Add C-band or not?

7

7mdish

Regular Member
My Satellite Setup
CM 2.4m motorised offset dish, Viking Ku-band 2-ports motorised feed, 2 SMW LNBs, RC2000A, Dreambox DM920.
My Location
Milan, Italy
I'm planning to install a new 2.4m offset dish. My main goal is Ku band reception, so I do not want to loose Ku-band signals due to additional setup.
However, I'm evaluating to add one C-band LNB on the same dish (not a combined C/Ku band LNB), but I'm not sure and I ask to other members any possible suggestion.
I mainly would like to catch feeds, so I do not believe there is so much in C band. I'm in Milan (9° East) so I doubt my motor will drive the dish until 55.5W or 58W, and I suspect that most feed are relayed at 7E in Ku band. Is there other interesting satellites regarding feeds? Any adivice is appreciated. Thank you.
 
You can mount a C-band LNB (or two) to the side of the primary Ku LNB, assuming the LNB support arms do not get in the way. Alternatively an LNB changer can be used.

Were you able to receive 55.5°W or 58°W on your previous dish?
 
Yes this would be my idea, mounting an additional C-band LNB near the main Ku one, two LNBs side by side. Obviously C band would not be perfectly aligned but it is not a problem, I want Ku band in the main position. Do you think such installation could cause any signal drop in main Ku reception?
My previous motor was not able to reach 55W position, and although this new one seems a good Polar Mount I doubt it will make this. So, apart these 2 satellites, is there any chance to get live feeds on other positions? If not, I'm not sure that I would really interesting in C band. What do you think? Thanks.
 
It would only affect Ku performance if you placed the C band LNB in the path of the Ku signal.

Sorry I don't know which C band satellites have footprints that cover your location. You may have more luck with eastern satellites. Did you receive C band on your previous dish?
 
7mdish said:
.... Is there other interesting satellites regarding feeds? Any adivice is appreciated. Thank you.
Click to expand...


From your location you should be able to get 10E, 46E and 68.5E, they carry feeds. Also, 47.5W carries C-Band feeds.
Have a look on Lyngsat or Flysat, they will list some of the feed frequencies for C-Band satellites.
 
I would go with a dual band LNB, in my experience the "C" band LNB wants to work better at the prime focus mounting, were when offset it had problems with the "Horizontal" transponders, this was (I think) due to the dual LNB mounting bracket scrambling the "H" transponders signal.

My 10 footer works wonders with a dual band.

You can also get some good footprint maps at satbeams
 
7mdish said:
I'm planning to install a new 2.4m offset dish. My main goal is Ku band reception, so I do not want to loose Ku-band signals due to additional setup.
However, I'm evaluating to add one C-band LNB on the same dish (not a combined C/Ku band LN:cool:, but I'm not sure and I ask to other members any possible suggestion.
I mainly would like to catch feeds, so I do not believe there is so much in C band. I'm in Milan (9° East) so I doubt my motor will drive the dish until 55.5W or 58W, and I suspect that most feed are relayed at 7E in Ku band. Is there other interesting satellites regarding feeds? Any adivice is appreciated. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Stick it underneath (or above) , based on your earlier 'evaluations'.
 
Thank you to all for your useful replies. 10E, 46E and maybe 68.5E could be very interesting positions! Surely I would reach them, do not know about 47.5W.
I had some C band reception some years ago when I had a Chaparral Corotor, but I was not satisfied with it. Big signal loss in Ku band, but also in C band it was not so good. So I do not want combined LNBs or other "all-in-one" solutions anymore.
The dish is a 2.4m offset, so my goal is to try the same idea used every day in dual feed dishes: one LNB in main focus position and a second one not perfectly aligned but in a position to get a fairly good signal. Main position will be surely for Ku band, I must understand if a second LNB can be installed without creating mechanical issues.
Which feeds are broadcasted at 10E? Any sport feed? Thanks.
 
There is no set list of feeds for sports, they use what ever the sat company assigns at the time, you would have to scan for them around any game time.

Here is a transponder list for 10E....
Code: 
https://www.lyngsat.com/Eutelsat-10A.html

And for your info, 55W would be at around 9 degrees elevation at your location...(checked on satbeams) So you might have a chance if you have clearance.
 
Terryl said:
There is no set list of feeds for sports, they use what ever the sat company assigns at the time,..
Click to expand...


For those satellites that are used for feeds there is a common range of frequencies per satellite that are used. These frequencies are used time and time again by broadcasters but not necessarily exclusive to any single broadcaster.
A good example is 95.0W (Galaxy 3C), on this satellite in C-Band, Roberts Communications use the range of 3850 MHz to 4130 MHz on a daily basis every day for USA horse racing feeds. They use the same list of frequencies day after day without fail.

