Autumn & Spring Equinox vs. Satellites

camperpaul wrote:

SCVJeff wrote:
-- snip --
has nothing to do with any receiver no matter how 'touchy' it's perceived to be. The sun lines up behind the satellite and the solar noise is simply stronger than the received satellite signal on the ground. Happens to all satellites at some point with any antenna of any size.

The same thing happens when using the moon as a passive reflector for communications. The EME path becomes useless for three or four days.

This is not just during the equinox; it happens every time the there is a "new moon" and the moon's orbit is crossing the ecliptic.

Careful, the ham is coming out.... :)

Never much played with EME, but looks like fun.

SCVJeff wrote:
-- snip --
has nothing to do with any receiver no matter how 'touchy' it's perceived to be. The sun lines up behind the satellite and the solar noise is simply stronger than the received satellite signal on the ground. Happens to all satellites at some point with any antenna of any size.

The same thing happens when using the moon as a passive reflector for communications. The EME path becomes useless for three or four days.

This is not just during the equinox; it happens every time the there is a "new moon" and the moon's orbit is crossing the ecliptic.

ChopperBill wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Not sure what you mean my a touchy Genie. If you mean the HD signal, I could understand that, but I have not found the Genie to be touchy compared to any other HD receiver. The regularly occurring solar outage should have not effect of any kind on a receiver, only the signal received.

Had Direct since they bought out Primstar. Never had an outage from weather unless snow stuck to the dish. Probably lost signal 10 or more times just this year from rain storms. Service rep was out three times, last time the service rep said it happened to his since he installed the SWM with Genie. Said they were more sensitive to signal loss. Replaced most components and its better but sever thunderstorms still effect it with digital squares. Just repeating what he said and what I have expearanced.

I have not found a similar experience with my Genie other than the HD signal. Many times when my HD gets flaky due to weather I change over to the SD programming and all is well. If your Genie is showing 100 signal strength it will perform exactly the same as any other receiver showing a 100 signal.

SCVJeff wrote:
We own 2 transponders on another satellite and all the stations now have auto changeover gear that makes it completely seamless. When the sun moves out of the window everything switches back, ready to go again. Sure takes the fun out of the old days when it was all manual..

How many degrees apart are the two satellites?

Bruce

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Not sure what you mean my a touchy Genie. If you mean the HD signal, I could understand that, but I have not found the Genie to be touchy compared to any other HD receiver. The regularly occurring solar outage should have not effect of any kind on a receiver, only the signal received.

Had Direct since they bought out Primstar. Never had an outage from weather unless snow stuck to the dish. Probably lost signal 10 or more times just this year from rain storms. Service rep was out three times, last time the service rep said it happened to his since he installed the SWM with Genie. Said they were more sensitive to signal loss. Replaced most components and its better but sever thunderstorms still effect it with digital squares. Just repeating what he said and what I have expearanced.

SCVJeff wrote:
... We own 2 transponders on another satellite and all the stations now have auto changeover gear that makes it completely seamless. ...

Ahhh ... the modern luxury of multiple birds. :)

Gene&Ginny wrote:
The broadcasters have known this since day one. The first TV network to use satellite for network video was PBS. Their training videos said there would be 2 times per year when the signal would be lost. They advised stations to have a prerecorded tape cued up and each station would be notified in advance of the times they would lose signal. Each station was different since the alignment of the sun to the bird was different at each station.

We own 2 transponders on another satellite and all the stations now have auto changeover gear that makes it completely seamless. When the sun moves out of the window everything switches back, ready to go again. Sure takes the fun out of the old days when it was all manual..

The broadcasters have known this since day one. The first TV network to use satellite for network video was PBS. Their training videos said there would be 2 times per year when the signal would be lost. They advised stations to have a prerecorded tape cued up and each station would be notified in advance of the times they would lose signal. Each station was different since the alignment of the sun to the bird was different at each station.

ChopperBill wrote:

nomad297 wrote:
A little known fact. An equinox, both spring and autumn, will momentarily interrupt satellite communications.

Bruce

With the new touchy Genie it'll be even worse.

has nothing to do with any receiver no matter how 'touchy' it's perceived to be. The sun lines up behind the satellite and the solar noise is simply stronger than the received satellite signal on the ground. Happens to all satellites at some point with any antenna of any size.

Not sure what you mean my a touchy Genie. If you mean the HD signal, I could understand that, but I have not found the Genie to be touchy compared to any other HD receiver. The regularly occurring solar outage should have not effect of any kind on a receiver, only the signal received.