Hitting 74W

[BigVideo]

I can hit AMC 6 72W with Q in the 70s. However, I cannot get more than a few seconds of 10-15Q on 74W.

I've got a 90cm dish/Ku LNB temporarily mounted on a portable light stand. (Too much snow to drag the ladder to the deck at this point, but I wanted to start playing with it). I'm manually moving the dish/changing the elevation and from the spot it's at on my deck I can move from 72W to 103W and basically hit anything I decide to point at with acceptable or excellent Q with the exception of 74W.

Could be trees? I've got plenty, but they are just sticks at this point.

Any tricks to finding this bird? Is the Ohio Network up? I've checked and re-checked the setup/frequency multiple times. The frequency is different on lyngsat (by 1). Tried them both.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Mr Tony]

Ohio News is up right now on 11733 H 6616
nice and strong here in MN

 

[BigVideo]

Thanks, just tried it again. Gotta be the trees.

 

[Mr Tony]

can you get 79w?

 

[AcWxRadar]

I can hit AMC 6 72W with Q in the 70s. However, I cannot get more than a few seconds of 10-15Q on 74W.

I've got a 90cm dish/Ku LNB temporarily mounted on a portable light stand. (Too much snow to drag the ladder to the deck at this point, but I wanted to start playing with it). I'm manually moving the dish/changing the elevation and from the spot it's at on my deck I can move from 72W to 103W and basically hit anything I decide to point at with acceptable or excellent Q with the exception of 74W.

Could be trees? I've got plenty, but they are just sticks at this point.

Any tricks to finding this bird? Is the Ohio Network up? I've checked and re-checked the setup/frequency multiple times. The frequency is different on lyngsat (by 1). Tried them both.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Ohio News is up right now on 11733 H 6616
nice and strong here in MN

BigVideo,

The way you describe it, it sounds more like this satellite (74.0W) is not set up properly for its orbital position in your menu(s). If you get a glimpse of it and then it disappears, it almost sounds like your motor is driving the dish there, but is continuing to drive beyond the best alignment spot. That is just an assumption as a gut reaction and may not be at all what is happening.

I would say that this might be the problem as you seem to find 72.0W. However, you should get 72.0W in with a much better quality reading than 70%. No matter what receiver or LNBF or dish you have, 72.0W should pipe in with mid to high 80% quality levels if not more.

In the past, I have had some unusual troubles with 74.0°W, but no longer notice anything odd. It is still weaker than the signals from 72.0°W, but it always falls int place just fine.

If your site coordinates for USALS are precise, then this satellite should pipe in for you just fine and ONN should be pretty strong. I would have to say that your dish antenna, motor or the skew (polarization angle) is not absolutely perfect and that is causing the problem.

Since I can confirm that the signal from 74.0°W and the ONN channel is weaker than the signals I get from 72.0°W in the Omaha, NE area, and you are very low for quality readings on 72.0°W, I simply must assume that the problem is merely in the alignment.

Even though these two sats are very close together, it definitely does make a diiference how precise your alignments are. Since I cannot detect any unusual problems with my signal quality and Ice seems to have fine reception as well, then I am betting that you just need to do some more fine tuning with either your dish, LNBF or your motor. One or more of these outdoor devices must be off just a little (if your menu settings are correct). It does not require much of an error to cause a problem with these linear satellite signals.

You did not mention a motor, but I am tossing that variable into the discussion anyway. That is for your future endeavors and anyone else that might be following along who does have a motor.

RADAR

 

[BigVideo]

I bought a motor, but I have not hooked it up yet. This setup on the light stand is just temporary until we get some better weather and the snow melts. I pretty sure I could probably push the Q up into the 80's (it's in the upper 70s) on 72W with some tweaking, but for now I'm settling for good enough.

And yes, I believe I've pulled in 79W. Didn't check it tonight, but I'm reasonably certain I hit that one before.

Frankly, with all of the trees in my back yard, I'm sometimes amazed I get anything at all. There's a better spot in the front yard with cleaner LOS, but it's under about 18 inches of snow currently.

 

[AcWxRadar]

BigVideo,

Certainly this is not a good winter to be able to get out and play with any satellite dish. I want to so much, but I just don't feel up to it. It isn't as simple this year as just trudging through a few snow drifts to get to my dish to play with it, I need to get a snow sled and a team of dogs! HA! Well, it isn't that bad, but close enough.

I guess I picked a good spot for my dish installation last year. The terrain of the land and the location of the trees and bushes and the house cause me great trouble with drifting snow. However, where I planted my dish in the yard is clear and I can even see a little bit of the grass around the dish tripod. I am thankful for that!

The dish might catch a lot of wind where it is, but the wind also keeps the snow blown clear of the area as well. It was the best location due to the openess to obtain a great LOS for every satellite, so now I find it had other advantages as well.

I am sure that you received a lot of snow this year, too. I think that for my speciifc location that I am near 51 inches or 53 inches of total snowfall this winter. That is really unheard of for my area. Worse than that, none of it has melted (much) so it is even worse!

I am waiting for April 15th! That is the date that I personally consider the first day of spring. I have always considered October 15th through April 15th to be the "off season" or winter when it comes to the possibility of snow or at least frost. I want to take my water well down prior to October 15th and no later than Halloween in the fall and I don't ever put it back in service until after April 1st or 15th.

The way this year is going, I might need to wait until June 15th! LOL... Well, I hope not!

RADAR

 

[Larobpra]

If you are getting 72 to 103 I would think that the trees wouldn't interfere with 74. I get it good here. And when I was manually moving the dish before I got the motor going, I really didn't have to change the elevation or skew, just move the dish a touch from 72 to get 74. I recall scanning stuff from both sats on a single scan when parked at about 73.

 

[Mr Tony]

Larobpra
The OP is in Wisconsin so there is a elevation difference between 72 & 74 since our true south is around 91-93 (93 in Minneapolis closer to 91 for the OP)

We can do the same thing here for 91/93/95/97..no elevation change