MGM

A year ago my TV recept (VHF) went south, about the same time a new cell tower went up. It 's about a mile away but in a direct line to the broadcast towers 13 miles away in Hilo.
No cable avail. & Dish dosen't work well in heay rain. Any options?

Rekna

Stream over the internet?

Lucifer

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1123, 6536, 5321

Willravel

Dish works fine with heavy rain.

Cynthetiq

you've obviously not been in heavy rain then.

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genuinegirly

I just use Hulu - Watch your favorites. Anytime. For free.

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Halx

Maybe QuasiMondo can lend some help with this...

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Rekna

You could also install a giant antenna...

Willravel

Even the heaviest rain can only drop signal quality by about 35% (according to Dish Network). Make sure you're properly aligned and pointed in the right direction, and rain really shouldn't be a problem, "heavy" or otherwise. If you're not properly aligned and it rains, then you could have problems.

And yes, Hulu really is a good (legal) alternative.

genuinegirly

35% is a lot of signal lost.

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Willravel

Only if you already have a low signal. 65% means you still get to watch TV. Interruptions start at around 45% if I remember correctly, but even those aren't common.

Cynthetiq

North Easterners can lose their signal due to Nor'Easter which are quite common during hurricane season. Heavy snowfall also causes signal loss.

Now, even in the fair city of Houston, my parents have experienced signal loss during hurricanes.

while it shouldn't be, it is.

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thingstodo

I hear Direct TV is much better than Dish and also has better customer service. I also hear that AT&T is dropping Dish and moving to Direct TV.

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iamnormal

Try a local amateur radio club. Someone there should be able to help.

Stone

Sorry, but that's incorrect. Hurricanes are summer storms while noreasters are winter storms.

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ratbastid

Oh, it can happen. In really heavy, steady rain, my DirecTV craps out and stays crapped out until things let up. It's rare, but it can happen.

Tully Mars

I loose signal all the time. I have about 85% on a clear day. When it rains hard and I drop below 60% the picture begins to "block," freeze and skip. Below about 55% I see nothing but a "Weak Signal" message on the screen.

Is this common? Yes, very.

You can also loose signal during the afternoon on a clear day due to sun spots. Normally these outages occur in the spring and fall and can last 7-10 minutes.

As for what to do about the cell tower? I got nothing. They sell all kinds of signal amps. Usually if you have "noise" due to interference attaching an amp simply amps that noise too. I've never found one of these things that work.
-----Added 25/12/2008 at 12 : 22 : 31-----

*sigh*
-----Added 25/12/2008 at 12 : 33 : 47-----
Are you in Hilo Hawaii?

If so you can likely get a better Dish or DirectTV signal by increasing the size of your dish. Normal dish set-up come with about a 30" standard dish and multi feed LNB. Dish was supplying it's Hawaii customers with a 40" dish at one time. But a lot of folks found that if they didn't install a 1 or 1.2 meter dish they couldn't get reliable reception.

I'm in Mexico and have three 1.2 meter dishes. I can't use a standard multi feed LNB, which is why I have several dishes. One dish, one sat. In the cont. US many people use one dish to get several sats. The farther you get from the cont US the harder it is to get a signal with US based Sat. providers. A little south of me and Dish is simply not an option without a 5 or 6 foot dish.

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flat5

Are you able to move the antenna? Even a few feet? Unbolt it and temporarily move it. Have someone watch the screen and report to you. You might get lucky.

Xerxys

OMFG, the horrid memories!!! Yes man, this is the only way. The microwaves being inturrupted are directly facing your antenna. Kind of like drowning all the reception. I know this cause acursed safaricom made me know this!!!! Now, you need to move it at least 10 feet. I hate to give you bad news, but if it's already on your chimney, your gonna get a worse chance at getting it back as clear as it was before.