Would a plastic bag to keep out rainwater hurt an iSPs antennareception?

My rooftop antenna (owned by me at the cost of $300 five years ago) seems
to have speedtest.net ~2500ms latencies (instead of ~22ms latency) when
it rains hard.

I called the ISP who tested THEIR antenna and said it's fine so it must
be my rooftop antenna. They'll gladly replace mine for $300 insalled.

Question:
If I just put a plastic bag around the rooftop antenna box to keep out
the rain, will that plastic hurt antenna reception?

On Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:41:14 +0000 (UTC), Harold Lathom
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>My rooftop antenna (owned by me at the cost of $300 five years ago) seems
>to have speedtest.net ~2500ms latencies (instead of ~22ms latency) when
>it rains hard.
>
>I called the ISP who tested THEIR antenna and said it's fine so it must
>be my rooftop antenna. They'll gladly replace mine for $300 insalled.
>
>Question:
>If I just put a plastic bag around the rooftop antenna box to keep out
>the rain, will that plastic hurt antenna reception?
I once used a big plastic bag over my antennas, t'was to hide
my second(hacker) antenna, though. No perceptible decrease in
reception. Saved it from rust, too (I left the bottom slightly open,
so any humidity would fall out.
But this is besides the point. Rain (water) is the worst
natural enemy of wireless waves. Even clouds and mist can cut the
signal.
300 dollars ? I paid about 40 dollars for my 25dBi parabolic
and 30 dollars for my 12dBi hacker antenna.
[]'s

On 26/10/2010 8:11 AM, Shadow wrote:
> On Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:41:14 +0000 (UTC), Harold Lathom
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> My rooftop antenna (owned by me at the cost of $300 five years ago) seems
>> to have speedtest.net ~2500ms latencies (instead of ~22ms latency) when
>> it rains hard.
>>
>> I called the ISP who tested THEIR antenna and said it's fine so it must
>> be my rooftop antenna. They'll gladly replace mine for $300 insalled.
>>
>> Question:
>> If I just put a plastic bag around the rooftop antenna box to keep out
>> the rain, will that plastic hurt antenna reception?
> I once used a big plastic bag over my antennas, t'was to hide
> my second(hacker) antenna, though. No perceptible decrease in
> reception. Saved it from rust, too (I left the bottom slightly open,
> so any humidity would fall out.
> But this is besides the point. Rain (water) is the worst
> natural enemy of wireless waves. Even clouds and mist can cut the
> signal.
> 300 dollars ? I paid about 40 dollars for my 25dBi parabolic
> and 30 dollars for my 12dBi hacker antenna.
> []'s
I should think IF the bag carried an amount of water it would interfere
but a good coating of water resistant paint should provide protection
and interfere minimally

--
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On 26/10/2010 9:10 AM, atec77 wrote:
> On 26/10/2010 8:11 AM, Shadow wrote:
>> On Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:41:14 +0000 (UTC), Harold Lathom
>> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>> My rooftop antenna (owned by me at the cost of $300 five years ago)
>>> seems
>>> to have speedtest.net ~2500ms latencies (instead of ~22ms latency) when
>>> it rains hard.
>>>
>>> I called the ISP who tested THEIR antenna and said it's fine so it must
>>> be my rooftop antenna. They'll gladly replace mine for $300 insalled.
>>>
>>> Question:
>>> If I just put a plastic bag around the rooftop antenna box to keep out
>>> the rain, will that plastic hurt antenna reception?
>> I once used a big plastic bag over my antennas, t'was to hide
>> my second(hacker) antenna, though. No perceptible decrease in
>> reception. Saved it from rust, too (I left the bottom slightly open,
>> so any humidity would fall out.
>> But this is besides the point. Rain (water) is the worst
>> natural enemy of wireless waves. Even clouds and mist can cut the
>> signal.
>> 300 dollars ? I paid about 40 dollars for my 25dBi parabolic
>> and 30 dollars for my 12dBi hacker antenna.
>> []'s
> I should think IF the bag carried an amount of water it would interfere
> but a good coating of water resistant paint should provide protection
> and interfere minimally
>
Just read this again and should mention painting the dish not the bag ,
try placing a wet bag over the lnb and the reception goes all to hell

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On 10/25/2010 12:41 PM, Harold Lathom wrote:
> My rooftop antenna (owned by me at the cost of $300 five years ago) seems
> to have speedtest.net ~2500ms latencies (instead of ~22ms latency) when
> it rains hard.
>
> I called the ISP who tested THEIR antenna and said it's fine so it must
> be my rooftop antenna. They'll gladly replace mine for $300 insalled.
>
> Question:
> If I just put a plastic bag around the rooftop antenna box to keep out
> the rain, will that plastic hurt antenna reception?
Harold:

As long as the cover is not conductive it should have a minimal impact
(1 dB or so). I once built a 12GHz microwave link and encased it in a
green house so it would not disturb the adjacent property owners.
Worked fine. You see ray-domes all the time as well.

