AMC 21

[byron]

Okay, so it wasn't just me.

 

[Mr Tony]

They are moving stuff around and testing different things

so stuff may move around in the next couple months but the frequencies are the same

 

[byron]

Thanks

 

[B.J.]

Hey guys have they removed some of the PBS channels off AMC 21 already? I'm getting fewer off 12180 than I did scanning last week, and an extra one with only sound but no picture, guessing a new HD... Any idea?

Looks like 12180 now has one HD channel, and 3 SD channels.
Create is one of the SD channels, but I'm not positive what the other two are, perhaps VME and World. .......

They are moving stuff around and testing different things

so stuff may move around in the next couple months but the frequencies are the same

More of the above mentioned "testing". The 12180 MUX still has the HD channel, create, VME, and World in the PAT/PMTs, however the PIDs for the A/V of the HD channel are now missing. NO HD channel there. The other 3 are still live.

 

[dhubsith]

I am able to get the HD channel on 12180 at VPID 49 and APID 52 (and 53). However the content is exactly the same as on 12140 (VPID 65, APID 68 & 69). It looks like the HD channel on 12180 will become the feed channel, and 12140 (VPID 65) will carry the Pacific Time Zone schedule.

Has anyone successfully tuned the new HD channel on transponder 23? I have been trying with freq 12160 H with symbol rate 14029, although I am not certain if this is correct.

 

[B.J.]

I am able to get the HD channel on 12180 at VPID 49 and APID 52 (and 53). However the content is exactly the same as on 12140 (VPID 65, APID 68 & 69). It looks like the HD channel on 12180 will become the feed channel, and 12140 (VPID 65) will carry the Pacific Time Zone schedule.

Has anyone successfully tuned the new HD channel on transponder 23? I have been trying with freq 12160 H with symbol rate 14029, although I am not certain if this is correct.

If you are saying that you have been getting the 12180 HD channel within the past hour or two, I am very skeptical, because it is simply not there. It WAS there late yesterday afternoon when I tuned it in.

Re transponder 23, I assume you're talking about horizontal, there are 3 transponders there, none of which are at 12160. I think the 3 transponders are 12163, 12170, and 12177 if I remember right. There used to be a transponder at 12156, which was eliminated when the 12177 began.

I have extremely varying success with these three transponders. Sometimes they are booming strong giving me 90+ quality, other times they are so weak I can't lock them. I'm pretty sure that a big part of the reason is that these transponders are uplinked from several different locations at different times of day, so the different locations apparently employ different power levels.

I am still very confused also, that I am having MUCH more problems receiving the horizontal transponders on this sat than the vertical, even comparing similar transponders, like the 12120 and 12180, the former of which often only gives me 50% quality, while the latter generally is 90+ quality despite the fact that both seem to have similar signal strength. I thought that it could have to do with Hughesnet interferrence from adjacent sats, but I think this would have resulted in problems with the vertical not horizontal.

EDIT: Correction.... the 3 horizontal transponders are apparently 12163, 12169, and 12175 . I had seen that on Lyngsat, but didn't beleive it, since the old spacing on AMC3 was 7 MHz separation, but now it's apparently 6 MHz separation.... at least according to the PBS document on the web.... however there is a "corrected" document there too, and that one won't download for some reason. It says "access is denied" . Too bad, if they are limiting access to the PBS web page. Makes even more determined not to give them a cent when they beg for money several times a year. PBS is no less commercial than the commercial networks now. :-(

 

[LocoOso]

I understand that all the PBS signals on FTA will become HD signals in a few weeks. Since I am a "PBS-a-holic" when it comes to TV viewing, I need to start looking for a way to receive them after the switch.

I am still using an old Fortec Lifetime receiver which will not handle HD signals.

Can anyone suggest a good choice when it comes to HD capable FTA receivers ?

 

[B.J.]

Has anyone successfully tuned the new HD channel on transponder 23? I have been trying with freq 12160 H with symbol rate 14029, although I am not certain if this is correct.

I now see the signal you're talking about. It's at 12150H14029 , not 12160.
I can see it there in a scan, but it's quite weak, about half the signal strength of the 3 4444SR transponders. I cannot lock it right now, although we're in the middle of a snowstorm right now.

EDIT: In looking at the spectrum, the peak there at 12150 looked more narrow than 14029, so I hooked up my SW receiver. I can't detect any SR there. Not sure if it's just that the peak is so weak for me or what. Maybe it's just a carrier now?? It is a strange looking peak, kind of triangular.

