It's that time of year again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_transit

Solar transit (or a solar outage, sometimes solar fade, sun outage, or sun fade) also occurs to communications satellites, which pass in front of the Sun for several minutes each day for several days straight for a period in the months around the equinoxes, the exact dates depending on where the satellite is in the sky relative to its earth station. Because the Sun also produces a great deal of microwave radiation in addition to sunlight, it overwhelms the microwave radio signals coming from the satellite's transponders. This enormous electromagnetic interference causes interruptions in fixed satellite services that use satellite dishes, including TV networks and radio networks, as well as VSAT and DBS.

Bad for tv signals, good for photos!

::

that's been going on for about a week now...

It's that time again... See Post 1.

Exact times depend on the satellite, your location, size of dish, etc. There are various Sun Transit calculators on the web.

Sample: http://www.telesat.com/tools-resources/sun-transit-calculator Click on link and fill in the information.

Interesting that the commentators of the Talladega Nascar truck race on Saturday afternoon apologized in advance of loss of signal to some viewers due to solar transit and boom...signal went fuzzy and blank for a couple of minutes.

Sample: http://www.telesat.com/tools-resources/sun-transit-calculator Click on link and fill in the information.

It is a shame 57, that they do not list the Bell Dish size of 0.51m (21") in the drop down menu, you have to choose the 0.45 (18") or 0.60 (24") as the closest.

It's also a shame that we're asked to select the antenna diameter in "meters" (sic), which isn't a unit of measure! Remember, we're talking about Telesat Canada here. ;) :D

Also noticed this going on during the Cardinals/Natinals game yesterday. Makes me wonder though, why they don't just point the feed at a backup satellite that's not above the equator?

That will not help if the signal loss is between the Sat and your house, as is/was my situation.

why they don't just point the feed at a backup satellite that's not above the equator?

All geostationary satellites are above the equator. If they were in any other orbit, they'd appear to be constantly moving, which means they'd have to be tracked.

many uplinkers put up temporary redundant feeds this time of year at the opposite end of the arc from their normal location to address the issue.
ION media is one that comes to mind.

Obviously it would be cost prohibitive for the pizza dish providers to do that for every satellite not to mention every home would need a redundant antenna...

I think it's surprising you remembered a post from 7 years ago and you decide to bump it! :o