Three radio stations in California reported solar radiation interfered with their radio satellite reception. KSCO and KOMY of Santa Cruz and KQED in San Francisco described their communications link with geostationary satellites was lost for a few minutes. Once the Earth rotates to move the sun’s radiation away from the satellite dish, their connection was restored.
According to NASA astrophysicist David Hathaway, “the sun is right over the Earth’s equator, and that’s right where the geostationary satellites are.” Geostationary satellites are ideal for broadcasting radio waves from to local satellite dish receivers because they move in the same direction and speed as the Earth. Solar radio waves cause interference with weaker radio waves when the Sun is located directly behind a geostationary satellite.
Read more about the interference of radio waves caused by solar radiation.
