Is There an Effective Way to Keep Snow Off the Satellite Dish?

Silicone sealer works pretty good but next year I aim to use I put one on the oil pan of the old beater this past fall and no cold start worries. These are used on some highway signs too.

Hey Guys!

Many thanks for the very quick responses to my query! All very good answers!

After reading the postings I'm not sure if the dish is made of either metal or plastic! It's been a long time summertime since I was last up on the roof. I guess I'll have to go dig out the extension ladder (once this White Crap melts) and take a good look-see at the back of the disc to verify if there are ribs there or not.

Never thought of using Rain-X on the dish and horn.....guess i wasn't thinking outside of the box again!

Ditto in regard to heater cables and engine warmers, although I do use a magnetized engine block heater on my car. Gosh, the dang thing must be at least 30 years old by now and it still works great! the one problem I will have is plugging in a heater of any type is that I have no outdoor rated electrical outlet along that wall. I would have to install BMX conduit, and outlet box and new wiring......it'd be a special pain-in-the-arse because the house is a modular.....hence it's not easy to fish anything type a wiring up through the wall.........and then there's problems getting near the dish because of the newly installed Solar PV modules on the roof. They're in the way and close to the edge of the roof. I don't want to bang any of them or crack the glass with my clumsy attempts to get the ladder situated against the roof or the chimney, especially with all the ice and snow present up there. Hmmmm......

Maybe I could use a SUPER SOAKER GUN loaded-up with Rain-X?????? Steal it away from the kids!!! Just hope it isn't broken, ya know.....teenagers break everything around here it's not funny!! Okay, it's reach out and touch the dish the lazy way!!! I sure hope it has a 30 foot range, or otherwise I could employ my pressure washer with a jury-rigged wand extension???!!!! *LMAO* Might also work for the Solar PV panels as well....super soak 'em with Rain-X!!!!!! hehehehehehhe

GA

I wanted to say that!!

Thanks.

Mine's on the roof, too. But it never snows here and hardly ever rains, except for the weekends that Nascar has their Sprint Cup races here and the weekend of the Phoenix Open.

That's the easiest place for the tech to mount it and makes sense if you have kids....

Cheers.

"... and 10 feet." That all depends. What sorts of things might those ten feet pass through? Reinforced concrete? Sheet steel? The neighbor's shower? Not everybody lives in a house or has the right kind of space to put these things up. Lots of people live in apartments and some of these don't face the right way.

Even so, there's nothing in the world quite like an elegant solution.

"Just hope it isn't broken, ya know.....teenagers break everything around here it's not funny!"

This would be my main worry as well: people bumping it.

I'd give your solution an 'attaboy,' Sir, but I reckon they don't let teenagersguests do that here.

There are some tricks worth knowing with regard to sat TV receiving:-

1) If you have an apartment that at least faces approximately south, but are not allowed to hang an offset sat dish out, turn the dish through 180° (upside down) and put it on the floor, it can be effectively stabilized with a few objects and will work fine, upside down on the floor of the balcony, hidden behind the balustrade.

2) It does not need to be either on the roof or on the ground, usually 6ft up a wall, a few yards from any pathway and say at least 10 yards from any road, is the perfect place, easily reached with a pair of steps, but seldom obscured by passers by.....

3) Elsewhere in this blog I wrote how to align a dish perfectly without the right meter....

Andy, the rules may be different in your neck of the woods, but in the states, the law is on the side of the apartment dweller/homeowner, the law (federal, not state/local) says that you can have a dish, even if the landlord or deed restrictions claim to prevent it (with some exceptions). Dish Network used to send out a circular on that point back in the day, don't know if they still do or not. But being in Frankfurt, your mileage may vary.

Here they can actually ban from having one you provided another service is available - communal aerial or cable, both of which may be charged for each month.

The trick with the upside down aerial that I previously mentioned (so that it is not visible from outside) is not new, nor did I think of it either, but it works really well and as you can actually get away with a 35 cm or slightly larger dish here (using the 0.1 db LNBs), its a good way to save money over monthly costs.....

