SES-11 heading to 105?W

[BigRyan]

SpaceX successfully launched the SES 11 (Echostar 105) last night. It will be replacing AMC-18 C / AMC-15 Ku at 105W. It has 24 Ku-band and 24 C-band transponders so I'm hoping for some new content in the future once this mug drifts into the orbital slot. It NOW makes since why NASA moved to 127W, I guess they knew that AMC was being retired. The question now is, will they be moving back to 105W? I personally hope they do because my neighbor's tree is a slight problem (although as some of you may remember; operation falcon was a great success!)

So, yeah! It was a flawless launch and payload deployment, and a superb landing of the Falcon 9 rocket back on Earth.

Anyhow, just wondered if any one else has been following this mission.

Take care, Ryan

 

[JFOK]

BigRyan,

I'm hoping for a stronger NBC signal at 3780H 30000.
For me, the radio mux at 3718V 2956 comes in with a signal strength of 71-73% while the NBC mux comes in between 22-42% and is sometimes unwatchable.
I also like following the SpaceX missions.

John

 

[wvman]

SpaceX successfully launched the SES 11 (Echostar 105) last night. It will be replacing AMC-18 C / AMC-15 Ku at 105W. It has 24 Ku-band and 24 C-band transponders so I'm hoping for some new content in the future once this mug drifts into the orbital slot. It NOW makes since why NASA moved to 127W, I guess they knew that AMC was being retired. The question now is, will they be moving back to 105W? I personally hope they do because my neighbor's tree is a slight problem (although as some of you may remember; operation falcon was a great success!)

So, yeah! It was a flawless launch and payload deployment, and a superb landing of the Falcon 9 rocket back on Earth.

Anyhow, just wondered if any one else has been following this mission.

Take care, Ryan

Great info. I knew I was still picking up every BUD I can get my hands on for a reason. I have to find a better way to store these dishes. The weeds grow up through the screen and I have to keep moving them every time I mow, but it's worth it. They're starting to get pretty scarce around here. Like they say, strike when the iron's hot.

 

[Magic Static]

Figures.... I've been having difficulty with Ku game feeds in this slot. I just built a 1.2m Ku dish to see if I could improve on that. Hopefully it improves without all my efforts

 

[wvman]

Figures.... I've been having difficulty with Ku game feeds in this slot. I just built a 1.2m Ku dish to see if I could improve on that. Hopefully it improves without all my efforts

I have a 71/2 foot Perfect 10 dish I may set up just for Ku. I don't know that there's a lot on Ku I'd be interested in, but I'm willing to give it a shot. If it's like C-Band, there's probably a lot more up there than listed on Lyngsat, SatHint and the others. It's constantly changing, so maybe I'll land on something that tickles my fancy. Just never know.

Question: Have you ever ran into a situation where you landed on the wrong satellite and had every channel in a MUX that wasn't on that satellite show a strong signal on those channels? I did the other day when I was wandering around looking for another satellite. When I landed on it, the entire Laff MUX showed signal on every channel. It took me a few minutes to figure out why those channels weren't coming in. Weird to say the least.

 

[Magic Static]

Well I was using a 10' dish for C/Ku and the Ku is week. So I decide to use a dish with a F/D ratio suited for Ku. Anytime you use an undersized dish ( 7 1/2' is small IMHO) you increase the chance of cross feed from adjacent c-band satellites.

 

[BigRyan]

Great info. I knew I was still picking up every BUD I can get my hands on for a reason. I have to find a better way to store these dishes. The weeds grow up through the screen and I have to keep moving them every time I mow, but it's worth it. They're starting to get pretty scarce around here. Like they say, strike when the irhon's hot.

YES! Good news is, once you get them all installed, all you have to do is weed eat around the poles

 

[BigRyan]

Question: Have you ever ran into a situation where you landed on the wrong satellite and had every channel in a MUX that wasn't on that satellite show a strong signal on those channels? I did the other day when I was wandering around looking for another satellite. When I landed on it, the entire Laff MUX showed signal on every channel. It took me a few minutes to figure out why those channels weren't coming in. Weird to say the least.

Yes, this happens a lot for me, because I just have a 6 foot solid dish which is definitely not 2-degree compliant (generally this means 12 foot or bigger). Also it's not perfect as to where the dish stops. On some locations I land perfectly coming from the east, but from the west it doesn't land in the same spot. Also there could be multiple satellites at the same location (technicality at slightly different locations). For these situations you could create a custom satellite and store the location with the peak signal for that mux. I have had a transponder peak between two locations and just save a custom sat at that location. I hope to get a larger dish soon and zoom in a bit for lack of a better word.

