Anyone else having RTN problems tonight?(5-25-9)

[melgarga]

I've read of other's issues on the RTN tp but havent had anything like it until tonight. The only thing I ever noticed was that sometimes it did take a second or 2 to lock but it always did.
I've messed with all aspects freq/sr/az/and polarity on my 7.5' mesh and it is just not getting it. I did get them to scan in right 2 or 3 times but never got enough sig to get video, or the rx would jump to and lock the LEO tp instead of trying to get the RTN tp. Initially I had come to the conclusion that LEO HAS TO GO!!!.....but, the LEO sig isnt that much above the threshhold either, just closer to and stronger than RTN's tp. The real issue I think is that the other tp's are hogging the powerband. The 3 or 4 others on this sat are at or nearly hitting the peg on the bar graph.
How did RTN end up with such a crappy spot in the sat spectrum anyway? Maybe we can talk them into moving to 129 and muxing with WSTV. Even getting freq/sr distanced from LEO, they will still have to contend with the 'big boys' and their 'unfair share' of the bird's power limits.

 

[rainmaker]

was a little slow locking for me but watching them right now with no issues.

 

[USDownlink]

I just happen to put up a dish today which can see 83W. I cannot lock RTN at all. LEO is plenty strong, as well as the Hughes TPs.

I don't know how much this helps you, however. Having never seen 83 before today, I have no baseline to know what is normal here.

 

[melgarga]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I felt pretty good that I was more or less immune to the RTN issues being on a 7.5 footer. So much for that sense of security....lol
Rainmaker, are you using the Orbitron or the Fortec for RTN?
I'm using a CS 6000 and have been pleased for the most part with it's performance. I hooked the feed up to the VS Plat. and, well you know that old saying "Even a blind dog finds a bone now and then"?..........well this one would starve to death.

BTW - USDownlink what setup are you using? May be a helpful point of reference for others with this issue.

 

[rainmaker]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I felt pretty good that I was more or less immune to the RTN issues being on a 7.5 footer. So much for that sense of security....lol
Rainmaker, are you using the Orbitron or the Fortec for RTN?
I'm using a CS 6000 and have been pleased for the most part with it's performance. I hooked the feed up to the VS Plat. and, well you know that old saying "Even a blind dog finds a bone now and then"?..........well this one would starve to death.

BTW - USDownlink what setup are you using? May be a helpful point of reference for others with this issue.

getting it in on the Fortec tonight.

 

[USDownlink]

BTW - USDownlink what setup are you using? May be a helpful point of reference for others with this issue.

1.2m Channel Master, QPH-031, and a Fortec Classic NA.

 

[meinename]

adding my experience today...

(I started writing when there was 2 posts in this thread)
I spent this afternoon tweaking a Directway/Hugesnet dish on 83W with my Coolsat 5000.

Last Wednesday I got the dish, set it up to test it.
I swung it to 83W from 99W and dialed in, locking 11735 H 4444 at 72%Q.
Impressive for a 40 by 24 inch dish. :up
"No Audio/Video" on RTN East and West.
RTN East updates PID to the same as "Video 1"
Hmmm. Well I'll try it another day.
Swung dish to 97W.

Jump forward to today.
Swung dish to 83W from 97W.
I tweaked 'til all active transponders were 72%Q or higher
Still "No Audio/Video"
Decided to see if it Auto Frequency Correction was messing me up.
Deleted 11735 H 4444 and added 11738 H 4444.
Had to wait 30 second for a lock. Surprise! 63%Q
Peaked and re-peaked but couldn't get above a stable 63%Q
So my Coolsat keeps mistaking the 11730 H 4243 "Video 1" for RTN at 11735 H 4444

So here, I'm getting a clean 72-73%Q on 11730 H "LEO-1"
I can barely lock RTN on 11735 H through 11740 H
All symbol rates for RTN were 4444

Now at another site of mine, for comparison, I have a Geosatpro 1.2m with a red Tracker II+ and a Geosatpro DVR-1100c
Usually 66-68%Q and ZERO problem locking the appropriate signal.

 

[rainmaker]

checked with the orbitron coming in on it also.

