Viewers and listeners of the American Forces Network may experience programming interruptions from Sept. 28 through Oct. 12 as the fall “sun outage” period occurs, according to a news release from the Defense Media Center.

These seasonal outages, which take place each spring and fall, affect all satellite communications including the AFN radio and television services distributed by DMC, located at March Air Reserve Base, California.

Sun outage-related programming interruptions are characterized by a complete loss of signal for as much as several minutes, according to the organization.

The interruptions occur when the sun’s position aligns with broadcast satellites and Earth-station receivers.

The sun’s radiation overpowers the broadcast signal, causing the disruption.

The effect of sun outages on satellite-delivered programming received by the DMC will be minimal because alternate satellite feeds of incoming programming can be used to avoid sun outages.

However, worldwide AFN affiliates may experience more significant disruption due to their reliance on a single satellite feed of the AFN services.

This fall’s sun outages will be the most severe between Oct. 5 and 7.

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