UK TV Solar Outage - loss of some channels mid morning

Its that time of the year when the sun causes some small satellite signals reception issues.

This happens around March and October time, around the time of the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes.

For the next week or so, the suns path across the sky take it directly behind the UK TV satellites.

During this time, the energy from the sun swamps out the  weaker signals.



This results in a loss of some channels, like BBC ITV C4 and Fives.

At the moment this is around 1030-1130, and lasts for approximately 10-20 minutes.

On the flip side, at around 2230-2330, the satellites are in the earths shadow, and so not operating on full solar energy, but moves to battery backups. These backups have less power, and can mean a small drop in signals, again affecting the weaker BBC ITV C4 channels.
This does not usually affect viewers in the UK, but will affect those in the "fringe reception" areas, like Spain Portugal and the south Mediterranean.