News from a 28e revenant :O)

[4wd]

Hello all, long time no post. Had a break in my sat hobby (real life + internet makes it's inroads).

Today got the old 28e dish up in south France, after years without. Glad to see I had not forgotten my humble skills in finding sats and adjusting things. The quick setup gave HDs over 10dB, ain't bad at all down here in the mountains\woodland.

Fine tuning to do (will get the phone app \ wifi going). 'Antique' vu+, dish, lnb (and digged down in ground long cabling) all working without a glitch after long storage.

Very satisfying to make things work again, and getting those good old channels back.

 

[4wd]

So, the new HD world. What was fine a few years ago does no longer apply. The ITV's seems out of range. BBC's may just survive, the others are pure luck here and there. Will see the coming weeks, season\daytime signal behaviour.
It's back to dish mm finetuning, testing lnb's for some 0.1 more db etc. ....which paints a picture of reality: 130x140 dish no longer up to the job.

 

[4wd]

Even tried improving things by consulting the local dish alignment expert.

 

[Manikm909]

looks like you need a 1.8m mate

 

[4wd]

Impressions after a period of use, yes, levels generally down from what I would get earlier years. But everything "still there" to grab given the right setup. Current 130 dish have seen reception of all channels, in certain periods \ weather, the difficult ones just a few dB's short from 24\24. All sd's are ok, hd's stable enough on 2e. = lots of good tv available.

Before thinking of dish area\quality (Gibertini 150 ?), big question is: are we in a low or high level yearly period\cycle?
Anyone with some south France info & remarks ? Thanks.

 

[danny10]

The satellite signal is generally weakest at the summer solstice level.

 

[rodscha]

yes,weakest reception now.
Before,the BBC had an easy-to-catch SD bunch,with all channels including radio on a single TP.
That avoided losing them in summer. Alas,it's fallen victim to Conservative "candle-butt" saving ,so it s gone. No more Wimbledon.
ITV still has SD ,so you ll get Ascot instead. And the ads.

 

[4wd]

So low levels now, gives good hope for a potential reliable future with a somewhat larger dish.
Won't touch anything for a while and see how it evolves.

As for now, just getting most HD's,, with absolutely zero headroom for weather or miniscule level changes.
Cutoff (ref dB's shown on vu+ solo2):
BBC's 7.8 dB, am getting a reliable 8 to 10, Wimbledon looks within grasp.
ITV's 6.5 dB, am getting a few of them randomly over 7 dB.

 

[wards287]

I've the same dish as 4wd looking at the picture and live in the Var. Its good for nearly all the year but June is the worst reception each year.
I have an Arris 4K box (and Humax boxes as well) and genearally unless high air polution or heavy rain, no ITV Meridian HD (use111) but otherwise fine all year.
At the moment no BBC HD, ITV HD Ch4 HD but this is usual now so use VPN backup.
I have found that LNB type and scew is critical. I have used Opticum for many years and they put up with the summer heat well.

 

[rodscha]

So low levels now, gives good hope for a potential reliable future with a somewhat larger dish.
Won't touch anything for a while and see how it evolves.

As for now, just getting most HD's,, with absolutely zero headroom for weather or miniscule level changes.
Cutoff (ref dB's shown on vu+ solo2):
BBC's 7.8 dB, am getting a reliable 8 to 10, Wimbledon looks within grasp.
ITV's 6.5 dB, am getting a few of them randomly over 7 dB.

do you get bbc 3 & 4 evenings?
my question is,why do I get the channel 5 bouquet ,including Channel 5 HD all the time,and have huge variations with BBC 3 & 4?
Is the signal strength so strong with Channel 5?So weak with BBC 3&4?
or am I wrongly pointed? My last pointing was on the BBC's SD bouquet,which is now gone.

 

[4wd]

do you get bbc 3 & 4 evenings?
my question is,why do I get the channel 5 bouquet ,including Channel 5 HD all the time,and have huge variations with BBC 3 & 4?

What I can say from my observations: different FEC + 2e,f,g different postions & signal strength.

So same here, 5 HD (2f fec 2\3) much better than the BBC HD's (2e fec 3\4) (may improve 2e with some mm dish adjustments).

BBC's 1\2\3\4 2e just above lock & ok unless rain. The BBC's on 11023 H 2g usually out of range, as 2g particularly weak in my area. Am approx 40km north of Cannes.

For us in the fringe world: FEC 2\3 = good, 5\6 = bad.

Forward Error Correction (FEC) – Astra 2

Forward Error Correction (FEC) is a technique used for controlling errors in data transmission, FEC is accomplished by adding redundancy to the transmitted information using a predetermined algorithm.

www.astra2sat.com

Home - FlySat Satellite Chart

Follow the digital satellite frequencies on our daily updated site.

www.flysat.com

 

[4wd]

Now got the 19.2 xtra lnb back in action, a good 12 to 14 dB after fast 'adjustments' > bending it here and there :O)
One of those quick temporary experiments (the mount) that worked too well = stayed forever.

 

[mike1]

Maybe try to get an older inverto black ultra lnb from ebay? Maybe this could help

 

[superpascu2]

do you get bbc 3 & 4 evenings?
my question is,why do I get the channel 5 bouquet ,including Channel 5 HD all the time,and have huge variations with BBC 3 & 4?
Is the signal strength so strong with Channel 5?So weak with BBC 3&4?
or am I wrongly pointed? My last pointing was on the BBC's SD bouquet,which is now gone.

BBC and ITV 8PSK, that's the problem!

Same dish as yours in Benidorm. Everything fine during the year but in June we struggle at certain times as for example around 7.30pm -08.30 pm where BBC 1 and 2 break up a bit.

If I were you I wouldn't go for a larger dish yet. Try other lnb's and fine tuning, you have the skills, and enjoy!

If you have a famaval dish I wouldn't go for an inverto black ultra, I had a very poor performance. I can't remember the lnb I am using at the moment but if you look in my threads you will find it.

 

[rodscha]

BBC and ITV 8PSK, that's the problem!

Same dish as yours in Benidorm. Everything fine during the year but in June we struggle at certain times as for example around 7.30pm -08.30 pm where BBC 1 and 2 break up a bit.

If I were you I wouldn't go for a larger dish yet. Try other lnb's and fine tuning, you have the skills, and enjoy!

If you have a famaval dish I wouldn't go for an inverto black ultra, I had a very poor performance. I can't remember the lnb I am using at the moment but if you look in my threads you will find it.

I have a Schwaiger LNB
Pb is I don t know the brand or make of my 120cms,I bought it from 2Galli 6 years ago

 

[4wd]

Pb is I don t know the brand or make of my 120cms,I bought it from 2Galli 6 years ago

Got the 130 version (130x140), also from 2galli. I think it goes under the brand name Famaval.

 

[4wd]

If I were you I wouldn't go for a larger dish yet. Try other lnb's and fine tuning, you have the skills, and enjoy!

That's my position. Got a bunch of lnb's, always ending up using a 20 years old quad for 28e. & going out to nudge dish \ lnb a few mm's now and then to get the feel of the situation. And waiting to see how sat strength goes.

 

[4wd]

The Famaval, what I did was to detach the bottom lnb arm bolt and and made a sliding arrangemant, thus abling finetuning the lnb's aiming direction vs dish hotspot. With some good results in my case. Made some posts and pictures about that long ago.

 

[rodscha]

very interesting idea!! how do you stick the bottom lnb arm after fine tuning?

 

[rodscha]

Got the 130 version (130x140), also from 2galli. I think it goes under the brand name Famaval.

i have the same ,called an AC 130 by 2Galli