Ubc

[jimmym40]

Can someone explain this to me. I thought satellite engineering was far advanced to let the rain interfere.

What about the military satellites, do they get blacked out - no way.

I know, this is Thailand, but still?

[Florin]

The short answer is that the dish they provide is far too small for what it's supposed to do...also, I'm sure they chose the cheapest grade materials possible.

[ovenman]

Google the term rain fade.

[tigerbeer]

Can someone explain this to me. I thought satellite engineering was far advanced to let the rain interfere.

What about the military satellites, do they get blacked out - no way.

I know, this is Thailand, but still?

There are two bands mainly for satellites. one is KU and one is C. KU bands cannot go through the clouds well. And that is what UBC satellite uses. C bands on the other hand are alright even with the dark big clouds.

am sure you would get better answers to what you are looking for by some other posters. i just know basics

[Sanpatong]

am sure you would get better answers to what you are looking for by some other posters

Too much honour... I'm blushing at my keyboard.

Here it goes: UBC dishes are made from recycled coke can lids in the very same workshops where they make baht-bus coverings. That's why you see people collect can lids so industriously.

Two mysteries solved for the price of one.

[Wash]

Can someone explain this to me. I thought satellite engineering was far advanced to let the rain interfere.

What about the military satellites, do they get blacked out - no way.

I know, this is Thailand, but still?

I installed UBC 8 years ago and for the first few years was constantly presented with the no satellite signal even from very slight rain. I thought that was just the way it is. I finally put in a service call and had them come out to check things out for me and because we are very rural had a 500 baht service call to pay. It was well worth it.

They ended up checking the signal strength using the regular settings from the box and found a signal strength when not raining of around 175 and were very concerned about it. They relocated the dish and properly aligned it and the signal strength improved to 255. I still get the no signal notices but it is from pretty good storms now and not any where near as frequent as before they properly aligned the dish.

My suggestion is to use the Settings and check the signal strength and if it is less than 250 call them to come fix it.

Good luck.

Edited August 16, 2007 by Wash

[mr_hippo]

A quick and easy solution but please do not tell everybody. Take an empty water bottle, clear but not straight-sided, cut a slot in it and slip it over the transponder - not only will this stop the outages due to the weather but it fools the satellite into thinking that you have got the platinum package. As I said, don't tell everybody!

[rito]

Can someone explain this to me. I thought satellite engineering was far advanced to let the rain interfere.

What about the military satellites, do they get blacked out - no way.

I know, this is Thailand, but still?

I had similar problems when it rained. I thought it was normal until one day I got fed up and told the wife to call the service center. They came out tested it and made some adjustments, no problems ever since.

[roietjimmy]

As tigerbeer states, UBC operates on the Ku band frequency which is highly suseptable to interference from rain. If the guys from UBC positioned the dish exactly at the satellite and there no obstuctions you will have a strong signal at the dish. A lot of signal loss can occur between the dish and your decoder box however. You need to make sure all your coaxial cabling and connections are good to avoid signal loss. UBC will come to your place and check all for a price but no matter how good a job they do, expect to lose signal when a very heavy rain approaches. Fact is the UBC dish is too small to collect enough signal when it rains heavy. Military systems use a much bigger dish but who wants a 5 meter dish sitting on their roof!

[billp]

Well, it really doesn't matter how big the dish is or how well it's aligned, satellite signals just won't pass through very heavy rain, hail or snow (not that Thailand ever has to worry about the latter). The signals are actually very weak, measured in milliwatts, thousandths of a watt.

I work for an international TV station, and we sometimes lose our own signal during particularly heavy storms, even though we have big dishes on the roof, installed by equally heavy-duty engineers. But it's true that if your antenna is aligned properly, you'll increase your chances of getting a clean, stable signal.

[Boksida]

Google the term rain fade.

I googled brain fade and just got directed back to Chiangmai Forum

[roietjimmy]

Well, it really doesn't matter how big the dish is or how well it's aligned, satellite signals just won't pass through very heavy rain, hail or snow (not that Thailand ever has to worry about the latter). The signals are actually very weak, measured in milliwatts, thousandths of a watt.

