kind of crappy connections they have here that causes this, but it happens every single summer.

http://www.dishtv.com/home.jsp

or

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/index.jsp

[Mark Strube]

Hah... nice. You have investments in satellite companies or something? I still wouldn't go with satellite due to the pricing that doesn't compete with cable, and the additional cost of equipment... and keep in mind, my cable generally only goes out about once a year due to a storm, but I never get any "rain fade."

[Chinatown]

Hah... nice. You have investments in satellite companies or something? I still wouldn't go with satellite due to the pricing that doesn't compete with cable, and the additional cost of equipment... and keep in mind, my cable generally only goes out about once a year due to a storm, but I never get any "rain fade."

No, I do not have them in my portolio. As to pricing, there really is no difference...........

[dj1111]

And lets not forget sun fades with satellite reception. They usually happen in March and October.

Solar storms can cause all kinds of electronic communication interruptions.  But in the nearly 9 years I've had Directv it's never been a problem.

[Nels Harvey]

The sun is a bigger noise generator than the signals from any satellite used for TV reception.  When the sun is directly behind the dish the signal WILL fade, for from 3 to 15 minutes.  This happens to EVERY satellite dish, whether from D, or E, or TWC!  The period of this occuring is in the spring, and fall, and will reoccur for 3, or 4 days, depending on how large the receiving dish may be.
 
TV stations get notifications on the projected times, and if they are recording something needed at those times they will record an alternative feed, or request a special feed.  This is done routinely by their programming departments.

'D' and 'E' have multiple satellites, and if the sun is behind one satellite it will not be behind a different location at the same time.  It's possible the viewers may miss the sun outage because they generally occur in the early afternoons.

Sun outages are a fact of life for any satellite reception.  No TV service is immune, but with proper planning the disruption usually is minimized.

Nels....

[Chinatown]

The sun is a bigger noise generator than the signals from any satellite used for TV reception.  When the sun is directly behind the dish the signal WILL fade, for from 3 to 15 minutes.  This happens to EVERY satellite dish, whether from D, or E, or TWC!  The period of this occuring is in the spring, and fall, and will reoccur for 3, or 4 days, depending on how large the receiving dish may be.
 
TV stations get notifications on the projected times, and if they are recording something needed at those times they will record an alternative feed, or request a special feed.  This is done routinely by their programming departments.

'D' and 'E' have multiple satellites, and if the sun is behind one satellite it will not be behind a different location at the same time.  It's possible the viewers may miss the sun outage because they generally occur in the early afternoons.

Sun outages are a fact of life for any satellite reception.  No TV service is immune, but with proper planning the disruption usually is minimized.

Nels....

.............However, I have never seen it happen to my system........................

[jfelbab]

.............However, I have never seen it happen to my system........................

Ditto.

Jim
---
Listen to my music and d/l free mp3's here.
http://www.macidol.com/jamroom/bands/33/music.php

[mhz40]

Ditto.

Jim
---
Listen to my music and d/l free mp3's here.
http://www.macidol.com/jamroom/bands/33/music.php

The fact remains that every geosynchronous satellite is affected by sun outages.  This includes all commercial birds carrying video services.

I could argue that satellite-based providers are even more affected than cable, since they have to deal with their own outage on the reception side at their main facility and their customers incur a second round of interference at their homes.  However I don't know any details about their reception strategy, so to avoid an argument here, lets me just say that I think its possible...  And really, who cares?  There is nothing you can do about it unless tons of money is spent on multiple feeds or fiber to avoid the little nuisance... or I guess one could simply  blow up the sun.

[Joseph S]

but I never get any "rain fade."

Unfortunately, you get the same effect whenever their is precipitation in NYC thanks to the inept distribution system of NBC HD.

[Stanley Kritzik]

I notice your on-going crusade against the weather idiots on ALL the channels -- witness the last one-inch snowstorm that was going to destroy Milwaukee-area civilization, as we know it.

I e-mailed Tom Cuprisin at the JournalSentinel on the topic, and he promptly responded with a "thank you", but no more.  I guess he won't bite the hand that feeds him.  Mike Drew used to rant at the weather "prophets", but he's retired.  Meanwhile, we have to put up with this nonsense.

My two favorites from the last one-incher: first, on the next evening local news -- CH 12, I think, they spent about 15 minutes explaining what didn't happen, and why.  Second, they had some reporter lady standing outside in a "photo op", tramping around in a full inch of slush.  Meanwhile, the crawl at the bottom of the picture was announcing event closings!  It reminds me of a trip I took to LA some years back.  I arrived at the sales office only to find a lonely receptionist.  "Where are all the sales and staff people?" said I.  "Oh, she replied, we had rain, so we sent everyone home".  So, maybe we should count our blessings (unless we suffer a "frontal passage", heaven forbid).

SK

[gparris]

The fact remains that every geosynchronous satellite is affected by sun outages.  This includes all commercial birds carrying video services.

I could argue that satellite-based providers are even more affected than cable, since they have to deal with their own outage on the reception side at their main facility and their customers incur a second round of interference at their homes.  However I don't know any details about their reception strategy, so to avoid an argument here, lets me just say that I think its possible...  And really, who cares?  There is nothing you can do about it unless tons of money is spent on multiple feeds or fiber to avoid the little nuisance... or I guess one could simply  blow up the sun.

In the near future, the sun is going to go through a time of more intense solar flare and sunspot activity affecting all satellite, GPS and cellphone signals.
Maybe by then, if our providers offer some fiber-optic backup of some sort, we will not have these future problems. Right now, we are in a "quiet period".
Cable gets its programming from satellites, just like satellite providers do.
Whether or not the satellite providers can figure out a way to lessen the double- burden for satellite subscribers in the future when the sun cycle gets to its meaner side is up to them, if there is indeed a realistic solution.

[jfelbab]

In the near future, the sun is going to go through a time of more intense solar flare and sunspot activity affecting all satellite, GPS and cellphone signals.
Maybe by then, if our providers offer some fiber-optic backup of some sort, we will not have these future problems. Right now, we are in a "quiet period".
Cable gets its programming from satellites, just like satellite providers do.
Whether or not the satellite providers can figure out a way to lessen the double- burden for satellite subscribers in the future when the sun cycle gets to its meaner side is up to them, if there is indeed a realistic solution.

Actually, we are now entering a minimum period of solar activity.  The next peak will occur in the 2012 timeframe. Solar activity occurs in an 11 year cycle.  We are at least 5-6 years from the next peak, not exactly what I'd call "in the near future".  Cellphones and satellite signals did just fine during the last peak of solar activity.  Granted the forecast calls for a stronger peak this cycle (cycle 24) but there were no significant disruptions during cycle 23.

Jim
–––
"Funky Monkey" tops the charts at MacIdol.com for over 24 months.
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