Reception conditions in the Caribbean

deepbluesky

Specialist Contributor
My Satellite Setup
Octagon Quad Optima OQSLO @ Laminas OFC-1100 @ Powertech DG-380 @ Vu+ Solo²(OpenATV) / Technotrend S2-1600
Sony KDL32W656A / TBS 6220 (DVB-C)
Terratec T-Stick+ (DAB+)
My Location
Stuttgart (48.79N/9.19E)
I've started this thread since the Caribbean is a place where many people have to deal with fringe reception. So let's see what we can gather.


First of all let's see which is the maximum arc above the local horizon:

Western limit: 165W-5W (Western Cuba)
Eastern limit: 140W-21E (Barbados)


luiscolo, these questions are for you:

1) Is it possible to get all the Amazonas Ku frequencies in Puerto Rico on 24/7 basis or only some of them on the 1.80m dish you've mentioned before ?

2) What about 70W C-Band there ? Does anybody get them all on 3m in Puerto Rico ? It's amazing that Brazil still transmits so many analogue channels over satellite.
 
Hello again, I must say that I do not have a set-up for Amazonas but ofcorse my freinds do, but according to my freind dssruel, in P.R. we see 8 of its transponders with four of them not opend because of its conax encription. In the clear would be,11808,12012,12052, and 12132The transponders that are beamed to Brazil are not seen. As I said a six foot offset dish is recomended from this area. I wonder what type of antenna can bring it in from Europe. Europe is included in its footprint.
 
So you get 8 of 11 transponders on Amazonas 1 South America Beam. Not bad for a 6ft since the footprint shows 35dbW over Puerto Rico. I wonder if a 3m would get all of that beam. In Western Europe to get at least 1 frequency can just be tested by professionals. If i had access to a 10m i would have tested it ;)

The chances in the C-Band are much higher. In Western Africa they might be able to get it partly.
 
Excellent thread here, I see someone's interested from Europe

Actually I live in the south of Puerto Rico, and have been able to see Amazonas since almost a year. My current setup are 2 Relook 400 with Pli Jade tailored for Relooks, 1 5.5feet no name dish and a old Globecast Aspen Eagle Linear LNB. CCcam 2.11 and HackSat keyupdater plugin

Amazonas was kind of weak, like 35 % signal with a lot of BER, but since last January it seems that the provider juiced up its signal, and on a good day, Im able to have upto 80% with very little BER.

Be free to ask me anything, if you may.
Thanks.
 
codecxbox said:
Be free to ask me anything, if you may.
Thanks.


Just one question, do you replace a cheap dish each time you get hit by a hurricane, or have you got something that can withstand the battering ?
 
lol, I wouldnt know if there was any pun intended or not

Anyway, if the base of the dish is secure, hurricanes are not a problem. At least not in my case. Usually we secure them to cement bases with poles embedded to it. Depending on the severity of the storm, we might take the dish off. Yes, many dishes fly( but not like birds) , but Dish will cover the damage,lol.

I dont have problems, yet. I have them almost on the floor on my backyard.

Next?
 
codecxbox said:
lol, I wouldnt know if there was any pun intended or not

No pun, a couple of my London customers have second homes in Antigua, each time they return the dish has panels missing, or has disappeared completely.
 
I believe that in Antigua most houses are made in wood, and most people there install their dishes to the side panels, which is not good enough.
Also, Antigua is in the middle of the islands arc. Therefore , storms always cross through there, so its almost a sure hit. Puerto Rico is more to the north, and most of the time a storm would just brush us just on the east side .

I wish I could get a valid sub for Canal Digital, just for variety and EuroSports.
But there are no Canal Digital dealers in PR.
Is Digital Freesat availabe on Antigua?
 
OK then . BTW, what satellite services do your customers from antigua have? And what services are available to them?
I know for a fact that at 40 west, I think it was, once I was trying to aim at Hispasat 30 west, and by accident i was hitting CanalCaribes sat. I looked it up, and found it is a sat service for the French Caribbean islands. It hit very strong, like 85% on my relook, and it was coded as Seca2/Mediaguard. The only channel it had FTA was TeleMonde5, a French news channel.
It is available for the northern Venezuela and Dominican Republic but as a private service for hotels and tourist entertainment places.

As we talk, Telefonica amazonas has revised its card to AC8, and also there is a CAID 1802, N3 simulcasting along 1801 at PID 120. But I have been informed that the company has not yet issued new sub cards.
 
Excellent thread here, I see someone's interested from Europe

Actually I live in the south of Puerto Rico, and have been able to see Amazonas since almost a year. My current setup are 2 Relook 400 with Pli Jade tailored for Relooks, 1 5.5feet no name dish and a old Globecast Aspen Eagle Linear LNB. CCcam 2.11 and HackSat keyupdater plugin

Amazonas was kind of weak, like 35 % signal with a lot of BER, but since last January it seems that the provider juiced up its signal, and on a good day, Im able to have upto 80% with very little BER.

Be free to ask me anything, if you may.
Thanks.
I live in Rincon, Puerto Rico and unsucccessfully tried to connect. Too many trees blocking signal and on a slope. How do I hurdle these obstacles?
 
I live in Rincon, Puerto Rico and unsucccessfully tried to connect. Too many trees blocking signal and on a slope. How do I hurdle these obstacles?
codecxbox last logged into the forum 12 years ago so the chance of you getting a reply from him are nil.

Howeverthings you could thing about, in no particular order:

cut trees down
find a better location for the dish with a clear view of the desired satellite
raise the dish clear of obstacles

If none of these are possible then your choice is to either move house or do without.......
 
I wish I could get a valid sub for Canal Digital, just for variety and EuroSports.
But there are no Canal Digital dealers in PR.
I'm afraid only residents of the 'Antilles françaises': Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin can get a subscription. Maybe do an inquiry at a dealer on one of those islands.
But the prices are not small: starting from €51,90 up to €81,90 a month (!).

The FTA channels should be Franceinfo:, C News and radio channels.

There should be (or was) a second provider, Orange Caraibe, Portail Orange pour les Antilles-Guyane Françaises | Forfaits mobiles Orange, Internet Fibre et ADSL/VDSL, TV dans la Caraïbe
But I can't find any information about satelliet reception on their website thus far.

There is (was?) also a 'TNT'-package which contained only the channels which can also be received with a terrestrial antenna (that system is called TNT in French). In comparison with mainland France in the Caribbean only the local channels and the public channels from France Télévision are included in that package.
 
I'm afraid only residents of the 'Antilles françaises': Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin can get a subscription. Maybe do an inquiry at a dealer on one of those islands.
But the prices are not small: starting from €51,90 up to €81,90 a month (!).

The FTA channels should be Franceinfo:, C News and radio channels.

There should be (or was) a second provider, Orange Caraibe, Portail Orange pour les Antilles-Guyane Françaises | Forfaits mobiles Orange, Internet Fibre et ADSL/VDSL, TV dans la Caraïbe
But I can't find any information about satelliet reception on their website thus far.

There is (was?) also a 'TNT'-package which contained only the channels which can also be received with a terrestrial antenna (that system is called TNT in French). In comparison with mainland France in the Caribbean only the local channels and the public channels from France Télévision are included in that package.
A few tropical storms have passed the islands since the last post.

Btw Hawaii will get a few inches from Hone tomorrow. (oooerrr!)

 
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