Costa Blanca, 2E/2F, seasonal signal fluctuation.

[joddle]

I had assumed the uplinks would be as steady as a rock - but that could be an explanation I suppose - never ever before had an issue with BBC even in the 2D days apart from when there are gigantic black thunderclouds overhead and its tipping with rain - anyway what's the "missing bouquet" message all about? - never heard of or seen it before.

 

[joddle]

Well something going on tonight as well - Watching BBC1 and BBC2 and signal bouncing from 73% t0 zero and and back again rapidly - time 2035 local spanish time. Complete breakup on both channels for several minutes. Now all back to normal again..... Is something up there getting in the way!!!!

 

[Archive4]

Installed 2nd hand 1.4 Fam in Dream Hills earlier. It came with an old style Inverto quad, it was "imported" from La Manga where apparently they don´t work. Got good signals on most txps but 10773 was low. Changed quad for BU single from LH110 which I took down and received 10773 at 8.9dB, 10818 at 9.7dB. Time approx 13:28:33

1.4 Fam with the correct LNB will work OK in Torrevieja area

 

[Huevos]

I would like to know the average dB of each transponder across the whole testing period.

Here are the averages for all transponders (taken every 10 minutes between 18/02/2014 and 18/06/2014, 1.1m dish, 38.5N, 0.5W, including zero readouts where a transponder might have gone offline due to rain, etc).

10714     10729     10744     10758     10773     10788     10803     10817     10832     10847     10862     10876     10891     10906     10921     10964     10994     11023     11053     11067     11097     11126
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
8.71      8.60      8.82      8.82      8.50      8.78      8.52      8.96      8.48      8.84      7.56      9.06      8.61      9.27      8.53      8.95      8.96      9.15      9.27      8.99      9.15      9.22

 

[terryashbyash]

Not quite sure why you would want an average signal(yes I know you were asked) but a graph showing highs and lows gives you more of an idea how much you need to improve signal level and some idea of which dish to install.
Currently no driving license due to delays on exchange for spanish one so loss of 10818V( roll on winter) again a pain as stuck at home. Stocked up with beer before license expiry and lidl a 10 min walk so I might lose a few of the pounds I put on drinking

Perhaps DeadHorse800 meant a daily average, just a thought.

 

[joddle]

Just thought I would check some levels again today at 17:00 local time here in Valencia. Most of the freesat channels are coming in at 73% or 75% on my litle Manhatten HD box. However, what is noticable that the channel 4 group (Ch4 More4 Film4 etc) are way way down on SS - at about 65% - and I have never seen such low readings in this area before. Why such a marked difference? as normally everything hovers around the 75% SS mark on this box and around the 95-100% mark on my Humax Foxssat HD (but I can't use that at the moment as I am waiting for the power supply to be re-capped!!)

 

[Pride Of Cucamonga]

Here are the averages for all transponders (taken every 10 minutes between 18/02/2014 and 18/06/2014, 1.1m dish, 38.5N, 0.5W, including zero readouts where a transponder might have gone offline due to rain, etc).

10714     10729     10744     10758     10773     10788     10803     10817     10832     10847     10862     10876     10891     10906     10921     10964     10994     11023     11053     11067     11097     11126
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
8.71      8.60      8.82      8.82      8.50      8.78      8.52      8.96      8.48      8.84      7.56      9.06      8.61      9.27      8.53      8.95      8.96      9.15      9.27      8.99      9.15      9.22

Perfect, many thanks. Interesting the degree of variation between transponders, no obvious pattern, but I guess the zero readings exaggerate the deviation for the weakest channels.

much appreciated!

 

[Pride Of Cucamonga]

Not quite sure why you would want an average signal(yes I know you were asked) but a graph showing highs and lows gives you more of an idea how much you need to improve signal level and some idea of which dish to install.
Currently no driving license due to delays on exchange for spanish one so loss of 10818V( roll on winter) again a pain as stuck at home. Stocked up with beer before license expiry and lidl a 10 min walk so I might lose a few of the pounds I put on drinking

Perhaps DeadHorse800 meant a daily average, just a thought.

No, it's jsut what i wanted. A total average shows which are the best transponders to use where regional alternatives of BBC1 etc are available.

 

[Huevos]

And from what i saw on the news there wss very little interedt in a new king.

 

[joddle]

Tonight we had a thunderstorm - dark black skies - heavy rain - perfect for seeing how well/badly my little Manhattne receiver would cope.

The results were weird - a few days ago I reported the the channel four group was way down on the rest of the freesat services but tonight it had hardly changed showing 63% SS and 100% SQ which is normal for this group - BUT the others had suffered - BBC1 HD and ITV were downto under 60% on SS whereas they had always been around 75% ever since I got the Manhatten box. However also showing was the SQ which was down in the mid 80s% region. Odd...!!!

 

[Nagusia]

Just finished a long planned project to fix a feedhorn to an IBU single. Here is a comparison to an Opticum twin which according to my observations has a similar performance to the standard IBU. The reading were made 45 minutes apart so maybe the conditions had changed because I didn't see much difference using the metre up on the roof. Maybe the IBU pumps out more signal along the 20 m cable to the receiver where I made the readings.

