Paksat 1R 38E

[nelson_b]

Yes, 38.0 East in C-Band certainly provides challenges and opportunity for experimentation for UK located DX'ers.

I decided to take the Titanium Wimax LNBF out of the replica ADL linear polarity pipe and secure it directly in the feed clamp. I got increased signals pretty much all round so decided to do a quick feed/scalar pair test with the LNBF throat aperture 750mm from the centre of the dish (focal length = 755mm).

The feed/scalar pair table from the test is attached below. There looks to be a vague trend whereby the lower frequencies require a longer scalar distance along the LNBF barrel and the higher frequencies do not like so much length. The length phenomena was observed for a prime focus dish, I am not sure if it would apply to an offset focus dish.

I am still sniffing after a lock for 4023 V (92 News) and was getting 5.0 db about an hour ago. If it increases as the evening progresses I might be lucky enough to grab a lock on it.

.
View attachment 127500

Keep on trying

I.v been out most of the day so no adjustments made to my l.n.b. focus etc ...

I,v managed to take a few photos of some screens tonight though .... I,m still having to make slight adjustments to the AZ to get the best from some transponders.

 

[moonbase]

Keep on trying ...

Well, some partial success, I managed to lock the 92 News frequency on 4023 V with a signal of 5.5dB, the F15 receiver signal indicator is green, indicating a lock. However, it is constantly in and out of a lock at the moment and does not lock long enough render a picture. I noticed that you have a picture on this frequency with 5.7dB, perhaps I need that extra 0.2dB to get the picture.

What receiver are you using, the menus look like it might be a TM-5302 or TM-5502. I have both of those, I might try swapping over the receiver.

.

 

[nelson_b]

Yes

Well, some partial success, I managed to lock the 92 News frequency on 4023 V with a signal of 5.5dB, the F15 receiver signal indicator is green, indicating a lock. However, it is constantly in and out of a lock at the moment and does not lock long enough render a picture. I noticed that you have a picture on this frequency with 5.7dB, perhaps I need that extra 0.2dB to get the picture.

What receiver are you using, the menus look like it might be a TM-5302 or TM-5502. I have both of those, I might try swapping over the receiver.

.
View attachment 127508

Yes i think it will need the extra 0.2dB the pic was still jerky even at 5.7 db

My receiver is a DR HD F15 with original S/W
i tried newer software but reverted back to original.

 

[John]

... been trying to lock 4023 V for the last half hour - signal is up and down here in bonny North Notts - max at 5.5 dB but not stable enough to get lock on 6903 card .

 

[moonbase]

... been trying to lock 4023 V for the last half hour - signal is up and down here in bonny North Notts - max at 5.5 dB but not stable enough to get lock on 6903 card .

I finally managed to lock 4023 V (92 News) with enough signal level to render a picture. It is a frequency that seems to be at its strongest mid to late evening?

.

 

[John]

I finally managed to lock 4023 V (92 News) with enough signal level to render a picture. It is a frequency that seems to be at its strongest mid to late evening?

.
View attachment 127512

Tried it on three other rx's as well as the PC card but just couldn't grab that extra smidgin of signal to lock it.

 

[nelson_b]

I finally managed to lock 4023 V (92 News) with enough signal level to render a picture. It is a frequency that seems to be at its strongest mid to late evening?

.
View attachment 127512

Well done .. you got there in the end

 

[nelson_b]

Tried it on three other rx's as well as the PC card but just couldn't grab that extra smidgin of signal to lock it.

So very near ... :-(

 

[John]

So very near ... :-(

Yep, it's just evading capture Nelson. I'm about 1dB down on it this morning's scan compared to last evening's scan
Might have a bit of a mini tweek & see if it will go up a bit

 

[nelson_b]

Yep, it's just evading capture Nelson. I'm about 1dB down on it this morning's scan compared to last evening's scan
Might have a bit of a mini tweek & see if it will go up a bit

Just had a quick look prior to going out for the morning ... Locking - just - but getting frozen images only - 5.6 db

 

[moonbase]

Well done .. you got there in the end

Thanks Nelson,

There is another frequency I should be getting according to your SNR dB levels. I am getting only 3.1 dB for 3770 V, SR 7700 (24 News) whereas you are getting 8.1 dB. Quite a few of my other signal levels are just under the levels you are getting but this one is a lot below. Similarly, I am a lot below your SNR levels for the other lower frequency cluster of 3719 V, 3761 V and 3777 V.

The Titanium WiMax LNBF I am using is specified for 3700 - 4200 MHz so I should be OK? Perhaps the bottom end of the specified range is not so good for fringe signal reception where every squirt of juice needs to be sucked from the beam? I might try another LNBF for the 3700's to see if I get any better result.

 

[moonbase]

Tried it on three other rx's as well as the PC card but just couldn't grab that extra smidgin of signal to lock it.

You probably do not wish to disturb your feed arrangement after allocating a lot of time to getting it setup. However, I found with this satellite that an LNBF direct onto the dish and not in a pipe gave me better results.

