Intelsat 20 68.5°E

[nelson_b]

Hi - I did try with 1.2 a few months back - but only got occasional lock not a great deal better than when i tried with 90 .c.m. ... i have a 1.8 in a position to try again ... but currently set up for C band ..

 

[moonbase]

Hi - I did try with 1.2 a few months back - but only got occasional lock not a great deal better than when i tried with 90 .c.m. ... i have a 1.8 in a position to try again ... but currently set up for C band ..

@nelson_b

Have you tried to get any C band from 68.5E with the 1.8m?

For a UK dxer it's not an easy catch in C band. The 8PSK modulated frequencies with FEC of 3/4 or greater in C band from 68.5E are the crown jewels in terms of signal captures from a UK located dish. Those signals are the domain of the extreme fringe men and require a big dish. I am not sure if anyone on the forum who is UK based has achieved a stable lock from 68.5E in c band for 8PSK signals with FEC of 3/4 or greater, I may be wrong on that point though?

 

[nelson_b]

@nelson_b

Have you tried to get any C band from 68.5E with the 1.8m?

For a UK dxer it's not an easy catch in C band. The 8PSK modulated frequencies with FEC of 3/4 or greater in C band from 68.5E are the crown jewels in terms of signal captures from a UK located dish. Those signals are the domain of the extreme fringe men and require a big dish. I am not sure if anyone on the forum who is UK based has achieved a stable lock from 68.5E in c band for 8PSK signals with FEC of 3/4 or greater, I may be wrong on that point though?

Hi -
Had a go about 10 days or so ago .. using a fixed 1.8 channel master offset , very limited results though ... no better than with the old 1.8 Alcoa prime focus a few years ago ... very old thread here ... 68.5 East C band result - SatsUK

!.8 c.m. is way too small .. and at 2.4 elevation ,on that sat from here the fading effect is chronic
i will post back here tonight with a list of the transponders i locked with the offset .. think there were 8 or so almost all encrypted - l.o.l.
regards.

 

[moonbase]

...!.8 c.m. is way too small .. and at 2.4 elevation ,on that sat from here the fading effect is chronic

Yes, there are a few difficult requirements to get the C band signals from 68.5E from a UK located dish. The need of getting a clear line of sight to the satellite with a dish large enough to receive the C band signals is a big task, especially for the 8PSK signals with FEC of 3/4 or greater.

When I had remote control access using Team Viewer and EBS Pro to a Prodelin 3.8m dish fixed on 68.5E I did manage to get around 6.5db for the 8PSK/3/4 signals but it was not enough to achieve a lock. In theory, the dish should have been capable of locking the signals but there were alignment issues with the LNB and it was not an easy job to adjust it.

 

[aceb]

Out of reach for me on the 1.8, can just about manage some lumps and bumps in the noise floor at 66E. If we'd moved next door there's a perfect spot on a garage roof that does have good LOS and no, I won't be asking them

 

[nelson_b]

Out of reach for me on the 1.8, can just about manage some lumps and bumps in the noise floor at 66E. If we'd moved next door there's a perfect spot on a garage roof that does have good LOS and no, I won't be asking them

Pity .. you will have a much better elevation figure down at your location .. so much less fading effect.

@moonbase
My locked transponder list is below ... most locks were only quite brief But long enough to scan channels (mostly encrypted).. and then faded ... taking sometimes a couple of minutes or more to return to lock. The c.m. 1.8 is aimed through a gap between buildings . same spot that i setup the Alcoa 1.8 in the past - and i,m losing a small percentage of signal at the bottom left the dish from a rather thick gatepost. a few metres from the dish . Only one transponder held constant .. (The encrypted sky news one - l.o.l. )

3996 V
4055 V
4072 V
3975 H
3994 H 8PSK
4065 H
4104 H 8PSK
4128 H 8PSK
4182 H
4196 H .... constant lock

 

[moonbase]

4104 H 8PSK

The 4104 H frequency is listed as having FEC of 3/4, it is a major achievement to get even an unstable lock on that with a 1.8m dish, that is extreme fringe reception at its best.

 

[nelson_b]

The 4104 H frequency is listed as having FEC of 3/4, it is a major achievement to get even an unstable lock on that with a 1.8m dish, that is extreme fringe reception at its best.

It was a very good weather day ... I will be having another try at some point ..

 

[Satfaca]

Interesting feed of an interesting sport, never seen it before ... Netball.

