How strong is DirecTV signal?

How do I prevent Directv signal from screwing up during a rainstorm?

• Every time it rains, my signal just screws up all to hell. I remember during hurricane Katrina, Directv had a commercial saying people in the storm had perfect signal all the time. How exactly do I make my signal stronger? I have no trees or any obstruction around the way of the dish. Any help or any idea?

• Answer:

  Its called rain fade. DirecTV satellites use higher frequencies and lower power to transmit their signal to earth. The higher frequencies mean it can be received on a smaller dish (18") but with the higher frequencies it is more susceptible to weather especially rain. Rain absorbs the energy of the signal and if too much signal is absorbed there is little/none left for your satellite dish to grab and your TV displays no signal. At the wavelength of the KU Band signal the type used by DirecTV and Dish heavy rain can be a problem. It also matters what direction the rain is coming from if it is coming right at the dish more signal is absorbed. FYI it is not just the down-link where rain can be a problem but the up-link as well, but since the up-link uses more power you don't see that problem often. You can buy a 1 meter dish that will help with the rain problem, otherwise there is little that can be done or the largest possible with HD service. If you don't want to loose signal go with the OLD style large C-Band dish and a service provider that sells programming for them. They are available. Cable systems use them almost exclusively. Cable systems use larger C-band dishes up to 10 meters in size with a 3.5 meter dish standard, and a lower frequency signal with longer wavelength thus it is far less susceptible to rain. Since the popular channels are located on different satellites you will need many different satellite dishes to get all the channels you now get or get a rotor and rotate the dish to a different satellite for each channel you want. Wind should not affect the signal unless your dish is loose and moving in the wind. thus in a hurricane wind does NOT affect the signal only heavy rain. >>Edit Since the signal is digital it is either there or not. So anything that can increase the signal in any way may?? help assuming the signal is not completely wiped out by the rain. 1. Make sure the cable from the satellite dish to the TV set is as short of run as possible. That the cable is in good condition. Coax cable looses the high frequencies first over distance and DirecTV uses very high frequencies. 2. IF during the rain and you have a unpowered multi-switch disconnect the switch and go directly to the receiver with the wire from the satellite dish. Re-wire when the weather clears. 3. Some receivers require slightly more signal than others if you feel yours is going out too often see it DirecTV will replace the receiver. ( I have 80 DirecTV receivers in my headend and during a rain storm some go out before others, even though they are coming from the same multi-switch) 4. As I said earlier replace the 18" dish with a 1 meter oval dish or the largest they have if you have HD service.