Major snowstorm and antenna performance...

[chad_96]

Hello all,

We just made it through a major snowstorm here in Southeast Colorado. Sitting around 1.5 feet of snow.

Something I noticed. I have the Remtronix 843b on my Uniden SDS200. During this snowstorm I looked at what effect snow has on antennas. From the research I've done, I've concluded that snowfall "Absorbs" radio signals, as well as "refract" the radio signals.

What I couldn't find a clear answer to was this. It all seemed to point to snow falling. Is this just as true to snow on thr ground when no snowfall was occurring? I would assume so, but can't find a definitive answer.

Oddly, I have trouble with 1 of the 2 sites I monitor, due to distance/line of sight/mesa in between. But, I had great signal and reception from that sight during the snowstorm. The trouble was my closer local site this time. I never have issues with the local site. This leading me to learn more of how snow impacts radio signals.

I would assume, my local site was receiving poorly due to the effects of the snow, as well as the fact my local site is a much lower tower that also doesn't have the power output of the other tower I monitor. Curious if that sounds possible/correct?

Thanks for reading and the insight.

 

[prcguy]

Snow is made of water and enough of it will attenuate RF signals. This is calculated into direct to home satellite reception like DirecTV or Dish where high rain/snow areas get more signal compared to arid areas. That's to give the customer a little more head room before they loose service in heavy rain or snow buildup on the dish. But that's at 12/20GHz and there will be more attenuation there, you will have much less at UHF, less at VHF and even less at CB frequencies.

 

[merlin]

What little attenuation you will get below 1 GHz is during active snowfall. It seems when there is no snowfall but accumulated snow on the ground, performance may improve slightly.

 

[chad_96]

What little attenuation you will get below 1 GHz is during active snowfall. It seems when there is no snowfall but accumulated snow on the ground, performance may improve slightly.

That's where my post comes Into play. We got a very massive snow over 2 days. However, reception seemed great when the snow was falling. It was when it wasn't actively snowing it seemed to be poor. Leading to my confusion.