And as seperate additional info to the above, because it usually gets asked - "WHEN"?
Season Equinox (aka sun outage) 2 times / year - spring and fall.
Using 101°w and Oklahoma City as a reference. Here are the results for the spring 2006 & fall 2006 seasonal equinoxes. Your exact location will determine the timing.
SPRING 2006
Date | GMT | GMT | | CDT | CDT
mm/dd/yyyy | hh:mm:ss | hh:mm:ss | mm:ss | hh:mm:ss | hh:mm:ss
-----------------|----------|----------|----------|----------|---------
03/01/2006 | 18:51:59 | 19:04:34 | 12:35 | 13:51:59 | 14:04:34
03/02/2006 | 18:50:30 | 19:05:40 | 15:10 | 13:50:30 | 14:05:40
03/03/2006 | 18:49:26 | 19:06:21 | 16:55 | 13:49:26 | 14:06:21
03/04/2006 | 18:48:41 | 19:06:36 | 17:55 | 13:48:41 | 14:06:36
03/05/2006 | 18:48:10 | 19:06:40 | 18:30 | 13:48:10 | 14:06:40
03/06/2006 | 18:48:00 | 19:06:25 | 18:25 | 13:48:00 | 14:06:25
03/07/2006 | 18:48:04 | 19:05:54 | 17:50 | 13:48:04 | 14:05:54
03/08/2006 | 18:48:23 | 19:05:03 | 16:40 | 13:48:23 | 14:05:03
03/09/2006 | 18:49:03 | 19:03:48 | 14:45 | 13:49:03 | 14:03:48
03/10/2006 | 18:50:21 | 19:02:06 | 11:45 | 13:50:21 | 14:02:06
FALL 2006
10/02/2006 | 18:30:33 | 18:40:03 | 09:30 | 13:30:33 | 13:40:03
10/03/2006 | 18:28:14 | 18:41:39 | 13:25 | 13:28:14 | 13:41:39
10/04/2006 | 18:26:45 | 18:42:30 | 15:45 | 13:26:45 | 13:42:30
10/05/2006 | 18:25:42 | 18:42:57 | 17:15 | 13:25:42 | 13:42:57
10/06/2006 | 18:24:59 | 18:43:09 | 18:10 | 13:24:59 | 13:43:09
10/07/2006 | 18:24:33 | 18:43:03 | 18:30 | 13:24:33 | 13:43:03
10/08/2006 | 18:24:16 | 18:42:36 | 18:20 | 13:24:16 | 13:42:36
10/09/2006 | 18:24:25 | 18:42:00 | 17:35 | 13:24:25 | 13:42:00
10/10/2006 | 18:24:46 | 18:41:06 | 16:20 | 13:24:46 | 13:41:06
10/11/2006 | 18:25:32 | 18:39:52 | 14:20 | 13:25:32 | 13:39:52
10/12/2006 | 18:26:48 | 18:38:03 | 11:15 | 13:26:48 | 13:38:03
Description
Each Spring and Fall, cable companies and satellite customers experience a technical phenomenon called "sun outages." For a period of about 2 weeks, the sun causes "solar interference" to all geostationary satellite signals. As the sun's path across the sky gets lower each day, there are times when it is in a direct line behind a communication satellite that is sending signals to a receiving satellite dish here on earth. When the dish antenna is looking into the sun, the interference from the sun overrides the signals from the satellite. This is when a sun outage occurs.
Sun outages typically occur during the months of February/March and September/October and can last as long as 15 minutes a day and take place over a period of 15 days. The effects of a sun outage vary in degree from minimal to total outage throughout the 15 day period. Once it reaches its peak, the interference will gradually decrease becoming less noticeable each day after.
Unfortunately, there is technically nothing we can do. C-band users can "move" their dishes away from the affected bird.
