Viasat on Sirius 2/3 Nordic Beam

flexi-lexi

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Hi people,

Just looking for help & advice in a similar situation as 'jimmyf' as I have signed up for a 2 year contract with Viasat, the difference been I'm located in Jersey in the channel Islands, a lot further south. What I'm looking for if someone can help me is weather I should be able to receive the Nordic beam from the Sirius 2/3 Satellites?

And then if so (which I'm hoping I can :-worship ) what size dish would be required.

I've checked out the various footprint diagrams & can see I'm out side of them. :-doh!

http://www.satgate.net/images/maps/Sirius2nb.jpg
_http://www.satcritics.com/tech_sizequery.php"]http://www.satcritics.com/tech_sizequery.php
http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/maps/sirius3.html
http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/maps/sirius2_nordic.html

Although using:
http://en.kingofsat.net/beams.php?s=24
http://en.kingofsat.net/beams.php?s=25&b=45

seems to give me a bit more confidence that I can, but not been that clued up with satellites & having no way of just going out side with some form of measuring device, take a few readings & been able to say with confidence that I would need such a size dish really annoys me, its just so difficult.

Cheers for any help

Flexi-lexi
 

Analoguesat

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2 tor 3 metres will probably do fine :D. Im in the Scottish Borders and I struggle with the Nordic beams on a 1m (I can JUST get Sirius 3 on a fine day - forget it when it rains.)
 

flexi-lexi

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Cheers I was hoping a 1.6m dish would be plenty.
 

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Hey, I was about to make a similar post in another section then I noticed this post so thought Id put it here instead.

About what size of a dish would I need in N.Ireland to get a lock on the Viasat package channels?.

I thougth id ask the expert :p since I can get about 3/4s of the nordic channels on 1w fine on my 80cm with a 0.6db lnb (i think its a 0.6db). So i guess the maps can be taken with a grain of salt.

At present on my 80cm, for example, ZTV Sweden (11862 v 27500 3/4) I get the following - 63%snr, 83%agr, 8224 ber (no signal lock). Rest of the channels on the Viasat package have similar stats, give and take a few percent on each.

I can get a lock on viasat history however (the one with the Polish,
Czech, Russian, Hungarian and English audio) at 12636 h 14468 3/4 with 77%snr, 99%agr, ~1500ber.

Thank you.
 

flexi-lexi

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I have a 1.8m dish on its way to me. When it arrives I'm going to try & pick up the viasat channels, I'll let yo know how I get on, but I'm not hopefull. After that it will be the CanalDigital I'll be going for at 1w.
 

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Hi Flexi,

I think you are in the 'must try harder' area for Sirius-3. I do know someone who ought to have a definative answer, I'll ask.

However, Thor-3 should be fine with a 1.8m, I have by sheer coincidence just measured the worst offending transponder (12054 H - trp.18) here (55 miles south of Jersey) and on my cheap 80cm with a 0.7dB LNB, it's +2dB C/N as measured on an IFR Spec.An. I should mention Thor-2 is no problem it storms in @ +12db C/N.

BTW: A 1.8m antenna is best placed on the ground with it's mount cemented in. And as you must be aware from reading here not all antenna are created equal.:)

Bonne Chance,

IanW.
 

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nordic beam fine in uk
 

flexi-lexi

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Hi Ian,

Cheers for that, I have however already purchased a dish from Maplin. A 180 FortecStar, however not sure if it was the right choice, apparently not recommended for novices! I'll see how it goes, it was only £90, I'm just waiting to fit the Lnb & feedhorn on as the bracket didn't come with the dish.

I have it set up on the patio at the moment weighted down with 2 logs, I want to see what I can get before I bolt it down.

Flexi
 
R

Rd100

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let us know how you get on best thing to do is line the dish up on a strong transponder then go to the weak trasponder then mess about with the feedhorn,

I use to have a 1.8m fortec star it's a good dish for the money,

flexi-lexi said:
Hi Ian,

Cheers for that, I have however already purchased a dish from Maplin. A 180 FortecStar, however not sure if it was the right choice, apparently not recommended for novices! I'll see how it goes, it was only £90, I'm just waiting to fit the Lnb & feedhorn on as the bracket didn't come with the dish.

