They are calling for up to 2 feet of snow and many hours of blizzard conditions in the DC area. I have Comcast cable. So if I keep power, I'll probably be fine. But what if I had Dish or DirectTV?
Just curious.
Just curious.
Satellite TV and Blizzards
- Thread starter What Would Jesus Do?
- Start date
I was in Colorado for the blizzard of 2003. Let me tell you, it's a lot of fun climbing a frozen ladder with a broom trying to knock the snow off your dish.
Last year we had an ice storm during the Super Bowl. About 10 minutes after the game ended our Directv went out and we didn't have it back for over a week while our dish was covered in snow and Ice. We have the service plan for Directv and they said they couldn't do anything about it. God's fault they said. 
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You weren't able to clear it off? I ask because the only time I've lost signal was from the dish being covered with snow. A ladder and broom takes care of it in about 30 seconds.Last year we had an ice storm during the Super Bowl. About 10 minutes after the game ended our Directv went out and we didn't have it back for over a week while our dish was covered in snow and Ice. We have the service plan for Directv and they said they couldn't do anything about it. God's fault they said.
I have my geothermal HVAC system routed under sidewalk and driveway, so I just open the valve until it's all melted.
I'd switch Gods.Last year we had an ice storm during the Super Bowl. About 10 minutes after the game ended our Directv went out and we didn't have it back for over a week while our dish was covered in snow and Ice. We have the service plan for Directv and they said they couldn't do anything about it. God's fault they said.
Or maybe cable providers.
Whichever is easier.
When I had directv, I had the installer install it on a pole that was placed in the ground. The rep didn't charge me for the pole, as he turned it in as a "line of sight" issue (he probably preferred hooking up the dish on the ground also....although, i got nailed with the charge when they came out to install the HD dish when I made that jump)
I usually sprayed my dish with PAM spray (a suggestion from the installer) prior to the first snowfall. In the 7 years that I had directv, I maybe have had to take a brush to the dish maybe a half a dozen times
I usually sprayed my dish with PAM spray (a suggestion from the installer) prior to the first snowfall. In the 7 years that I had directv, I maybe have had to take a brush to the dish maybe a half a dozen times
Mine is on the roof. Blizzard conditions can knock out the signal even after the storm has passed. I paid some poor a few years back to climb on my roof and clean it off. He did. The next time it happened I took a tree pruner and a windshield scraper (the brush part) and just cleaned the dish off from a small ladder. Worked like a charm and the rich get richer by not paying the poors to do such mundane tasks
A quick spraying of cooking oil before the storm will eliminate the problem or make it easier to remove the climate change from your dish
I've always had mine mounted to the deck so it's easy to wipe off when there's heavy snow. While that's very rare, if you put it on your roof you're just begging for a prolonged outage, imo.
This is why you always mount them as low as possible where you don't need a ladder to clean snow off them. And always have an antenna solution for OTA reception.
I fully realize this might not be possible for some, but then again they chose to get a dish.
When I re-sided my home and put a new roof on, I planned out my setup for 6 months. I side-mounted a rooftop OTA antenna on the very back side of the house (complete with trim and 2x6 mounting surface so wind would never blow it down), a powered rotor for it, and pre-wired the rotor and coax under the siding into the home. I did all the work myself.
I then mounted my DTV dish (yes, I did it - it's easy) along the side of the home (again with a trimmed out mounting surface) that I could reach the wiring as well as easy broom height. It's tucked in behind an evergreen, unseen from the street. No exposed wires, the house (17 years old at the time) looks like these features came when it was built.
That was 2006. Never had an issue since. Dish gets snow on it, takes 30 seconds to clear. Perfect reception always. It takes a really strong line of storms (usually the initial line coming in, passes in 5 minutes at most) or very heavy snow to lose DSS reception and if I do, I have ATSC and 26 channels). I bet I lose DSS signal...maybe tops - 5 times a year for roughly a grand total of 15-20 minutes.
I'd bet the average cable user loses a lot more than that. Besides living with cable the rest of the time. Let's face it, by comparison, cable TV sucks.
Plan it out right, make some allowances for possible issues, and do your research ahead of time - you'll never have true real issues with DSS. I've had DTV installers/service at my home twice in 12 years, both times for STB upgrade installs.
I fully realize this might not be possible for some, but then again they chose to get a dish.
When I re-sided my home and put a new roof on, I planned out my setup for 6 months. I side-mounted a rooftop OTA antenna on the very back side of the house (complete with trim and 2x6 mounting surface so wind would never blow it down), a powered rotor for it, and pre-wired the rotor and coax under the siding into the home. I did all the work myself.
I then mounted my DTV dish (yes, I did it - it's easy) along the side of the home (again with a trimmed out mounting surface) that I could reach the wiring as well as easy broom height. It's tucked in behind an evergreen, unseen from the street. No exposed wires, the house (17 years old at the time) looks like these features came when it was built.
That was 2006. Never had an issue since. Dish gets snow on it, takes 30 seconds to clear. Perfect reception always. It takes a really strong line of storms (usually the initial line coming in, passes in 5 minutes at most) or very heavy snow to lose DSS reception and if I do, I have ATSC and 26 channels). I bet I lose DSS signal...maybe tops - 5 times a year for roughly a grand total of 15-20 minutes.
I'd bet the average cable user loses a lot more than that. Besides living with cable the rest of the time. Let's face it, by comparison, cable TV sucks.
Plan it out right, make some allowances for possible issues, and do your research ahead of time - you'll never have true real issues with DSS. I've had DTV installers/service at my home twice in 12 years, both times for STB upgrade installs.
I have directv, and am 2 hours from DC. I expect I'll lose reception for the heaviest part of the snow/wind. Hopefully it's back before the purdue game starts, otherwise it'll be streaming I guess.
With DirecTV I've really only had a problem one time, sadly it was during the superbowl. Thick ice covering everything, including the dish.
Never had it out more than a minute otherwise. I'm sure it depends on placement/line of sight.
Never had it out more than a minute otherwise. I'm sure it depends on placement/line of sight.
If your dish is covered with snow and too high to safely reach, then grab the garden hose and hose all the snow off. The water will not re freeze or affect the signal, I've done it before.
Don't know how you guys do the cold and snow. It gets into the 30's am I feel like I am freezing.
It's different somehow. When I was in Colorado for that blizzard, the first day I was there temps were in the 30s and I was wearing a short sleeved shirt. In Florida if it's in the 30s I'm bundled up like that kid from A Christmas Story.
Colorado's cold is usually beautiful, imo. Iowa gets nasty wind-chill in winter and humidity in summer. We get it all. Pasadena was like that recently. A lot of Hawkeyes in short sleeves, or long-sleeves no coat while the locals had on heavy jackets and hats, complaining.
Our bodies change, we're like lizards.
Time is money brah. What was your butler doing? Last year during the Super Bowl my butler was serving guests so I had to hire this guy:
Our Dish is about 30 feet off the ground in a precarious position. I wasn't about to risk my life for it.
