"Telamon" wrote in message
...
Rain is not the only problem for satellites. How about when they line up
with the Sun? Doesn't that also cause problems?



Indeed it does... and this is one of the times of the year that this happens
in the northern hemisphere. It also affects uplinks, though not so badly.
Having a larger dish doesn't necessarily help in this case, since it tends
to amplify the noise along with the signal.