I work for an international TV station, and we sometimes lose our own signal during particularly heavy storms, even though we have big dishes on the roof, installed by equally heavy-duty engineers. But it's true that if your antenna is aligned properly, you'll increase your chances of getting a clean, stable signal.

Are you saying size doesn't matter?

[ignis]

My dish is 3.4 m, and mostly always on the KU band, never have any problem with rain, unlike the Internet when it rains I always lose the ADSL conection.

[roietjimmy]

My dish is 3.4 m, and mostly always on the KU band, never have any problem with rain, unlike the Internet when it rains I always lose the ADSL conection.

I have the same internet problems using Ipstar system.

[Sanpatong]

A quick and easy solution but please do not tell everybody. Take an empty water bottle, clear but not straight-sided, cut a slot in it and slip it over the transponder - not only will this stop the outages due to the weather but it fools the satellite into thinking that you have got the platinum package. As I said, don't tell everybody!

I find that highly unlikely. You're joking right?

[jimmym40]

This has been enlightening and "entertaining". I did have the UBC guys come and install the dish and I watched - they did get the highest level reading, I think it was 250. And there no obstructions direct to the satellite. Getting fed up with this UBC, I heard of a new satallite service, I'll have to do some investigation...

Thanks all.

[tigerbeer]

the size of the dish DOES matter and also like i said before, depends on the band the satellite uses for transmitting information.

[roietjimmy]

This has been enlightening and "entertaining". I did have the UBC guys come and install the dish and I watched - they did get the highest level reading, I think it was 250. And there no obstructions direct to the satellite. Getting fed up with this UBC, I heard of a new satallite service, I'll have to do some investigation...

Thanks all.

Fed up with UBC, welcome to the club! Check out this (site only in Thai) as an alternative http://psisat.com/. Can't be too bad as their systems are visable all over Thailand. I'm not a user but sure others can give comment on PSI.

BTW, If you buy a big enough screen and projector, you can start up your Drive in Theater.

[tigerbeer]

This has been enlightening and "entertaining". I did have the UBC guys come and install the dish and I watched - they did get the highest level reading, I think it was 250. And there no obstructions direct to the satellite. Getting fed up with this UBC, I heard of a new satallite service, I'll have to do some investigation...

Thanks all.

Fed up with UBC, welcome to the club! Check out this (site only in Thai) as an alternative http://psisat.com/. Can't be too bad as their systems are visable all over Thailand. I'm not a user but sure others can give comment on PSI.

BTW, If you buy a big enough screen and projector, you can start up your Drive in Theater.

only good for FTA channels. unless you know and speak mandarin or a little indian tv interests you, you basically have not much to watch. do a search on this forum and you would find many have been fooled by dreamboxes etc etc which probably gives you free "paid" tv from indonesia or the Philippines for only a couple of weeks or months at most. A reprogramming of the box is needed and that person who sold you that box sure as hel_l aint gonna give you free service.

edit: i don't have UBC and i don't have a dreambox. i do however have BitTorrents

Edited August 17, 2007 by tigerbeer

[mr_hippo]

A quick and easy solution but please do not tell everybody. Take an empty water bottle, clear but not straight-sided, cut a slot in it and slip it over the transponder - not only will this stop the outages due to the weather but it fools the satellite into thinking that you have got the platinum package. As I said, don't tell everybody!

I find that highly unlikely. You're joking right?

When I first heard it, I thought the same thing but I tried it and it works!

[billp]

Are you saying size doesn't matter?

Of course it matters. It just doesn't always do you any good.

Edited August 17, 2007 by billp

[silverhawk_usa]

I had satellite TV in the U.S.A and the system used a similar sized dish as the UBC dish. When it rained heavily or when heavy snow clouds moved in we lost the signal. Same as here (the rain that is).

[roietjimmy]

I had satellite TV in the U.S.A and the system used a similar sized dish as the UBC dish. When it rained heavily or when heavy snow clouds moved in we lost the signal. Same as here (the rain that is).

Yep, probably you had Direct TV, a product of Hughes Aircraft Company. UBC in Thailand is the exact same system.

[colino]

my signal is 255 but i still lose the picture when we have heavy rain