Is The History Channel gone?

[cyberham]

History is now just barely receivable this morning. Averaging maybe 15% quality. This compares to 25% to 30% for all others on same satellite. I am planning to get Azbox HD+, but need to wait for money fairy to visit me. Cable is almost new; no plans to change cable at this time. Scouting old C-band dishes down your way that nobody wants. So far have located motors, receivers, but no dish yet. I pass Kejimkujik Park on my business trips down that way.

Added: Your location hundreds of km to the southwest of me puts you more under the footprint of SES1.

 

[Sadie]

I just checked History channel at 9.10 am and it's down a bit at 85% as are few other channels at other satellites which are normally at 100%, clear blue sky right now, go figure.
Your on the right track nothing beats a bigger dish especially in this part of the world where we seem to be on the edge of the footprint of quite a lot of satellites, sometimes I thing the engineers that draw up those footprint charts are a tad optimistic.

 

[Pixl]

The 44 dBW line runs right through my area. I am using a 39-inch dish. This is the first time I've encountered a situation where I could use a larger dish. Everything else I receive is good quality and watchable.

48 dbw line runs thru my area in Michigan, few extra dbw make all the difference. I can use an old 34" "Dish SuperDish" with stock lnb for 101w. Aways a strong 70% or higher quality.

 

[cyberham]

48 dbw line runs thru my area in Michigan, few extra dbw make all the difference. I can use an old 34" "Dish SuperDish" with stock lnb for 101w. Aways a strong 70% or higher quality.

The price we pay for living in the boonies. You've given me an idea. Changing from 200 feet of RG-6 to using RG-213 and RG-8 instead would gain me >5dB which might be enough to make the signal watchable without changing anything else. Although RG-213 / RG-8 impedance is 50 ohms, the mismatch for receive may not be significant. I have some RG-213 and RG-8 on hand that I could try experimentally if I can figure a way to adapt the PL-259 connectors to the F-type connectors.

 

[oblio]

Have you tried bumping your dish a tad to optimize just the History tp? May gain or lose a bit on the other SES 1 tp's by doing so but sometimes best to try to make a weak tp better than rely on the best setting for a strong tp.

 

[cyberham]

I am peaking on History by bumping with the motor very carefully back and forth. As long as the other transponders are received with about 25% or higher, they appear clear and are fully watchable so I don't pay much attention to their quality readings. For example, Pentagon has a solid 22% to 26% now and it visually is as good as if it were 80%.

 

[cyberham]

SES1 is 228 degs azimuth and 27 degs elevation for me. Current sun position is 186 azimuth and 24 degs elevation. History signal is now virtually gone. I wonder if looking almost directly into the sun (elevation-wise anyway) is adding noise and thereby reducing S/N to below threshold of receiver. Highest signal quality was last night after dark.

 

[musicmanitou]

I'm in Newfoundland using a 42 inch dish, I used to get the history channel at between 55 and 70 but for the last few months can only get between 10 and 20 even after tweaking my dish.

 

[oblio]

Right now I'm getting History at 75% on my S10, 36 inch fortec type dish, 65 feet of cable on a sunny day in Toronto. I did a major dish tweaking about a month ago to shorten my cable run, make my mast almost perfectly vertical and to better hit due south on the motor reference point. Before that I was 50 or less for History, sometimes 25. Now with a good setup (61.5 to 125, 75% at both ends), History is well locked (maybe down to 60 when it rains). I figure it was a dish skew issue with my mast not being vertical and my motor not perfectly hittting the arc. My cable changes alone added 10% to my S value so the whole system works better.

Not sure the sun can cause an issue unless its sunspots that hit everyone. With a 28 degree elevation still quite high but for sure more atmosphere to go through for a weaker tp. It may be they have reduced power a bit on their conus beam and being on the fringes you just luck out. An even bigger dish would be perhaps the only solution.

 

[Pixl]

Changing from 200 feet of RG-6 to using RG-213 and RG-8 instead would gain me >5dB which might be enough to make the signal watchable without changing anything else. Although RG-213 / RG-8 impedance is 50 ohms, the mismatch for receive may not be significant. I have some RG-213 and RG-8 on hand that I could try experimentally if I can figure a way to adapt the PL-259 connectors to the F-type connectors.

The 50 ohm mismatch is not good engineering, worse is the loss thru pl-259 connectors @ 1ghz, you may not get much improvement at all, but since you already own the materials can't hurt to try, see what happens.

When we talk about % improvements, most receivers have two. QUALITY, the most important, and signal level. Quality is first determined by the amount of signal you can cram down the feed horn (i.e. dish size), secondly by SNR of the lnb. Now at this point you re-transmit the down converted signal to the receiver. Signal level reaching the receiver is determined mostly by gain of the output stage of the lnb (usually 45-60 db) which is quite a bit and can get thru several hundred feet of coax, switches, motor junctions, splitters and still work quite well as long as that all important QUALITY was good at the beginning.
Try your coax, if not then go for a bigger dish.
Next time you come out of the woods to the world look on top of banks, gas stations, Walgreen's etc. for a 1.2m. these are all over the place and most out of service. Many can be had for the asking. Previously used for credit card verification, they are now doing that over IP networks.

 

[cyberham]

Right now I'm getting History at 75% on my S10, 36 inch fortec type dish, 65 feet of cable on a sunny day in Toronto....

It looks like the footprint at Toronto may deliver about a 49dBW signal level. That's 5dB more than here. That's probably responsible for most of the difference between your location and mine although I'm probably getting an extra dB or two benefit from my slightly larger dish. However your points are good that picking up a little here and a little there can become significant overall.

I only thought about the sun's position since each year, when the satellite/sun alignments are just right, there are satellite service interruptions.

 

[cyberham]

I decided to drop the cable changeout plan. Wrong time of year for that activity, and I agree with what you say Pixl.

Also, the fact that the LNB regenerates the signal is significantly different than conventional HF considerations where a signal arrives at an antenna and marches down the feedline to the receiver only affected by feedline loss. Perhaps my LNB would be a consideration. I have a different one that I could swap out quite easily....the snow is almost gone around here for this week. Those commercial 1.2m heavy-duty dishes you refer to, I think, are the ones that were recently for sale locally for $348 including mounting stand. I'm going to keep looking for a nice BUD for free. I saw many in NE New Brunswick last week. With a small team of helpers, we could go there and probably bring back half a dozen BUDS which are installed in yards and all looking at the ground.

 

[cyberham]

...I do not know why it is not on Lyngsat anymore.

It is now showing correctly on lyngsat.com as FTA. Yet, all transponders on SES1 are gone for me this morning, even reliable Pentagon that is always as sure as the sun rising in the morning.

 

[cyberham]

Have now been monitoring History for a couple of days after doing an extremely careful dish re-orientation from scratch. I did the usual peaking of signal on my most southerly satellite, then I moved to each end of the arc (15W, 103W) and did it again. The final orientation included dish tweaks that involved such minor movements in both azimuth and elevation, but important ones, that I almost had to hold my breath as I moved the dish imperceptibly. It was worth it. History is and has been for two days steady and reliable at 24% which means it is clear and watchable. All other tp on satellite are stronger, typically 30% to 40+% now. 15W is also stronger with MSNBC being received reliably at 30% to 40% now and other tp stronger. And I am getting more signals on blind scans than ever before including a new satellite for me: 105W. Dish orientation is more of an art than a science.