I have it set up on the patio at the moment weighted down with 2 logs, I want to see what I can get before I bolt it down.

Flexi
 

flexi-lexi

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Hi Guys,

I set the dish up no problem except the bracket doesn't seem to support the lnb & feedhorn properly. No chance in picking up the Nordic beam, not even a whisper of a signal, but Thor 3 no problem so will have to try & send back all the stuff from Viasat, luckly haven't activated the card yet, maybe some one will want to buy it off me!

Cheers for your info.


Flexi
 

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Viasat channels fine in Northern Ireland with andews 1.2 meter dish and feedhorn in all weather.
 

flexi-lexi

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Cheers for that, i'll have another go when i can set the dish up properly with the lnb securely held in place & in the correct position, just waiting for a delivery.

When you say channels are fine, you do mean the ones on the nordic beam, not the few which are on the europe beam?

Flexi
 

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Nordic beam aswell, TV5, Lithuanian tv, Tango tv etc. About 75% Strenght and 43% Quailty
 

flexi-lexi

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Thats sound good, I'll definetly have to give it another try when I can set everything up correctly.

Cheers
 

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Hi Flexi,

OK, I have the scuttlebuck.

Officially, Sirius-3 Vertical you're on the 31dBW contour, and Horizontal 34dBW-ish (I'm extrapolating between the 31 and 36 dBW countours). If you bang the numbers into this truly excellent Link Budget Calculator;

http://www.satellite-calculations.com/Satellite/Downlink.htm

Assuming a hopeful 60% efficiency for that petalised dish, a 0.2dB LNB, 35K noise figure for the dish which is a bit optimistic that the feedhorn is optimal. Gives you a 'WIN' of about 2dB above threshold for the Horizontal transponders provided it's a lovely Sunny blue-sky Jersey day (like in the brochure:) ) and the wind is behind you. For the Verticals you are on the ragged edge or in truth below.

Now a nice 2.4m spun dish or better still a 2.4 Gregorian offset and you'd be alright except for heavy rain events.

It is worth mentioning that this far off the main lobe of the beam means that there will be variations in the pointing as the satellite moves within it's permitted attitude control limits over a 23hr / 8 day / 3 week cycle.

If I recall correctly, the SSA (Swedish Space Agency) guys have a very funky active pointing system on their transmit antenna, both of their own design, so the maintenance of the beam pointing should be pretty good.

Let us know how you get on.

IanW.
 

flexi-lexi

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Cheers for the help guys, but still no luck, I'll just have to switch to thor and use CanalDigital where I can get some of the channels.
 

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London here with 1m Triax. I can "just" get with breakups the difficult frequencies of the nordic beam like the one which viasat sport 1 is on. But that only certain times of the day. I believe a 1.6m should be enough.
Why do people say that the norther you go the weaker the signal? If could someone explain why thats the case.

timbo86 said:
Nordic beam aswell, TV5, Lithuanian tv, Tango tv etc. About 75% Strenght and 43% Quailty


Can you check if you open viasat sport 1?
 

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Cheekykid said:
London here with 1m Triax. I can "just" get with breakups the difficult frequencies of the nordic beam like the one which viasat sport 1 is on. But that only certain times of the day. I believe a 1.6m should be enough.
Why do people say that the norther you go the weaker the signal? If could someone explain why thats the case.




Can you check if you open viasat sport 1?


Thor & Sirius are different to most satellites - their spot beams are pointed onto the Nordic regions, so the further north & east you go the stronger these signal.
 

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Kinda disappointing that i cant find a person in london with 1.6m+ to tell me whether the difficult frequencies of the nordic beam are open 24/7
 

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Hi guys,

Just a little question.. ;)
If this program should be 100% Reliable, and saying that iam living in Valencia trying to catch Thor, Sirius (Nordic Beam), what sould the size of the dish be?

To be 100% sure before buying a 3.0 or 4.0 m dish i would really like to know exactly what are the demands in this program to calculate the accurate size of the dish... (I got a bit confused with all the numbers).

Thanks
 
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