 

[DonSE2]

Does anyone have any signal readings they can share? I relocated my dish onto the roof in summer. I managed to get a couple of TPs but very low signal. I suspected it was a tree that was the problem rather than a distant building, now the leaves has fallen the signal is much better but i'm still wondering how good the signal is compared to what it would be with a clear line of sight. I could raise the dish up 20cm to potentially give me more clearance.

On 12562 H 30000 i'm getting 8.5-9db on my 1.1 Triax with a TM5402

Any readings would be good

 

[John]

Line of sight here, 17 miles North of Nottingham - CM 1.2, cheap pll lnbf. - fluctuation on signal due to very low elevation of satellite.
Various readings from four sources
Analyser = 12dB max.
EBSPro PC card = 10.7dB max.
TM5402 Mk4 = 78% max.
GTCombo = 74% max.

 

[DonSE2]

Thanks, i'm probably not far off full signal based on that then

 

[moonbase]

Line of sight here, 17 miles North of Nottingham - CM 1.2, cheap pll lnbf. - fluctuation on signal due to very low elevation of satellite.
Various readings from four sources
Analyser = 12dB max.
EBSPro PC card = 10.7dB max.
TM5402 Mk4 = 78% max.
GTCombo = 74% max.

@John

Interesting, your Promax is reading 1.3db higher than your TBS card.
Have you put this to the test to see if the Promax can create a picture on an FTA signal with Promax above the theoretical lock level and the the TBS card is below the lock level and unable to send a picture to VLC?

A candidate would be an 8PSK signal with FEC of 3/4 (7.9 dB for a lock).
Alternatively, 8PSK with FEC of 5/6 (9.4 dB for a lock).

It might be possible to nudge the dish slightly off a satellite to diminish the signal levels to create the scenario for observation


Edit:
Just thought, where in EBS Pro are you reading the signal level from?
Sometimes the tabular scan table yields lower dB readings than the Signal Analyser tool. The Signal Analyser tool seems more reliable as it is not a fractional pass over the frequency.

 

[John]

@John

Interesting, your Promax is reading 1.3db higher than your TBS card.
Have you put this to the test to see if the Promax can create a picture on an FTA signal with Promax above the theoretical lock level and the the TBS card is below the lock level and unable to send a picture to VLC?

A candidate would be an 8PSK signal with FEC of 3/4 (7.9 dB for a lock).
Alternatively, 8PSK with FEC of 5/6 (9.4 dB for a lock).

It might be possible to nudge the dish slightly off a satellite to diminish the signal levels to create the scenario for observation


Edit:
Just thought, where in EBS Pro are you reading the signal level from?
Sometimes the tabular scan table yields lower dB readings than the Signal Analyser tool. The Signal Analyser tool seems more reliable as it is not a fractional pass over the frequency.

I tend to believe that the Pro analyser, when following their guidance instruction for obtaining an accurate reading of various parameters of the received signal, is the one to be the most accurate - the others not so.
I don't get too bothered about the accuracy of dB readings or % readings off anything else really -

 

[DonSE2]

Line of sight here, 17 miles North of Nottingham - CM 1.2, cheap pll lnbf. - fluctuation on signal due to very low elevation of satellite.
Various readings from four sources
Analyser = 12dB max.
EBSPro PC card = 10.7dB max.
TM5402 Mk4 = 78% max.
GTCombo = 74% max.

I've been waiting for a feed to pop up to see if I could tune it and just noticed the SA - India cricket feed is on this sat at 12615 H 7200 Are you able to pick it up (assuming it's on the Europe beam)?

 

[John]

I've been waiting for a feed to pop up to see if I could tune it and just noticed the SA - India cricket feed is on this sat at 12615 H 7200 Are you able to pick it up (assuming it's on the Europe beam)?

I'm pretty sure iv'e seen that frequency on 68.5 East before - i'll check it out later

 

[DonSE2]

I'm pretty sure iv'e seen that frequency on 68.5 East before - i'll check it out later

Thanks, I don't think it will be active again until tomorrow morning

 

[John]

Thanks, I don't think it will be active again until tomorrow morning

Iv'e got 12.615 H showing on the meter at around 6dB and fluctuating but just not quite enough to get a lock on the receiver. - Channel Master 1.2mtr-cheap pll lnbf-North Nottinghamshire.
I'll keep an eye on it.

 

[satesco]

12606 H,7200,34, 8PSK-Afrika vs Pakistan Ku_feed,
12633 V,16163,5/6,S2-Two matches in the BTV package