Feed location?

[Llew]

Which satellite is this feed on please guys?

I'm at the Eastern edge of the arc with my Triax TD88 - 39E is my limit with this particular dish.

Having checked the 37.8E Athena thread, I don't recognise any of the Ka frequencies shown there - this is the only feed I can see in this region.

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[hvdh]

I have no clue yet, although 20274 is within Military Ka-band, Athena Fidus shoudn't have a transponder here.
Do you think the satellite is inclined?

 

[Llew]

Tried an hour or so later and the signal is up a little to 6.8db. I'll try later to see if there's any change.

 

[uhf-satcom.com]

Hi all,

I too can copy this TPX, pretty strong and quite wideband RF wise, extending from 20254.5MHz to 20305.5MHz. It looks to be coming from the 38E slot occupied by Athena-Fidus. The ITU frequency plan indicates a 20200-21200 TPX but also beacons on 19701.2MHz and 20198.8MHz so they might give a hint - will check those out shortly.

regards,

Paul.

 

[Llew]

Thanks Paul for tentative confirmation of satellite position.
I'm using a Hughes LNB modified for H/V switching from the receiver instead of 27MHz switching - I may be a little out with the LO adjustment.

 

[hvdh]

I had my doubt about Athena Fidus, because of this document:
http://www.asi.it/files/CALL_FOR_INTERES_for_ATHENA_FIDUS.pdf
Listing (on page 4) the already known 20165 MHz transponder, but nothing near 20274 MHz.
But maybe there are more transponders.
Since you both don't mention inclination, that leaves Athena Fidus as the only candidate, for many degrees around 37.8°E.

If inclined, a candidate could be sigint satellite Mercury 2 with 9.5° inclination and unknown downlink. It has an odd orbit though, crossing the belt near 41° at 22:30 UTC, and near 47°E at 10:30 UTC.
Now that Paul confirmed the location, this one is out!

 

[uhf-satcom.com]

Hi all,

I've never found any downlinks from the Mercury series of satellites, nearest was Mentor's 17.8xx TT&C downlink. Regarding Athena-Fidus, the attached shows the planned frequencies;



The narrow band stuff in the 'BandWidth' column can indicate beacons or TT&C for example 19700.6MHz and 20198.2MHz. I cannot detect the lower one (may not even be on, or may be a tight spotbeam) but the 20198.2 is clearly visible. The other potential tpx's should be noted according to the 'Beam' columns, looks for anything with 'E' for emission - you can see that there are wideband allocations covering all Ka-bands, some S-Band TT&C and a couple of beacons.

regards,

Paul.

 

[Llew]

Yes, I see the beacon/TT&C Paul. Marker off to left to show beacon better.
Again, my Hughes LO needs adjusting to bring it onto the correct frequency.
Can't see any other beacons either.