Signal loss during Idaho regional stake conference March 4 2018

[BlairEsplin]

Yesterday was the Idaho Stake conference regional satellite broadcast. We lost the signal twice. Once very briefly during the first speaker then again during the intermediate hymn. I thought the first signal loss was from the broadcast end but I got thinking about what might have caused the problem locally and wondered if I had a receiver problem. Then when we had the second signal loss I immediately ran outside to check the dish and found it full of snow from the snowstorm we had during the night. I quickly brushed the snow out of the dish and the signal was immediately restored. Fortunately we only missed some of the hymn. After that we had no more signal loss.

I talked to three different people today who viewed the broadcast at other locations and they each said that had signal losses during the broadcast at different times than our loss.

I’m thinking that those locations and perhaps many others had the same snow in the dish problem that we had. I felt bad that due to my not thinking to clean the dish beforehand we had a minor signal loss but after learning that other locations also had signal loss makes me feel better knowing I wasn’t the only one who had a problem.

While I can’t say for sure that the problems in the other locations were due to snow in the dish, I would advise that that techs check the dish for snow before a broadcast if there has been a recent storm.

[russellhltn]

Since each of you lost signal, I'm curious what a sun outage calculator has to say.

[lajackson]

Since each of you lost signal, I'm curious what a sun outage calculator has to say.

If it was sun outage related, the time of peak outage would have been very similar (within just a few minutes) if all of the receivers were in Idaho.

[russellhltn]

If it was sun outage related, the time of peak outage would have been very similar (within just a few minutes) if all of the receivers were in Idaho.

Right. But it could still fall at "different times" (before prayer, during prayer, after prayer). But it's not going to fall on different prayers.

[BlairEsplin]

Our signal loss was during the second talk and during the intermediate hymn. Another location lost its signal during the third talk and another lost its signal during the forth talk. I don’t know when the other location lost its signal.

I’m sure that at our location the cause of signal loss was about three inches of snow in the entire dish.

[russellhltn]

Ok, so the snow could have degraded the fade margin and each site got the final blow as a cloud went by.

[FrederickJ]

We are in the path of the local railroad microwave link and when they turn it on we loose signal. Fortunately they don’t do it very often.