Satellite TV reception

[trof]

Do you have satellite?
Have you seen a LOT more loss of signal due to clouds and much longer losses?
I sure have in the last year or so and I've had Dish for a dozen years.
Global climate change?

[central scrutinizer]

1. Rabbit ears, baby

Great reception great resolution cost = 0.00

[left-of-center2012]

4. Depends where you live

Maybe it depends where you live -- I'm in Albuquerque, NM.

I tried 'over the air' with one of the highly rated "Leaf antenna" and gave up after a couple months.
I was repositioning the antenna 20 times a day and became so frustrated I went back to the most basic cable TV.

[trof]

6. Yeah...gee...it's really hard to get MSNBC with ears.

Oh and TCM, a few others.

[csziggy]

28. I bought a Leaf50 antenna a few weeks ago

It's supposed to pick up signals up to fifty miles away.

It didn't even pick up stations thirty miles away.

We live in a place that is hard for TV and cell signals. First, we're over the edge of a ridge that blocks signals from the west where many of the cell and broadcast towers are. Second, our house is nearly a Faraday cage - concrete walls with lots of rebar and a metal roof.

My only hope for over the air signals is an external antenna but that would involve rewiring the house, putting someone on the roof for installation, and might still not pick up the channels I want to see. And of course I would not get channels such as MSNBC, SciFi, orany number of other cable channels I watch often.

[lapfog_1]

2. Must be the overlay countdown signal

that the aliens are using to coordinate the attack!

[trof]

7. krep

[MattP]

3. I tried a "30" mile powered antenna and couldn't get the local stations

They are only 15 miles from me i think they use a super low uhf output 85% of Coachella valley viewers get cable or satellite i did get 2 of 4

[radical noodle]

5. I did have satellite

For the reason you mentioned, we went to a good cable company.

[trof]

9. 'Cept we don't have a 'good' cable co., but MORE important:

Hurricane Ivan hit us in September of '04. We had cable.
We never lost landline phone.
We got electrical back within three days.
Cable took three WEEKS.
I was at Blockbuster every other day.
That's when I decided to get sat.
It has been very dependable, even through Katrina and a couple of other near misses.
Not so much now.

[radical noodle]

11. Have you tried adjusting the dish?

and I think there were a couple of times they had to come out and clean something off to make ours better. Amazing about the Hurricane. The Dish we had in Indiana would go out on a cloudy day. If there was a storm, just forget it.

In emergencies like that, they sometimes send repair persons from far away to help with hooking electrical back up. Cable, probably not. Not considered a necessity. The government pays for repair of electricity in emergency situations (ice storms, tornadoes, etc) most of the time.

[trof]

15. Reception is perfect until a thunderstorm cell passes over.

They have become more and more frequent in the last couple of years.

[YOHABLO]

8. We're so screwed by these companies and their pricing. Will it ever change? $$$$$$$

[trof]

10. Yeah, that too.

[samnsara]

12. mines from trees growing...

[trof]

13. Let's face it. Nature is pissed and is getting even with us.

[femmocrat]

14. Yes and yes.

I've noticed it the past few months. The channels in the 200s are often scrambled or unavailable. For us that includes CNN and Comedy Central.

DirecTV told me to call when it's happening so they can run a scan, but it's usually at night and I don't feel like being on the phone at 11:00 pm. It is extremely annoying.
Our only other option is Comcast and I quit them to get the dish.

[trof]

16. Mine is all or nothing.

When the dish is blocked out it's all blocked out.

[femmocrat]

24. We lose the entire signal during storms.

This other annoyance happens for no apparent reason.

[KT2000]

17. Yes

I have had to unplug and reload a lot more often. I was also having a problem losing sound.
MSNBC goes black periodically for about 30 seconds.
I am on DISH and don't remember it being like this before this year.

[kimbutgar]

18. I have Dish and before I upgraded to the new software I got a lot of pixilated dropped signals

Now not as much but the software upgrade sucks and I will put something to record and it doesn't record. And the interface is horrible. I have also used Direct but prefer Dish.

[elleng]

19. DirecTV, and it's out now due to thunderstorm.

Have had it/been here 4 years, and haven't noticed signal loss due to anything but storms, and the losses have been rather brief.

[GeorgeGist]

20. We have DISH as well ...

no issues since upgrading to Hopper 3.

[rurallib]

21. We have DISH also

Really haven't had much issues on dropped signals except in really heavy weather which is expected.

We live in Iowa and the weather hasn't been bad this year.

Many years ago we had local cable and it seemed like it was always out. That is why we went to satellite about 15 years ago.
We tried Direct 2 years ago and it seemed like it was always out. That plus all sorts of other issues and I couldn't wait to get DISH back.

We have had them again for about a year and I couldn't be happier. Like someone else noted I think we have the Hopper 3 system.

[JonLP24]

22. Get a Roku

You can still set up satellite or cable to it but if it ever goes out there are a whole bunch of channel apps were you simply need an internet connection for and you just log in to the channel app with your satellite or cable login.

[UTUSN]

23. Dish, the only probs have been during storms (years back). Real prob is the $$$$$$$

Plus, the bad p.r. about the owner being an autocratic despot (double negative?). I started out with EchoStar, that got bought by TurnerVision (or the other way around?), that got bought by Dish?

The real problems have been the increases while they claim to be the best bargain ever, plus sloppy bill customer service. For years I've sworn to switch but didn't because it's too much trouble. And a Google will show that the big boss has a bad rep about employees.

Plus, the couple of times they've sent local Techs, it has ended up with them installing an upgraded receiver box, and the local dudes foisting extras, plus they don't tell you there is going to be a service charge of (90?) bucks until they've already done whatever (next to nothing). It was always like, you've got an OUTDATED system, need a new box.

But I'll say that outages have been rare.

[frogmarch]

25. Yes! I have DISH and

it seems every time a few little clouds roll by, the signal goes kaput or becomes erratic. It's often right in the middle of Rachel! Good thing I can watch her show at 10 pm too, or I'd really be po.

[3catwoman3]

26. We switched to a dish thru...

...ATT sometime this spring (my husband's idea), and the service gets interrupted every time it rains. Very aggravating.

[PoliticAverse]

27. "I sure have in the last year or so and I've had Dish for a dozen years." - this suggests...

the possibility that something may have changed in your setup so your signal isn't as strong.

When is the last time your system was replaced/serviced?

Have you checked your reception signal strength?