OldBoy

getting hit hard in NY and just wondering if there is something i can physically do to restore signal to DirecTV.

perhaps if the dish was covered with snow that would cause it to lose signal and i can try and manually remove it?

just curious...

rfduncan

Our last storm I just hard to wait for it to melt off. Even THEN I'd be fine during the day and screwed when it refroze. You may just have to wait it out.

JakeNeff

Usually sweeping the snow off the dish will work. If there's ice on it, that's a different story, but you could try pouring warm water on it.

Mr. Salty

Once the dish is clean, spray it with Pam cooking spray. Ice won't stick.

There are also plastic covers and heating elements that will keep ice and snow from building up on the dish.

OldBoy

i hit it with a broom and think i f-ed it up but good. doesn't find a satellite signal at all now. before, at least the channels registered, but no signal.

Chaza

Probably knocked it off the alignment.

The Infidel

After our last snowstorm a couple weeks ago, by the next day all my HD channels on my satellite were out, but my regular ones still came in. I called, and she walked me through some stuff on the receiver that helped not one bit, so she had a tech come out. Turns out the HD satellite is the lowest one in the sky, and the signal was being blocked by the snow on the roof. Nothing wrong with my dish at all. So basically I paid to have a guy come out and knock some snow off my roof with my own broom.

cracksky

When we got hit in the East with two 2-foot storms plus a few others I was glad I had digital cable instead of a dish. Although, we had an epic amount of ice built up on the side of the house where the line goes in that eventually came crashing down, then melted, we never once had even a hiccup in our service.

I had enough problems getting a decent signal for Sirius that I don't think I'll ever get a dish for TV.

Red Dog

I had no problems with my dish during the 3 blizzards. Of course it helped that it's sitting on my balcony with cover. Still had to dust it off a few times.

The only times I've had problems with the dish is during heavy downpours, but those usually only last 10-15 max....takes out the HD channels first.

OldBoy

still nothing this morning.

after digging a narrow path with about 16in. of snow piled on the porch, i used a broom to sweep the snow and try to chip away the ice on the dish. very accessible from top of porch. last night i went under it which wasn't the best idea.

when there was just a coat of ice left on the dish and the extension arm in front, i used hot water and melted the thin sheen right away.

then for the last touch sprayed some cooking oil on it (didn't do alot bc wasn't sure if that was truly prudent).

happy to report the HD and regular channels are up and running with nary a pixelation affecting it.

so who knows what was the key that worked, probably combo of all, so thank you very much Jake and Salty!

JakeNeff

Glad we could be of assistance!

Bill Needle

I would be carefule about using cooking oil, it can get sticky over time and dirt, bugs, etc will end up in it. I would use a teflon spray snow an ice repellent first, and make sure you only spray the dish surface. The other thing you could consider is heat tape. It's usually used for keeping pipes from freezing. Put it on the back side of the dish and only turn it on as needed. If nothing else, it will release any ice build up which makes knocking it off much easier.

OldBoy

^ i only used very little and with the wind, i am not sure if anything really stuck. it usually isn't too bad and the worst is over so hopefully it will be ok now.

Heat

Keep snow off of it and use warm water if possible to clear off any ice. Or pee on it.

And I'm sure you know this already, but never put warm water on a car's windshield to clean it - it will often cause the window to crack.

Red Dog

That makes for an interesting image for a roof-top dish.