[BC] Satellite wars, episode V: the empire strikes back

[Rob Landry]

On Sun, 4 Dec 2011, Thomas G. Osenkowsky wrote:

> 1.	You said you need a 20 dB attenuator yet couldn't see the
> interference on the SA. It would be interesting to see the bandwidth and
> type of signal that is causing the interference.

Unfortunately, the analyzer I have access to only goes up to 3 GHz.

> 2.	If the interference is intermittent, during what hours and days is
> it present? For how long (minutes, hours)?

Now, that I can do. I've set up a script to record the audio from port #2 
of the receiver, which is tuned to a channel carrying the USNO time 
announcements. It's recording the audio as one-hour-long mp3 files, which 
I can download and examine at leisure. We'll soon see if there' any trhyme 
or reason to the interference

> 3.	When it is present, is it always the same amplitude and BW?

All I could tell is that it saturates the LNB.

> This may help narrow the possibilities. What first came to mind was an
> airborne source (aircraft, weather balloon, etc.) Perhaps a check of FCC
> licenses for the area would be helpful. It could be a harmonic, also. Any
> UHF/800 MHz nearby?

Yes, there's some of that on the tower next to the dish.

Rob