Heavy snow and satellite TV
Yesterday we just got a few flakes of snow, but last night it came down heavy and wet for a while starting at about 7:00. I had never heard that heavy, wet snow could kill satellite TV reception, but when we totally lost the HD channels and then the other channels got erratic, I went to the Starchoice Web site, where I read that “If your dish is covered in snow, gently removing some of the snow on the dish can quickly bring up your signal quality.” I went nuts! How in hell am I going to gently remove snow (daily?) from a dish that’s two stories up in the middle of the roof?? I called Starchoice. In the morning light the conversation is rather funny, but it wasn’t at all funny last night. I’m trying to explain that the snow has killed my TV reception, and the tech woman is sitting in Calgary where it’s 80 degrees. “it’s doing WHAT?” “You’re WHERE?”, etc etc. “Would you like to have someone come out and brush the snow off for you?” “Yes, once a day every day for 7 months of the year!”.
After getting nowhere constructive with Starchoice, I phoned my daughter in Calgary, and had a mini version of the same conversation – “it’s doing WHAT?” etc. Andrea, however, was able to describe the problem (heavy, wet snow can sometimes cling to the feedhorn) and the solution (a dish cover for about $50), but also said that in her experience it rarely happens.
So at this point I’ve calmed down but am still not happy that we didn’t stay with NWTel Cable (which doesn’t have a snow problem, but we didn’t know that HD was available with it). We’re locked into Starchoice for 2 years or I’d probably have the dish removed today.
The photos below show the back yard and the now-clear dish a few minutes ago.
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