I have several locations that I work at that are having issues with 2 particular Transponder signal levels. On a receiver it is identified as 103s Transponder 21 and Transponder 22. Using an AIM2 meter with the "with spots" transponder test, what transponder would i be looking for? On 103a there is a transponder 21 but not a transponder 22 and 103b does not have either. Some of the customers have hotel style systems so i am unable to get the 103s levels, and the levels that their system is way different that either a receiver or an AIM so it is impossible to correlate them.
The frequency and polarity of the transponders on 103S are different than 103CA and 103CB. You have to be tuned to the 103S transponders to see their signal strengths. DIRECTV uses two bands of frequencies for these transmissions: The KAHi or "A" band and the KALo or "B" Band. 103CA is the Nationwide transponders in the A Band. 103CB is the Nationwide transponders in the B band, using TPNs 1 to 14. 103S shows the spot beams on the B Band at 103, using TPNs 15-24. (It used to also show TPNs 1-8 of the A band when they had spot beams, but that satellite has been retired.)
The two spot beam transponders carrying New Orleans local channels are on TPNs 21 and 22, both at 18732 MHz, one with Left Hand Circular Polarization (LHCP), the other with RHCP. They use the spot beam antenna called A4B5. I have attached a file which when opened with Google Earth, displays the beam footprint for those transponders. The short answer is that a usable signal for a normal sized DirecTV dish extends out only 70 to 75 miles into the Gulf from the Louisiana shoreline.
P.S. I am an Engineer. not a technician. I have never seen an AIM meter. The above information comes from analyzing FCC licensing documents.