Terryl
Specialist Contributor
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2011
- Messages
- 3,462
- Reaction score
- 2,044
- Points
- 113
- Age
- 82
- My Satellite Setup
-
OpenBox X5 on a 1 meter motorized dish.
And now a 10 foot "C" band dish.
Custom built PC
- My Location
- Deep in the Boonies in the central Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
Hi Doc Sarah, I think some have missed the point, that you are a total novice at this and need some good guidance.
In trying to use one antenna (or dish) to get all the satellites you can you will need at least an 8 to 10 foot motorized dish, and that needs to be setup for both "C" and "Ku" bands*, (the satellites transmit in these bands) the Toroidal T90 dish will not be able to see the satellites transmitting in "C" band, (it is too low a frequency for that sized dish) so you will be missing a bunch of channels on quite a few satellites.
Now due to your location a problem comes up, and that is that some satellites are transmitting what is call "Spot Beams", these spot beams are like spot lights on a stage, a spot pointing at stage right will not work for you if your standing at stage left. (acting terms help)
Another thing, did you order the dish will 16 LNB's or did someone say you needed all those LNB's, if someone said you did then I would go after them as there are not that many "Ku" band satellites that can be seen from your location, below is a link to a site that has all satellites and their associated transponders and channels, it is a long list as there are quite a few up there, but not all can be see everywhere, this due to the fact that the Earth is round and some will be below the horizon, and others are pointing to different locations on the Earth. (spot beam's)
This one is for the birds on an Atlantic orbit.
This one is for the birds over Europe.
So going through the list you will see a little globe, clicking on this little globe will bring up a map of that satellites coverage area, finding your location and zooming in then clicking on it will tell you what sized dish would be needed for that satellite and if you can see it or not at that location.
The other thing it will tell you is if that channel is encrypted, if it is then you wont be able to see it without a subscription to that channel(s) provider.
In the links above you will see a little P, this will give you what packages (channels) are available on the satellites, this will give you an idea on whats available with or without a subscription.
Now some of these provider will not let you use an FTA** receiver, but will provide a receiver for you (sometimes not) when you sign up for their programming, some will what you to let them put up their dish, just tell them you have one.
This is getting quit long so I will cut it short, so once you do a little looking around as to what satellites can or can not be seen at your location we can go further, you may also send back the LNB's you don't need.
* "C" band = 3.5 to 4 GHz, "Ku" band = 10 to 12.7 GHz, big difference, "C" band needs at least a 6 foot dish (2 meters), some "Ku" band satellites can be received on as small a dish as 18 inches (46 cm)
** FTA = Free To Air, an FTA receiver can recive many satellites and channels, some can even use de-cryption codes to get some encrypted channels from some providers, not all FTA receivers can do this. (and I will not talk about these types of codes)
In trying to use one antenna (or dish) to get all the satellites you can you will need at least an 8 to 10 foot motorized dish, and that needs to be setup for both "C" and "Ku" bands*, (the satellites transmit in these bands) the Toroidal T90 dish will not be able to see the satellites transmitting in "C" band, (it is too low a frequency for that sized dish) so you will be missing a bunch of channels on quite a few satellites.
Now due to your location a problem comes up, and that is that some satellites are transmitting what is call "Spot Beams", these spot beams are like spot lights on a stage, a spot pointing at stage right will not work for you if your standing at stage left. (acting terms help)
Another thing, did you order the dish will 16 LNB's or did someone say you needed all those LNB's, if someone said you did then I would go after them as there are not that many "Ku" band satellites that can be seen from your location, below is a link to a site that has all satellites and their associated transponders and channels, it is a long list as there are quite a few up there, but not all can be see everywhere, this due to the fact that the Earth is round and some will be below the horizon, and others are pointing to different locations on the Earth. (spot beam's)
Code:
http://www.lyngsat.com/atlantic.html
Code:
http://www.lyngsat.com/europe.html
So going through the list you will see a little globe, clicking on this little globe will bring up a map of that satellites coverage area, finding your location and zooming in then clicking on it will tell you what sized dish would be needed for that satellite and if you can see it or not at that location.
The other thing it will tell you is if that channel is encrypted, if it is then you wont be able to see it without a subscription to that channel(s) provider.
In the links above you will see a little P, this will give you what packages (channels) are available on the satellites, this will give you an idea on whats available with or without a subscription.
Now some of these provider will not let you use an FTA** receiver, but will provide a receiver for you (sometimes not) when you sign up for their programming, some will what you to let them put up their dish, just tell them you have one.
This is getting quit long so I will cut it short, so once you do a little looking around as to what satellites can or can not be seen at your location we can go further, you may also send back the LNB's you don't need.
* "C" band = 3.5 to 4 GHz, "Ku" band = 10 to 12.7 GHz, big difference, "C" band needs at least a 6 foot dish (2 meters), some "Ku" band satellites can be received on as small a dish as 18 inches (46 cm)
** FTA = Free To Air, an FTA receiver can recive many satellites and channels, some can even use de-cryption codes to get some encrypted channels from some providers, not all FTA receivers can do this. (and I will not talk about these types of codes)