wildly flactuating quality levels......

[amichaelglg]

In result to the thread ...
http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/transponders-channels/153979-pik-sat-hellas-2-a.html

I have setup a dish pointing to Hellas Sat and a new lnb. The signal quality for the transponder ERT Sat is on is coming through a steady 78% and the picture is rock stedy. For some strange reason the transponder PIK sat is showing a signal quality that flactuates wildly beween 20%-75%, but sometime does stay (rarely) around the 52% mark. I have tried twisting the LNB, but that's the bet I can get it. The upshot is contant breakup in the picture and sound on PIK Sat channel most of the time.

Any advice. Why the flactuation.
I don't think it's the cable, lnb or dish because all the other greek channels are perfectly fine. I am suspecting the transponder is a very weak one or it has something to do with the symbol rate used on this transponder of 3333 which sounds really low in comparison to all the others. May be I need a special lnb ?

 

[Lazarus]

Hugely variable results from Hellas are to be expected, I'm afraid.

All sorts of different beams and even Transponders within apparently gettable beams can be marginal.

The key bit of missing info is what size Dish you are using - as you will have seen from the Thread you linked to, that particular channel has been causing grief for a while now.

 

[amichaelglg]

I'm not near the poperty at the moment, but probably/i think 80cm dish ?

The thing I don't understand is the flactuation ? Surely they are not transmitting on a some kind of variable strength !

 

[Lazarus]

Well the strength and quality are not necessarily directly related to each other.

The figures you quote are for fluctuations in quality, not strength.:Is the strength more or less constant?

 

[amichaelglg]

From memory, as I am not near the property, the strength is steady around the 45% mark.

 

[Lazarus]

Well I don't get terribly good results from 39E with my 80cm and of the Channels I do get, quite a number are very marginal indeed.

If the low Symbol Rate is not the problem, in your case, I venture to suggest a bigger dish may be the order of the day in order to capture more Transponders reliably.

Reception just above the lock level can manifest itself in the way you describe (from simple observation - but don't test me on it!)

 

[amichaelglg]

reading through some of the other posts in this forum it may well require a bigger dish. The LNB has been replaced as I could not pick up the Rik Sat at all even though all the other channels were fine . Initially I tried another receiver witht the same problem. I thought the lnb (being an old one) was unable to pick it up due to the low SR.

Let's hope they can get the channel up and working back on Hotbird so I can watch it from my other dish.

 

[Analoguesat]

If you look at the footprint maps ERT is on the F1 beam - that's the exceptionally easy one to get in the UK. RIK is on the F2 beam. Theoretically the coverage zones are almost the same but there's bound to be some differences. It doesnt help that RIK is a low symbol rate transmission - they are often more problematic to pick up.

Ive never been successful getting any of the F2 beam channels on an 80 cm dish.

 

[satelliteman]

An 80cm is okay for Hellas sat in the Midlands and for that far South, should be fit to go for F1 & F2. A Zone 2 will pull it in here also but not fool proof.

 

[amichaelglg]

can someone state they have a solid (not flactuating) signal on PIK sat channel on Hellas sat on an 80cm dish in the south. I think it has to be steady at about at least 60% strength to be watchable without picture pixaltion.

Anyone undertand why the channel is not showing on Hotbird. I read the article (having translated it) from the cybc.com.cy web site , but not sure whether it is a technical problem or a contractual problem in which case they may cease it completely from hotbird.

 

[Robbo]

Very stable with with quite high signal quality here. Though it is with a 1m dish. Could be the box? not being able to cope with the low symbol rate, I suppose.

 

[Llew]

Unlikely to be the box, as I can lock that channel's symbol rate with the same receiver straight away (89% SQ) here in East Anglia west. Admittedly with a larger dish. The AD3000's tuner is better than most with low SRs.