Having temporary loss of UK satellite TV signals in the morning? Dont worry, it is just the biannual solar outage time (March 2021)

It is that time of year again when the sun can affect the power of satellite signals your satellite dish is receiving, resulting in a loss of some of the more weaker UK TV channels via satellite. Particularly BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Fives, Quests and SD Discovery channels, and SD UKTV (Dave, Drama, Yesterday, Gold, Eden, W) channels.

Don’t panic – it is the bi-annual sun outage and normal this time of year.

This happens in March and October for a couple of weeks every year, around the time of the Spring and Autumn equinox. In the northern hemisphere, sun outages occur before the March equinox (February, March) and after the September equinox (September and October).

These solar outages occur when the sun is directly behind the satellite and the suns energy swamps the signal with interference.

This “satellite solar outage” happens at around 10.30 – 11.30 am and can last for up to 20 minutes and can take place up to 15 days.

Do not panic, your temporary loss of signals will resolve itself and just start working again as soon as the sun moves out of the position

It is also a good time for a bit of housekeeping, as you can use this outage time to see if there are any trees and shrubs casting shadows onto the dish, which means they can be reducing and blocking the signals from the satellite to your dish.

(that time of day and year when you can use the suns position to see if trees are blocking your signals)

This can also have an effect on satellite signals at night, as 12 hours after the solar outage, the satellites are totally in the earths shadow, and receive no solar energy, and so rely on weak battery power, which reduced the signal output of the satellites for a few minutes.

More details information and explanations on this satellite solar outage phenomenon can be found here : https://www.satandpcguy.com/uk-tv-astra-satellites/satellite-solar-outage/