Acceptable signal strengths

[phatmatt]

What are acceptable signal strengths?

On the 101 satellite, I get between 82-87
On the 72.5 I get between 78-83

[hijammer]

depends on how much rain fade and other distorsion you can tolerate, i ushally try and get around 90%.

[phatmatt]

It seems like we lose satellite signal at the drop of a hat when it rains, and doesn't come back for a long while after the rain is gone.

[goony]

It seems like we lose satellite signal at the drop of a hat when it rains, and doesn't come back for a long while after the rain is gone.If that's the case you have a leak somewhere and things are getting wet and staying wet.

[JimSpence]

In other words, you have a connection that gets moisture. Check all connections, especially the outside ones. Or the LNB itself is no longer weatherproof.

[danny7481]

i get rain fade bad, like there will no "no signal" at all.
all the connections are tight, i guess a leaky LNB?

[goony]

If the signal returns to normal after the rain/storm passes, then you don't have a moisture/water leak problem in the cabling or LNB. The higher the signal level, the more resistance to rain fading, so 'peaking' your dish a max signal might mean that your number of outages due to rain would become fewer as only the heavier rains would impact the signal.

Note that it doesn't even have to rain at your site to have rain fade - a 60,000 ft. thunderstorm to your south or southwest that stands between your dish and the satellite will do the trick while your dish stays nice and dry.

I'll take a few minutes outage during thunderstorms over hours/days long outages from cableco any day though... that's also why I'll keep my (slightly more expensive) DSL rather than use internet from a cableco.

[goony]

i get rain fade bad, like there will no "no signal" at all.
all the connections are tight, i guess a leaky LNB?Does it linger after the rain is gone? If so, then yes you have a moisture/water problem.

[danny7481]

Does it linger after the rain is gone? If so, then yes you have a moisture/water problem.
nah, after it stops raining the signal is fine...so i guess i just got bad luck.

[bobojay]

nah, after it stops raining the signal is fine...so i guess i just got bad luck.

This is the same problem I've got and I know it's the aiming of the dish.....mount has settled.