Loosing some Sky Channels when it rains?

[6BMW]

We have recently started to loose Sky signal on some channels when it rains. In heavy rain some of the channels completely go off with a "no satellite signal is being received" message and on some instances slight rain can cause interference too.

Before I spend £65 to call out Sky any idea's as to what’s gone wrong?

Faulty LNB, misaligned dish etc? I don't understand why some go off and others manage to stay on?

[Engineer1]

I assume serious rain stops or degrades the signal. Some channels are obviously sent in a less robust manner Movies for Men is an obvious one.

[cjs]

If they are loose then tighten them up.

I would first look at dish alignment, also check all connections and make sure no water is getting into the cable however, your symptoms sound like the dish is out.

[MacW]

Also check your general line of sight. If the dish has to point through tree branches in a neighbours garden then you may have a decent enough signal when the skies are clear but during heavy rains it obscures it below minimum levels.

Chances are no amount of dish wiggling will solve the problem if that's the case.

[6BMW]

Yep plenty of trees in the back garden but why should that affect some channels only?

[Driller]

6BMW said:

Yep plenty of trees in the back garden but why should that affect some channels only?

I have the same problem with our trees. I think it's because some signals are already weaker and as the poster said above the rain takes it below the tolerance point.

I sometimes get it in high wind as well due to the leaves rustling around blocking the signal.

Sounds like you need some agent orange.

[IainT]

Signal strength seems to be stronger for some channels over others - Sky, BBC etc are always rock-solid but we used to have issues when it rained losing Motors TV and others.

Had sky tech look at it when we upgraded to HD and haven't had an issue since then - could have been dish or box I guess.

[6BMW]

So is calling an engineer out useless then? I wont be able to cut the tree's down as some are in the house behind me and not even mine

[JustinP1]

6BMW said:

So is calling an engineer out useless then? I wont be able to cut the tree's down as some are in the house behind me and not even mine

Get them to put the dish higher.

On the in-laws house they had the same problem. Bloody big house in the middle of nowhere but they decided to fit the dish not 10 feet up the wall. Two years later the trees had grown into the line of sight.

[6BMW]

The dish is already on top of the chimney - I can't seem them going any higher otherwise it would get blown away in the wind - would a bigger dish work?

[cjs]

6BMW said:

The dish is already on top of the chimney - I can't seem them going any higher otherwise it would get blown away in the wind - would a bigger dish work?

Are you sure there are trees in line with the dish? Remember the signal comes down at an angle, depending on where you are, 19 deg is a good benchmark. Either way you will need someone in to access the dish and re-align, check the connections, re-locate. Have you got long ladders?

[6BMW]

Nopes no long ladders and even if i did i wouldnt have the balls to go up that high

Think its time to try and stop a Sky van man