Help with settings for SeaTel TVRO, DAC-2200 Astra 28.2e

[Blagginit]

Hi all, I am working on a vessel where we have a SeaTel TVRO system (offshore UK, connected to astra 28.2e), I am looking for advice on what the best settings for DAC-2200, namely in relation to frequency and baud rate on the DAC. I haven't been working here for too long but its been an ongoing issue getting stable reception since way before I joined. Since recent vessel location change we had nothing so I have been doing lots of reading and tweaking and feel like I am making good process, I would just like confirmation of the best settings for the above or any other settings I may have missed, as we have one transponder on one of the DVB tuners which will not lock to FTA channels and a couple of popular sky channels that are glitchy.

System consists of SeaTel Series 4 motorised 40" antenna with Seatel quad Ku band LNB (SeaTel PN 132463), SeaTel DAC-2200, RF signals going through multiswitch and split between 24 off Sky TV boxes and IPTV server with 8 x DVB tuners. Link between dome and rack is Foxcom FO converters both ends, I have adjusted RF gain at receivers and think signal levels are good, the channels that are working are working well.

I cannot find any information about what the frequency and baud rate settings should be, as I understand the DVB tuner settings will take care of the FTA signals so the TVRO settings should be geared more towards sky TV system? Current settings we have are as below:

28.2e
Freq - 1555 (Don't ask me how this has been settled upon, multiple people have changed this in the time I have been here, with any reason or rhyme, I don't know!
Baud - 27500 (See above!)
Tone - Off
Voltage - Horiz
FEC - Auto - I have changed this setting to auto last night, previously it has been observed to have been set at both 2/3 and 3/4
NID - 0020 - During last nights changes, after changing FEC we were getting solid NID feedback so I have set to track by NID and appears to be working well
POLANG - 0078 (Auto) was set to manual before with POL set to 0098
Reflection - A

Thanks in advance!

 

[Adam792]

Hi all, I am working on a vessel where we have a SeaTel TVRO system (offshore UK, connected to astra 28.2e), I am looking for advice on what the best settings for DAC-2200, namely in relation to frequency and baud rate on the DAC. I haven't been working here for too long but its been an ongoing issue getting stable reception since way before I joined. Since recent vessel location change we had nothing so I have been doing lots of reading and tweaking and feel like I am making good process, I would just like confirmation of the best settings for the above or any other settings I may have missed, as we have one transponder on one of the DVB tuners which will not lock to FTA channels and a couple of popular sky channels that are glitchy.

System consists of SeaTel Series 4 motorised 40" antenna with Seatel quad Ku band LNB (SeaTel PN 132463), SeaTel DAC-2200, RF signals going through multiswitch and split between 24 off Sky TV boxes and IPTV server with 8 x DVB tuners. Link between dome and rack is Foxcom FO converters both ends, I have adjusted RF gain at receivers and think signal levels are good, the channels that are working are working well.

I cannot find any information about what the frequency and baud rate settings should be, as I understand the DVB tuner settings will take care of the FTA signals so the TVRO settings should be geared more towards sky TV system? Current settings we have are as below:

28.2e
Freq - 1555 (Don't ask me how this has been settled upon, multiple people have changed this in the time I have been here, with any reason or rhyme, I don't know!
Baud - 27500 (See above!)
Tone - Off
Voltage - Horiz
FEC - Auto - I have changed this setting to auto last night, previously it has been observed to have been set at both 2/3 and 3/4
NID - 0020 - During last nights changes, after changing FEC we were getting solid NID feedback so I have set to track by NID and appears to be working well
POLANG - 0078 (Auto) was set to manual before with POL set to 0098
Reflection - A

Thanks in advance!

Presumably those tracking "TVRO" settings are to set the signal for the Seatel antenna to try to stay locked on. That transponder is the frequency with Channel 5 which should be fine - 1555MHz with tone off is low band, so 1555+9750 = 11305, horizontal and 27500 baud is around the channel 5 frequency of 11307 H 27500 - you could change it to 1557 to match exactly, but shouldn't make too much difference.

NID should be 0002 I'd have thought? Not sure if that's a typo above though, 0002 would be right for Astra 28.2°E.

As Astra 2G is the most central of the three satellites at the position, you might be better with the following settings, to track Channel 4's transponder (on 2G) rather than Channel 5 (on 2F) -

Freq - 1377
Baud - 22000
Tone - Off
Voltage - Vertical (13V)
NID - 0002

 

[ozumo]

Which transponder are you having trouble with?

Freq -1555 will be the down-converted frequency sent by the LNB, 1555MHz + 9750MHz local oscillator (low band because Tone = off, Tone on would give high band 10600MHz local oscillator) = 11305MHz.

The transponder at 11305MHz Horizontal has a symbol rate (baud) of 27500 and FEC 2/3 and contains Channel 5 channels, presumably the signal level of this transponder is monitored to confirm correct pointing of the dish.

NID = Network ID? A Sky HD receiver reports this as being 0002.

Be aware that it is expected that many transponders will switch to DVB-S2 modulation this year, if the controller does not support DVB-S2 you may have to change which transponder is being monitored.

Astra 2E/2F/2G at 28.3°E - LyngSat

edit: beaten to it

 

[Analoguesat]

Important question. WHERE are you sailing? If you are somewhere near the uk you will be fine, if you are in the Mediterranean you wont get the UK beam channels and will be wasting your time trying to get them.....