Similarly, other satellites have frequency ranges that are allocated for feed uplinks and broadcasters generally stick to these ranges. Lyngsat carries details of the frequencies previously used for feeds per satellite and there is a high probability that these same frequencies will be repeatedly used. I think that forum member "William-1" has compiled a list of satellites and the frequency ranges that they used for feeds, it should be somewhere on this forum?

A picture of the 95.0W (Galaxy 3C) feed frequencies in use yesterday and most days is below.
.
95.0W_20210814_EBSPro_Tuner0_BS2.jpg
 
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Yes William-1 is a feed guru from many years. But I'm not sure he uses C band too due to small dish. In the past he had not so large dishes, I do not know now.
 
Yes you have a list of the feed frequency's on many satellite's, but not what is on them, one day you could have a race, then next a foot ball game, but on what channel/transponder??? You would have to do a scan at game time (or games/events) as I mentioned to find something.

Here on this side of the big pond, some of the feeds (sometimes on different satellites) are dedicated to the major broadcast company's,(NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX) but not active till around the time of the event.

Here is a site that has/may have info for that time of day for what MAY be on.
Code: 
https://rickcaylor.websitetoolbox.com/
But maybe for the US only, you would have to take a look.
 
7mdish said:
Yes William-1 is a feed guru from many years. But I'm not sure he uses C band too due to small dish. In the past he had not so large dishes, I do not know now.
Click to expand...


The same principle applies to C-Band, the satellites with feeds use the same frequencies over and over again and they are listed on Lyngsat.
In addition, there is a C-Band section on this forum where members post info about feeds, have a look at that section, it has a lot of useful information.
 
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Terryl said:
Yes you have a list of the feed frequency's on many satellite's, but not what is on them...
Click to expand...


It depends if "7mdish" wanted an advance programme/event schedule of feeds for sporting events or if they were enquiring more generally as to what frequencies are used in C-Band for sports events on a regular basis per satellite.
For the location of the O/P (Milan) there are several websites that cover feed reports and their content on a daily basis including C-Band feeds.

One feed programming schedule I will predict in advance with almost 100% certainty is that there will be horse racing feeds on 95.0W every day next week in the frequency range of 3850 to 4150 MHz. The frequencies they will use are listed in the picture I posted earlier.
 
So, I know it is almost impossible to predict feeds. Maybe we have some general information due to our experience, but not for a specific feed for which we must search and search and search.
My question was about possible C band satellites where sport feeds could be broadcasted. As it is very difficult for me to reach 55W or 58W or similar, I do not know if some sport feed is available on satellite easier to get here in my countries like 10E, 3E, 3W and so on.
If not, adding C band to my new dish would be a non-sense. Thanks.
 
Then Lyngsat or Satbeams would be the place to start, these sites would give you a transponder list for satellites available to your horizons,(East to West) Satbeams will give you a transponder coverage map for what ever satellite you can see, it will also give you an idea on the size of dish needed for good reception on that beam, just select a satellite and find the beam you want, then once the map loads zoom into your location and click on it, it will give the estimated dish size and directions for that satellite.
 
Satelliweb is the site to check if a client wants to have a play on their steerable system before a game/match.
 
I'd say that before investing anything in a C-Band receiving setup, check that the 3400-3800 MHz band isn't being used locally by at least one mobile network for their 5G NR network coverage - if that's the case then that's likely to heavily limit your options.

Supposedly (so not to be taken 100% confirmed) a couple of years back the North Korean KCTV suddenly appeared on KoreaSat 5A (113E) on a Ku-Band transponder with BISS scrambling, with some people asking why on earth the North Korean station was broadcasting on a South Korean communications satellite? It turned out that relevant ROK authorities, journalists etc. that monitored the station (then on a Thaicom sat at 78.5E) could no longer receive it due to interference from 5G networks using the C-Band frequencies terrestrially, so to get around this they set up a C-Band receive system in a part of the country where there was no terrestrial 5G coverage at the time to then be uplinked to KoreaSat 5A - essentially, the South Korean authorities were rebroadcasting KCTV! Since then the pan-Asian footprint of KCTV in C-Band has moved to ChinaSat on 87.5E on a frequency of 4180 MHz (right at the top of the satellite C-Band, so the best chance of escaping terrestrial 5G interference), and the not-properly-authorised rebroadcast on KoreaSat 5A has ceased.
 
Very interesting story! I didn't know that.
Well, after careful evaluation probably I will drop C band on my new dish. Few signals, few feeds in which I'm interesting in, so a good Ku band setup is the best choice for me. Thanks.
 
Some of the newer "C" band LNB's have a 5G filter built in, may or may not help, depends on how close you are to a 5G tower, and is it in your beam-width of the dish, or to the side of the LNB.
 
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