Satellite excitement

Discussions around the satellite system and video distribution.
skiptaylor
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Location: Lancaster CA

Satellite excitement

#1

Post by skiptaylor »

Between GC sessions yesterday, at about 11:05am (PDT) we lost video and audio feeds. Completely went dead. Went to the a/v closet to find the poor satellite receiver having the electronic equivalent of an epileptic seizure. Status lights flashing multiple colors, relays clacking and the lcd display flashing on and off. It finally rebooted itself twice yet was still 'crazy'! Quite a sight! :eek: Would have been funny had the receiver not been needed to work. This is a Wegener Unity 550-2 that was installed about 6 months ago.

Called up Satellite support and they said it was the Sun causing the problem. They had me power cycle the receiver and it finally started working after about 5 minutes. Really weird behaviour in my opinion. We finished Conference with no further problem.

Also, does anyone know what satellite/transponder is being used for the Meetinghouse satellite system? I want to look up some data and it requires knowing the satellite name/transponder. No clue here. I just know we are pointed somewhat east of south.
Skip Taylor :eek:
Lancaster CA.
russellhltn
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#2

Post by russellhltn »

avskip wrote:Called up Satellite support and they said it was the Sun causing the problem.
Galaxy 19 If you find a good (understandable) calculator, let me know. We had a close call with it, (the unit was clicking and flashing red) but we pulled though without any digital hiccups.

The easiest way to diagnose that is to run out and look at the dish at the time it's happening. Assuming you have the type where the feedhorn is in the middle of the dish, check to see where it's casting it's shadow. If it's dead center, then the dish is pointed directly at the sun. And yes, it does cause problems for about 5-10 minutes.
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skiptaylor
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Location: Lancaster CA

#3

Post by skiptaylor »

RussellHltn wrote:Galaxy 19 If you find a good (understandable) calculator, let me know. We had a close call with it, (the unit was clicking and flashing red) but we pulled though without any digital hiccups.

It's interesting that yours did almost the same thing ours did. I wonder why it was "fritzing" like that? It would make sense that it could be some type of signal recovery mode. What part of the country are you in? I'm in Southern California.
RussellHltn wrote:The easiest way to diagnose that is to run out and look at the dish at the time it's happening. Assuming you have the type where the feedhorn is in the middle of the dish, check to see where it's casting it's shadow. If it's dead center, then the dish is pointed directly at the sun. And yes, it does cause problems for about 5-10 minutes.
I'll have to do this should it happen again.
Skip Taylor :eek:
Lancaster CA.
russellhltn
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#4

Post by russellhltn »

avskip wrote:I wonder why it was "fritzing" like that? It would make sense that it could be some type of signal recovery mode.
Yup. It's trying to auto-recover. I think the clicking is a relay that's intended to be tied into an alarm system to alert the operator. (The unit being designed to sit in a big rack of receivers for a cable, company, etc.)
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lajackson
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#5

Post by lajackson »

Twice a year, the broadcast satellite finds itself directly between the sun and your receiver each day, and the sun overpowers the satellite signal for up to about 12 minutes. It happens at the same time each day, and occurs over a period of about a week, as the angle of the sun through the satellite passes through the latitude of your receiver. Once in the fall, again in the spring.

It affects all of the broadcast industry. Television stations can sometimes pick up signals from alternate satellites during this "sun fade" time each day. Radio stations usually pre-record music or other programming or go to local programming during this few minutes each day.

It usually happens around general conference time, but it usually happens between sessions in the US. Whether you noticed it or not, you probably had the same problem on both Saturday and Sunday at nearly the exact same time of the day.

And for each of you who mentioned having a problem, I would bet that you are located at nearly the same latitude.

Each satellite operator can predict with quite some accuracy the range of dates and times when there will be a problem twice each year. The satellite desk at CHQ also knows when and how you might be affected, based on your latitude.

That's it from the science corner for now. [grin] If you would like a more technical explanation, feel free to PM me.
skiptaylor
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#6

Post by skiptaylor »

RussellHltn wrote:If you find a good (understandable) calculator, let me know.
Found a fairly easy one to use. The print/save feature isn't that great though. I just copied the screen.

I used Google Earth to locate our satellite dish. I figure it's about a 10' dish (seems I heard that somewhere too). Had to use Galaxy 25 as 19 isn't listed. Same angle for them though as Galaxy 19 replaced Galaxy 25.

It's at http://www.satellite-calculations.com/S ... UNcalc.htm There are a lot of other calculators listed at their main page (http://www.satellite-calculations.com/).

Hope that's a help. It seems pretty easy to use. It calc'd the time pretty close to when it started acting up. My 11:05 wasn't exact, but a guess. I'd say it works. :)
Skip Taylor :eek:
Lancaster CA.
techgy
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#7

Post by techgy »

Thanks for the information. This will prove very useful.
BTW if you don't have (or want to install) Google Earth you can get your location coordinates from Google Maps. Just enter the address of the building then click on "link" icon just above the map area. Located within the link, immediately following the zip code, are the two map coordinates.
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aebrown
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Wiki article

#8

Post by aebrown »

The information on solar interference was useful and provided some great details, so I tried to capture it in the wiki article Satellite broadcast.

If any of you satellite gurus have a spare moment, I'd appreciate it if you could review what is written there to see if it is accurate or could be expanded.
russellhltn
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#9

Post by russellhltn »

I added a little bit, but it probably could use some word smithing.

I'm not sure, but it appears that for most of the Americas, the outage falls in the first half hour after the morning session of General Conference. However, in Alaska and Hawaii, it can affect the ending of the morning session. More time with the calculator is needed to confirm this.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
skiptaylor
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Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Lancaster CA

#10

Post by skiptaylor »

I made a few additions to the Wiki page. Hope I did it right. Never worked on a Wiki page before.
Skip Taylor :eek:
Lancaster CA.
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