Also, some people who DON'T want a dish to be visible on their house for aesthetic reasons also use the trick.....

I based my response on this: "unless I go down to the garage and grab the 38-foot aluminum extension ladder and drag it to the other end of house" which was in the original post.

I must admit that I never considered the plight of an apartment dweller. I thought they would not be allowed to mount an antenna anyway. Silly me.

I plead guilty to being one of those people who lives in a house. ^{_{With a large yard and a pool!}}

Cheers.

Hi Captain,

We don't have that problem with snow on the dish down here; would a solution be to cover the front of the dish with a loose net, stocking, PVC mesh with a string attached reaching down to ground level? When the snow builds up, you give a couple of tugs on the string and the flexible cover breaks the snow buildup.

Cheers, Bob

Put an umbrella over it? Or, a little fancier, a geodesic dome? In either case, use materials transparent to RF.

Radiant heat with low EMF so it does not interfere with the signal.

Spray on a silicone mold release agent or a food grade silicone spray. There are automotive silicone sprays that I use on the car door weatherstrip seals to keep it from freezing the door shut. I have sprayed directly on to the painted mating surface many times and no paint damage. It should be good on a coated _metalized plastic. Try a small area on the edge first if you are concerned.

I do like the nylon stocking idea though except in ice storms.

How about building an enclosure with a nylon covered window just big enough for the dish to "see" and keep birds out? Just throwing ideas up on the blackboard.

I have some large round heating elements that were made for this situation.

Let me know if you want one.

I believe they are called "Hot Shot"

they have a thermostat, low voltage cable and a transformer

$50? sure

I have another problem with Dish, when it rains heavily it does not get signal from satellite. Any solution for this problem?.

The only solution here is to increase the signal strength from the transmitter.

Or, maybe get a dish that's much larger to catch more of the weak signal.

Read a book when it rains.

Two possible fixes, I have used both, but in a really heavy rainstorm, neither will help much.....unless you get a 2 meter dish!!

1) Align dish exactly, use a signal meter for the best output.

Many years ago I used to use the "blanket & Coat" method....what is that? You ask.....

Well, you align the dish as best you can and look at the picture on the TV. You then place blankets or coats over the dish untill you start getting indication that the signal level has dropped, usually white or black spots on the picture.

Realign again to get as few spots as possible.

if you get to a good picture again, add more blankets and align again......repeat till you cannot get a better picture.

It is surprising just how many blankets you need to use!!!

2) Buy a bigger dish, as big as you can afford.

• maxiglide.com has a series of ice-phobic coatings that can be easily applied to any plastic surface at any time. one application will last all winter, cheap too!
  

Hello Guest,

Who makes the Maxiglide coating or is that the company name? Any idea if it's safe to use on a metalized plastic DISH???-------I understand from other forums that I've visited that's what I have.

Thanks!!!!

• the company name is Maxiglide Products Inc. found at www.maxiglide.com
• all the ice phobic coatings are perfectly safe for all surfaces, i.e. no solvents
• products originally developed for the ski industry, which as we know the ski bases are a type of plastic, P-Tex.
• products used by the Alaskan fishing industry to prevent deadly top-side icing.
  

Hello and Many Thanks Maxig!

I just visited the Maxiglide Products website! I see that they're located across the NY/MA border from me in Stowe!!!!!

I will definitely be placing an order today for several of their products. One of their products will really help with the built-up snow issue on the Dish antenna!!!! Thank God!!!

Now, if only they could make some sort of liquid waxx to apply to the Solar PV module glass I'll be all set!!!! Ummmm Maxiglide folks possibly reading this, can you PLEASE make me some specialized spray-on water and snow wax/repellant for my panels that doesn't cost and arm & a leg????!!!!!

Thanks everyone!!!!

