Ciel 2 Tracking

[nelson61]

For the techies, Jens Satre has a nice collection of scripts for satellites.

Online Satellite Calculations - 20©07 Jens T. Satre

Paste the TLE in the calculator and you will get lots of details. Plug in your location for exact times, etc. It's a 3 line TLE so be sure to add the Ciel 2 header when pasting.

 

[Stacy A]

Why is something this big not on the front page yet?

I'm thinking Scott knows something (you know, "calm before the storm" and all) and he's just waiting. At the right moment, he will post the scoop on the front page, when it's at the confluence of rumor becomes truth. Then we will all gasp and be filled with that sense of fulfullment. And some, if not most, of us will be happy.

 

[ryotgz]

Just a couple more spot beam notes.

Central/Eastern Ky and WVa, Spot Beam 31.
Evansville, SB 30 with good coverage.

Regards,
Fitzie

So does this mean my signal will improve in Evansville? Low 30s-40s cut out very easy in rain.

 

[vtjman]

I'm thinking Scott knows something (you know, "calm before the storm" and all) and he's just waiting. At the right moment, he will post the scoop on the front page, when it's at the confluence of rumor becomes truth. Then we will all gasp and be filled with that sense of fulfullment. And some, if not most, of us will be happy.

I think fkent means mentioning something about ciel 2 now moving. Its pretty big news, at least in this thread.

 

[jacmyoung]

Why is something this big not on the front page yet?

What if it flies away before reaching 129?

 

[jacmyoung]

People keep saying this, but the February bills are already out. No increase on mine except for a new .39 tax.

They might officially announce it to the public then, but wouldn't it not take effect until March?

Good point, how about: "...it has to, because Charlie is counting on it to raise the programming cost as soon as possible?"

Of course I do not hope for the increase, but if there is going to be one, he needs additional programming added to justify the increase.

 

[Skyhi]

Once it makes it to its destination, what is the next step?

 

[navychop]

Once it's aligned properly, I would think they'd immediately start transferring signals onto the new bird.

So do they transfer only in the middle of the night? Or there's no disruption perceivable to the viewer, so they do it all day? How quickly is it done?

I am, of course, assuming there is a pretty consistent history of how long it takes- say, with an average time per transponder, you could estimate when the load will be fully shifted over.

 

[digiblur]

They usually transfer at night. Send the command to one satellite to turn off the transponder then send another to the other to turn on a transponder. They usually do not do them all in one day. With this bird it might be a bit different as they can fire up some without touching echostar5 since it isnt using all of the transponders anyways.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Why is something this big not on the front page yet?

Because we will get a million questions of why am I not seeing my locals from 129 yet.

Its still moving, and once it gets there it will go through a few days testing before being put in use.

Patience it will get there.

 

[navychop]

Patience? Patience? In this thread?

 

[memo90061]

FINALLY!!!

 

[Fitzie]

So does this mean my signal will improve in Evansville? Low 30s-40s cut out very easy in rain.

Unless there is something weird about your personal location, you should have a very strong signal. For that spot beam, Evansville is right on the line between 56dBW and 54dBW, with 56dBW being the best the beam has. If you get rain fade with that signal, you'll probably not be watching TV anyway.

Because of the shape of the beam Indianapolis would have a 54dBW signal and Fort Wayne would still get a 52dBW beam. (But there may be other beams that would give those places a stronger signal, I didn't look to see.) These beams are large.

Regards,
Fitzie

 

[Fitzie]

They usually transfer at night. Send the command to one satellite to turn off the transponder then send another to the other to turn on a transponder. They usually do not do them all in one day. With this bird it might be a bit different as they can fire up some without touching echostar5 since it isnt using all of the transponders anyways.

The only thing I would add is that some updates are done in mid-morning, when the kids are at school and the parents are mostly at work. Because my work schedule is erratic, I'm sometimes watching TV mid-morning and have had the program I'm watching interrupted for an update. These interruptions are usually less than 5 minutes, and my programs have always resumed as if nothing had happened--I might have to click the remote to regain the signal, but probably not even that.

Regards,
Fitzie

 

[ryotgz]

Unless there is something weird about your personal location, you should have a very strong signal. For that spot beam, Evansville is right on the line between 56dBW and 54dBW, with 56dBW being the best the beam has. If you get rain fade with that signal, you'll probably not be watching TV anyway.

Because of the shape of the beam Indianapolis would have a 54dBW signal and Fort Wayne would still get a 52dBW beam. (But there may be other beams that would give those places a stronger signal, I didn't look to see.) These beams are large.

Regards,
Fitzie

Thanks Fitzie. Nothing weird about my location, but according to the coverage map link you provided in an earlier post, I am a mile inside the 56dBW line. Excited about our coverage here. Now we just need local HD.

 

[nelson61]

Epoch: Approximately 11 AM Central Time 1/24/09
Perigee: 35,635.5 km
Apogee: 35,637.4 km

Looks like Tuesday station arrival. Give it some time to nestle in and expect to see it live sometime between Wedneday and Saturday. Echostar FCC Schedule S permit specifies operational on or before Saturday.

 

[long_time_DNC]

That's really good news!

 

[Koilvr]

See soon is almost here

 

[FitzAusTex]

I know most of us are anxious, (as am I - since it now appears that my HD LILs are going to be on 129) yet I'm not going to be upset if the Echostar 5 workload hasn't been transferred over to Ciel 2 as quickly as some in this thread are anticipating.

 

[kstuart]

I know most of us are anxious, (as am I - since it now appears that my HD LILs are going to be on 129) yet I'm not going to be upset if the Echostar 5 workload hasn't been transferred over to Ciel 2 as quickly as some in this thread are anticipating.

There is the recent experience with EchoStar 11 ... anyone with some spare time can check the threads from a few months ago as to how long it took to move EchoStar 8's channels to EchoStar 11.

This one should take less time, because - unlike 110 - 129 currently has frequencies not in use, and Ciel-2 can start broadcasting on those frequencies immediately.

Also, there is somewhat more urgency, since EchoStar 5 is not working well...

The new HD Locals from Ciel-2 will takes weeks longer, there are new uplinks, tweaking spot beams, etc. etc.