 

[Blagginit]

Thanks all for your replies, my knowledge on this system is very limited, other places I have worked with similar setups the system has worked without issue so has required little to no input, so I am trying to learn as I go!

Presumably those tracking "TVRO" settings are to set the signal for the Seatel antenna to try to stay locked on. That transponder is the frequency with Channel 5 which should be fine - 1555MHz with tone off is low band, so 1555+9750 = 11305, horizontal and 27500 baud is around the channel 5 frequency of 11307 H 27500 - you could change it to 1557 to match exactly, but shouldn't make too much difference.

NID should be 0002 I'd have thought? Not sure if that's a typo above though, 0002 would be right for Astra 28.2°E.

As Astra 2G is the most central of the three satellites at the position, you might be better with the following settings, to track Channel 4's transponder (on 2G) rather than Channel 5 (on 2F) -

Freq - 1377
Baud - 22000
Tone - Off
Voltage - Vertical (13V)
NID - 0002

No the NID wasn't a typo, the transponder list I am using is giving NID of 32 for all transponders (TID's 2003-2116), this has to be converted to Hex to be entered into the DAC which converts to 0020, it is locked onto this NID and tracking so I think its ok, whether I am trying to look at the correct transponders is another matter!

If I were to change to 2G I guess I would need to find suitable transponders for FTA channels and retune DVB tuners to suit?

Which transponder are you having trouble with?

Freq -1555 will be the down-converted frequency sent by the LNB, 1555MHz + 9750MHz local oscillator (low band because Tone = off, Tone on would give high band 10600MHz local oscillator) = 11305MHz.

The transponder at 11305MHz Horizontal has a symbol rate (baud) of 27500 and FEC 2/3 and contains Channel 5 channels, presumably the signal level of this transponder is monitored to confirm correct pointing of the dish.

NID = Network ID? A Sky HD receiver reports this as being 0002.

Be aware that it is expected that many transponders will switch to DVB-S2 modulation this year, if the controller does not support DVB-S2 you may have to change which transponder is being monitored.

Astra 2E/2F/2G at 28.3°E - LyngSat

edit: beaten to it

It is 12129 V we are having issues with, not getting any lock. Only thing I can see with the settings in our DVB tuner, that I think could be the issue is the downconverter value. These have all been set up by others. a couple of other transponders are showing PCR break / CC error / Bad PCR. I'm unsure what that means as my google engineering efforts have been scuppered by covid 19 / PCR tests! Although these inputs are working to an extent just glitchy.

With NID tracking disabled the antenna is tracking the satellite based on AGC reading on the ACU/DAC vs threshold value to determine whether is is on/off beam, with NID it is receiving confimation of the network ID from the transponder and following this (As I understand it!)

See below list of DVB tuner settings, ignore the transponder counter number, that is just the line reference to the transponder list I am using.

Important question. WHERE are you sailing? If you are somewhere near the uk you will be fine, if you are in the Mediterranean you wont get the UK beam channels and will be wasting your time trying to get them.....

We are up off North West Scotland at the minute, normally further north off the Shetland islands. When we are further north I understand we are towards the edge of the coverage area.

 

[Analoguesat]

Ok so you are fairly near the uk - you are good for the UK beam channels.

Have a look at this web page - its one of the more easily laid out ones so you can see at a glance what the transponder parameters are.

https://www.flysat.com/en/satellite/position/28-2-e

This shows 12129 is active BUT its parameters are 12129V 27500 5/6. That 5/6 is important - thats what is known as the Forward Error Correction. & 5/6 needs more signal than a 2/3 or 3/4 channel. Its also on the Europe beam which is marginally weaker than the UK beam this far north. 11671H is also on the Europe beam.

Keep that chart bookmarked - with the ongoing rundown of standard Definition channels you may need to tweak the settings every now & then once you have it all working to get channels back

 

[Blagginit]

Ok so you are fairly near the uk - you are good for the UK beam channels.

Have a look at this web page - its one of the more easily laid out ones so you can see at a glance what the transponder parameters are.

https://www.flysat.com/en/satellite/position/28-2-e

This shows 12129 is active BUT its parameters are 12129V 27500 5/6. That 5/6 is important - thats what is known as the Forward Error Correction. & 5/6 needs more signal than a 2/3 or 3/4 channel. Its also on the Europe beam which is marginally weaker than the UK beam this far north. 11671H is also on the Europe beam.

Keep that chart bookmarked - with the ongoing rundown of standard Definition channels you may need to tweak the settings every now & then once you have it all working to get channels back

I cannot find any setting for FEC in the DVB tuner, maybe this is determined by the downconverter value?

 

[Blagginit]

I have just checked the satellite beam we are pointing at, 11305 H, and this is as mentioned above bSkyb channel 5 transmissions. We are not tuned to channel 5 on any of the sky boxes, nor the DVB tuners for fta for that matter, so suspect we may not be looking at best beam?

Sky boxes are primarily used for sports / movie channels, the channels we are having issue with on sky boxes are Sky Sports football, golf, cricket, F1, action & arena. I changed to SD channels which is marginally better.

Should we be trying to look at a beam in the middle of the range to pick have the best chance of picking up signals across the range? Any suggestions of what beam to look for?

 

[Blagginit]

Deleted

 

[Analoguesat]

I cannot find any setting for FEC in the DVB tuner, maybe this is determined by the downconverter value?

Fec is probably set automatically - many receivers just set this. Dont worry about it if its not needed on your kit. Just be mindful that higher fecs need more signal for successful reception.