Time to tune your antennas

[aceb]

Unfortunately to get those birds would require several tons of explosives and some VERY understanding neighbours

 

[blademedia]

possible to point the 2.4 at 66E ? should get c band ok

 

[aceb]

Unfortunately not, not at the moment anyway. It's in the old dish location which is blocked by trees from 40E onwards. Once we've done some work in the garden I'll drag it down to another spot that should be good to around 57E but really I need to get it on a polar mount and replace the 1.8m.

 

[RimaNTSS]

It is still 2 days till maximum sun-outage, but that was quiet sunny today, so I've made couple of pictures. Dish is pointed to Astra 2E @28,5*E . I see minor obstacles from brunches of the plum-tree..... anyway I was going to cut it down cuz it brings almost no plums.

 

[Captain Jack]

The subreflector is also in the way..

 

[RimaNTSS]

The subreflector is also in the way..

Yes... but it helps very much to protect your LNB from burning. And, SUB shadow is taking < than 2% from dish surface.

 

[Captain Jack]

Ha...good point. That's a biiiig magnifying glass.

 

[timo_w2s]

My 1.2m fixed dish in Maidenhead is currently on 1°W, but with a minor bit of pruning of the plants to the sides, it looks like I could have a go at getting something between 9°E and 8°W with minimal effort. Tempted to try a side LNB for 9°E. When I installed the dish I laid a spare cable for extra LNBs or feeds.

It also looks like I need to trim back some of the growth from over the summer for 1°W.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Took some signal data during sun-outage. Even it is still 2 days till maximum outage, got about 6 minutes of full "Malevitch" on the screen.
Signal was recorded by Enigma2 each 11 seconds.

 

[jeallen01]

Timo

Could you live with a diseqc switch behind the dish for connection of more LNBs to one cable??

I'm currently getting 7E, 1W & 4W at decent signal strengths on a 90cm of unknown origin with a 10-way Opticum switch feeding about 25-30m of cable (and an SPS and, line amp - which seems to compensate for the SPS loss - and rather too many cable couplers!) to the TM. Sure you could do better than that!!

 

[Captain Jack]

These CM dishes are a PITA for multi-LNB arrangements sadly..

 

[timo_w2s]

Timo

Could you live with a diseqc switch behind the dish for connection of more LNBs to one cable??

I have an 8 way DiSEqC by the other dish (90cm for 28E/23E/19E/13E) with a few free ports which is why I ran a spare cable to it but as CJ says, the CM dish is a pain for multi LNB setups so I've never bothered to try adding too many LNBs to it.

 

[jeallen01]

timo

Now I understand the problem!

Maybe at least 1 extra LNB for one of your hoped-for sats - possibly 1W (because it is quite strong in the Southern UK) just to one side of the center position and 9E just a bit more to the other side?

 

[timo_w2s]

timo

Now I understand the problem!

Maybe at least 1 extra LNB for one of your hoped-for sats - possibly 1W (because it is quite strong in the Southern UK) just to one side of the center position and 9E just a bit more to the other side?

Yeah, I will have a play one day to see what is possible. 1W is the main priority but 9E would be nice just for fun.

 

[scopus]

1.2 Precision this morn ing on 19E...

 

[Captain Jack]

1.2 Precision this morning on 19E...

Cable is covering a bit - could be all of 0.01dB

 

[nelson_b]

Pic taken near the end of sun outage on 58West C band this afternoon ....
Quickly removed a few loose bricks from the perimeter wall corner
... every little helps

 

[RimaNTSS]

Last Thursday, during maximum (at my location) sun-outage each 11 seconds recorded signal levels from one of the transponders from Astra2E. From data collected made this graph.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Hi all! Time to bump this thread again, as outage is started. Owners of "pan-lid" size antennas can feel it already. Owners of "Barn-door" (I like it) size antennas should wait couple of more days. IPTV (stream users) can relax as they will not have any opportunity.
Anyway, it is still time to do the necessary preparations for some useful observations and experiments. I am preparing to record signal levels from 16 satellites during sun-outage. Will repeat it 5 times, when maximum outage will be 1st of March. For that I made template with known data about maximum interference time for each satellite. So, will start recording some channel from 90*E at 07:40 February 27th. Record will be stopped at 08:04 and antenna moved to position 85*E and another channel will start to record. And so on. When I get all the data will use it to create some graphs for better visualization. To have more interesting results, I think, it is better to chose transponders with higher FEC, like 7/8, then effect of outage will be greater. Of course, I will not be sitting in front of the TV all day pushing buttons on the remote.... Will pre-programm the receiver and let it work turning antenna, switching channels, recording video and signal data. Will use 1.2m antenna for all satellites except 28.5*E where "Barn door" will be used.
If it is sunny then will probably take some photos.

 

[RimaNTSS]

Well, I fully skipped Monday. But starting from yesterday recording lots of data from different satellites during sun passage behind them. From yesterday's records I have found out that calculated time of maximum interference (in red) is different from real time of maximum interference (in green). I do not know what that means.... I do not exclude the option that antenna not perfectly flowing the arc ( I've installed it when it was very cold, so did not spent enough time). When antenna is pointed towards due-south satellites then the difference between calculated and measured time of maximum interference is smaller than on the far-East and far-West positions. Anyway, having time doing that.
Attached is graph I created from data received from 68,5*E each 7 seconds. Can build many more graphs like that from other satellites, on some satellites there is full lost of signal for several minutes, on some satellites just considerable drop of it.