RTN on Telstar 11

[MrMylesG]

Has anyone had any luck getting RTN channels from Telstar 11? I have been agonizing on whether to get a bigger dish (1m or 1.2m) and I want to find out if it is worth the extra expense of getting the bigger dish, not to mention the extra weight and strain on my HH motor.

Thanks guys!

 

[PSB]

I just did a blind "Power" scan of T11 and two channels popped up....

WMNB
11712MHz (V) 5.425Msps 50% Quality Solid picture and sound.

RTN
11720Mhz (V) 5.425Msps 73% Quality Solid picture and sound.

This is with the Fortec Lifetime Ultra a 30" dish using USALS and I have not tried to tweak it in yet, hope this helps, these are some COOL channels!

 

[tibeu]

I'm in Montreal and can receive this channel easily w/36" dish. The signal is actually quite strong

 

[MrMylesG]

Rtn

Thanks Fellas!! My spirit has been rekindled. What a great site this is. Always someone who can assist us newbies.

 

[MrMylesG]

Rats!

I tried to get T11 this morning and it looks like I am in the southern portion of the NA beam and I can't get a signal lock. I show strength of 49% but no quality. Looks like I may end up getting at least a 90cm dish. Found a place where they sell them for $60 and $28 for shipping.

At least I know my motor will handle it with no probs.

MrM

 

[MrMylesG]

Took the plunge

Well, I went and did it. Ordered a 1m dish. It was about $40 more than the 90cm but I figure I can use all the aperture I can get. The 1.2 was just too expensive when freight was added to it so I picked the midrange size.

Now I should be able to grab them satellites in the eastern sky.... Yippee!

 

[zodiak]

Hello everyone! Glad I found such a great forum, that I've enjoyed reading for a couple or weeks by now....

Sorry to start with bugging people but I'd really appreciate if someone could re-scan Telstar 11. I used to pick a few Russian channels here with 90cm dish, Old Bell Expressvu LNB and Nexus-s/SS1 but they all vanished one by one since last fall. Now last week I found out one reason I could happen-- its inclined mode of operation.

I cannot pick anything even when the sat directly above equator (around 10 am/pm EDT-- check Lyngsat/tracker/t11.html for current inclination) using any of the known (to me) xponder/SR settings. Unfortunatelly, I don't have a receiver to do a blind one so I'd be very grateful if someone would provde an update.

Thanks!

 

[PSB]

Hello, welcome to SatelliteGuys.com FTA forum

Just scanned twice, nothing found.

 

[zodiak]

PSB, thanks for the greeting and for the scan!

If that's not too much to ask can you try scanning it from time to time. I don't know about yourself but I myself never played with non-geostationary sats. So, for instance, I have no idea if Lyngsat tracker is up to date.

By the way, is there a reliable way to make sure you are getting a satellite even if there are no streams broadcasted? Can so-called "beacon frequency" somehow be used without any exotic equipment?

 

[PSB]

I will try to remember to give it a scan now and then. I have seen the Russian channels a few times but it must have been around a year ago now.

I also found this on your 2nd question, this is a great Scottish satellite web site : )

http://www.satsig.net/eut2beac.htm

 

[zodiak]

Thanks again PSB!

Well, I guess those frequencies are useless at this side of the pond, aren't they? The skew/polarization angles don't apply either if polar positioner is used. It helps to know that H polarization should be selected though.

My question was if that's possible to tell if you are "hitting the bird" just by looking at the receiver. I assume this should be easy with spectrum analyzer but few mortals can actually afford one. Signal level meter may help, but I don't have one either...

Also, this discussion is irrelevant for truly geostationary sats, which in theory should be reasonably accessible if your positioner is well tuned. However, for a non-zero inclination, which oscillates above and below the clark belt plane there is no such certainty.

 

[mkm4]

Telstar 11 is in an inclined orbit, unless you can track it don't even bother trying.

AMC 12 is now in the same orbital slot. That is what you will be picking up if you scan there.

 

[zodiak]

Well, it looks like AMC 12 is a C-band only sat. So Ku is still on T 11. It is inclined but it has been inclined since last June and I myself picked a very good signal from it as late as October. Some people here reported at least 2 solid streams in late December.

Even though it's inclined, it's current maximum inclination is mere 1.1 degree, which meand there are two 45-min-long windows the day when the sat is within specs of any normal geostationary bird (within 0.1 degree of the clark belt plane).