transponder 20 on 61.5

[hockeynut5150]

Is there a technical reason why a transponder's signal would drop significantly at certain hours during the day?. I'm located in Costa Rica and that particular transponder goes to mid 20s during the afternoon to less than 10 at around 8pm local time (GMT -6) only to come back to around 15-20 3-4 hours later. It happens every day, which is a big inconvenience since NESN HD has been parked on that transponder all week.

Short of getting a bigger dish, which would be very expensive and not sure if my roof can take it, anyway to get better signal? I'm using legacy LNB. The dish was re-peaked a month ago.

 

[TNGTony]

You are at the very edge of the satellite's footprint. As the satellite naturally wobbles in orbit the edge of the footprint goes slightly north and then back south with each orbit. Since the orbit is the same length as a day, the signal is affected at the same time every day.

The next question is "Why only tp 20". The answer is, it doesn't just happen to that one transponder, but every transponder is affected. However, tp20 just happens to be the weakest one on E*3 and therefore the smaller footprint.

Hope this helps!

 

[PEDROJOSE]

tony why when they build the satelite don make all the transponders with the same power ?

 

[hockeynut5150]

Thanks for the answer Tony!. North and south would be Elevation, right? Would it be possible to tweak the dish to compensate for that wobble?. I'd imagine tweaking the dish during those hours when tp 20 goes dark.

I wouldn't mind losing a little bit of signal during the day if that gets me signal on transponder 20 during boston bruins games

 

[TNGTony]

Pedrojose,
They make the power the same on paper, but in reality, they never are exactly the same. TP 20 has much lower signal than any other TP on E*3 at least for me here in the mid-west.

Hockeynut,

It's not that the satellite is moving north or south. The satellite is "wobbling" in place. Think of a flashlight hanging on a string. The beam it shines when the flashlight is wobbling moves around, but the flash light is in the same place all the time.

See ya
Tony

 

[blooker]

This is where every db counts. Depending on the length of the cable run, some very high quality low loss cable might make the difference. Google: LMR 75 ohm cable from Times Microwave. Also, I'd use only the best quality connectors.