# How easy is it for wind to knock out a dish?



## nitsudima (Feb 5, 2009)

We had some bad weather roll in over the weekend -- thunderstorms with near 70mph winds did quite a bit of damage to the area. We escaped mostly unscathed, but we haven't had any TV reception since the storm. All tuners on three DVRs just show the searching for signal message, and the signal meters show zeros across the board on all satellites and transponders.

What seems odd to me is that the dish itself, a slimline, doesn't appear to have been thrown around at all. It's not obviously pointing in a different direction, and when I climbed up on a ladder it seemed pretty sturdy. I've only had this dish since last Fall, and it's frustrating that I can't re-align it myself like the old oval dishes of the SD past. Are the newer dishes so sensitive that strong wind gusts could bump them out of alignment enough to get *all* zeros on signal strength? It seems to me there might be some 0s and some diminished numbers, but I'm getting absolutely nothing at all.

I've checked the cable runs from the satellite and all the outside connections I can reach (can't quite make it up to the LNBs, however), but could there be something else wrong? D* is coming out tomorrow and I'd like to be prepared in case the tech tells me it's something other than a mis-aligned dish. (I'd be happy if that's all it is, but it still seems weird to me.)


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## barryb (Aug 27, 2007)

While its not that easy to knock a dish out of alignment, it happens. 

If you were to put your head out of your car window while going 70MPH you would get the picture real good. 

Its a fairly small window that a dish needs to "see" to get on all the required satellites. What you are describing is a classic misaligned dish.... I got water in my LNB once and had a similar issue.

Glad you are your family are okay. Sounds like things got pretty nasty in your area.


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## poppo (Oct 10, 2006)

It does not take much to throw it off. You can have someone look at the signal meters as you flex the dish by hand to see if you get anything. Also a nearby lighting stike may have fried the LNBs.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

right speed, right direction, monopoles not setup right, it can happen.
not common but not at all impossible.
I would tend to think it got moved a bit.


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## JACKIEGAGA (Dec 11, 2006)

I had the same problem my local HD channels were affected. That was the first time since 1997 I had to adjust the dish


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

is it swm setup?


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## bratboy (Apr 5, 2008)

I had to call this morning to ask them to send someone to repoint my dish. When they did my upgrade the other day they changed out my dish. We had hail and heavy rain for a few days and noticed pixel issues and at least sat sig test on 103 was all over the place. I'm assuming either he didn't point the new dish well or didnt get the bolts tight and it got knocked a bit out of wack. I never saw him actually check the signal strength via the box anyway. Since never had a problem with the old dish even in heavy snow storms I'm fairly certain its the problem. Supposed to come by tomorrow AM so crossing fingers.


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## nitsudima (Feb 5, 2009)

Not a SWM setup -- four cables running out of the dish into a multiswitch. I have two HR23s but also one older SD R10 DirecTivo box.

I've done all of my own installations since the mid-90s, but when I upgraded to HD last Fall I wasn't about to try myself. Just looking at the new dishes let me know it was out of my league without someone showing me how it's done. But it's frustrating that, even with an uncommon event like this t-storm, that I have to re-align the dish. I've had oval dishes since my first one in 1994 or '95, and I've never once had to adjust them.

Prior to the storm we were getting great numbers in the signal meter, so I guess it's likely that the installer had a great alignment but didn't tighten things down enough. I also considered a lightning strike as a possibility, but there was really minimal lightning in this particular storm. I guess I'll see what the tech says tomorrow. Here's hoping for an easy fix! Thanks everyone for your thoughts.


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## nitsudima (Feb 5, 2009)

For anyone scoring along at home, D* just left after having realigned the dish. Back to mid-80s to mid-90s on all important transponders now (which isn't bad considering the clouds in the area today). The tech said he usually gets some readings on his meter when he plugs in on calls like this, but mine had nothing at all. The wind really did a number on it. Hopefully he tightened it back down so the storms forecast for the rest of this week don't knock it out again.

Interestingly his invoice lists that he "replaced LNB3," although he didn't mention that to me. Odd, but if things work I guess we're okay, and the service call was free.

Since I'm not familiar with aligning a slimline dish, is there anything I can do to help make it a DIY chore if this happens again? Can I mark the spots on the dials so if it ever gets knocked around again I can just re-align it to my marks? Or is it more complicated than that?


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## bratboy (Apr 5, 2008)

In my case am beginning to suspect a loose/bad connector or damaged lmb now. Just did signal test now that things have dried out. Seeing measurements of around 95 on signal meter. When was wet signal stregth on 103 kept bouncing from 0 - 80's.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

This issue is one of the multiple reasons I have for maintaining my Protection Plan (free alignments).

There are others...

But despite having my pole/Dish anchored quite firmly in 150 lbs of concrete...I've had the need for one (free) dish alignment the past 36 months. It took about 70-80 MPH winds (trees came down) to move the alignment (not all that much, but it did move). This past year - I also got a new Dish out of it, as rather than replace an LNB on my old AT-9, they simply put up a new Slimline 3 (also free).

It rarely happens, but that one visit alone is worth about a year's worth of the PP fee.


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## bratboy (Apr 5, 2008)

Oh the PP is worth having, at least to me. Still seems a bit like pulling teeth over the phone to get a trip authorized sometimes but still good to have.

Edit: well he just left. Apparently the lmb was cracked and chipped. He replaced it, checked all the connections & left me his direct number and said call if it acts up.


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## ronsanjim (Mar 19, 2008)

At my lake location we are always receiving "Wind Alerts" and tornado watches (with associated high wind gusts). That said, have never had a problem with my 2 D* dishes, even when the installers originally failed to install the side support bars. On my last receiver problem, the tech noticed these were missing and installed them.


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