Just wondering if anyone has played around with the solar outage calculator? Happens twice a year, spring and fall!
I have used the Intelsat Solar Outage Calculator in the past to confirm possible objects in the way of a potential dish setup. I often wondered if the solar noise would really cause a satellite signal to drop out in the wash of the suns white noise when the sun aligns with the clark belt twice a year.
Currently we are in the middle of the Spring cycle and I was able to test signals from three satellites today. I choose Kuil TV on 101W becuase it was always a weak signal for me, I also tested Hawazan on 113W SatMex6, and 123W Galaxy 18 for transponder 11.718V becuase it was always weird (bouncing around in quality). Also a few weeks back we had a terrible wind storm that took out the tops of several trees in the yard, and believed my dish alignment changed a few tenths of a degree to the east. I wondered if I could use the solar outage calculator to confirm my dish alignment and it worked!!!
The first satellite I tested was 101W and confirmed the center of the outage time was advanced a few minutes, meaning my dish was indeed aimed 0.1 to 0.2 degrees to far to the east in alignment. I then adjusted the dish 0.1 degree west using motor control and changing my longitude. I then waited and tested 113W and 123W, the outage came right on the calculated scheduled time.
I am using a Coolsat 5000 receiver where the video pixelates around 64% and is gone below 63% quality. I am using a motorized 76cm dish and an invacom qph-031 lnb. I have attached the tables in word that I compiled for each satellite with corresponding times and signal quality. I do not know how the word documents will load to this site so I also converted format in "paint" and attached. could not draw a perfect graph but the red is signal level, where I have the blocks filled yellow is where the video started pixelating. Both 101W Kuil TV and 123W station WNYI losed complete video/audio for several minutes, Hawazan on 113W never droped below the threshold to cause pixelation.
Crazy to see how accurate the "Intelsat Solar Outage Calculator" is!
I have used the Intelsat Solar Outage Calculator in the past to confirm possible objects in the way of a potential dish setup. I often wondered if the solar noise would really cause a satellite signal to drop out in the wash of the suns white noise when the sun aligns with the clark belt twice a year.
Currently we are in the middle of the Spring cycle and I was able to test signals from three satellites today. I choose Kuil TV on 101W becuase it was always a weak signal for me, I also tested Hawazan on 113W SatMex6, and 123W Galaxy 18 for transponder 11.718V becuase it was always weird (bouncing around in quality). Also a few weeks back we had a terrible wind storm that took out the tops of several trees in the yard, and believed my dish alignment changed a few tenths of a degree to the east. I wondered if I could use the solar outage calculator to confirm my dish alignment and it worked!!!
The first satellite I tested was 101W and confirmed the center of the outage time was advanced a few minutes, meaning my dish was indeed aimed 0.1 to 0.2 degrees to far to the east in alignment. I then adjusted the dish 0.1 degree west using motor control and changing my longitude. I then waited and tested 113W and 123W, the outage came right on the calculated scheduled time.
I am using a Coolsat 5000 receiver where the video pixelates around 64% and is gone below 63% quality. I am using a motorized 76cm dish and an invacom qph-031 lnb. I have attached the tables in word that I compiled for each satellite with corresponding times and signal quality. I do not know how the word documents will load to this site so I also converted format in "paint" and attached. could not draw a perfect graph but the red is signal level, where I have the blocks filled yellow is where the video started pixelating. Both 101W Kuil TV and 123W station WNYI losed complete video/audio for several minutes, Hawazan on 113W never droped below the threshold to cause pixelation.
Crazy to see how accurate the "Intelsat Solar Outage Calculator" is!
