2 more channels new to me

[Vipersan]

Hi friends
managed to capture snaps from 2 more C band channels from Arabsat 2B @ 20 East
Africa TV & Tayba

These 2 channels are tricky at best on my 'old girl' ...as they fluctuate quite a bit during a 24 hour period ..
Only a very small window for viewing but the F15 pulls just about anything that makes it to a few db above the noise.

Still ..another transponder and 2 more channels safely in the bank..
;)

rgds
VS

 

[pride21]

hi vipersan well done on the two channels,i picked them up a few weeks ago but fluctuated a fair bit signal coming in then breaking up and so on, evening only for reception.

 

[Huevos]

No luck with that here. All I get from that satellite at the minute (it's 30ºC at the moment) is:

3713 (good),

3897 (broken),

3913 (broken),

4058 (good),

4110 (blank).

 

[Vipersan]

Try again in the evening Huevos ..
..say after 7pm onwards..
Very time of day dependent ..as is SSTV ..which I get much more solidly in the winter months...


also worth noting ...I can't get this channel with a standard dielectric plate ...I use my T plate to grab a bit extra ..
..and of course the high gain tuner in the F15 helps considerably.

rgds
VS

 

[Hakon]

@ Vipersan
Like your threads,interesting readings.

I see that you have both the F15 and the AZBox Prem. I'm in my way to buy a simular box so i just wonder whitch one of these you prefer for DX ?
Both boxes has some advantage, but the mainthing for me is a good Blind Scan function and sensitive tuner.My mainbox will still bee Vu+Duo.

 

[Vipersan]

Hakon ..
Without doubt the best receiver I have bought since waaaayyyy back in the days of the Nokia 9600 ...is the F15

Its extremely high gain ..and easy to use ..
The blind scan is slow ..but thorough ..and misses little ..
I have to congratulate the makers of this wonderful little box ..but for me 3 vital functions missing ..
2 of them I suspect correctable in firmware ..
A ...lack of satellite storage space.positions ..
it appears to be fixed atm ..and I have already used 'em all ...needs at least another 20 positions available to the user..
B ....lack of a single button press jpg image screen capture facility ..
I hate having to use a camera ..its so awkward..

..and 3rdly and this isn't fixable in firmware ...so I still need the AZbox ..
No 4.2.2 decryption ...

but on the whole the F15 gets my vote..
rgds
VS

 

[Vipersan]

@Huevos

@7:15pm

3713 R
tp 1 ETV (Ethiopia) = solid lock

3716 R
tp 1 TV Oromiyaa = solid lock

3893 R
tp 9 Sudanese mux = 1db below lock threshold

3897 R
tp 9 Southern Sudan TV = solid lock

3913 R
tp 11 TV de Mauritanie = 2db below lock threshold

4110 R
tp 19 (ASBU 1 feeds = intermittent lock

4058 L
tp 16 Al Jazeera Sport = Solid lock

4140 L
tp 20 Almajd Satellite Broadcasting = Nothing ...never had this one

Here are a few snaps ...

not in any order..

rgds
VS

..will post up the sudan mux -tayba and africa times...if and when the lock tonight..
;)

 

[Vipersan]

3893 R
tp 9

Sudanese mux
Just passed the lock threshold @8PM ..
currently 4.5 db and a bit itermittent ..but improving by the minute..
;)
rgds
VS

8:30pm and it looks to have maxed ... 4.4 to 4.8db fluctuating
Certainly the mux is there more than it isn't ..
Mostly continuous but with occasional pauses and hiccups..
My guess is that yesterday we had wide open skies clear to the stars..
tonight we have a layer of cloud ...
I'm guessing the cloud is sucking up a little signal..

 

[Hakon]

Hakon ..
Without doubt the best receiver I have bought since waaaayyyy back in the days of the Nokia 9600 ...is the F15

Its extremely high gain ..and easy to use ..
The blind scan is slow ..but thorough ..and misses little ..
I have to congratulate the makers of this wonderful little box ..but for me 3 vital functions missing ..
2 of them I suspect correctable in firmware ..
A ...lack of satellite storage space.positions ..
it appears to be fixed atm ..and I have already used 'em all ...needs at least another 20 positions available to the user..
B ....lack of a single button press jpg image screen capture facility ..
I hate having to use a camera ..its so awkward..

..and 3rdly and this isn't fixable in firmware ...so I still need the AZbox ..
No 4.2.2 decryption ...

but on the whole the F15 gets my vote..
rgds
VS

Thanks VS, yes i know the missing of 4.2.2 in the F15.
But the lack of sat.storage in the F15 was not so good to hear about.

 

[Vipersan]

3893 R
tp 9

Sudanese mux
Just increased again in the last 30 minutes ..
Now at 5db solid ..
..and a very solid and consistant picture

rgds
VS


@ Hakon
the F15 isn't really lacking sat storage space ..
You can store 64 positions currently ....its just me that wants more ...
;)
Not that I'm greedy ...its just that ..as a DXer I like to log and store any 'bird' I encounter.
I suspect the F15 is aimed at either Cband or ku users ..
I want both ..so my tally is greater.

 

[Huevos]

@ Vipersan
Like your threads,interesting readings.

I see that you have both the F15 and the AZBox Prem. I'm in my way to buy a simular box so i just wonder whitch one of these you prefer for DX ?
Both boxes has some advantage, but the mainthing for me is a good Blind Scan function and sensitive tuner.My mainbox will still bee Vu+Duo.