 

[Keystone7]

Good info thanks!

 

[BigRyan]

BigRyan,

I'm hoping for a stronger NBC signal at 3780H 30000.
For me, the radio mux at 3718V 2956 comes in with a signal strength of 71-73% while the NBC mux comes in between 22-42% and is sometimes unwatchable.
I also like following the SpaceX missions.

John

Guess we will see how the "handover" procedure goes, as I understand it the new satellite will co-exist with the old one for some time in roughly the same orbital location to try and avoid any interruption in service. Looks like they are planing in orbit testing at 142.5 west. Not sure if it will be descended or if we could try to catch it at that location, I don't really know what the in orbit testing procedure is all about. Non the less, trees will probably be the main reason I wont be able to try.

 

[wvman]

Yes, this happens a lot for me, because I just have a 6 foot solid dish which is definitely not 2-degree compliant (generally this means 12 foot or bigger). Also it's not perfect as to where the dish stops. On some locations I land perfectly coming from the east, but from the west it doesn't land in the same spot. Also there could be multiple satellites at the same location (technicality at slightly different locations). For these situations you could create a custom satellite and store the location with the peak signal for that mux. I have had a transponder peak between two locations and just save a custom sat at that location. I hope to get a larger dish soon and zoom in a bit for lack of a better word.

I've had that same problem where the dish doesn't land in the same spot each time. I figured out it was slack in the lead screw or bushing in the arm. At one time, you could buy magnet wheels with more magnets in them, but I haven't seen them in a while. As you know, the more magnets, the finer the adjustments. Von Weise Had a wheel with 8 magnets. They were pretty accurate, but the nylon nut in the end of the tube was the weak point. I bought some oilite stock and cut acme threads in it, and parted it off making several nuts.

Once you changed them, that arm would last forever and they wouldn't stick in the winter if water got in. I've been using some 71/2 footers, but I'm gradually changing them out for 10 footers. Bigger is better.

 

[wvman]

YES! Good news is, once you get them all installed, all you have to do is weed eat around the poles

Good point.

 

[Keystone7]

Yes, bigger is better. When I changed my 7.5 footer to a 10 footer, signal was more stable.I also use a Von Weise with the 10 footer and have no problems so far! It been used by me since 2010.

 

[Lobo70]

SES-11 It is now operational at 105W

EchoStar 105/SES-11 Now Operational at 105 degrees West

 

[pacificrim]

Great news! I noticed the music channels are stronger.

 

[Cham]

Cool. WIll have to do some re-scanning and see if there is anything new. Great to see new hardware in the Clarke Belt! Wonder where the old bird is going? Maybe backup somewhere?

 

[BigRyan]

Status update: NBC signal has improved for me quite a bit, all of the transponders I scanned in are in the 70s with the exception of 2 weak ones that might be on another sat. Curious to know how many of the "24" are active on SES 11 because I sure do not get 24 at this location in total. My GeoSAT Pro Micro HD finds a grand total of 12.

 

[wvman]

Status update: NBC signal has improved for me quite a bit, all of the transponders I scanned in are in the 70s with the exception of 2 weak ones that might be on another sat. Curious to know how many of the "24" are active on SES 11 because I sure do not get 24 at this location in total. My GeoSAT Pro Micro HD finds a grand total of 12.

I recently planted 2 more poles in preparation for my spring installation mission. I have a 12.5 foot dish and a 10 footer I recently located to occupy the new poles. During the good weather this winter, I ran the cables to the house and buried the conduit. I'd been running the back roads looking for dishes and it turned out I had been eating breakfast with a man who has a 10 footer in his back yard. All I have to do is get it out of his way and it's mine.

Looking at it from the road, it looks perfect, but after having surgery on my toe, I'm not going to chance climbing the bank in his yard in the snow to get to it for a closer look. It's on a low pole, so it shouldn't be much of a problem to get off the pole and onto my flatbed pickup. The 12.5 footer is not so easy. It's in a nasty location on a steep hillside in the edge of the woods. It'll take 4 people to get that beast off the pole and down over the hill to the truck. It's about a 100 yard carry. Too steep to get the truck up to it even in dry weather. If it wasn't in perfect shape, I wouldn't even consider getting it.