Here’s one that comes straight from the support desk at Signal Connect. A customer came to us saying that every time they pull into the marina and put their boat into the slip, they lost satellite signal. They wanted to try to understand the problem.
Sometimes it’s the easy answer that’s hard to find
When customers call us or use our chat system, we try to go through every possible diagnostic step. We often start with rebooting their systems, because that solves more problems than you think. There are a lot of other steps we can take as well. There are diagnostic steps you can do, there are tests you can run. We’ve even been able to help customers check their wiring using the tools they have available.
Sometimes, though, the easiest answer is the best. In this case, we discovered that the customer was pulling into a covered slip. That ended up being the problem. With no view of the sky, the satellite system stopped working.
Why don’t satellite dishes work indoors?
See, that’s sort of the real question to ask. You can use a TV antenna indoors and certainly you can use a cell phone indoors. (Or at least, you should be able to. If you’re not able to use your phone indoors, get a cell phone signal booster.) Why can’t you get satellite TV indoors?
The answer is that the satellite is a lot, lot further away than TV broadcast towers or cell towers. Communications satellites are about 22,000 miles away, sometimes more depending on where you are in the country.
By the time a satellite TV signal gets to your dish, it’s less than 1/100th of the power of a broadcast TV signal. The satellite dish has a lot of fancy electronics to make up for that low signal. Personally I’m always impressed that satellite TV works at all when you look at the math involved.
Taking an antenna (whether it’s a TV antenna, cell phone antenna, or satellite dish) inside will cut the amount of available signal by 50-75%. When you’re talking about TV antennas or phones, there’s still usually enough signal so that you can use them. Satellite signals are so weak to start with that there just isn’t anything there once you get inside.
But… boats are outside right?
Yes, boats are outside. Slips are outside. But if the slip is covered, especially with a metal roof, that’s the same as being outside. The signal is blocked just as effectively.
If you’re in the marina, you have other options, luckily. Some marinas have Wi-Fi and generally you can use your phone to stream. That’s not always a good replacement for satellite TV, but at least it’s something. Remember too that if you have DIRECTV or DISH you can download the provider’s app. It’s free, and both DIRECTV and DISH give you the ability to watch stuff using their app. You can also sign into a lot of other streaming apps using your satellite TV credentials. If there’s a channel you watch on satellite, there’s probably an app for it. And, you can probably use your satellite TV login to use it for free.
What are the options?
Here’s the best option: do what this customer did. Call the experts at Signal Connect. We have experts on staff who can create custom solutions. We’ll help you get exactly what you want at the price you want to pay. It’s what we do. No one else does more marine satellite activations than Signal Connect, and we know what we’re doing.
Call the experts at 888-233-7563. Or, use the chat button at lower right. We’re here during East Coast business hours. If it’s after hours, fill out the form below and we’ll get right back to you.
