4W Amos2/3 in Switzerland with a 1m Dish

esto

esto

Member
My Satellite Setup
Kathrein uas 912
My Location
CE
I've been trying to get 4W Amos 2/3 here in Switzerland with a 1m Triax dish and Invacom single LNB. It's not a strong signal and I have a 10m tree-line about 10m in front, which may be blocking a little. I can get 5W extremely strong, and 1W fairly well, so finding the weak 4W in between is like threading a needle, especially with a standard sat beeper (a freq-selectable meter would be nice)

I did manage to get it last night after and hour or more of moving it around. Sig Str on my Kathrein receiver was about 38% and quality about 60%, but if the dish moved just slightly, I'd lose the signal completely, because the shot is very narrow, like a focused laser.. However, this morning I am only seeing Amos 3 channels, and it looks like Amos 2 is not there at all (?!). From the coverage chart, it looks like Amos 2 is actually the stronger signal, and it's a mostly sunny day here, so I'm wondering what's going on.

_http://www.amos-spacecom.com/resources/flash/map/multiMap/map_amos2start.html

Is Amos 2 just down right now everywhere? (Is there somewhere I could check this?) Or did I lose the signal because of some fringe reception issues (ie: sat shifting, atmospheric conditions, etc.)?
 
Although I can catch Amos on my 1.2M dish here, not all transponders, even on the same beam are of equal strength. The strongest for me are 10722H (51% SNR) and 10459H (53%SNR) The cut off for getting a lock on the VU+ is about 30%SNR but this depends on the FEC of the transponder. It's quite overcast at present and as such I can't pick up anything from 11572H, which is also on the European beam. This is very much a fringe satellite, though considering you are somewhat further East than me it should be less of a problem to catch.

However, with a 1M dish, you are probably getting swamped by 5°W. I don't think the trees will be causing a problem, as 4°W is a slightly higher elevation than 5°W, so if you can get AB3 you should get Amos. (Though posting a photo of tree line and it's position relative to your dish will help us decide it's possible effects)

Other options? Apart from a bigger dish, you would do well to try an Inverto Black Ultra LNB. It's currently the LNB of choice on this forum and is well suited to fringe reception.
 
^^Thanks for the info! :) Yes, I agree with what you said (except for me 10722 is one of the weakest). After looking closer, I see the transponders strength vary really alot. Most of the encrypted ones, for example T-Home and Eurosport, I'm getting pretty strong and 95% signal quality. The free Ukrainian transponders appear to be the weakest, right now I'm getting 11389 H (NTN, Inter+, K2, etc) with about 40% signal quality, and looks OK. But I'm still missing the 2 free Ukrainian transponders on Amos2 (10722 and 10759 H), I don't see anything for them at all. Do the only transmit in the evenings? There's a few other channels also that have disappeared now that I picked up on a scan last night.

...I thought Invacom was the best LNB for fringe reception?
 
Yes, I'm afraid Amos is very flaky and seems to come and go a lot. It seems to be affected by atmospherics more than other sats in my opinion.

Is your 1M dish offset or prime focus? Because (as far as I'm aware) Invacom only make flange LNB's that require a feedhorn and are more commonly intended for larger prime focus dishes. I've used the Black Ultra on my last two dishes, and it's beaten all the others hands down. They're not dear at about €15 for a single one if you wanted to try one.
 
Been wondering about this sat myself, none of the signals seem to be stable! I checked this morning, and was getting 10722H & 10759H at around 35-40% quality on my AZBox. Was also getting the channels on 11673H at around 35%. Checked again tonight and 10722 & 10759 seem slightly stronger, around 40-45%, but 11673 has gone completely, yet all 3 signals are from Amos 2! Same story for Amos 3, can get 11258H & 11304H but not 11389H, although i could get this a few months ago. I know satellites do move around whilst in orbit, and this can affect the footprints slightly in fringe reception areas, but this wouldn't explain why 2 frequencies from the same sat have strengthened slightly whilst another has weakened! Strange!
 
I have a standard 1m off-set Triax dish and SNH-031 Invacom LNB. I'll try the Black Ultra for sure tho and see if there's any improvement.

Here's a picture of the shot from my dish. AMOS is right between the tree and the edge of the concrete wall. Not optimal, but it's the only shot I have, and I am able to get it, just barely. And 5W and 1W I can also get with no problems.

Strange why the transponder strength varies so much on AMOS. Is it because it's a fringe sat for us, and atmospheric conditions are playing with it? Or do the strengths vary on AMOS even for people in East Europe where the signal is strong?
 

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Ok, so Invacom do make an offset LNB lol. I still think that trying the Black Ultra is worth it though. When you fit the Black Ultra make sure you experiment with the position of the LNB in relation to the dish focal length, (it has an extra long neck) so you can find the best signal. I'm assuming it's a fixed dish, so obviously it will be worth peaking up the skew as well.

It wouldn't do any harm to trim the top of the tree a bit if you could (or indeed if you are allowed to!!)

I'm not sure about Amos and the variable transponder strength, although as I've said previously it is regarded as a fringe sat. Perhaps it's developed a slight wobble!!
 
It's a rental flat, so no tree trimming. I'm not even sure if I'm allowed to have a 1m dish in my yard. Guess I'll find out soon enough, LOL.
Here's some interesting info on Amos2:
_http://www.amos-spacecom.com/resources/resourceLibrary/1/2/documents//AMOS2%20HB.pdf

Launched in 2003 with a life until 2017, so in 2011 it's a "middle-aged" sat, maybe having a "mid-life crisis", LOL? Could be wobbeling, like you said, or maybe the owners are adjusting power balances? Or could be atmospheric, as mentioned previously.

Altho for atmospheric, I would think all transponders would be affected more equally, rather than some increasing and others decreasing. What about polarization? Are H beams affected more than V ones? I know for ground-based point-to-point microwave LOS that V is preferred, since H is more apt to rain fading. I guess that could apply to sats as well, altho AMOS is jumping around in all different weather....
 
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