Intellian D4 #2, the sat tv wars
I finally got the Intellian D4 sat TV system I’ve been testing to misbehave. During Saturday’s heavy rains, while trying a lot of wet gizmos on Gizmo, the D4 had trouble locking onto one of the three DirecTV satellites it tries to switch among as you change channels. Whereas the system has previously worked fine with the boat laying at my float, despite the less-than-optimal antenna location, I’m guessing that the problem was signal interference from the water in the atmosphere. Further proof: It only had trouble with 103 (aka Spaceway 1) which is not only the harder-to-get KA frequency but is also in the most distant geosynchronous orbit and hence sits at the lowest elevation with the most atmosphere between it and Camden, Maine. Otherwise, though, the D4 has been pretty much flawless…
