questions about jamming satellite TV signals -- sister's business target of jamming

Possible, but far from trivial, unless the jammer has access to the feed cable.

Not after, but comparison with signal from a signal being received on a dish further away should identify any problem local to a particular dish

You need to identify the source and nature of the interference, If it really is an interfering signal being directed at the dish then relocating and/or shielding the dish would probably be feasible, but you do need to know what you're dealing with.

Should not be impossible but needs special knowledge and the antenna ponted your way will look suspicious. Look for a dish with the head higher, not lower, than the dish.

2) is there any way to detect the jamming while it's

I suppose that a field strength meter shoudl show an increase because of the extra signal. These are inexpensive.

and 3) is there any way to shield a satellite dish

Probably only moving it. Maybe move it out of the way and tunnel the signal in over the good old internet (as a backup channel only perhaps)?

Could be as simple as running a spark gap nearby.

If the dish is pointing nominally upwards you could build a "fence" of hardware cloth around it.

Is your sister's system "legal". If not it could be a contraband decoding card is inadequate to handling the encryption during "key sporting events".

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.

I didn't think there were any illegal satellite cards. Sky is as yet un-cracked.

I'm only nominally informed about such things, why waste any effort on receiving trash TV, but I know for certain that Dish Network has been cracked.

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.

I don't often ask for this type of information, but anything to stop lining Murdock's pocket gets my vote.

Are you sure it wasn't just a pay per view event? What did the screen look like?

A wet blanket over the dish might be enough to mess up the signal. With our old system a well positioned lawn sprinkler would have been enough to cause some noise.

I don't know anything directly, but I've seen a card programmer driven by a PC.

...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | |

| 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

I have seen these years ago, on the series 9 cards. But 10 onwards has never been broken, at least not publicly.