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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:windowtext'>We should engage Joshua. As I recall he was able to get the sun to stop for a small period of time without deleterious effect on the earth and then speed up so Lexington would not be affected. It would probably affect Jericho. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:windowtext'>Luckily the problem seems small; not one of biblical proportions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:windowtext'>John<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:windowtext'>John Rudy<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:windowtext'>781-861-0402<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:windowtext'>781-718-8334 (cell)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:windowtext'><a href="mailto:John.rudy@alum.mit.edu"><span style='color:#0563C1'>John.rudy@alum.mit.edu</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:windowtext'><img border=0 width=99 height=94 style='width:1.0312in;height:.9791in' id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D82CA6.D58276C0"></span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='color:windowtext'>From:</span></b><span style='color:windowtext'> LCTG <lctg-bounces+jjrudy1=comcast.net@lists.toku.us> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Ken Pogran<br><b>Sent:</b> Monday, February 28, 2022 1:21 PM<br><b>To:</b> Lex Computer Group <lctg@lists.toku.us><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Between February 27th and March 9th, 2022, you may experience brief, unavoidable interruptions to your TV services due to sun outages<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>The email I received from Astound/RCN said these outages would affect "TV service", but didn't mention Internet.<br><br>These cable channel solar outages have got to be affecting all local cable providers equally.<br><br>Cable channels are distributed via geosynchronous communication satellites. During a period a few days before the spring equinox and after the fall equinox, for a few minutes each day the sun appears directly "behind" the satellite a cable provider's receiving antenna is pointed at, and the solar radiation overwhelms the receiver. A cable provider's "head end" site in a given region will have a small cluster of receiving antennas pointing in slightly different directions at the various satellites; each will experience slightly different solar outages.<br><br>There may be "landline" backups for the several major television networks (I don't know), but the so-called Multichannel Video Programming Distributors offer so many channels that satellite is the only realistic/economic way to distribute them.<br><br>The Wikipedia article <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_outage">Sun outage</a> offers more detail, including the following:<o:p></o:p></p><div style='margin-left:30.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal>Sun outages occur before the March equinox (in February and March) and after the September equinox (in September and October) for the Northern Hemisphere, and occur after the March equinox and before the September equinox for the Southern Hemisphere. At these times, the apparent path of the Sun across the sky takes it directly behind the line of sight between an earth station and a satellite. The Sun radiates strongly across the entire spectrum, including the microwave frequencies used to communicate with satellites (C band, Ku band, and Ka band), so the Sun swamps the signal from the satellite. The effects of a Sun outage range from partial degradation (increase in the error rate) to the total destruction of the signal. The effect sweeps from north to south from approximately 20 February to 20 April, and from south to north from approximately 20 August to 20 October, affecting any specific location for less than 12 minutes a day for a few consecutive days.<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><br>Ken Pogran<br><br>Mitchell I. Wolfe wrote on 2/28/22 1:05 PM:<br><br><o:p></o:p></p><blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><p><a href="https://www.astound.com/support/tv/sun-outages/" target="_blank">Here</a> is the RCN (Astound Broadband) explanation. It includes the following:<o:p></o:p></p><p><em><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>"The sun outage happens only during the day between </span></em><span class=shortcode-brand-content><i>10:30 AM and 5:30 PM ET</i></span><em><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> (no sun, no interference) and is brief, lasting for a few minutes—from 5 minutes, up to 15 minutes."</span></em><o:p></o:p></p><p>-- Mitch<o:p></o:p></p><p id=reply-intro>On 2022-02-28 11:23, Robert Primak wrote:<o:p></o:p></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #1010FF 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 5.0pt;margin-left:0in;margin-right:0in'><div id=replybody1><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif'>Comcast/Xfinity has not made such an announcement. Maybe we on Comcast have a better backup system? Something to consider when choosing a provider? <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif'>Or maybe Comcast is simply not telling us something? <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif'>I haven't had any scheduled recordings yet since Feb. 27th, so I'll just have to stand by and stay tuned.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif'>-- Bob Primak<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div id="v1yahoo_quoted_6406982207"><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#26282A'>On Monday, February 28, 2022, 11:06:14 AM EST, Martin Kafka <a href="mailto:mpkafka@rcn.com"><mpkafka@rcn.com></a> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#26282A'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#26282A'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><div id=v1yiv5347932207><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#26282A'>I received this message from my Internet Provider, RCN, recently re-names as Astound Broadband.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#26282A'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#26282A'>There could be some brief internet ser4vice disruptions between Feb 27th and March 9th.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#26282A'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#26282A'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><strong><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#26282A'>Astound Broadband Powered by RCN <<a href="mailto:astound@connect.astound.com">astound@connect.astound.com</a>></span></strong><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#26282A'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#26282A'> I am posting to our group in case other provider satellites could be affected as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#26282A'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#26282A'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",serif;color:#26282A'>Marty Kafka<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote></blockquote><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>