Atlantic Bird 2

[mikelib]

Has any one on the east coast been able to receive the American Beam transponder on the Atlantic Bird 2 (11500/h/3460)????

 

[Mr Tony]

as long as you have a good line of site, you should be able to

I can't see it form MN (below the horizon)

 

[eurosport]

The List shows my easternmost bird is Atlantic Bird 1 at 12.5 west-
8.1 degrees elevation!
With the trees around here I can't do that so Atlantic bird 2 is probably below the horizon for me too.

 

[amc1]

should be able to pick it up here on the island of newfoundland . isnt this c-band?

 

[meinename]

should be able to pick it up here on the island of newfoundland . isnt this c-band?

Reread the first post, look at the frequency and answer your own question

 

[amc1]

Reread the first post, look at the frequency and answer your own question

sorry bro im not fimillar with that sattelite.

 

[Anole]

Atlantic Bird 2, at 8.0°W

Power levels delivered to the USA (and southern Canada) east coast, should do the job.

 

[amc1]

does look hot on lynesat.must dosome reading on it.

 

[mikelib]

Thanks guys for your response, I should have put in my first message that Atlantic Bird 2 was at 8º west. Enclosed is a picture of my 18 inch Dish that I play around with. I can get most of the FTA satellites from 15º W to 125º W. When I could not receive 129º W, (low elevation, blocked by tress and house next door) I drove down to the municipal dock on Barnegat Bay, NJ and was able to lock the transponder and station in. Some time this week I am going back to the dock (it has a good clear shot east) and see if I can get Atlantic Bird 2. What was interesting is the Dish I am using was designed to tilt 40º towards the west and only 10º to east. I had to take out the two locking bolts to tilt the dish another 30º for the bird at 15º W. I might have to turn the LNB and tilt on the dish to get the bird at 8º. I'll let you know if I am successful
mikelib



So many signals so little time!
Fortec Star Dynamic Receiver - WS9036 - 90cm Dish - Invacom QPH031 LNB - Fortec Star HH42 Motor.

 

[turbosat]

Have dish will travel!! Interesting rig.
at the risk of sounding stupid, what is the white string for?

 

[mikelib]

I figured that the original LNBs' were designed for the correct focal point. So I taped a string from the top of the dish to front of the LNB and tape the string to the bottom dish and made a black mark on the string where it touched the face of the original LNB. Now I have the focal point of dish and I don't have to do any fancy measurements. I marked where the new holder will go, drilled hole, mounted the new LNB and adjusted to the black mark with string pulled taut.

I read an article once were a ham radio operator used this method to find a focal point for a dish he was using for a 10 GH transmitter. Great idea, it worked.

The screws and bulb levels are used to level out the board and to use for a finer elevation adjustment, the dish is mounted to board and I have a lazy Susan mounted between the two boards for a finer azimuth adjustment. I have an arrow marked on the front of the board marked south, as long as I point that arrow towards magnetic south from my compass all of the other marking I make for different satellites work. I also have the back elevation and tilt marked for different satellites. I have learned a lot on reading these threads there are a lot of smart guys on this forum.


I usually leave the dish on Galaxy 18 at 123º W and watch the stations that play old movies.

I know you only asked about the string and I made the whole reply long and wordy but I figured you would like to know about my testing dish.

mikelib

 

[Anole]

Used the same dish and my Invacom to get Whitesprings a while back.
See adjacent posts for LNB holder made from conduit hanger brackets.

I used the same string technique, to find the focal point for a C-band LNB test on a little Ku dish.
Results weren't good, but at least I knew the LNB was in the right place.

This is the template trick, found on another site.

Here's another way I came up with to locate your LNB at the focal point.

 

[FTABman0]

Have dish will travel!! Interesting rig.
at the risk of sounding stupid, what is the white string for?

Was gonna ask the same thing turbo, Ya beat me to it!

Interesting Setup Indeed!! :up

4 J Rigger Points!!

K E V I N

 

[mikelib]

Thanks guys,

Anole, the brackets look good it beats the $15 dollar plus shipping that I paid for my bracket.

FTA thanks for the points, but I was not successful trying to lock in Atlantic Bird 2. Even though the bird has an American beam transponder I take the bird to be just below the horizon for my location. I can get Telestar 12 at 15º W with readable SQ. I have used dishpointer with Google Earth and pulled the map all of the way back until I had the whole planet in the frame and it looks like it might just be out of reach. I wish I knew how to add the equator mark to Google Earth then I would know for sure. Oh well I will try again later tonight.
mikelib
I got to learn how to add the quotes in my messages

 

[turbosat]

String, good answer. cool test setup. I'm thinking of something like that, rather than a portable-stand for a dish, that I could mount in the bed of my pickeup-kind of like a 5th wheel for a trailer lol. If somebody wanted an on-site demo of FTA -tv, throw the dish on when I get there, aim it, level it etc.

 

[mikelib]

It's out there

Well guys Atlantic Bird 2 is out there with one transponder, (11500/H/3460) which has two TV stations and one radio station. The elevation is around 9º to 10º and that is pretty low but I managed to locked in the stations around 7:00 EDST, the SQ was not strong and it was going into pixilation at times. This is a really fringe bird and I most likely could not receive a signal from it during daylight hours. Having access to clear shot over the bay certainly helped.

Check out the pics,

 

[funkypc]

A bigger dish would probably make it easier to obtain a solid lock.

 

[mikelib]

Using a larger dish would not be as much fun, as using the old 18 incher!

 

[Mr Tony]

that dish is bigger than 18"

But I know what you mean...very cool pics

 

[jayelem]

Using a larger dish would not be as much fun, as using the old 18 incher!

You sure solved all LOS problems , I've actually thought about doing this at the lakefront now tell me how you're powering the little TV and receiver.

Just something I might be able to pull off on the lake Michigan shoreline , BTW I really do like using my magnetic angle finder on the lnb holder arm , later if I wish to duplicate results I just make sure to calibrate everything using the same angle and bam I'm right on target.