How low can you go East?

[penguinsix]

Still tweaking things with my new setup. I can get most things due South, but can't go more than 113 to the West due to some trees. Thinking of moving the dish, but was wondering about what is available East? I saw some things at 30 degrees over Africa I guess. Was wondering if anyone has had any luck pulling in feeds from those satellites?

My East coast view is excellant--on the East Coast, literally, with nothing but a water view to the edge of the Earth, but I'm just wondering how strong the signal is from those satellites and whether it is worth moving my dish to take advantage of what is there.

 

[Anole]

calculate locations of birds

If you give your longitude/latitude or maybe zip code (city would do), someone can give you a list of satellites you can 'see'.
The ones below the horizon, will be unavailable to you.

Alternately, any of the various satellite calculators will let you find your answer.
The guys here seem to be enraptured with this calculator .
When you get it to work, it gives a heck of an output.
A whole list of birds with all the aiming angles.

For doing the calculations on individual satellites, I use this one , myself.

Best of luck.

 

[Shawn95GT]

This is the sats updated for your zip code. 1W is still doable

    Chesapeake Beach, MD 20732
Latitude 38° 40.188'N Longitude 76° 32.256'W

                         Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m)   El  Skew
----------------------------------------------------------------
   *** Atlantic Sats 1W - 61W ***
                                 
        Thor 2/3 / Intelsat 10-02    1.0W  99.2 110.8  2.6 -50.4
                         Amos 1/2    4.0W 101.1 112.8  4.9 -50.0
                  Atlantic Bird 3    5.0W 101.8 113.4  5.7 -49.8
                  Nilesat 101/102    7.0W 103.1 114.8  7.2 -49.5
     Telecom 2D / Atlantic Bird 2    8.0W 103.8 115.4  8.0 -49.3
                       Express 3A   11.0W 105.9 117.5 10.3 -48.7
                  Atlantic Bird 1   12.5W 106.9 118.6 11.5 -48.3
         Gorizont 32 (incl. 6.0°)   14.0W 108.0 119.6 12.6 -48.0
                       Telstar 12   15.0W 108.7 120.4 13.4 -47.7
                     Intelsat 901   18.0W 110.9 122.6 15.7 -46.8
        Intelsat 603 (incl. 2.8°)   20.0W 112.4 124.1 17.2 -46.2
                            NSS 7   22.0W 114.0 125.6 18.7 -45.5
                     Intelsat 905   24.5W 116.0 127.6 20.6 -44.6
                     Intelsat 907   27.5W 118.5 130.1 22.8 -43.3
                   Hispasat 1C/1D   30.0W 120.6 132.3 24.6 -42.2
                     Intelsat 801   31.5W 122.0 133.6 25.6 -41.5
                     Intelsat 903   34.5W 124.7 136.4 27.7 -39.9
 AMC 12 / Telstar 11 (incl. 1.1°)   37.5W 127.6 139.3 29.8 -38.2
                          NSS 806   40.5W 130.7 142.3 31.8 -36.3
                  PAS 6B / PAS 3R   43.0W 133.3 145.0 33.3 -34.6
                           PAS 1R   45.0W 135.5 147.2 34.6 -33.2
                     Intelsat 705   50.0W 141.4 153.0 37.4 -29.2
                     Intelsat 707   53.0W 145.1 156.8 39.0 -26.5
                     Intelsat 805   55.5W 148.4 160.0 40.1 -24.2
                            PAS 9   58.0W 151.8 163.4 41.2 -21.7
                         Amazonas   61.0W 156.0 167.7 42.4 -18.5
                                 
