SAORSAT - NORTH DEVON ?

[caterpillar]

Hi Gentlemen - I am in North Devon and have been trying in vain to receive Saorsat to get RTE for my dad

I have a vu+ Duo and a 1 meter solid aluminium dish set up on eutelsat 9 as primary focus, the picture quality on the main Ku signals is superb

however each time i swap out the ku for the KA LNB nothing, no signal no lock,
my location has been reported on other threads as being within the footprint and i am right on the sea near Barnstaple, and indeed someone posted they were receiving it in exeter which is further inland than me

any suggestions as to what i am doing wrong?

cheers

 

[Topper]

Never having been involved in Saorsat reception, I can only say that generally, the footprint of any satellite becomes variable on its fringes, reception can be achieved in one street and not in the next. The footprint could have been altered on-the-fly to stop exactly what you are trying to do and limit the reception area. The satellite could have drifted within its location window in orbit. No doubt others who have reception of these transmissions will have other information.

 

[ozumo]

The FEC was recently changed from 2/3 to 5/6 which requires over 2dB more signal to lock, so most likely a bigger dish will be needed.

 

[Mickha]

Did you manually configure your tuner settings correctly, in the Tuner menu, to set your LNB to KA band?

 

[Channel Hopper]

Has the interference/null patterning been removed from Ka service ?

 

[Terryl]

I think your too far outside the Ka band spot-beam for that satellite, here is a footprint map of the closest spot-beam to you.


I think you would need a very large dish to get anything off that one.

The Ku band beam is saturating your area, so that one is not a problem.

Here is the link to the footprint map, you can play with it your self.....

https://satbeams.com/footprints

 

[Adam792]

I know of someone who receives it in north west Devon (or at least did), and I'm 99% sure they're using a 1m dish. This may have been before the FEC switch though.

If you don't change the LNB settings on the receiver from universal (as for Ku band), you need to input the frequency as 10757 (instead of 20193) - with the Saorsat Ka Band LNB 20193 gets downconverted to 1007MHz which is the same as what 10757 gets downconverted to with a univeral LNB - the receiver sees them in the same place. All changing the LNB type in the receiver does is map the downconverted frequencies back to their original values based on the local oscillator frequency of the LNB, for ease of tuning!

 

[Terryl]

With the Ka band beam that far away from his location he would need a 4 meter dish or larger to get anything off that spot-beam.

The Ka band beams are much tighter and harder to receive outside of the foot print then a Ku band beam.

 

[Analoguesat]

I think your too far outside the Ka band spot-beam for that satellite, here is a footprint map of the closest spot-beam to you.

View attachment 138441
I think you would need a very large dish to get anything off that one.

The Ku band beam is saturating your area, so that one is not a problem.

Here is the link to the footprint map, you can play with it your self.....

https://satbeams.com/footprints

He is wanting the Irish spotbeam that carries the RTE programming. That one should be recivable in north Devon without too many problems.

 

[EnoSat]

SAORSAT uses beam 24 no 34 , theoretical level - 60 dBW (30 cm)

 

[Adam792]

I think your too far outside the Ka band spot-beam for that satellite, here is a footprint map of the closest spot-beam to you.

View attachment 138441
I think you would need a very large dish to get anything off that one.

The Ku band beam is saturating your area, so that one is not a problem.

Here is the link to the footprint map, you can play with it your self.....

https://satbeams.com/footprints

Not sure I've ever seen the supposed footprints of Ka-Sat the same on two websites before.

The one that would closest match the Irish spotbeam in use for RTÉ/Saorsat on Satbeams would be spot 24 as shown on Satbeams, but I think the actual beam is shifted more to the north west than shown on there, as well as being at a different angle, centred over most of Ireland rather than just the Sunny South East!

Also, the major problem with Ka-Sat is frequency re-use rather than a weak signal, making its coverage interference limited. It's impossible to receive RTÉ at all any further east than parts of Wales and the South West peninsular of England because of the beam covering the north east of France using the same frequencies, and that being the closer of the two in those locations. The same applies further north as one of the beams covering eastern Scotland also does this as far as I know.

 

[Fisty McB]

One issue is that the "published" footprints of the specific Ka-Band spot beam that Saorsat broadcasts on has to my knowledge never been issued by either Eutelsat of Saorsat/2RN, therefore what actual dish size is needed in certain locations only seems to be available via local knowledge.

I have a Saorsat-compatible Ka-Band LNB that I use the odd time for testing ATM and this time last year it was working fine on an offset position on an 80cm dish pointed at 13E here in County Tyrone, however this was before the most recent parameter changes which included the change in the FEC rate so I'm not sure how good it is now until I get it out again and measure it.

 

[Analoguesat]

FM Vipersan had a damn good go at Saorsat a few years ago in Manchester. No success whatsoever even with his array of dishes & equipment - the Scotland beam on the same frequency drowned anything out.

ISTR @Llew had a signal on one occasion in East Anglia but that was considered to be a switching error that had put Saorsat onto the eastern England beam

 

[Llew]

Still checking

Saorsat received way off footprint

Is it some freak of Ka reception? Oddly, I'm getting the RTE TP's in East Anglia with my Hughes LNB on a Triax TD88 :eek: Or is this supposed to be impossible in my neck of the woods? I wasn't having much luck with the feedhorn that came with the LNB, so I swapped it with the broken Inverto's Ka...

www.satellites.co.uk

 

[caterpillar]

Thanks Gents
Had another mess around today and Successfully managed to get a lock using theses settings, my Father is really happy thanks

As I mentioned I am Just south of Bideford Devon, using a 1 meter solid dish

many thanks for all your help
Cheers

 

[caterpillar]

Thanks Gents
Had another mess around today and Successfully managed to get a lock using theses settings, my Father is really happy thanks

As I mentioned I am Just south of Bideford Devon, using a 1 meter solid dish

many thanks for all your help
Cheers

SAORSAT uses beam 24 no 34 , theoretical level - 60 dBW (30 cm)

View attachment 138453

Thanks Enosat
These figures in the picture below actually worked for me
Cheers.

 

[caterpillar]

With the Ka band beam that far away from his location he would need a 4 meter dish or larger to get anything off that spot-beam.

The Ka band beams are much tighter and harder to receive outside of the foot print then a Ku band beam.

It’s worked on a 1m solid dish Teryl
I think this footprint may be more representative

 

[Analoguesat]

Nice one - thanks for letting us know - confirmed reports are always useful .

Be aware that at these frequencies the signal may well be lost in heavy rain, the fec 5/6 signal is nowhere near as robust as it would have been when it was fec 2/3

 

[Channel Hopper]

More importantly, is your father happy with the RTE programme content ?

 

[caterpillar]

With the Ka band beam that far away from his location he would need a 4 meter dish or larger to get anything off that spot-beam.

The Ka band beams are much tighter and harder to receive outside of the foot print then a Ku band beam.

It’s worked on a 1m solid dish Teryl
I think this footprint may be more representative

More importantly, is your father happy with the RTE programme content ?

Thanks hopper
Well yes, it’s only bits and pieces like the GAA sports, news and stuff,
I know it’s not all that, but if it makes him happy to have it
Cheers