There is a sailboat bottom paint called VC-17m that has teflon in a polymer coat. You can use this without adding the copper from the plastic pouch. If you sand with wet 600 grit paper and then burnish with cheesecloth the surface will be smooth and VERY slippery.

Here is a link to the MSDS, be careful the solvents are compatible with the surface:

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/pdfs/MSDS/Interlux/vc17m_blue.pdf

I like the deicer spray too but I don't think getting the boots on at 9:30pm because you lost the signal is the best solution. Of course you could rig a dedicated sprayer but that's probably overkill.

Hello Ca1ic0cat!

Thanks for the painting idea! If I actually owned the Dish rather than "rent" it I would certainly do what you suggested!

I see you're at RIT???? That's my Alma Mater!!! Class of '83, Civil Eng.. Only a very few of my old Professors are still there the last I knew! Hard to believe it's been this long since I've been there! I really miss the Rochester area and used to visit every year when the National Warplane Museum was located in Geneseo, but after the their move to Elmira in the early 90's I haven't been back to Rochacha except once and that was the summer of '98 while on vacation out to Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Toronto with my 3 kids. Time flies!

Are you a Prof. or a student there?

Wow, many thanks Guys and Gals!

Too many options to make up my mind about! *LOL*

One thing I can't do is plug-in a electrical heating element right now, as I currently have no exterior electrical outlet box installed on that side of the house and that high up.....and it's way up there mounted on the chimney! Even if the roof was clear of ice and snow (which it isn't right now...and we're getting another storm today through tomorrow evening), I'd have a difficult time getting to the Dish and Horn.

Installing a new electrical outlet box will have to wait until springtime.....adding it to my Honey Do List! *LOL*

Also, I'm afraid of hitting any of the BRAND NEW Solar PV panels that are mounted on the roof with my aluminum extension ladder........come spring and when the roof is finally clear of the White Chit, that's another option because the northern half of the roof will also be clear then and i can reach both the chimney and dish!

I was looking for a few spray bottles of Spray Nine Corp.'s "Snow Shooter" that's made in Johnston NY (about 120 miles from here...know where it is because my X-wife is from there), but it seems that the company has discontinued the product. WHAT?????? All of the reviews I read stated that this stuff was like Gold and the best thing since sliced bread.....why get rid of it then??? GEEEZZZZ!!! Anyhow, it was used for coating snow plow blades and snowblower/thrower augers and chutes.

I did manage to find a few companies that still had some in stock online, but they'll only sell it by the case (12 bottles) for slightly over $100! NO WAY I need that much!!!

Other than the nylon net & string trick and silicone-based food spray, is there any other spray-on products out there like the Snow Shooter product that you can use of snowblowers, plastic, metal, ski blades, snowboards, what have you??????

TIA!!!

How about good old WD-40. If it was bad on paint, that would be well known and we'd all be using it for that purpose. Test first, of course.

To my knowledge only silicone is approved by Dish and silicone actually enhances reception too.

What do you think of assembling a looong handled spray can holder with trigger?

If you have cling wrap, first clean the edges of the dish with alcohol, then cling wrap over the dish (vertically), the tiny amount of signal lost will not be noticed if the dish is correctly aligned in the first place....

UV will damage the wrap in a month or so, but you should get out of the winter period with a bit of luck by then. Its a test of the method only.....

Plastic that will stand up to UV over a long period may affect the signal more, but it would still be worth trying if the cling wrap helps.....as I am certain it will!!

An offset dish will usually gather less snow (without the cling wrap) than the older "not" offset type.....as the offset type sits almost vertically (depending on where you are latitude wise of course......I am at 50.4 ° Latitude and snow does not affect our signal, but we have a Toroidal Dish anyway, but they are also almost vertical!!)

Try a water proof paint on a partial area basis and check for signal non intreference as well as non deposition possibility on Dish surface.

Based on the results proceed further.

Most of the other suggestions are good but one that wasn't included is a cover (although Andy Germany came close with the cling wrap). I'm sure there are companies that still make dish covers for this purpose but years ago, I had a spare outboard motor cover that was separate from the boat cover and used it. Worked very well, stretched tightly over the dish and LNB and secured behind the dish. Prevent snow buildup and did not interfere with satellite signal.

