Signs of Life from Amos 5

[Vipersan]

Hi friends ..
Amos 5 at 17 East has become more active lately ..
A couple of the channels are borderline and may lock if the rain over Manchester ever stops ..but even with the rain it was possible to lock these 2 tansponders

4145 R
A Plus
DVB-S2
MPEG-2
2400-3/4
8PSK

and ....


4148 R

Optima Sports
DVB-S2
MPEG-2
2400-3/4
8PSK


Here are the pics:-

rgds
VS

appologies for sending anyone in the wrong direction ..
17 west should have been 17 East ..now corrected..
;)

 

[Vipersan]

Odd things with this mux over the last few days ..
When it is good it is very very good ...but when it is bad it is horrid..
Nelson was at mine the other day and witnessed this first hand ..
Lock can be achieved at a very respectable 6 to 6.5 db ..which can last anything from 30 seconds to a few minutes ..
Then the signal simply drops dramatically often to less than 2 db ...only to recover a short while later..
Monitoring the CNN mux on the same sat gives no clues ...as this one stays solidly locked around 6.5 db ..
Can anyone confirm these fluctuations ...certainly they are odd ..and weren't present when the mux first fired up on NSS7..
rgds
VS

 

[aceb]

I was looking at these last night Evan, Optima was locked fine although I didn't measure it in CS, A plus however was weaker, locked OK but refused every attempt to get parameters from it. Dish is round on 63W atm but as soon as I'm done I'll take another look.

 

[Vipersan]

Hi Paul ..
What I typed does apply to the A+ channel on 17 East ..but long after I sent this message ..I realised I had mixed up the 2 satellites ..
..put it down to a senior moment ....or the fact that I'm halfway through doing my tax return for 2011 2012 ..
The sat I was actually referring to was 20 West ...and the mux in question was the 3913 R
tp EHR5 Trinity Broadcasting
DVB-S 8950-3/4
mux ....
My Bad ..
;)
although 4145 R



A Plus
DVB-S2
MPEG-2
2400-3/4
8PSK
on 17 East
..is displaying the same symptoms ..
All or nothing ..
Can you check Trinity for me ?
rgds
VS

 

[aceb]

I've been watching 3913R on 20w for fifteen minutes and it's got a slight amount of slow fading on it but only in the range 6.5-7.2dB. FWIW CS reports it as -37.9dBw and the BER is between 0.00018 and 0.008. I've not noticed any sudden changes in level so far.

 

[Vipersan]

I've been watching 3913R on 20w for fifteen minutes and it's got a slight amount of slow fading on it but only in the range 6.5-7.2dB. FWIW CS reports it as -37.9dBw and the BER is between 0.00018 and 0.008. I've not noticed any sudden changes in level so far.

Thanks Paul ..
I just got in so will swing the dish over and watch it myself for 30 mins or so ..
Maybe its a weather thing ...or possibly I'm very close to the footprint fringe ..
other possibilities are ..thet fixed it ..or local interference..
rgds
VS

 

[Vipersan]

...Well ...its most odd the results I'm seeing ..
Thinking it might be the F15 ...I switched to the Skybox F3 ...and watched the signal meter ..
Signal Intensity is constant at 90% ....
Signal Quality fluctuates a little 55% to 60 % ...but the picture and sound constantly come and go..
Which would be more than adequate I think ..
The F15 which is more sensitive completly loses lock ..though the F3 maintains it ..
Both receivers suffer loss of picture and sound erraticly..
I'm now thinking it might be local interference ...
..some fffing wireless broadband connection or some such ..
Which I might have expected at low elevation ...but at 20 west the dish is more or less pointing skywards..???
Annoying and confusing ..but one I can't explain.
rgds
VS

 

[Vipersan]

Ok ...fixed it ...but not by any means I'm happy with ..
If I remove the T plate ...and fit either the DOS plate ..or indeed ..a small slice of the green commercial depolarising plate ..the signal is still around 6.5 db ..and the F15 remains locked ..the pictures and sound both remain constant.
My conclusion is fwiw ..Wireless interference..
With the T plate fitted ..depolarisation takes place effectively outside the lnb throat ...and although dxing gain suffers as a result .. Christinas directional ONLY properties come into play with less external influences ..
I believe the Wireless interference is So strong ..that it doesn't need a dish to collect it ..and thus is being picked up laterally by the T plate and funnelled inside the lnb waveguide.
Its as good a theory as any ..and if you think about it ...makes perfect sense..
So no DXing at or around this specific Cband frequency using a T plate..
More reasons to climb up and down the blaady ladders ..but at least I'm now _aware_ of the problem.
rgds
VS
Solution ..._dumb down at the head end_
Grrrrrrrrrr

If nothing else it shows what an electronically 'noisey' world we now live in...

 

[Vipersan]

Tricky one this ..but perseverence won ..
3794 R
SR 2848
(feeds)
DVB-S

Intermittent at best ..but once the F15 got a grip ..there are periods of lock ..before its lost again..
rgds
VS

 

[Topper]

Mmmm a couple of screenshots show 21st May 2001, why is that Evan?

 

[Vipersan]

..I'm guessing its because I loaded an old channel database ....before dxing ...and the F15 hasn't updated the date/time from the stream ..
I'll check it and get back to you ...
Its set in the menu for auto update ..but if the info isn't carried on the feed stream ...then it simply doesn't
rgds
VS

 

[Vipersan]

Yep ...as I suspected ..
Just swung the dish to TPC at 1 west ...and the time/date updated automatically before my eyes ..
Swung it back to 17 East ..and all three channels Optima / A+ ..and the feed channels reverted to 2001..
if the channel doesn't carry the time and date in the stream ..the F15 reverts to the default date set in firmware ..
I guess this would have to be set manually ...and allowed to modify by stream info depending on where in the world timezone wise I was pointing the dish..
Hope this makes sense
What is curious is why the R & D dept of F15 chose 2001 as default since the F15 didn't even exist back then...??
rgds
VS