                                 
*** All Satellites 61W - 160W ***
                                 
           EchoStar 3 / Rainbow 1   61.5W 156.7 168.4 42.5 -18.0
                 Estrela do Sul 1   63.0W 158.9 170.6 43.0 -16.3
                     Brasilsat B2   65.0W 161.9 173.5 43.6 -14.0
                     Brasilsat B1   70.0W 169.6 181.2 44.7  -8.1
                         Nahuel 1   71.8W 172.4 184.1 44.9  -5.9
                            AMC 6   72.0W 172.8 184.4 45.0  -5.6
                        DirecTV 1   72.5W 173.6 185.2 45.0  -5.0
                            SBS 6   74.0W 175.9 187.6 45.1  -3.2
                       EchoStar 4   77.0W 180.7 192.4 45.2   0.6
                            AMC 5   79.0W 183.9 195.6 45.1   3.1
                          Nimiq 2   82.0W 188.7 200.3 44.8   6.8
                            AMC 9   83.0W 190.3 201.9 44.7   8.0
                     Brasilsat B3   84.0W 191.8 203.5 44.5   9.2
                     AMC 16/AMC 2   85.0W 193.4 205.0 44.3  10.4
                      XM Roll (3)   85.1W 193.5 205.2 44.3  10.5
                            AMC 3   87.0W 196.5 208.1 43.9  12.8
              Intelsat Americas 8   89.0W 199.5 211.1 43.4  15.1
                        Galaxy 11   91.0W 202.4 214.1 42.7  17.3
                          Nimiq 1   91.0W 202.4 214.1 42.7  17.3
                          Nimiq 3   91.1W 202.6 214.2 42.7  17.4
                     Brasilsat B4   92.0W 203.9 215.5 42.4  18.4
              Intelsat Americas 6   93.0W 205.3 217.0 42.0  19.5
                        Galaxy 3C   95.0W 208.1 219.8 41.3  21.6
              Intelsat Americas 5   97.0W 210.8 222.5 40.4  23.6
                        Galaxy 4R   99.0W 213.5 225.1 39.5  25.5
                  DirecTV 1R/2/4S  101.0W 216.1 227.7 38.5  27.4
                            AMC 4  101.0W 216.1 227.7 38.5  27.4
                            AMC 1  103.0W 218.5 230.2 37.4  29.1
                           AMC 15  105.0W 220.9 232.6 36.3  30.8
                      Anik F1/F1R  107.3W 223.6 235.3 35.0  32.6
                        DirecTV 6  109.8W 226.4 238.0 33.5  34.4
                     EchoStar 6/8  110.0W 226.6 238.2 33.4  34.6
                          Anik F2  111.1W 227.8 239.4 32.7  35.3
                    Solidaridad 2  113.0W 229.8 241.4 31.5  36.6
                          XM Rock  115.0W 231.8 243.5 30.2  37.9
                         SatMex 5  116.8W 233.6 245.2 29.0  38.9
            DirecTV 7S/EchoStar 7  119.0W 235.7 247.3 27.5  40.2
  EchoStar 9/Intelsat Americas 13  121.0W 237.5 249.2 26.1  41.2
                       Galaxy 10R  123.0W 239.3 250.9 24.6  42.2
                        Galaxy 12  125.0W 241.0 252.7 23.2  43.1
             Galaxy 13/Horizons 1  127.0W 242.7 254.4 21.7  43.9
 Intelsat Americas 7 / EchoStar 5  129.0W 244.4 256.0 20.2  44.7
                           AMC 11  131.0W 245.9 257.6 18.8  45.5
                        Galaxy 1R  133.0W 247.5 259.1 17.2  46.2
                           AMC 10  135.0W 249.0 260.7 15.7  46.8
                            AMC 7  137.0W 250.5 262.1 14.2  47.4
                            AMC 8  139.0W 252.0 263.6 12.7  47.9
                        Galaxy 14  146.0W 256.8 268.5  7.3  49.5
                     EchoStar 1/2  148.0W 258.2 269.8  5.7  49.8
                                 
                                 

Satellite Finder is (c) Copyright 2004, P. Lutus

 

[RussTC3]

How do you get this program to show the Atlantic satellites?

 

[Shawn95GT]

How do you get this program to show the Atlantic satellites?

You just modify the satlist.txt file located at:

C:\Documents and Settings\<yourloginname>\.SatFinder\

Attached is my current one. I didn't like the 'of special interest' section and replaced it with the Atlantic sats . The list that comes with the software is a bit dated. I update mine about once a month for my own sanity.

Shawn

 

[RussTC3]

Cool, thanks. Will changing my skew settings in my Pansat 3500s make it easier to pick up channels? I have probelms getting a lot of whats on IA-5.

Also, do you provide your updates on this board often?

Thanks!

 

[penguinsix]

Saint Michaels is about 15 miles due East, across the Bay. I'm on what's called the "Western Shore" of the Bay (Saint Michaels is the Eastern Shore). What's nice is that the Bay is pretty wide here, and I can't see anything but water to the SE (the tops of a few trees on the other side, 12 miles away, but that's about it).

