Fall Solar Outage

[timothylego]

Does anyone have any information on when the fall solar outages will occur? I had channels on the 110 go off for a few minutes today around 5:30 PM. I live in Pittsburgh, PA and I would hate to have them happen when I'm watching my Steelers or Penn State games.

[Richard King]

http://theclassicalstation.org/solar_outage.shtml
Twice a year, around March (vernal equinox) and October (autumnal equinox), the sun crosses Earth's equatorial plane, making night and day equal in length. During these times satellite dish owners in North America will experience brief interruptions in audio/video reception, or what's called "solar outages." (In addition to dish owners, these outages also affect our Internet and cable listeners, as those feeds are supplied by our satellite signal as well.) More.... I am sure there is a better site to explain this as they got the equinox dates wrong, but the outage days right. The equinox is today, outages occur a bit after the equinox in the fall and before the equinox in the spring. If we were watching from the equator today would be the day. Since we don't live in Brazil we have to wait a few days. :D

[EVAC41]

Here is another site that explains the solar outages

Click here... (http://www.intelsat.com/resources/satellitedata-pas/solar-activity.asp)

[aim2pls]

roughly mid oct starting in the south first and moving north as the month progresses

[Chris Blount]

Here is more information:


Location Outage Time (EDT)

Alaska (Anchorage) October 12–14, 2:09 p.m.

Alaska (Barrow) October 13–15, 2:13 p.m.

Alaska (Fairbanks) October 12–15, 2:11 p.m.

Alaska (Southern) October 10–14, 2:10 p.m.

Alabama October 4–8, 2:31 p.m.

Arkansas October 5–9, 2:28 p.m.

Arizona October 5–8, 2:16 p.m.

California (Northern) October 7–10, 2:12 p.m.

California (San Francisco) October 6–10, 2:12 p.m.

California (Los Angeles) October 5–8, 2:13 p.m.

Colorado October 7–10, 2:21 p.m.

Connecticut October 7–11, 2:36 p.m.

District of Columbia October 6–10, 2:35 p.m.

Florida (Miami) October 2–5, 2:36 p.m.

Florida (Tallahassee) October 4–7, 2:33 p.m.

Georgia October 5–8, 2:33 p.m.

Hawaii Sep 30–Oct 2, 1:56 p.m.

Iowa October 7–11, 2:26 p.m.

Idaho October 8–11, 2:15 p.m.

Illinois (Chicago) October 7–11, 2:29 p.m.

Illinois (Springfield) October 7–10, 2:29 p.m.

Indiana October 7–10, 2:30 p.m.

Kansas October 6–10, 2:24 p.m.

Kentucky October 6–10, 2:32 p.m.

Louisiana October 4–7, 2:29 p.m.

Massachusetts October 7–11, 2:36 p.m.

Maryland October 6–10, 2:35 p.m.

Maine October 8–12, 2:37 p.m.

Michigan October 8–11, 2:31 p.m.

Minnesota (St. Paul) October 8–11, 2:26 p.m.

Missouri October 7–10, 2:26 p.m.

Mississippi October 5–8, 2:30 p.m.

Montana October 9–12, 2:19 p.m.

North Carolina October 5–9, 2:34 p.m.

North Dakota October 9–13, 2:22 p.m.

Nebraska October 7–11, 2:24 p.m.

New Hampshire October 8–11, 2:36 p.m.

New Jersey October 7–10, 2:36 p.m.

New Mexico October 5–9, 2:20 p.m.

Nevada October 7–10, 2:14 p.m.

New York October 7–10, 2:36 p.m.

Ohio October 6–10, 2:31 p.m.

Oklahoma October 5–9, 2:25 p.m.

Oregon October 8–11, 2:13 p.m.

Pennsylvania October 7–11, 2:34 p.m.

Puerto Rico September 28–October 1, 2:46 p.m.

South Carolina October 5–8, 2:34 p.m.

South Dakota October 8–12, 2:22 p.m.

Tennessee October 6–9, 2:31 p.m.

Texas (Austin) October 3–7, 2:25 p.m.

Texas (San Antonio) October 3–7, 2:24 p.m.

Texas (Amarillo) October 5–9, 2:23 p.m.

Utah October 6–10, 2:17 p.m.

Virginia October 6–9, 2:35 p.m.

Vermont October 8–11, 2:36 p.m.

Washington October 9–12, 2:13 p.m.

Wisconsin October 8–11, 2:28 p.m.

West Virginia October 6–10, 2:20 p.m.

Wyoming October 8–11, 2:19 p.m

Source: http://www.prss.org/tech_support/fall_so.cfm

[turbrodude]

Don't the outages happen at different times depending on which satellite you are looking at? 101W should have an outage before 103W as the sun moves across teh sky, right? So what are the above times for?

[Chris Blount]

Don't the outages happen at different times depending on which satellite you are looking at? 101W should have an outage before 103W as the sun moves across teh sky, right? So what are the above times for? True. My above post does only reflect one satellite but it was something quick just to give some general times.

Here is a page with a calculator which might help. You can manually enter whatever satellite you want and your area for more accurate info for each satellite.

http://www.intelsat.com/resources/satellitedata-pas/calc-sun-outages.asp

[ATARI]

True. My above post does only reflect one satellite but it was something quick just to give some general times.

Here is a page with a calculator which might help. You can manually enter whatever satellite you want and your area for more accurate info for each satellite.

http://www.intelsat.com/resources/satellitedata-pas/calc-sun-outages.asp

Nice link, thanks!

[tkrandall]

Try this site for details for your location. Also very useful for checking line of site if you have trees or other obstructions.
http://gjullien.fr/satellite.htm

[BobaBird]

Added the INTELSAT link to the EKB Solar Outages (http://ekb.dbstalk.com/solar.htm) page.

[Rosco]

I thought that some of the outages were on the directv uplink end also because sometimes you would receive a message on your screen instead of programming

[mocciat]

How long is the outage?

[Richard King]

I thought that some of the outages were on the directv uplink end also because sometimes you would receive a message on your screen instead of programming
Actually, outages can occur from the uplink. The uplink is, afterall, a very large downlink also.

[Richard King]

How long is the outage?
It's just a few minutes over a period of 3-4 days at your location. Of course, when the outage gets to the uplink center's lattitude you will potentially notice outages on throughout the day on different channels as the sun tracks behind the satellites supplying the signals to the uplink center.

[Richard King]

In the old c-band days a person could track the sun across the sky and have a solar outage last throughout the day (I don't know why you would want to do this though). :D On the big dishes this is also the time of the most danger to your receive components at the dish since the energy from the sun is being bounced off the dish surface directly, at full force, into the LNB and it's housing. If you had a dish that was highly reflective it could damage your LNB. I once did a service call at Prince's house because of this. His very smooth surfaced (purple) solid fiberglas dish melted the LNB cover and damaged the LNB to the point that it had to be replaced.

[arxaw]

Is this also when someone can check for LOS by looking for a sunny spot on the ground or roof?

[Richard King]

Yep. As long as you know the proper time for the satellite you will be aiming for.

[arxaw]

Richard,
Thanks.