Newbie trying his best on a balcony, needing help!

[DanFromWales]

Hi folks, a question from a newbie on the other side of the pond here. I'm in Swansea, UK, and trying to hook myself to Eutelsat 5's Wide beam. The Eutelsat footprint says I should get 48dBw where I am, and suggests a 75cm dish.

I duly bought a 75x80cm dish, stuck on an Inverto Ultra Black, and hooked it up to my SATLink WS-6933 meter. I've found the satellite, and any of the (stronger) Super beam frequencies lock fine with a ~75% quality. However, none of the Wide beam frequencies want to lock other than one low-symbol-rate frequency. I don't get a peep out of the meter when looking for, say, 11509H. The frequency is still listed by Eutelsat as active.

My issue is that I'm in a rental right now, and can only place the dish on a balcony. I've gone for the pole-in-a-bucket-of-concrete method which works fine. The dish is pointed towards a roof behind the balcony, however the elevation of 30.9º is above the roof opposite which comes in about 25º from the bottom of the dish.

I feel like I must be doing something wrong to not even get a peep from the meter r.e. that beam. At this point I'm just using the meter to do the best I can, with a box arriving later this week. But if there's a problem to sort, I'd rather know now.

Would such a low clearance to the roof opposite make a difference? Is there anything I might have overlooked r.e. my attempted frequency?

 

[Pepper]

My first guess would be that you are looking at the wrong satellite. Is there another one that carries something close to what you are getting?

 

[a33]

Have you also checked the exact direction to aim to from your location at dishpointer.com?
I would do that as a double check.

greetz,
A33

 

[phlatwound]

Dishpointer also has a tool to help determine if you can see over that roof, you just have to estimate the distance and height of the potential obstacle.

But if you know from the the transponders that you can receive that you are looking at Eutelsat 5 that is not your issue.

 

[Brct203]

any chance you can bring the bucket and dish to a location with a wide open view of that part of the sky, where there would be no doubt about obstacles, and try from there and see if it makes any difference? And of course use the channels you are seeing on the superbeam to verify that this is the right satellite. That would be a good way of eliminating variables.