16:22 (Opticum)
10714,H,21996,56,1 ;-70 dBm, 6.0 dB
10773,H,21997,56,1 ;-67 dBm, 4.7 dB
10803,H,21997,56,1 ;-67 dBm, 4.7 dB
10832,H,21996,56,1 ;-67 dBm, 4.7 dB

10921,H,21997,56,1 ;-64 dBm, 4.7 dB
10964,H,21996,56,1 ;-61 dBm, 7.7 dB
10994,H,21996,56,1 ;-63 dBm, 7.7 dB
11023,H,22996,23,2 ;-63 dBm, 6.9 dB
11053,H,21996,56,1 ;-67 dBm, 7.7 dB
11068,V,22996,23,2 ;-70 dBm, 4.7 dB
10729,V,22000,56,1 ;-70 dBm, 6.0 dB
10788,V,21997,56,1 ;-70 dBm, 6.0 dB
10818,V,21997,56,1 ;-69 dBm, 6.0 dB
10877,V,21996,56,1 ;-68 dBm, 4.7 dB
10906,V,21996,56,1 ;-68 dBm, 6.0 dB
11097,V,22996,23,2 ;-73 dBm, 4.7 dB
11127,V,21996,56,1 ;-76 dBm, 6.9 dB

17.05 (IBU)
10714,H,21996,56,1 ;-65 dBm, 6.0 dB
10773,H,21997,56,1 ;-63 dBm, 6.0 dB
10802,H,21997,56,1 ;-63 dBm, 6.0 dB
10832,H,21996,56,1 ;-62 dBm, 6.0 dB
10891,H,21996,56,1 ;-59 dBm, 6.0 dB
10920,H,21996,56,1 ;-59 dBm, 4.7 dB
10964,H,21996,56,1 ;-59 dBm, 7.7 dB
10993,H,21997,56,1 ;-59 dBm, 8.4 dB
11023,H,22996,23,2 ;-61 dBm, 7.7 dB
11052,H,21996,56,1 ;-64 dBm, 7.7 dB
10728,V,22000,56,1 ;-63 dBm, 6.0 dB
10787,V,21997,56,1 ;-63 dBm, 6.9 dB
10817,V,21997,56,1 ;-62 dBm, 6.0 dB
10876,V,21997,56,1 ;-60 dBm, 6.0 dB
10905,V,21997,56,1 ;-60 dBm, 6.0 dB
11067,V,22996,23,2 ;-64 dBm, 4.7 dB
11096,V,22996,23,2 ;-65 dBm, 6.0 dB
11126,V,21996,56,1 ;-69 dBm, 6.9 dB

The attached pix show the construction process and the final result in place. Next time round it will be easier - you learn from your mistakes after all. I'm not sure how crucial the length of the tube going down to the sensor from the feedhorn is - you don't have much control over that. I have installed a bit of aluminium pipe to make sure the diametre is constant the whole length. (Thanks to Steve for the tips on how to do this.)

The smaller dish is pointed at Intelsat 907 which I installed due to frustration with the low signal on 2E/F and to make sure I could watch the footy in HD (actually I'm not that bothered about that but I don't like it when scheduled recordings don't work).

 

[Huevos]

A bit of rain margin on 10773H (BBC2 England).

 

[wolzy67]

A bit of rain margin on 10773H (BBC2 England).

View attachment 66337

Huevos what size dish is that?

 

[Huevos]

2.4m in the north Costa Blanca. 1.1m works fine in this area with plenty in reserve. Reading would be higher with the latest Famaval feedhorn and Invacom LNB.

 

[Huevos]

Here is the daily trend graph for the last week of June... and all previous months for comparison. June is a minor recovery compared to the previous month.

June,


May,


April,


March,


February,

 

[Archive4]

Here is the daily trend graph for the last week of June... and all previous months for comparison. June is a minor recovery compared to the previous month.

That backs up what I noticed yesterday while installing a new 1.4 Famaval in Quesada. At approx. 13:30 the S1 was reading 9.2dbB on peak of measurement on 10773H, the highest it has been for some time. One I installed in early June was only 8.4db on peak.

Is the fact we are passed the longest day significant, or just a coincidence?

 

[Huevos]

Not sure about longest day theory...

One thing is for sure though, something happened between March and April, because February and March follow one curve and April, May and June follow another one, irrespective of power.

 

[Huevos]

Ok, I've tried to narrow down the change. It's not a gentle evolution, but a sudden change over a few of days, centred on 11 April 2014. Most noticeable thing is the sudden increase in power that happened around 7-8am is no longer there and now takes place over several hours.

08 April 2014


10 April 2014


12 April 2014


14 April 2014

 

[Archive4]

Not sure about longest day theory...

I know I only a beginner in sat theory, but figured the closer to the sun the more chance of solar interference. Now we are passed the summer equinox the solar interference should reduce, little by little?

This doesn´t explain fully the jump from 8.4 to 9.2 c/n on 10773H , part may be to exact location and lnb variance. Either way the signal is better than a couple of weeks ago.

 

[PaulR]

The longest day and earth's closest approach to the sun don't exactly coincide. Longest day is June 21st and closest approach, I believe, was sometime this week just gone.

Although, having said that, I'm not sure that either have a direct effect on the subject!