3 satellites - one dish

Capn Trips

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I'm trying to target 3 satellites with one dish. They are 13E Hotbird for AFN, and 5E Sirius and 4W Amos for specific foreign channels. I have a 23" x 28" oval dish. A possible alternative for AFN is 1W.

It seems to me that the 13E-5E-4W spread might be too much for that small of a dish, but the alternative 5E-1W-4W might have the latter two LNBs too close together to successfully point the required satellites.

Comments/opinions?

Thanks
 

Analoguesat

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Which bird are the 4W channels on?? Amos 1 is out of reach of the UK, and a 60cm dish (23") is almost certainly too small for Amos 2. You will also struggle to get the weaker tp's on Sirius 2 let alone Sirius 3 on a dish that small.

It should work fine for 13E :D
 

Capn Trips

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Analoguesat said:
Which bird are the 4W channels on?? Amos 1 is out of reach of the UK, and a 60cm dish (23") is almost certainly too small for Amos 2. You will also struggle to get the weaker tp's on Sirius 2 let alone Sirius 3 on a dish that small.

It should work fine for 13E :D
Sirius 2 and Amos 2 are the satellites of interest.
 

Analoguesat

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Id say a 60cm dish was too small for both of them. Its way too small for Amos 2 - the signals are weak in the UK.

Certainly you will have problems with Sirius 2 when it rains. However, I did notice the advice was different over on the DS forum when you posted the same question, although you must remember the folks over there are very much Sky orientated, with few real enthusisats for reception of other sats.

My own advice for a 60cm dish would be

Amos 2 - forget it - you are looking at something nearer 1.2m for it
Sirius 2 - poor in the rain
Hotbird - ok
 

BGonaSTICK

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I concur totally with AS. Those 'predicted results' are wholly consistent with what I had on my old 60cm on the south coast.
 

Capn Trips

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Analoguesat said:
Id say a 60cm dish was too small for both of them. Its way too small for Amos 2 - the signals are weak in the UK.

Certainly you will have problems with Sirius 2 when it rains. However, I did notice the advice was different over on the DS forum when you posted the same question, although you must remember the folks over there are very much Sky orientated, with few real enthusisats for reception of other sats.

My own advice for a 60cm dish would be

Amos 2 - forget it - you are looking at something nearer 1.2m for it
Sirius 2 - poor in the rain
Hotbird - ok
Thank you. The one I know for sure is Hotbird, since that is what the dish is currently receiving.

I understand the issue better now. I simply presumed the challenge was merely "seeing" the satellites, but the real issue is the signal strength of the sat transmission to my location.

I kind'a thought that all satellites were created equal.:-doh! (Silly wabbit!)

An aside question: Where can one determine stuff like transmission footprints and signal strength? Lyngsat is wonderful for identifying where the satellites are and what's on them, but I can't seem to determine that level of detail from any of the links available there.

Is there a single site with that sort of information? ...or links to it? Or is it just something the experts pick up with experience?

I've seen that a few of the satellite owners actually have websites that may or may not provide useful information of that sort. Is there a "one-stop-shopping" location that provides this?

Thanks,
SLS
 

BGonaSTICK

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In one of the right hand columns on lyngsat, is the name of the beam for each transponder. Click on that to open a window showing the official footprint and either recommended dish size or power.
 
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