Reception Quality

[mkbr0]

Can anyone give me feedback on satellite (Dish, DirecTV) reception quality in the Raleigh, NC area? I'm interested in getting satellite, but I'm unsure of how stable a picture I can receive during times of wind, snow, ice and glaven, or even how often these phenomena occur - southern Raleigh if you're in that area, or anywhere in Raleigh is fine, too.

Thanks in advance,
mkbr0

[t999]

Reception quality issues would be the same anywhere in the country. As long as you have a clear line of sight to the satellites (no trees, buildings, etc.) then these are the issues concerning what you can expect for signal quality; for either DISH or DirecTV:

Wind: The signal quality is never affected by wind; unless your dish is not mounted solid. If you have a solidly mounted dish, which would be a normal installation, then even high winds won't be a problem.

Snow: Surprisingly, the quality does not suffer by falling snow in the air. It can be heavily snowing and your signal quality will hardly be affected (meaning, not affected anywhere near the drop-out point). But snow building up on the dish can knock out the signal. If more than 1 inch of snow builds up on the bottom of the dish during a snow storm the signal can noticably degrade. Or if the snow builds up on the face of the LNBF (due to driving snow). These conditions can knock out your signal if enough snow builds up. Of course, going out and cleaning off the snow restores the signal. If you want to avoid ever having to deal with snow issues, get a dish heater unit. You'd also have to weigh the cost of the heater unit against how often your snow fall is.

Ice: It takes less ice buildup on the dish surface or especially the LNBF to knock out the signal. But again, lightly tapping the ice off your dish restores the signal. Most people don't have to deal with ice or snow issues but once or twice a year ( a minor inconvienience). Many cable TV systems drop out that often or more.

Rain: This will be the most common reception issue facing you as a dish owner. Digital satellite signals do have difficulty getting their signal through moderate to heavy rain. The two factors that affect how much "rain fade" (as it is called) will affect you is: (1) how accurately your dish is pointed to the satellite(s), and (2) the density of the fainfall. Light showers don't affect the siganl quality much, but moderate to heavy rain can and does. When your signal gets blocked by a rain storm you usually lose your signal for a few seconds to a few minutes; depending on the density of the storm, your dish pointing accuracy, and how fast the storm is moving. Regardless, once the rain storm has moved off enough to restore your signal, the picture will return to your TV automatically. If you find you have a lot of heavy rain throughout the year, you can invest in a larger dish, which will give you more signal during rain. But for most people, the normal sized dish proves adequate performace during rain.

Finally, you will want to ask others who have dishes in your area how they are enjoying the service. Most who have it say they'd never go back to cable; with it's generally poorer quality and annual rate hikes.