Am I too north?

[2i0jmt]

Hi Folks

I received my first satellite dish today. A 90cm one. I have a 1m arriving tomorrow.

I'm very new to satellite alignment, so any help would be appreciated. I am based in Northern Ireland.

Using a portable dish stand, and a v8 dymco finder, I was able to pick up 19.2 and 28.2 just fine.

However, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get Badar-4 on 11996 H 27500. In fact, my finder kept tuning in 11992.50 once I'd reached 19.2. I assume either it has bad selectivity, or 19 is just really strong and overloading the front end.

Do you think this is because I am new at everything satellite (and this the physical assembly of the dish is a little all over the place), or am I actually too far north?

Any help (Or encouragement!) would be appreciated. I find this tricky

Thanks

Jonny

[2i0jmt]

Well I think I've answered my own question...

According to satbeams, I need a 120cm dish to receive the BSS transponder that 11996 is on.

No wonder I didn't get anything on my 90cm!

Is there any other tv service I could use with my 90cm or 1m dish to align for es'hail2 usage?

If there isn't, I guess id have to wait for a dry day and take the laptop outside and look sdr sharp at the NB beacon.

Cheers

Jonny

[m1cdq]

you are not too far north

you need to set the freq to 11996h 27500 . on some sat receiver you need to tell it which sat you are aiming for so it can bring up the correct transponder list.
if you are behind the dish looking the same way its pointing its just slightly to the right of sky at 28.2 and a tiny bit higher .
the signal is alot weaker than a sky signal
with an elevation angle of about 21.2 depending where abouts in Northern Ireland you are

[2i0jmt]

I think I've concluded I'm too far north for the size of my dish. 120cm (recommended) vs 90cm.

I know my receiver settings were ok. I checked multiple times.

[M0SKM]

Hi Jonny,

There are others receiving pictures just as far north on similar size dishes. Setting the dish is a fiddly process requiring patience
I concur with M1CDQ; your 90cm will work where you are provided you have the right settings.

Steve

[2i0jmt]

Oh dear

Ok then I guess I have to try harder.

Unless there is a software bug with my receiver, the settings were definitely showing as correct for the BBC Arabic transponder. However the fact that I was getting a signal on 19 from a slightly offset frequency has made me wonder....

[G4IUG]

Your receiver is probably being blinded by Astra. Mine was.

[radiogareth]

If you can use a SDR its a lot easier to see the beacons and peak them up visually. Even a cheap RTL would help as the LNB has a surplus of gain.
It worked best for me. Remember the LNB needs 12 volts for that.
Gareth

[2i0jmt]

Yup, I've got my rtl sdr ready to go in the house. I've been using it with my fixed sky minidish at 28.2 successfully over the past couple of weeks (albeit low SNR)

The only thing stopping me right now is the weather (to bring laptop outside), or having to pick up some cable from screwfix to feed into the house. Given I'm in NI, I think I'll have better luck with the screwfix option!

Edit: I can't see my laptop if it's in the house...doh!!

[2i0jmt]

Ok folks, my 1m dish finally arrived, and I was able to pick up BBC Arabic successfully

I used the Es'hail2 NB upper beacon to align my dish, and am now getting a nice 22-23db SNR. Much better than the 14dB I was getting with my Sky minidish pointed at 28.2! And better than my 90cm dish which gave me 19-20dB.

FWIW, the same method didn't work with my 90cm dish to pick up BBC Arabic from my location...

Thanks!

Jonny