I have a motorized 30 inch dish with a Pansat 3500. I tried to dial them in, but I think the position of my dish (North side of my house) is flawed and my home is actually blocking the view. I was considering moving it over a bit, but was wondering if it was worth it (i.e. if there was anything to the East).

My zip is 20732 for what its worth.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Cool, thanks. Will changing my skew settings in my Pansat 3500s make it easier to pick up channels? I have probelms getting a lot of whats on IA-5.

Also, do you provide your updates on this board often?

Thanks!

The skew setting are just for the BUD guys. Those spring terminals on the back of the receiver (looks like speaker terminals) connect to a servo motor out on the feedhorn out at the dish which sets the H or V polarities and anything in-between.

I don't post updates - there was a thread about it a little while back. It really is easy to do. Just open that file in notepad and edit away.

The problem is that it seems that there is always a sat someplace moving. D* is adding sats and I won't be suprised to see E* do the same.

Shawn

 

[penguinsix]

I tired to have the dish turn to Atlantic Bird 1 which is at something like 12.5 degrees and the receiver wouldn't let me, saying it was "out of range". My longitude is 78.5 so I guess that is a no go?

 

[Shawn95GT]

I tired to have the dish turn to Atlantic Bird 1 which is at something like 12.5 degrees and the receiver wouldn't let me, saying it was "out of range". My longitude is 78.5 so I guess that is a no go?

You might try via 1.2. I know I'd get 'out of range' when trying to get 58w. 1.2 got me tuned in though .

Sometimes the motor just can get the angle to make it happen. This is where you might need a fixed dish. Some people have even gone as far as mounting the dish up-side-down to get the low elevation angle.

Shawn

 

[Shawn95GT]

Saint Michaels is about 15 miles due East, across the Bay. I'm on what's called the "Western Shore" of the Bay (Saint Michaels is the Eastern Shore). What's nice is that the Bay is pretty wide here, and I can't see anything but water to the SE (the tops of a few trees on the other side, 12 miles away, but that's about it).

I have a motorized 30 inch dish with a Pansat 3500. I tried to dial them in, but I think the position of my dish (North side of my house) is flawed and my home is actually blocking the view. I was considering moving it over a bit, but was wondering if it was worth it (i.e. if there was anything to the East).

My zip is 20732 for what its worth.

I updated the post above so it'd have the correct info for you.

Shawn

 

[RussTC3]

The skew setting are just for the BUD guys. Those spring terminals on the back of the receiver (looks like speaker terminals) connect to a servo motor out on the feedhorn out at the dish which sets the H or V polarities and anything in-between.

I don't post updates - there was a thread about it a little while back. It really is easy to do. Just open that file in notepad and edit away.

The problem is that it seems that there is always a sat someplace moving. D* is adding sats and I won't be suprised to see E* do the same.

Shawn

Yeah, I have a 10ft BUD. I haven't messed with the skew settings in my Pansat 3500s. They are all defaulted to 45 and I figured that was where they were suppose to be. I guess not hey?

 

[Anole]

nice software: SatFinder

You just modify the satlist.txt file located at:
C:\Documents and Settings\<yourloginname>\.SatFinder\
I didn't like the 'of special interest' section and replaced it with the Atlantic sats.
The list that comes with the software is a bit dated.

After seeing your mods, I went back and made that software work.
Once it's up, it's the best tool I've ever seen !
No wonder everyone here loves it.

I even added your Atlantic sat list, and my own at the bottom with the common DBS birds.
Thanks for the motivation to debug it.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Yeah, I have a 10ft BUD. I haven't messed with the skew settings in my Pansat 3500s. They are all defaulted to 45 and I figured that was where they were suppose to be. I guess not hey?

45 /-45 is perfect if your feedhorn is dead on. I still have mine set the same

Shawn

 

[No Strings]

I have hit NSS7 from just north of Chicago. I will post a pic when I get home.

I decided to throw up the dish for a challenge.

I am in Port Washington, WI (Just north of Milwaukee)

Neal

 

[cheddarbob]

this makes me jealous of you guys on the east coast, Here on the west coast, its like next to nothing for the birds on the other side of the pacific, out of the Footprint, we are stuck to Conus only birds for the most part.

 

[Anole]

I have hit NSS7 from just north of Chicago.
I decided to throw up the dish for a challenge.

You get to bring that baby home with you at night?
I'll have to put you on the guest list for my next party.

.