 

[nelson_b]

Thanks Nelson,

There is another frequency I should be getting according to your SNR dB levels. I am getting only 3.1 dB for 3770 V, SR 7700 (24 News) whereas you are getting 8.1 dB. Quite a few of my other signal levels are just under the levels you are getting but this one is a lot below. Similarly, I am a lot below your SNR levels for the other lower frequency cluster of 3719 V, 3761 V and 3777 V.

The Titanium WiMax LNBF I am using is specified for 3700 - 4200 MHz so I should be OK? Perhaps the bottom end of the specified range is not so good for fringe signal reception where every squirt of juice needs to be sucked from the beam? I might try another LNBF for the 3700's to see if I get any better result.

This really is an odd satellite ... in the past you folks in the south have generally had a slight advantage ..

Yes trying a different l.n.b. may give you a result ? .. i intend to try other l.n.b,s for comparison to see if i still get good results in the 3700,s .. but probably not today as there is a strong cold wind here.

just looked at 3770 V, SR 7700 (24 News) and its ok for me at the moment despite the time of day ?

 

[John]

You probably do not wish to disturb your feed arrangement after allocating a lot of time to getting it setup. However, I found with this satellite that an LNBF direct onto the dish and not in a pipe gave me better results.

Yep, spot on Dave - - i have to keep remembering that i'm running a bit of a compromise feed system with the modded Prodelin Circ polorizer for motorised H/V/L/R pols and that i must be loosing a tad of signal through mis-match etc but i think i'm running at max smoke as it is now. If i get time today i will have a quick scalar ring tweak just out of curiousity

 

[nelson_b]

Thanks Nelson,

There is another frequency I should be getting according to your SNR dB levels. I am getting only 3.1 dB for 3770 V, SR 7700 (24 News) whereas you are getting 8.1 dB. Quite a few of my other signal levels are just under the levels you are getting but this one is a lot below. Similarly, I am a lot below your SNR levels for the other lower frequency cluster of 3719 V, 3761 V and 3777 V.

The Titanium WiMax LNBF I am using is specified for 3700 - 4200 MHz so I should be OK? Perhaps the bottom end of the specified range is not so good for fringe signal reception where every squirt of juice needs to be sucked from the beam? I might try another LNBF for the 3700's to see if I get any better result.

Some additional info -

The "part time" AJK Channel is currently transmitting .. so below is a signal strength pic

 

[moonbase]

...just looked at 3770 V, SR 7700 (24 News) and its ok for me at the moment despite the time of day ?

View attachment 127524

I have listed below my signal levels for the 3700's where I am way down on your levels. For most of my other signal levels I am only a little bit adrift of yours.

3719 V 0.5dB - Nelson 5.8dB
3761 V 0.1dB - Nelson 5.8dB
3770 V 1.6dB - Nelson 8.1dB

For the "92 News" frequency on 4023 V which gave the most dificulty for a lock I am on a par with you at 5.6dB (Nelson 5.7db). The reason for the huge SNR gap on frequencies in the 3700's is a mystery. I will have a sniff at that 3777 V frequency in a short while.

 

[John]

Yep, it's just evading capture Nelson. I'm about 1dB down on it this morning's scan compared to last evening's scan
Might have a bit of a mini tweek & see if it will go up a bit

... Had a mini tweek today - using the difficult '92 News' ch at 4023 V i "Think" it went up a tad when i moved the scalar ring back by just less than 1mm but that could be caused by a change in general reception conditions that coincided at the same time as me having a tweek ??.

 

[nelson_b]

Was right on the edge of this one last night ... locked briefly and scanned but would not give any pictures

But its come good tonight and given me chance to take some snapshots

I think i,v reached my limit here now ... i will try/compare with another couple of l.n.b,s that i have here. when i have the time and the weather allows it .

Off for a day on the Lake District fells tomorrow

 

[moonbase]

Another Update:

I managed to lock the Mehran TV frequency on 4104 V, SR1600 with an signal level of 6.4 dB. I think this will be the last one I can get with the Precision 2.0m dish as there are no others reasonably close to a lock that I can try for.

After a good bit of time allocated to messing around on 38.0 East I managed a total of 11 frequencies locked with pictures. I have attached below a couple of channel screen grabs from the Mehran TV, the latest one locked.

.

 

[John]

Another Update:

I managed to lock the Mehran TV frequency on 4104 V, SR1600 with an signal level of 6.4 dB. I think this will be the last one I can get with the Precision 2.0m dish as there are no others reasonably close to a lock that I can try for.

After a good bit of time allocated to messing around on 38.0 East I managed a total of 11 frequencies locked with pictures. I have attached below a couple of channel screen grabs from the Mehran TV, the latest one locked.

.

That's a pretty decent catch from that bird on the 2 mtr MB, i'm lucky to see 2/3 rd's of those up here in North Notts with the 2.2