180.0E Intelsat 18

[Martyn]

I just bought a universal LNB and set up a 1.2m temporary dish on Intelsat 18, out over the antimeridian.

There's a France Televisions mux that carries the main French terrestrial channels aimed at the French territories in the South Pacific. They're scrambled but the local channels are not.

I thought you might like to see them as it's a satellite we don't often hear about.

New Caledonia:

French Polynesia:

And Tahiti:

 

[clucas]

I have my 10 footer pointed at 180E/W for The C band Australia Plus feed. At one time, one channel of AFN was in the clear and fed various programming with poor video quality but I lost that after they changed to HD channels.

 

[Martyn]

I have my 10 footer pointed at 180E/W for The C band Australia Plus feed. At one time, one channel of AFN was in the clear and fed various programming with poor video quality but I lost that after they changed to HD channels.

Ah, good to know the Australia Network can be pulled in here. I want to get a dish up for that and 166E. Can you get that satellite where you are?

 

[N5XZS]

Martyn,

Just curious where are you located and how strong is the signal quality on Ku band?

 

[clucas]

I should be able to get 166E but I have a hill west of me in the line of sight so I personally can't. I did put a second LNBF on for 177W and get a few religious feeds plus the MTN test card. I was just playing around to get a feel for the positioning of the electronics. Since the dish angle is so low I can do the alignment on only a step ladder. I'm in central, coastal California but you should get it in Oregon. I had a 7 1/2 footer with a Titanium LNBF but would get occasional dropouts due to the size.

 

[Brct203]

I just bought a universal LNB and set up a 1.2m temporary dish on Intelsat 18, out over the antimeridian.

There's a France Televisions mux that carries the main French terrestrial channels aimed at the French territories in the South Pacific. They're scrambled but the local channels are not.

I thought you might like to see them as it's a satellite we don't often hear about.

New Caledonia:

View attachment 132596

French Polynesia:

View attachment 132597

And Tahiti:

View attachment 132598

Thanks for posting this

I had noticed Tahiti Nui TV on Lyngsat and had been wondering if anyone here had ever checked it out (i'm on the East coast, so not an option from here).

Lyngsat info seems a bit outdated on that satellite, as it does not list NC 1ere and Polynésie 1ere. And it does list France 24 and LCP (C-SPAN à la Française...). Since you're not mentioning those, i'm guessing they're gone?

 

[Martyn]

Thanks for posting this

I had noticed Tahiti Nui TV on Lyngsat and had been wondering if anyone here had ever checked it out (i'm on the East coast, so not an option from here).

Lyngsat info seems a bit outdated on that satellite, as it does not list NC 1ere and Polynésie 1ere. And it does list France 24 and LCP (C-SPAN à la Française...). Since you're not mentioning those, i'm guessing they're gone?

France 24 is on there, but we've all seen that so I didn't bother putting in a screen shot.

The mux included France 2, 3, 4, 5 and the local channels, which were all scrambled. The ones I picked up were all labeled "Retour" so it looks like they are an unscrambled backhaul to Paris. Just a guess.

Lyngsat lists those other muxes but they have a high SR and I was wondering if I wasn't getting them because my meter can't cope or because they are not there. I'll post some more this weekend. I do remember there being 5 transponders on the spectrum display.

 

[Martyn]

Martyn,

Just curious where are you located and how strong is the signal quality on Ku band?

I'm in Concord, which is in the Bay Area, a little inland towards Sacramento. I'm lucky in that I have an almost horizon to horizon view despite being at ground level in a city.

It was a decent signal on a 1.2m dish. I didn't succeed in a lock on a 70cm. I'll hook the meter back up this weekend and get some readings.

 

[Brct203]

France 24 is on there, but we've all seen that so I didn't bother putting in a screen shot.

The mux included France 2, 3, 4, 5 and the local channels, which were all scrambled. The ones I picked up were all labeled "Retour" so it looks like they are an unscrambled backhaul to Paris. Just a guess.

Lyngsat lists those other muxes but they have a high SR and I was wondering if I wasn't getting them because my meter can't cope or because they are not there. I'll post some more this weekend. I do remember there being 5 transponders on the spectrum display.

Keep an eye on Canal + Polynésie, if it's like in mainland France, it's FTA for a few hours every day, usually around noon and early evening (like some time between 6pm and 8pm local). Local time in Tahiti is about the same as Hawaii. Check out Radio Te Reo O Tefana if it still exists, if it's anything like 20+ years ago, it's sometimes in Tahitian language, with popular Tahitian music.

There are 2 different beams - one is French Polynesia/US, with the Vini DTH service which is almost certainly what you are getting, and the other one is 'South Pacific" and is aimed at New Caledonia/New Zealand and Australia, and carries Canal Calédonie DTH service. No chance of getting that one from the US, i would guess.

Similarly, here on the East Coast we get Canal Caraibes on Intelsat 35e, with about 180 channels aimed at the French Caribbean and Haiti (also DTH service), among which France 24, CNews, and the FTA segments of Canal +. The SR is also 45000, which the Amiko mini HDre digests without any problem. Some good radio stations too, especially Radio Transat with some good Classic Rock

 

[N5XZS]

Here's the website about Australiapluse service.

tv.australiaplus.com/tuning

They have contact service.

Just scrow down to about us and click and scrow down to bottom and click on contact us.

You may have to wait up to 14 days before they contact you back.

This a FTA and gov't funded external service.

Please encourage them to add on G-19 bird on 97w* Ku band!

Aussie TV services is badly needed here in CONUS.

They carry Australia Rule Football and the best Aussie news to be had!

 

[clucas]

There may be some copyright restrictions for U.S. broadcasting. While watching a newscast a couple weeks ago, during the sports section, they had a slate up indicating they couldn't broadcast the video due to restrictions although the audio was allowed to play. Newscast returned after that.

 

[Martyn]

Martyn,

Just curious ... how strong is the signal quality on Ku band?

I got a chance to play around this weekend. A tree has grown leaves in the few weeks since I last tested this so I had to pull a branch out of the way but managed to get a great signal, 70 quality, on two transponders with a 1.2m Channel Master (gas station dish). No sign of the others.

11075 H and 11155 H both came in strong. I could watch the aforementioned stations and the French senate channel, which was the only one in the clear in the Canal+ mux.

Also worth noting the France Televisions transponder carries an EPG.

I see other transponders on my meter, but neither the meter nor the receiver could detect them. Possibly data or some of traffic.

 

[N5XZS]

Nice DXing! you got nice location to be in it.