 

[brentb636]

Recommend the Coolsat 8000 or 8100 HD, available used for about $200 on ebay. Considering the "out of the box" DVB-s2 support , It's a hard one to beat.

 

[B.J.]

Recommend the Coolsat 8000 or 8100 HD, available used for about $200 on ebay. Considering the "out of the box" DVB-s2 support , It's a hard one to beat.

I like the Coolsat {8100} as well, but I was about to throw the thing out the window yesterday. I don't know what it is about the PBS transponders, but for some reason, unless I have a VERY strong signal, the Coolsat won't scan in all the channels. Ie I was getting a strong lock on the channels, some with 85/85 S/Q, but it would only scan in one or two channels out of the several on the various muxes. This has happened before, primarily on PBS transponders. With other services, it wouldn't be such a big deal, because you could create a manual channel by manually entering the V/A PIDs, but you can't do that with the PBS channels since they have AC3 audio, and there is no way to tell the receiver that your manual channel has AC3 audio, so it scanned in fine, but no audio. I must have tried 80 times to scan in the PBS channels yesterday, while it was raining, but could only scan in a fraction of the channels. This morning though, the rain ended, and before the snow started, I managed to scan them in, but it was rather annoying.
I've also started having problems with those 4444SR channels with the Coolsat, even though all my other receivers pick them up fine, even off the Coolsat's passthru. I don't know if it's because they are so close together or what. It used to play them fine.

Anyway, I used to really like the Coolsat, but I'm starting to run into problems that are changing my mind.

Perhaps if I had a better signal on AMC21 I'd feel differently.

 

[brentb636]

I, too , had problems with scanning AMC 21 yesterday, and I wonder if it's related to all the moving around they've been doing. Didn't have any problem today.

 

[Mr Tony]

some info on the transition

The timetable for implementation of the HD NPS has changed. The NPS HD Channels will now begin on December 21. On Monday, December 8th, Transponder 24 was removed from service for modifications. Beginning on December 9th, several channels received new names and the first new HD Channel was launched. It is the SCPC HD service on Transponder 23. Review the charts below for details and check the entire presentation from the HD Webinar on the Reference Materials Page.

Basically if you want SD tune to 12120 H 30000...and it sounds like TP24 is going to be wacky for a while (12180)

some other PDF's on the changes

 

[brentb636]

Thanks, Tony ! Did you try cranking up LPB on your Winegard , yet?

 

[Mr Tony]

not yet....been busy with other projects right now like plowing snow

 

[B.J.]

some info on the transition



Basically if you want SD tune to 12120 H 30000...and it sounds like TP24 is going to be wacky for a while (12180)

some other PDF's on the changes

Attached Files

REVISED Transponder Service Assignmts 11-26 to 12-21.pdf (255.2 KB, 17 views)

HDTransitionSchedule.pdf (390.1 KB, 12 views)

Been off line a couple days due to no power, but the PBS web page that had the above files had another file which seemed to be a "correction" of the first file you listed. I wasn't able to download this file (and haven't tried now, as I just got power back). Anyway, it seemed strange that they'd keep people from viewing one file on that page... just curious whether it was my system or if it's really restricted.

 

[Mr Tony]

working fine here

 

[B.J.]

working fine here

It was the other of the 2 files which had a "corrected" version, but I went back to the web page, and the "corrected" version isn't there anymore. Also, the original is gone too, I guess because it was largely obsolete.
What was happening was when I clicked on the "corrected" link, it came up as "access denied" or something like that. Perhaps they had replaced it with the correct info, and stopped access to the corrected file, but forgot to remove it or something. I was annoyed that they would block access to the file, but anyway, it's gone now.

 

[Mr Tony]

Thanks, Tony ! Did you try cranking up LPB on your Winegard , yet?

just tried and still nothing

 

[brentb636]

Disappointing, wish I'd seen this post earlier, I could have checked to see if I could get the mux at that time.

 

[emuman100]

One thing I noticed with the PBS muxes is that they have no NIT, or it's not transmitted constantly. I wanted Montana PBS on my Scientific Atlanta D9850, but it said there is no NIT in the mux, so I have to enter everything manually. On my Visionsat, I did a blind scan, and for channel names I'd get SVC_X Channel, where X is channel number within the mux. I'm not sure why.