Every year, in the Spring and again in the Fall, the public radio satellite system experiences what is known as a solar outage. During a solar outage, the signal we receive can be temporarily blocked for anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. If we are carrying a live program (such as Here & Now), you may hear a temporary bit of silence or a short recorded message we play announcing the outage.
The next outage season should run March 3rd-6th for Maryland.
From the PRSS (Public Radio Satellite System) website
A solar or sun transit outage is an electromagnetic phenomenon wherein a station downlink is temporarily unable to receive a satellite signal due to interference from the sun as it passes behind the satellite. Solar outages occur on a predictable schedule and affect downlinks in the U.S. for about five consecutive days, for as much as six minutes a day, twice each year.
