"Pete Zaitcev" wrote in message
news
[...]
Solstices only knock communication off for several minutes a day,
when the Sun is directly behind the satellite. It is a well known
effect.

By the way, surely you and the others mean equinoxes, not solstices? During
a solstice, the sun is at its greatest deflection from the equator (and thus
a geostationary satellite), while during an equinox, the sun is directly
over the equator.

Not that it matters in the context of this discussion, since the downtime
still is present, regardless of what time during the year it happens.

Pete