Newbie Here New member from s.africa

[moonbase]

The presidents' cup golf appears to be on 7E, and the signal strength seems to indicate I should pick it up fairly easily...

Please note that the LNBF you have is for C-Band and the Presidents Cup golf feed you refer to as being on 7.0 East will be in Ku-Band, there are no C-Band signals from 7.0 East.

If you wish to receive 7.0 East with your 3.0m mesh dish you will need to use a Ku-Band LNB. You could of course install a separate dish for Ku-Band that you indicated might be an option earlier in this topic?

 

[Man on the steps]

Thanks for the time you have taken.,

I am installing 2 Ku band 90cm dishes for 7E and 10E - which might be going up in the next 2 days.

Amos 17 should be near as well, so I will also look for that.

Looking forward to doing some searching etc .. I just hope the stuff all links up properly.

(( The original proline seller just came back to me !! He will take $1k US for both the 2.4m dishes with roof mounts, which
appears a good deal if they are not hot/confiscated equipment/in good condition.)) Will see how things go with the stuff I have for now.

 

[moonbase]

Thanks for the time you have taken.,

I am installing 2 Ku band 90cm dishes for 7E and 10E - which might be going up in the next 2 days...

Ah OK, you have got everything in hand, exciting times on the horizon...

 

[danny10]

For hunting feeds (modulation 8PSK) maybe the dish 90 cm small ..

 

[moonbase]

For hunting feeds (modulation 8PSK) maybe the dish 90 cm small ..

+1, agreed.

For 8PSK with FEC of 3/4 a signal of 7.9dB is required. For 8PSK with FEC of 5/6 a signal level of 9.4dB is required. However, it depends on how favoured the OP is with respect to the beam footprint that the frequencies are using.

 

[Man on the steps]

Still waiting and its no fun.

Tradespeople in Dec especially unreliable and slow doesn't begin to describe it.

I have located a 1.2m dish which I will also try to install.

If nothing is installed this week .. I may well try to attempt the KU band install with my kids. They fit and strong etc, and really what's
the worst that can happen. (especially as it will mean mid-Jan earliest before tradespeople come back to work)

I have the TBS 6903 tuner card, which looks good and the Vu+ box, which comes with a good manual.

I will keep u updated.

 

[moonbase]

...If nothing is installed this week .. I may well try to attempt the KU band install with my kids. They fit and strong etc, and really what's the worst that can happen. (especially as it will mean mid-Jan earliest before tradespeople come back to work)

If you are only installing the Ku dishes as non motorised fixed dishes it should not be a difficult job. If you have a digital inclinometer to set the dish elevation angle for the specific satellites you are interested in it should be a straightforward task.

 

[Man on the steps]

The guy came and is trying to install the 2 x 90cm Ku dishes at 7E and 10E.

His satellite finder was ancient .. but luckily had bought this one which helped.

He says the signal strength of 46dBW is making it v hard to get the dish to lock on. It was v hot here today (40c), so maybe
his motivation on the roof was low etc, but see that a similar strength would be available in Birmingham (Uk), so cant logically think
why it wouldn't work.

I have a 1.2m dish to try as a back-up. He's coming back tomorrow.

The far right dish is the one trying to get 10E. The left one was previously installed on 68.5E

 

[Man on the steps]

The guy came and is trying to install the 2 x 90cm Ku dishes at 7E and 10E.

His satellite finder was ancient .. but luckily had bought this one which helped.

He says the signal strength of 46dBW is making it v hard to get the dish to lock on. It was v hot here today (40c), so maybe
his motivation on the roof was low etc, but see that a similar strength would be available in Birmingham (Uk), so cant logically think
why it wouldn't work.

I have a 1.2m dish to try as a back-up. He's coming back tomorrow.

The far right dish is the one trying to get 10E. The left one was previously installed on 68.5E

 

[moonbase]

The guy came and is trying to install the 2 x 90cm Ku dishes at 7E and 10E.
His satellite finder was ancient .. but luckily had bought this one which helped.

He says the signal strength of 46dBW is making it v hard to get the dish to lock on. It was v hot here today (40c), so maybe
his motivation on the roof was low etc, but see that a similar strength would be available in Birmingham (Uk), so cant logically think
why it wouldn't work.

The far right dish is the one trying to get 10E. The left one was previously installed on 68.5E

When he returns it might be useful to ask him what frequencies and what specific footprint beams he is trying to lock onto for 10.0 East? There are a few beams listed on websites such as Flysat, Lyngsat and Satbeams and what is receivable in the UK may not be receivable in South Africa.

Flysat and Lyngsat list the Wide beam as the main beam for 10.0 East in Ku-Band with very few frequencies on the South Africa beam? Satbeams lists all of the Ku-Band frequencies as being on the Europe beam apart from one frequency on the South Africa beam.

I have attached below an EBS Pro scan taken this afternoon from a South UK location. The frequencies are listed in descending order of signal strength (SNR column). Although these frequencies are receivable in the UK there is no guarantee they will be receivable in South Africa.

 

[Man on the steps]

Pole came back with ground attachment.
Will pour concrete today.

//

Update .. the concrete needs stones, and quarry closed till mid-jan. Will try ready mixed as desperate. 3gbp per bag .. according to internet
its 100 bags to fill a 1 metre cube hole. Not cheap. They only have 34 in stock. Will take those and see what happens.

 

[Satfaca]

Mate, will that be for a fixed dish or motorised?
If later, the pole definitely is too close to the wall... but probably even for a fixed one. It could go through with the dish size of 1.2m though, if bigger, give a second thought before you pour concrete.