On Sat, 20 Aug 2011 15:23:14 -0700, Rich Johnson
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On 10/25/2010 12:41 PM, Harold Lathom wrote:
>> Question:
>> If I just put a plastic bag around the rooftop antenna box to keep out
>> the rain, will that plastic hurt antenna reception?
>Harold:
>
>As long as the cover is not conductive it should have a minimal impact
>(1 dB or so). I once built a 12GHz microwave link and encased it in a
>green house so it would not disturb the adjacent property owners.
>Worked fine. You see ray-domes all the time as well.

I even saw a radome once.

Chance Holmes <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> On Sat, 20 Aug 2011 15:23:14 -0700, Rich Johnson
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> On 10/25/2010 12:41 PM, Harold Lathom wrote:
>>> Question:
>>> If I just put a plastic bag around the rooftop antenna box to keep out
>>> the rain, will that plastic hurt antenna reception?
>> Harold:
>>
>> As long as the cover is not conductive it should have a minimal impact
>> (1 dB or so). I once built a 12GHz microwave link and encased it in a
>> green house so it would not disturb the adjacent property owners.
>> Worked fine. You see ray-domes all the time as well.
>
> I even saw a radome once.

They put a cell phone tower on a church and erected an extended fake bell
tower around it. Today I was testing the effect of efficient windows on
wifi. I don't know if anything gets through. Dramatic effects.

Greg

On Aug 22, 4:00*pm, gregz <ze...@comcast.net> wrote:
> Chance Holmes <hol...@intercall.net> wrote:
> > On Sat, 20 Aug 2011 15:23:14 -0700, Rich Johnson
> > <ri...@remove.this.tairedd.com> wrote:
>
> >> On 10/25/2010 12:41 PM, Harold Lathom wrote:
> >>> Question:
> >>> If I just put a plastic bag around the rooftop antenna box to keep out
> >>> the rain, will that plastic hurt antenna reception?
> >> Harold:
>
> >> As long as the cover is not conductive it should have a minimal impact
> >> (1 dB or so). *I once built a 12GHz microwave link and encased it ina
> >> green house so it would not disturb the adjacent property owners.
> >> Worked fine. *You see ray-domes all the time as well.
>
> > I even saw a radome once.
>
> They put a cell phone tower on a church and erected an extended fake bell
> tower around it. Today I was testing the effect of efficient windows on
> wifi. I don't know if anything gets through. Dramatic effects.
>
> Greg

My neighbors used to share my network thru a wifi card in a laptop
thru their office window. Had 4 bars signal from my access point. One
day it just 'went away', no bars at all. Slide the window open - 4
bars. Close it - 0 bars. They'd had low E windows retrofitted.
Installed an outside antenna, problem solved.

"Dave" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:ebb402b3-7f86-4e3f-ac1f-(E-Mail Removed)...
On Aug 22, 4:00 pm, gregz <ze...@comcast.net> wrote:
> Chance Holmes <hol...@intercall.net> wrote:
> > On Sat, 20 Aug 2011 15:23:14 -0700, Rich Johnson
> > <ri...@remove.this.tairedd.com> wrote:
>
> >> On 10/25/2010 12:41 PM, Harold Lathom wrote:
> >>> Question:
> >>> If I just put a plastic bag around the rooftop antenna box to keep out
> >>> the rain, will that plastic hurt antenna reception?
> >> Harold:
>
> >> As long as the cover is not conductive it should have a minimal impact
> >> (1 dB or so). I once built a 12GHz microwave link and encased it in a
> >> green house so it would not disturb the adjacent property owners.
> >> Worked fine. You see ray-domes all the time as well.
>
> > I even saw a radome once.
>
> They put a cell phone tower on a church and erected an extended fake bell
> tower around it. Today I was testing the effect of efficient windows on
> wifi. I don't know if anything gets through. Dramatic effects.
>
> Greg

My neighbors used to share my network thru a wifi card in a laptop
thru their office window. Had 4 bars signal from my access point. One
day it just 'went away', no bars at all. Slide the window open - 4
bars. Close it - 0 bars. They'd had low E windows retrofitted.
Installed an outside antenna, problem solved.

{{

Years ago we had a cell system client that was complaining a new hand set
did not work in the CEO's car. Everyone tried to tech to problem over the
phone.

Turned out the windows were metalize and every time the window was rolled up
or the door closed the call would drop.

Nothing like on site observations to show the real problem.

On Tue, 23 Aug 2011 05:58:36 -0500, "NotMe" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Years ago we had a cell system client that was complaining a new hand set
>did not work in the CEO's car. Everyone tried to tech to problem over the
>phone.
>
>Turned out the windows were metalize and every time the window was rolled up
>or the door closed the call would drop.
>
>Nothing like on site observations to show the real problem.

The local university built several new buildings and extended their
micro-cellular system to the roof tops. However, since the windows
were all coated with Low-E material, cell phones inside the building
would not work reliably.

Some detail on Low-E coatings:
<http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/crud/Low-E-titanium-nitide-glass.pdf>
There's not much on RF characteristics in the report except for the
graph at Fig 4, which shows how titanium nitride passes visible
wavelengths (370-750nm), and blocks lower frequencies. 2.4GHz (125mm)
is far off the graph towards the right. With 35 ohms/square it's as
good as a dead short to RF.


--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558