Recent content by IA6Newspath

Sounds good. In terms of size, the 60 cm dish is a little larger than an 18" dish, but I didn't know if it was still big enough to be able to pull in Ku FTA feeds.

Hi everyone. Just curious if anyone knows if there has been any success (or failure) with Ku-band FTA reception with a 60 cm dish. The other day I was browsing Winegard's website and noticed that they have a 60 cm dish, the next smallest dish after their 76 cm dish, so I'm curious if it might...

Hi all. This evening, I stumbled upon a website advertising the SelfSat, a flat, rectangular satellite antenna that evidently can be used for Ku FTA reception. Has anyone ever heard of this thing? Judging from their website, it doesn't look like it's available in North America, but it...

Well, I've hooked up my new analog receiver and have tried tuning in the Ku analog test slate on AMC 2. I was able to tune in the channel, so I'm at least happy to see that my receiver is working, however the video does have quite a bit of snow in it. I did try adjusting the AGC and IF...

Hi all. I just received my new (well, new to me) analog receiver, and I was curious if anyone knows of any analog Ku channels that are ITC and up 24/7, as I'm planning on testing the receiver tomorrow. I'm already aware of the analog Ku test slate on AMC 2 and will probably try hitting...

Exactly. When I'm using a digital IRD at work, I simply select the proper polarity, enter the downlink frequency, enter the symbol rate (FEC detection is automatic on most receivers), and the receiver then locks onto the signal. No need to "scan a transponder" as we do with the consumer...

Well, I don't know if I'd call it "a whole lot", but I do work in engineering/operations at a CBS affiliate, so I'm fairly familiar with the details and nuances of CBS' satellite operations with respect to network programming/distribution and their SNG (satellite news gathering) transponder...

Not necessarily. Although I'm fairly sure that most, if not all, C-band analog transmissions use full transponders, I do know that Ku-band analog uplinks can be done using either a full transponder or half transponder. Actually, for analog Ku news feeds (which are becoming somewhat of a dying...

Thanks for the quick reply, Iceberg. Here's another analog-related question that just came to mind. Are most Ku analog FTA receivers configurable to receive both half and full analog transponders, or are they generally capable of receiving only one or the other? Many analog Ku news feeds...

Hi all. I'm thinking about picking up a Ku analog receiver to use along with my Fortec Mercury II. I did a search and read through a number of threads regarding analog Ku reception and found some great information, but I just wanted to confirm something. If I were to hook up an analog Ku...

Just curious if anyone has toyed with the possibility of using an RV dish mount with a small Ku FTA dish (like the Winegard 76cm.). I know that some RVs have Dish Network/DirecTV dishes mounted on the top, and as such, the RVs are equipped with a mount which appears to allow the azimuth and...

I was checking Fortec's website this afternoon and noticed that they've posted a new firmware upgrade for the Mercury II receiver (the update is v1.09 and dated June 27th). It was mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Fortec may start including revision notes with its firmware upgrades, however...

Thanks for looking into this, Brian. Does this mean that you'll post version notes here in the forum for each firmware upgrade, or that Fortec will now include a version note document zipped with each firmware upgrade file? I know that a few of us are eagerly awaiting a fix for the Mercury...

Well, the results from today's power scan tests turned out to be a little more promising. While my Mercury II still wasn't able to lock in KTEL on AMC 5 in either power scan I tried (one with a frequency step of 4, and the other with a frequency step of 6), on all my power scan tests on AMC 5...

Thanks! If you happen to hear of a firmware fix for this problem, it would be great if you could mention it here in the forum, as Fortec doesn't seem to include revision notes with firmware upgrades.