 

[Man on the steps]

Thx for advice etc.

Its a fixed 3.0 m dish. Concrete is maybe a 1/5th in now .. and am trying to locate stones to fill etc.

//

Installer managed to located 4.8E with a new frequency. The list v kindly posted above gives me great hope he can plug in the
frequency to the satellite meter and locate 10E

 

[moonbase]

...Installer managed to located 4.8E with a new frequency. The list v kindly posted above gives me great hope he can plug in the
frequency to the satellite meter and locate 10E

For 4.8 East there is a Sub Saharan Africa beam that has quite a few active frequencies. According to Flysat, Lyngsat and Satbeams there seems to be only one frequency from 10.0 East on the African beam? I am not convinced that you will get a many active frequencies/feeds from 10.0 East unless the usual web sites are missing some active frequencies?

Good luck with the installation.

 

[Man on the steps]

Yeah, I think you might be right.

We never managed to lock on to 10E or 7E. I spent most of the day on it, and it's pretty frustrating.

4.8E used to be the satellite for a local channel called StarSat .. so maybe it has a stronger beam etc.

So far, have managed to pick up about 20 low-quality FTA channels on 4.8E - the vast majority are encrypted etc.

Will play around and wait for the C-Band dish - its definitely been disappointing/mentally v tiring..

 

[moonbase]

Yeah, I think you might be right.

We never managed to lock on to 10E or 7E. I spent most of the day on it, and it's pretty frustrating.
4.8E used to be the satellite for a local channel called StarSat .. so maybe it has a stronger beam etc.
So far, have managed to pick up about 20 low-quality FTA channels on 4.8E - the vast majority are encrypted etc.
Will play around and wait for the C-Band dish - its definitely been disappointing/mentally v tiring..

Yes, it can be frustrating to get a moderate bit of success after a long day spent trying to get satellite signals. I think that the channels you have locked from 4.8 East are probably all on the Sub Sahara African beam such as:

11727 H, SR27500
11747 V, SR27500
11804 H, SR27500
11823 V, SR27500
11900 V, SR27500
11919 H, SR27500
11997 H, SR27500
12015 V, SR27500
12034 H, SR27500...and a few more higher frequencies.

It might be that the only way to get pictures from the frequencies you want from 10.0 East is to use some type of IP stream if that is an option for you?

 

[Man on the steps]

Ok, so the adventure continues.

I don't have any knowledge of IP streams.. I will investigate after writing this.

The sat engineer from Port Elizabeth is convinced that 7E should be receivable - it's just the local engineer has limited skills, as he's only been
installing the DSTV feeds from 68.5E.

He will have time in maybe 2 weeks to come and try to sort out.

I received the 1.2m Ku dish, and a courier delivered the 3m C Band. Having all the kids here for Xmas, we set about trying to install :

It's not the easiest process, but feel we have made a decent job. I haven't yet attached the LNB .. I might try in the next few days, or wait for the
expert.

In hindsight, I would have done a lot of things differently .. but, as a novice, u just don't know what frequencies are available, for which footprint.

Its a little easier in Europe, as sites like King of Sat show u the coverage v well .. its less good for other parts of the world.

Here are some pics of the adventure. Getting the last petal in place was a mission, as was lifting the thing on to the pole. We cheated with screwing the dish in place .. maybe getting 5 of 8 screws lines up, and using cable ties for the rest.

 

[Analoguesat]

Yes Europe has plenty of sites dedicated to coverage. Worldwide your best resource is probably Lyngsat, this shows there are freqiencies active on 7E on the southern Africa beam. Spend some time finding your way around this site as its a good resource - just not laid out as nicely as some of the other sites.

Eutelsat 7A/7B at 7.0°E - LyngSat

LyngSat

www.lyngsat.com

 

[moonbase]

...a courier delivered the 3m C Band. Having all the kids here for Xmas, we set about trying to install :

It's not the easiest process, but feel we have made a decent job. I haven't yet attached the LNB .. I might try in the next few days, or wait for the
expert.

In hindsight, I would have done a lot of things differently .. but, as a novice, u just don't know what frequencies are available, for which footprint.
Its a little easier in Europe, as sites like King of Sat show u the coverage v well .. its less good for other parts of the world.

Here are some pics of the adventure. Getting the last petal in place was a mission, as was lifting the thing on to the pole. We cheated with screwing the dish in place .. maybe getting 5 of 8 screws lines up, and using cable ties for the rest.

Well done with the install of the 3.0m Winegard.

Quick question, did you "string test" the 3.0m dish after it was assembled to check for a good alignment of the petals? Just in case you are not familiar with a "string test" it involves placing taught pieces of string across the petals to check if there are gaps at the overlap points of the string.

You want the string lengths to be in pairs from one side of the dish to the other side and pass above the centre of the dish forming a 90 degree intersection between pairs. For example, number the petals from 1 to 8, do a string test on petals 1/5 with petals 3/7 and check for gaps at the intersection. If the two pieces of taught string are with no gap or minimal gap it indicates the petals are nicely aligned in a good parabloic shape.

Repeat the process for petals 2/6 and 4/8.

I am no expert on an acceptable string gap tolerance but I seem to remember that for C-Band a string test gap of 3mm should be OK but preferably not more if it can be avoided?

 

[Man on the steps]

Lol .. string test is a new one - but can see that makes a lot of sense.

The petals were all lined up smoothly, so hope its ok.

Will try find some string ..