I can make one suggestion to fix both problems.

Commercial satellite dishes and "point to point" microwave dishes use a Teflon coated fiberglass fabric to cover the dish. It is stretched over the rim of the dish and looks like a flat "drumhead".

This does three things.

1) it provides a slippery Teflon flat surface that sheds ice and snow much better than the dish

2) Teflon causes water to bead up much like Rain-ex does on your car windshield. So even during a heavy rain, there are dry areas between the beads of water. ater absorbs the microwave signal, so an unbroken sheet of water on the antenna will absorb most of the signal

3) The dish stays cleaner and the receiver in the center is protected from the elements

One thing I am not sure of...I know this works well for commercial satellite dishes...I am not sure how well it works for low power home type dishes

Sounds like this is another reason to get cable. It never has this problem

I don't know what you pay for cable, or how many channels it has (that you want to see!!), but here in Germany, a years cable will completely pay for a good digital Sat dish, receiver (HD) and all the cables etc. (provided you do the physical install yourself!).

Two years cable and the installer is also paid for!!!

There is simply no comparison with costs, AND the German cable has no British or US stations, which of course I DO have from my Satellite dish!!!!

For anyone that wants to simultaneous receive many Satellites, buy one of these dishes for all your needs for up to 40° of heavenly arc:-

http://www.wavefrontier.us/

It took me a bit of time to understand the install procedure with regards to the graph paper, but its really simple once you know how!!! The install procedure is simply badly written!!! In both German and English.....

Hello Andy,

Many thanks for the link regarding the dish & equipment. Say, how much would something like that cost me in USD (all of the required equipment)???? Just curious. Can't do here until my current DISH contract expires in 7 months....

Also, is there a fee involved to be able to receive the satellite signals/programming.....like an "unlock key" or "code"??? or is it all free. I'm assuming there's a cost involved receiving the "Premium" channels like HBO, etc?

Hi,

a few facts:-

1) I am in Europe, so you need contact with someone in the USA for the "fine" details!

2)The special sat dish is made in the USA I believe, so look for it there for a price.

3) There is so much free stuff here, you don't need to pay anyone for service/channels, but you can if you wish.....

4) Installing of the "Wave Frontier" dish is easy, once you know how, I can help a little if needed. Its biggest problem for me was that the mast needed is 60mm, not really standard here, but needed because of "storm proofing".....40mm is standard here!!

But that was the only real problem once I understood the graphics paper bit where you plot each satelite seperately......

You can buy dish covers made for this purpose.

Well found, but over $40?

Surely it would be dead easy to stretch some plastic over the dish, secure it with Duct Tape.......there is even plastic around that UV light does not affect......would last years....

I expect you are right. The item I was looking for when I found those was a satellite dish sock which encloses the dish & LNB, I saw some a while back but not available in the UK. The problem I have is not with snow but losing signal in heavy rain.

There is only a few ways to fix that:-

1) Larger dish, go for at least twice the size, less will not help much.... 4 x the size will be even better!

2) More sensitive LNB. Check the db level that your's receives at first. If yours is only 1db or even 0.5db, you can get better ones nowadays.....as there are ones down to 0.1 db or better (the smaller the number the better it is), see here for example:-

http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/quadlnb.htm

3) A more exact alignment, need a meter or the coat method I described earlier.....some receivers have an OSD of the signal strength and quality, go for quality, signal strength is of only secondary importance.....you will need the receiver and a small TV beside the dish, wherever that is!!!

4) If you have VERY long cable runs, a signal booster may be needed.....for each TV....this is rarely the problem though......I would expect "quality" cable to easily send 20-30 meters with little loss.....if not more.

You will probably still lose signal level in really heavy torrential rain(digital is far more sensitive than an old analog receiver in this manner by the way) even if you did everything I mentioned, but the time for which the signal is lost for will be severely reduced. Light to medium rain will go completely unnoticed....as will heavy snow.

