C Band and a 120cm dish... pointless?

[nwkn1g]

I was given a terrible ground mount 120cm dish. I paired it with a Titanium C140 lnb and have only been successful locking onto 105w 3881H. I scan in and can watch the CH-1, CH-2 and CH-3 channels but no matter what, nothing else locks.

Where the dish is currently sitting I can only see a small portion of the arc. I'm wondering if there are any other birds out there that might be possible before I try moving it somewhere else. Or is it a lost cause and I should just put a KU lnb on it? I'm located in Southern Nevada if that matters. Thanks

 

[cyberham]

I've received watchable channels using a 1-metre and a 1.2-metre dish on C-band from 139W, 117W, 115W, 105W, 101W, 97W and 91W in recent months. Many of the channels received were from Mexico therefore in Spanish. Blind scan those satellites and you may be lucky to receive some.

 

[primestar31]

I was given a terrible ground mount 120cm dish. I paired it with a Titanium C140 lnb and have only been successful locking onto 105w 3881H. I scan in and can watch the CH-1, CH-2 and CH-3 channels but no matter what, nothing else locks.

Where the dish is currently sitting I can only see a small portion of the arc. I'm wondering if there are any other birds out there that might be possible before I try moving it somewhere else. Or is it a lost cause and I should just put a KU lnb on it? I'm located in Southern Nevada if that matters. Thanks


View attachment 181411

Nothing under 8 feet is worth bothering with for C-band. Those times are passed now, as most need far more s/n ratio to be lockable.

 

[cyberham]

If you already have the small dish mounted, why not just try rather than listen to others who may never have tried a small dish?

Here were my results from January this year while using a 1.2m offset dish on C-band across the arc from 139W through 84W. Since the weather is now nice, I plan to check this again in the coming days if I can get its motor working.

 

[VictoriaFTA]

I think you could get NHK World HD @ 58W with that dish if you put a PLL LNB on it and get it peaked well. It is one of the easiest C-band feeds to receive and actually might be the single best 24/7 channel on C-band FTA too! Lots of interesting new content aired there every day, and their web streams are sh*t, so you are getting the best experience via satellite. It's basically unwatchable outside of satellite because their Internet streams are so horrendously overcompressed.

Not a bad idea to have a stationary 1.2m deployed just to receive that channel. I've got it fine on a 1.2m before because it has the highest amount of error correction you can have on a feed; a FEC value of 1/2.

From their direct reception page (Ways to Watch - TV | NHK WORLD-JAPAN Live & Programs):

South & North America Region

Satellite: IS-21

Frequency: 4166MHz, Symbol Rate: 19.91Msps, FEC Value: 1/2, Polarization: H, Modulation: DVB-S2/QPSK

HD(1080/60i) <MPEG-4 AVC/H.264>, Channel Information: [1080/60i English]

 

[Comptech]

I am with Primestar on this, especially with that dish. Hard to get a dish like that perfectly parobolic and even though you might, it is not go to get the now common s2 signals with higher FEC correction.

 

[cyberham]

I was given a terrible ground mount 120cm dish....

If you have visibility to 139W, point your dish toward it. I have my 4-foot offset dish receiving the ARCS mux from Alaska at a solid 6.7 dB now. This is a good transponder with five TV channels including PBS and sports broadcasts from ESPN, Fox, etc.
as well as a number of radio channels. UFL football is on now. You are well within its footprint.

ADDED: Now you can see Indy racing from Fox. Better than football!

139W ARCS:

 

[cyberham]

I think you could get NHK World HD @ 58W...

Not a bad idea to have a stationary 1.2m deployed just to receive that channel. I've got it fine on a 1.2m before because it has the highest amount of error correction you can have on a feed; a FEC value of 1/2....

I agree this transponder would be worth the trouble. From Vegas, his dish elevation would be about 18 degrees. With that low FEC, it would be pretty easy to receive.

There's a satellite in Asia at 154E that has a Chinese transponder on Ku with FEC 1/4 and it's a DVB-S2 signal so C/N lock is just -2.4 dB. That makes it very easy to receive!

 

[byron]

What about the occasional radio/audio feeds on 105W C Band. Would those be impossible to pull in with a 1.2m dish?

 

[cyberham]

What about the occasional radio/audio feeds on 105W C Band. Would those be impossible to pull in with a 1.2m dish?

I receive audio channels on 105W C-band by using my 4-foot offset dish. You should read this informative thread for more info on this. If you don't have access to the "What's Up There" section, just ask an administrator of this site for access.