Solar Flares and FTA Reception

[kc5qih]

Does anyone know if the current solar storm we are experiencing could affect FTA Signals. I mean i would think it could. It seems that Fox Arkansas on G10 is a little iffy lately when before it was constantly 95% quality and never broken but the past few days its been really skiddish.

Chris

 

[TuxCoder]

If you're talking about KPBI (scans in as "fox"), I was getting that at a nice solid 100% (well, 99% on Pansat 2500A) all day yesterday on my Winegard 76cm and my year-old 0.6dB (I think) LNB.

I had the San Diego game on in support of my former next-door neighbor Kris Dielman (guard, #68).

But I've also been wondering about the solar flare. Is there any way we can tell if bad signal fluctuations are due to that? I don't know enough about enough of that stuff...

 

[sikma]

Back in my 'c-band daze' every spring and fall for a week or so, I would lose signal on the sats. for about 20 minutes each, as the sun was directly in-line from the sats. to my dish. I didn't think it was late enough in the year for that however.

 

[Mr Tony]

Fox is coming in fine here...99 signal

 

[bigOleB]

Does anyone know if the current solar storm we are experiencing could affect FTA Signals. I mean i would think it could. It seems that Fox Arkansas on G10 is a little iffy lately when before it was constantly 95% quality and never broken but the past few days its been really skiddish.

Chris

If the recent solar flare puts out a solar wind and the satellite happens to be in the path of it, there could be problems. Solar flares send out minute "hot" particles that can disable or destroy any electronic components they come in contact with. Those little particles also create the aurora borealis or "Northern Lights".

I don't know of this happening in recent history to a TV satellite but I have followed weather satellites for years and they are constantly dealing with solar radiation problems.

This being said, the satellite would most likely, if affected by solar flare, be rendered useless rather than not transmitting to full power. I doubt G10 is experiencing these types of conditions as RTN is coming in great on my end!

 

[Diamond Jim]

Back in my 'c-band daze' every spring and fall for a week or so, I would lose signal on the sats. for about 20 minutes each, as the sun was directly in-line from the sats. to my dish. I didn't think it was late enough in the year for that however.

Still happens, though it is a little early for it, sometime next month. The sun shines directly on the satellites disrupting the signals. Happens in March and October. If it screws up the analog signals I see no reason why it wouldn't screw up the digital. They say that the heat reflecting of the satellite comes down with the signal and can melt you LNBs and feed horns. I have never had a problem with that, but I have seen photos of the destruction. The best way to avoid it is if you start to loose your signal (it fades out like the skew/polarity is being changed to the wrong one) is to go to the first satellite east of the one being effected and ride it out. As Sikma says, it's take about 20 minutes per satellite. I doubt that if the little dishes can generate that much heat, but I do know for a fact that with the BUD on a real hot day the aluminum will burn your skin on touch.

 

[bigOleB]

Just imagine telling all your buddies, "I get all the satellites from 15W to 148W with my bud and on good days I provide power to my entire house with it.":neener

For you married guys out there: "Honey, its not another satellite. It is a new source of solar power for our home.":clap

 

[sharris]

solar flares can absolutely cause problems with satellite communications. Here is a weblink to space weather http://www.spaceweather.com/ .

X class flares can sometimes totally disrupt service. The reason why we experience some of these effects more frequently in spring and fall is our general location in relation to the sun, not closer, but or angle to it. Microwaves, as satellites in the KU transmit in, are affected by these bursts of radiation (charged particles, as stated in previous posts). I have seen some degredation of the signal, however slight in most cases. And the majority of these slight losses in signal are just for a few minutes. (charged particles move really fast). Good question, hope the space weather site gives you a bit more.

 

[kc5qih]

well i can't say i lost it for more than a few minutes; but it would be great and then all the sudden it was gone... i mean nothing..it was weird because i've always had a great signal on fox arkansas and yesterday it's like someone unplugged it...i mean the signal(although it doesnt mean much)was there but the quality went away and then came back ...

 

[rkrenicki]

Good ole Sun-Outages.. In the cable business we get calls about this every time.. This is the little blurb for our Customer Service Reps:

Sun outages occur when the Sun, the Satellite and the Satellite Dish are in alignment. This is due to the rotation of the earth around the sun. Sun outages occur twice a year, Spring and Fall.

Different channels will be affected at different times depending upon which satellite they are received from. Outages begin with a snowy or tiled picture and then get worse, sometimes losing picture altogether. Sun outages last about 15 minutes on any given channel