My heating element solution is still one of most simple and 'effective' answers.

I used to use these heating elements in fully hidden and out of the way 'custom' installations where snow would have cut out the signal.

Iwould have gotten the phone call, and I would have had to have it dug out at my expense.

That never happened.

you can't run a low voltage power cable?

ok.... sorry?!.. saying that would have put me out of business.. and many others as well.

it's obvious that 'GA's' mean nothing!

if they did.. You couldn't get them in the OT 'caption this' discussions..

instead... it's inexplicably encourage?!?!

..bunch of jokers

The simplest method is a piece of UV resistant plastic stretched across the dish.

No power to supply.

No running costs.

Its the cheapest solution of all.....and the best for the environment as the CO2 by production, only happens once, not continually though a cold winter.

Also, the CO2 produced by the production of the power cables, the heating element and the transformer is alone probabl 1000s of times more than for a square meter of thin plastic sheet....

The installation of the heating element - power on the roof or wherever, is also a huge cost in comparison......

In fact, there is no comparison......sorry......if anyone deserves a GA for a proven, simple cost effective answer, it must be me!!

maybe you need to go crunch some crystals in a hot tent and ditch the system all together if that's your logic?

Maybe power could applied when snowing and removed when it's not?

..I've seen dishes buried under feet of snow..

sheet ... ...yeah.. snow never sticks to flat surfaces.. it's a physical impossibility

..Hey.. don't listen to me.. I only speak about the subject from years of actual experience

No, you are trying to sell/advertise a product/service on CR4......

Thin smooth plastic sheet that I recommend will hold basically no snow as its far more "vertical" than the dish is......and its far smoother......

The "bottom" of a dish is almost horizontal, it gets worse the farther south you live, thats why snow builds up and distorts the signal.

Another fix is for example a Wave frontier dish, (toroidal not the usual shape of parabolic), at least at my latitude and higher, collect almost no snow (without any outside help) as they are as good as vertical....

Plus you can pick up up to 16 statelites "simultaneously" without having to move the dish with motors.....I pick up 3 sats perfectly and plan on another one once the weather improves......though there is no rush....

By the way, I do not sell them or have any connection with them, I only use one (8 years or so now)......and with the amount of snow and low temperatures we have had in the last month (plus all the other winters), we have had zero problems......it just simply works.

There is no need to increase your carbon footprint with electrical heating, no need at all.......plastic or change the dish!! Simple really.......

Here is a weblink for anyone interested, you can see how vertical it sits:-

http://www.wavefrontier.us/Gallery.htm

JE has a good point and I've chosen the heating pad solution prior to this thread.

Another consideration of the geographical area in question is freezing is often a threat and it'll stick to anything but not to a heated dish...

no.. I'm not. advertising.. pushing sales.

I just have these units

$50 is less than I paid

trying to help a brother out

peace

Its still frowned upon on CR4 as far as I am aware......

Pax.

As far as you are aware?

What a bunch of nonsense

Why would you even say that? There are plenty of people here who have mentioned products, services, and companies that are in an actual position to benefit.

do you honestly think I'm using CR4 to sell my products?

The only thing I would get out of this is a good feeling for having helped out, along with a trip to my storage space, and a trip to the post office

If providing obvious solutions to obvious problems is frowned upon!?

I'm 100% out of here

$89.95 + shipping is the lowest price on the web that I could find... retail is $139.95

...I was going to throw in a heated LNB at no cost as a surprise.. all NIB

It's tough being a nice guy

Just consider the offer retracted so that everyone on CR4 can stop frowning

Good, well done and fully correct.....

Got my pad at northerntool.com for $24.99 and free shipping and I stand to gain zero...

Ah but CO2 will help prevent that nasty snow to begin with! Global warming is your friend!

we used to make some units for satellite dishes and could do it again if needed

http://www.facebook.com/UHIWorldwide