 

[TRG]

I barely get a lock on my 90 cm. Its been that way for a couple of weeks,

 

[Corrado]

My Dad called me the other day and said he lost RTN several days prior. It had been working OK using my old Pansat 2700a and a 90cm 3ABN dish. I looked at the Q level which was 80, but the scrambled-bad channel message kept coming up. Then I noticed the program info line said "Current" like the newsfeed channel. I rebooted the box a few times with no change.

I deleted all other feed channels and TPs for AMC9 except the 11735 TP and the RTNs returned now but with a lower Q of 55-60. I feel in his case the other TPs there were mixing somehow. It's been fine ever since. I initially used the other stronger TPs for pointing the dish to help find the satellite. I think if others are having similar issues to edit the unused channels to see if it helps.

 

[iafirebuff]

I have been having problems with RTN too. I am being forced to watch RTN via OTA. I think I am going to move my setup to a different spot in my yard as my neoghbors tree has grown since last year and in the last few days 30w is very hit and miss. I can't tweak it anymore

 

[meinename]

-snip-
Then I noticed the program info line said "Current" like the newsfeed channel. I rebooted the box a few times with no change.
=snip=

When the guide data showed "Current" that was my cue that I had locked on the wrong transponder.

 

[Mr Tony]

was a little slow locking for me but watching them right now with no issues.

same here but still stable on the 76cm dish

 

[spacebug42]

I didn't know the other RTN fans were having trouble picking up RTN. I admit I'm having a struggle between watching RTN and watching Sky Angel. I will check again tonight after an attempt to tweak the signal strength and quality and getting an A-V switch wired in so I don't have to keep disconnecting and reconnecting btween the two boxes.

 

[Pismire]

After all this time a few days ago I finally put an attempt in to get RTN again. Was thinking my house and a tree were going to giving me trouble. Turns out LEO-1 is giving me trouble. This sucks. Go away LEO-1 !!

 

[melgarga]

They both scanned in this am without issue @ 11735/4500. Dropped to 4444 and the CS 6K locked on them (not LEO) as well. The Q was 87% and solid. This evening the Q has dropped to 69-70 but still solid, no breakup. Tried to blindscan at this Q but it did not pick them up, only locked them on a manual scan.
I'm not sure what RTN's positition is on FTAers and their signal, Tony would likely be the expert there, but I wonder, if they have input in the matter, if they would consider a freq/tp modification to resolve the adjacent station issue. Thing is if we are having adjacent station issues, that are not dish/lnb related, but relative signal strength related, it would seem that the affiliates would as well.
I know that all variants of PSK are essentialy a hybrid of amplitude and frequency (phase) modulation, and I suspect that in this case, the receivers are behaving as an fm rx and exhibiting an action known as 'capture effect', locking in phase with the stronger signal and discriminating against (essentially blocking out) the weaker one. While affiliates likely have 'better quality' receivers as head end units, and receiver selectivity may be an issue to some extent, I dont believe it is really a major factor in this case as all fm receivers exhibit this 'capture effect' behavior. Add the digital component (SR), and a free running rx will 'hunt for' and lock to a SR 'in the neighborhood' of the one that is in the setup for that particular station/mux.
AFAIK, RTN is not in my viewable OTA market, so my only source is FTA.
Tell us what you think here T, should we as community advise them of the problems we see occuring, input such a request to them or just lay low and take what we get?

 

[spacebug42]

receiving RTN well

I tweaked my dish this evening in an attempt to improve the reception of RTN. In the last time I tweaked the dish, RTN was showing up in the position of Nimiq 4 (81 degrees) I moved the dish to 83 degrees, setting it to RTN's transponder, and slightly pushing the dish elevation so that RTN would show up. Both RTN feeds showed up fine. The slight adjustment has helped greatly in locking in a few more sats to the east of AMC9 in which I've never been able to do before.

 

[iafirebuff]

I can't get RTN or the test bars on 83w at the moment. I can get 12136v30031 booming in but that is it. Doing a scan now....have 7 tp's at the moment and am 1/2 done.

 

[iafirebuff]

Well I guess for some reason I have to wait 30+ seconds to get a lock. I changed it 11738 H 4444 like the post back a few did. I get both RTN's now and the color bars.... hmmmm.. I wish we were back on 123w

 

[toucan-man]

...I wish we were back on 123w

Agreed. Anything to prevent the return back to there one day?