Sunfade 2007 (Fall edition)

[techno935]

It's underway earlier than calculators predicted.

(Either that or the dish we have at work isn't really 6 feet.)

This brings up a question, how do TV stations get around this, and how come DirecTV and Dish Network don't have this problem? Probably because of the increased power??

 

[qwert1515]

DirecTV and Dish Network also have this problem for their customers dishes, with a larger dish you will loose the signal for less time so Dish and Direc probably have very large dishes at their uplink centers.

 

[tvropro]

It's underway earlier than calculators predicted.

(Either that or the dish we have at work isn't really 6 feet.)

This brings up a question, how do TV stations get around this, and how come DirecTV and Dish Network don't have this problem? Probably because of the increased power??

Bigger Dishes, and more than one feed for say ABC, NBC etc.. on more than one satellite.

 

[Panavision]

Good question, Techno. Here's how it went at my old station. Since it was a CBS affiliate, we got our primary network feed from Galaxy26. (The solar outage moves across the sky, hitting each bird for a few minutes) When the solar outage began, I'd switch over to our secondary feed on Galaxy25. Once the feed came back on G26, I switched back to it. Just as I went back to the primary, G25 was getting hit. I assume CBS still uses G25 as a backup. It's been a little over two years. We had a 9 meter dish for CBS so the outage was quite brief.

 

[techno935]

I kind of figured that.

The predictions are always off, either that or the dish isn't really 6 feet. Does anyone else notice the predictions are off?

 

[tvropro]

I kind of figured that.

The predictions are always off, either that or the dish isn't really 6 feet. Does anyone else notice the predictions are off?

A smaller dish will get affected by the solar outage for a longer period of time. When I switched from my 10 foot to my 12 there was definitely a shorter outage with the 12.

We all need to run this antenna:

Vincor Limited - Earth Station Antenna and Satellite Communication Product Specialists

I know the VP of this company that installs these personally for 19 years now. He's always been a great source of information for me.

 

[Panavision]

My question is, how do networks, like ESPN, coordinate the switch to backup birds for cable companies? There are thousands across the country and I would guess they get hit by the solar outage each at different times depending on their geographic location. I know some of the Motorola IRDs can be remotely controlled. Maybe they do the switch that way so the cable companies don't even have to worry about it.

 

[tvropro]

My question is, how do networks, like ESPN, coordinate the switch to backup birds for cable companies? There are thousands across the country and I would guess they get hit by the solar outage each at different times depending on their geographic location. I know some of the Motorola IRDs can be remotely controlled. Maybe they do the switch that way so the cable companies don't even have to worry about it.

Most cable headends get the solar outage just as we do. The down time may be shorter because of the very large antenna's. The only way around it would be fiber I would think.