Hakon, have you considered the Clarke-Tech ET9000? It's got hardware blind scan and much faster than the F15, and with the ET9000 you have complete control over maximum and minimum symbol rates. Blind scan of the F15 is really slow. Check out the youtube videos. 10700-10950 in 1MHz steps took 15 minutes. Azbox is supposed to be very slow too.

Or I guess another option might be get a good quality DVB-S2 card for a PC and make a dedicated receiver out of one with 4:2:2.

Personally for 4:2:2 I just stream from the Vu+ to the laptop. Decode the 4:2:2 with VLC and play it on the TV in real time via an HDMI cable from the laptop to the TV.

 

[Huevos]

You can store 64 positions currently [...] as a DXer I like to log and store any 'bird' I encounter.

I just had a count up for my arc (57E - 61W) and I would need 74 positions to cover it all (C-band and Ku) and that's not taking into account that some C-band satellites have both circular and linear transponders, which requires the dish to move to another position to get on the other C-band LNB.

Edit I: A lot of V-boxes only have 60 positions, Clarke-Tech has 99, and double resolution.

Edit II: Hakon, I don't know if you know but you are going to need a special satellites.xml file with snide positions for the C-band satellites. If not the box won't boot properly and lots of satellites won't be accessible.

 

[Hakon]

Sorry VS if im stealing your thread and going a little of topic here.

Hakon, have you considered the Clarke-Tech ET9000? It's got hardware blind scan and much faster than the F15, and with the ET9000 you have complete control over maximum and minimum symbol rates. Blind scan of the F15 is really slow. Check out the youtube videos. 10700-10950 in 1MHz steps took 15 minutes. Azbox is supposed to be very slow too.

Or I guess another option might be get a good quality DVB-S2 card for a PC and make a dedicated receiver out of one with 4:2:2.

Personally for 4:2:2 I just stream from the Vu+ to the laptop. Decode the 4:2:2 with VLC and play it on the TV in real time via an HDMI cable from the laptop to the TV.

Thanks for the info , i did not know that CT had hardware blind scan.
For me it's a perfect combo as i want to have some control over the box as im having enigma boxes for so many years now.
I have also been thinking of the TBS 6925 Pc card, but then i have to build a complete HTPC and that was not so cheap after i had pointed out all hardware.

Edit II: Hakon, I don't know if you know but you are going to need a special satellites.xml file with snide positions for the C-band satellites. If not the box won't boot properly and lots of satellites won't be accessible.

Im not shure what you are meaning with "special satellites.xml with snide positions"

 

[Vipersan]

Heres an odd one m8's ..
Last night about 11pm a feed opened up on this sat @ 3705R sr2959

A libyan Feed provided by Tandberg .. ?

Thing is The transponder isn't even listed at Lyngsat ...so I guess I can claim a first ?

..The feed is still running this morning

Here are the photos ..one has the channel info..
rgds

..just sent details off to Lyngsat ..
Maybe they will add it to the web page for Arabsat 2B

 

[nelson_b]

hi - vipersan
just had a look at this sat -
3705R sr2959A libyan Feed provided by Tandberg . seeing this one ok myself -- although rather weak

- i,m picking up 2 t.p.s (see pics)
too weak to show a picture though -- can you get anything to display from them ?

regards nelson.b.

 

[Vipersan]

Hi Nelson ..
Thanks for confirming my discovery ..

I have half an hour before work ..so will take a quick look at the weak tps you posted..
rgds
VS

 

[Vipersan]

Hi Nelson ..
The first one 3914R ..I believe is 3913 R
tp 11 TV de Mauritanie

I've not so far managed to capture this one ..
It is about 2db below threshold atm ..

I'll take a look at the other one ..
rgds
VS


the other tp ...3900 R
tp 9

(feeds)
DVB-S 2600-3/4

Is an ASBU feed ..
usually too low power to lock ...again about 2db below threshold ..though I think the power on this one rises toward early evening ..just like SSTV..
Almost had it last night ..but still playing hard to get atm

 

[nelson_b]

cheers - for the reply
yes will check later to see if they strengthen ---
no signal at all showing for me on the Africa TV & Tayba transponder at the moment
regards ----

 

[Vipersan]

cheers - for the reply
yes will check later to see if they strengthen ---
no signal at all showing for me on the Africa TV & Tayba transponder at the moment
regards ----

Same here m8 ..
Too early I suspect ..
Power on this one begins rising to lockable levels around 7pm ..
Peaking I suspect after 10pm ..
at least thats my experience.
c u later buddy ..
The shop beckons..
rgds
VS

 

[Huevos]

Im not shure what you are meaning with "special satellites.xml with snide positions"

You can't put your C-band transponders in the same xml block as the Ku ones... and you have to give them different angular positions. If the angular positions are the same the box won't boot properly and half the channels won't work.

<satellites>
<sat name="Intelsat 9/16 (58.0W Ku-band)" flags="0" position="[B][COLOR="#FF0000"]-580[/COLOR][/B]">
<transponder frequency="11500000" symbol_rate="4433000" polarization="0" fec_inner="3" system="0" modulation="1"/>
...
</sat>
<sat name="Intelsat 9/16 (58.0W C-band)" flags="0" position="[B][COLOR="#FF0000"]-581[/COLOR][/B]">
<transponder frequency="3714000" symbol_rate="17000000" polarization="1" fec_inner="4" system="0" modulation="1"/>
...
</sat>
</satellites>

Those positions are used by USALS to orientate the dish so make sure the correct one corresponds to Ku band (where you are using USALS on some of your dishes). It doesn't matter that it is not correct in C-band because those positions are set with DiSEqC 1.2, not USALS.