# Solar outage?



## nextgensat (Feb 14, 2005)

Anyone have a problem receiving E* signal today? I came home around 6:30 PM EST and was getting 0 signal strength. I have a DP Twin LNBF and two receivers. Neither of them were getting anything on either 110* or 119*. I went outside to check the cables and dish positioning. Everything checked out fine. I started to assume that somehow my LNBF must have taken a surge or something and been fried. Then all of the sudden around 8:10 PM EST both receivers started showing programs. I checked the signal strength and was getting about 120 (this was the level I always got before). I have been an E* customer since 2000 and never had this problem occur. I started to think about a possible solar outage. Doing a Google search on the term tells me this sort of phenomenom is common this time of year (Spring, month of March). Anyone else have this problem today? Could it have been a solar outage?


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

Not a solar outage. That can only affect one satellite at a time (from any given ground point), and they only last a few minutes.


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

Solar outages last 15 at its peak. Usually it only last a few minutes like Simon said. The outage happens when the sun appears to go "behind" the satellite your dish is looking at. It essentially blinds the dish to the much weaker satellite signal. Once the sun "moves" away, the signal returns. You are having other issues.

See ya
Tony


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## JohnH (Apr 22, 2002)

Something not mentioned much which is associated with Solar Outage is that the LNBF assembly is subjected to considerable heat at that time. Might cause a temporary failure of a "Twin".


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## jpurkey (May 15, 2003)

Solar outages shouldn't cause a complete loss of DBS signal either. The two times I moitored the signal strength on my DirecTV receiver during a spring or fall sun fade it dropped from a reading in the mid 90s, to around 78-80 at the lowest. Took about 10-15 minutes for the signal to drop down to the lowest point and another 10-15 for it to go back to normal. I think it's just like with rain fade. If you get a strong signal normally then sun fade shouldn't cause a complete loss of signal either.

Go to this website and enter your Long/Lat to find out when the next peak is:

http://perso.numericable.fr/~gjullien/satellite.htm


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## HTguy (May 7, 2002)

DISH had a bad lot of DP TWINS that develop a temperature problem with the kind of symptoms you experienced. After some time they star to fail during high daytime temperatures but work normally after cooling down in the evening.

I'd recommend that you contact your original retailer and arrange for it to be checked. The lot # is well known in those areas where it was distributed and if you have one of them it should be replaced at no charge.


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## Spruceman (Nov 21, 2004)

The solar outage period this spring is over as far as the northern hemisphere is concerned -- It now affects dishes lying south of the equator. The line of sight to the sun is now above the Clarke Belt and will remain so until the fall solar outage period.


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## JohnL (Apr 1, 2002)

jpurkey said:


> Solar outages shouldn't cause a complete loss of DBS signal either. The two times I moitored the signal strength on my DirecTV receiver during a spring or fall sun fade it dropped from a reading in the mid 90s, to around 78-80 at the lowest. Took about 10-15 minutes for the signal to drop down to the lowest point and another 10-15 for it to go back to normal. I think it's just like with rain fade. If you get a strong signal normally then sun fade shouldn't cause a complete loss of signal either.
> 
> Go to this website and enter your Long/Lat to find out when the next peak is:
> 
> http://perso.numericable.fr/~gjullien/satellite.htm


Jpurkey,

Solar Conjunction season lasts several weeks. Each specific location on the earths' surface with experience the Conjunctions at different times of day and days of week, or weeks of during the entire conjunction season with varying degrees of severity. A Complete Conjunction WILL in fact cause a complete loss of signal but only for a few minutes.

Its likely the time you were checking your particular conjunction you were not on a complete conjunction day, like a PARTIAL eclipse does not completely obscure the other body. Usually the most severe conjunction days for your location is only 2 or 3 days that will cause a COMPLETE loss of signal.

Remember as well that Dish and all Cable operators experience conjunctions at their uplink and downlink facilities as well as each subscribers' location. Whole blocks of channels on each service will experience Conjunction blackouts based on where those channels' distribution satellite is located in relation to the BOTH the channels initial UPLINK AND YOUR PROVIDERS DOWNLINK location. In general though a Conjunction at a UPLINK and or DOWNLINK facility will not last as long, because those Large 3 meter and larger Dishes have a MUCH tighter Focus so the Sun is over that Dish's focal point for a shorter period of time. Large Dish's focal points are less than 2 degrees, where DBS Dishs' Focal Points are about 9 degrees. The wider the focal point the longer the SUNs apparent travel will be behind the satellite and interfere with your Dish's reception.

John


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

Unh. JohnL:

Would you mind explaining to us why a earth-based TRANSMITTER is affected by the sun being BEHIND the receiving satellite?

I can see control feedback signals from the bird being cutoff for a couple of minutes, but I think the uplink can live without that for the short time involved.


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## JohnL (Apr 1, 2002)

SimpleSimon said:


> Unh. JohnL:
> 
> Would you mind explaining to us why a earth-based TRANSMITTER is affected by the sun being BEHIND the receiving satellite?
> 
> I can see control feedback signals from the bird being cutoff for a couple of minutes, but I think the uplink can live without that for the short time involved.


Simple,

Simple when the Sun hits the focal point of the transmitting dish it will interfere with the Dish's transmission by introducing noise into the transmission.

John


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## jpurkey (May 15, 2003)

JohnL said:


> Solar Conjunction season lasts several weeks. Each specific location on the earths' surface with experience the Conjunctions at different times of day and days of week, or weeks of during the entire conjunction season with varying degrees of severity. A Complete Conjunction WILL in fact cause a complete loss of signal but only for a few minutes.
> 
> Its likely the time you were checking your particular conjunction you were not on a complete conjunction day, like a PARTIAL eclipse does not completely obscure the other body. Usually the most severe conjunction days for your location is only 2 or 3 days that will cause a COMPLETE loss of signal.


From what I've read elsewhere, solar conjunction should not cause a complete loss of DBS reception. And assuming the website is correct I did check it at the right times. I suppose it could be like rain fade though. That is, if your dish is not properly aligned then your DBS reception may be more susceptible to solar outages?

Solar conjunction can effect DirecTV's reception of the signal from the source. In those cases DirecTV usually puts up a slide explaining the reason for the outage of that particular channel and saying it will return to normal in a few minutes. I've seen that happen a couple times in the spring and/or fall, but it has nothing to do with my reception of the signal from the DirecTV satellite.


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

JohnL said:


> Simple,
> 
> Simple when the Sun hits the focal point of the transmitting dish it will interfere with the Dish's transmission by introducing noise into the transmission.
> 
> John


 Ya - I guess that makes sense. Thanks!


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## joblo (Dec 11, 2003)

SimpleSimon said:


> JohnL said:
> 
> 
> > when the Sun hits the focal point of the transmitting dish it will interfere with the Dish's transmission by introducing noise into the transmission.
> ...


Not to me it doesn't. The two signals (solar and uplink) are travelling in opposite directions. They should be able to bounce off the same surface without causing any interference with each other whatsoever.

I think the reason solar outages are relevant at uplink facilities is because many of the uplinked signals are in turn picked up from other (e.g. C-band) downlinks, which can be affected by solar outages. In such cases, the uplinked signal is obviously no better than the downlinked source.


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

Think "feedback", "interference patterns", and other types of EMI.

The uplink dishes are big - LOTS of gain, including sun noise.

I can't be sure of the details, but after thinking about it, I CAN see the possibility.


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