What size dish do I need for 91 nimiq 1 in deep south florida?

[Holysmoke]

I saw a footprint of 91 nimiq 1 and it said 24" dish, but some people said 1 meter dish and they live down here. That is overkill for the few free channels they offer.

Can anyone tell me the correct dish size for 91 in deep south florida? thanks

 

[patbelcher]

Nimiq dish

I live in S FL also.
I messed around with all of that and if I remember corectly, I was able to pick up the sat on a DTV oversized dish and a Dish 1000.
Don't rember about the 18".
Where are you located in FL?
I'm in the greater WPB area.
Pat

 

[Holysmoke]

Im in cape coral

 

[scottc98]

Im in cape coral

Isn't there some TP's that you can't receive that far south on Nimiq 1/3? Or has that changed?

 

[Mr Tony]

moving to Canadian forum

 

[Holysmoke]

Isn't there some TP's that you can't receive that far south on Nimiq 1/3? Or has that changed?

yes some with 20" dish 500 dish

 

[Tommyboy]

I think if you are south of the lake there is noway to pick up the old tp`s

 

[rossb]

Size of dish required can depend on where you are - generally, further south = bigger dish (signal IS optimized for subscribers north of US) -

Am in Caribbean, and require 8' (you read right...) dish to get Bell ExpressVu @ 91 -

Even with a monster dish, I still don't get all of the transponders on Nimiq 1 (but some users in "southern provinces" do), but I do get all of the TP's on Nimiq 3 [recently renumbered to N4i] (which some US users can't see at all).

So add in a variable reception footprint and life gets confusing...

If you can, try to locate a current subscriber in your area to compare notes...

Best of luck....

P.S. LyngSat does have listings for BEV channels vs transponders, but they're currently VERY out of date... but it can give you an idea as to what's available. At some point, I hope digiblur will get time to consolidate all of his recent uplink reports into a single message....

 

[digiblur]

P.S. LyngSat does have listings for BEV channels vs transponders, but they're currently VERY out of date... but it can give you an idea as to what's available. At some point, I hope digiblur will get time to consolidate all of his recent uplink reports into a single message....

The uplink reports are just small chunks of what recently changed and never the entire picture. Maybe Scott G and I can figure out something for you guys where you can click on a PDF file and see the entire list of Bell ExpressVu's channels sorted by Orbital position then by TP. Would this benefit quite a few of you here?

 

[Holysmoke]

Size of dish required can depend on where you are - generally, further south = bigger dish (signal IS optimized for subscribers north of US) -

Am in Caribbean, and require 8' (you read right...) dish to get Bell ExpressVu @ 91 -

Even with a monster dish, I still don't get all of the transponders on Nimiq 1 (but some users in "southern provinces" do), but I do get all of the TP's on Nimiq 3 (which some US users can't see at all).

So add in a variable reception footprint and life gets confusing...

If you can, try to locate a current subscriber in your area to compare notes...

Best of luck....

P.S. LyngSat does have listings for BEV channels vs transponders, but they're currently VERY out of date... but it can give you an idea as to what's available. At some point, I hope digiblur will get time to consolidate all of his recent uplink reports into a single message....

thanks for your reply. I wonder if I would be throwing money away getting a bigger dish.

I also wondered if the invacom qph301 would help since it improves low signal.

guess I can always try to sell dish and lnb if it doesnt improve.

 

[angiodan]

I'm in the Cape as well, and I am using a Dish 500 for both 82 and 91. Other than the known tp's that don't reach us here, (and I don't have the list in front of me, but if you search this forum, you can find what they are), I get pretty good strengths on 91.

I only really care about what I can get on 82 for HD. I have tried up to a 33" oblong dish to get my lost tp's on 82 with no luck. If I knew for sure that someone could get them all with a 6-8 footer here in Cape, I would pick one up in a heartbeat.

 

[Holysmoke]

I'm in the Cape as well, and I am using a Dish 500 for both 82 and 91. Other than the known tp's that don't reach us here, (and I don't have the list in front of me, but if you search this forum, you can find what they are), I get pretty good strengths on 91.

I only really care about what I can get on 82 for HD. I have tried up to a 33" oblong dish to get my lost tp's on 82 with no luck. If I knew for sure that someone could get them all with a 6-8 footer here in Cape, I would pick one up in a heartbeat.

that is sad news indeed. I was told a one meter dish would get in the tps. I was about to purchase a 36" dish for 91 but sounds like it wont work.

If I do decide to get a bigger dish, which lnb should I use? I heard a twin lnb will not work with dishes over 24" is that true?

 

[rossb]

The uplink reports are just small chunks of what recently changed and never the entire picture. Maybe Scott G and I can figure out something for you guys where you can click on a PDF file and see the entire list of Bell ExpressVu's channels sorted by Orbital position then by TP. Would this benefit quite a few of you here?

Oooooh..... A print-optimized file - that would be great -

We get signal variation due to season & time of day. I'm sure other users outside of the main footprint have similar issues.

To help keep track, I end up printing out the LyngSat listings (not really optimized for printing - lots of paper), and refer to printout when setting up programs to record on the PVR and/or when I put channel locks on (to prevent stations on bad TP's from showing up on my guide).

Problem is when LyngSat are out of date, my wife and I must resort to a labourious process of selecting a channel, noting any TP errors right off, and if reception is coming in at that point, working our way through the receiver menus to get TP no. and then back our way out, advance to next channel, repeat...

Recent changes took us almost the whole weekend to record...

So yeah, anything to shorten this process would be great - and hopefully, you have a way of capturing/extracting the info in a more automated method...

Many thanks in advance....

 

[rossb]

As a general answer to dual satellite reception, HD users here in the Caribbean usually resort to two dishes to get 2 satellites - futher south, the angle is just too wide to allow full strength reception (maximum signal - minimizing rain fade for BOTH 91 & 82).

Dual LNB's end up being used for multi-receiver setups... I've seen (and help set up) home-brewed versions of multiple LNB's mounted on bracket for HD on one dish - but there's always a comprimise for signal strength/priority. This is the case for either Echostar-type signal (Dish/ExpressVu).

If you already have a dish and have either a) a satellite finder/meter or b) local installer, best thing is to temporarily swing your dish and try out 82 as a test using your own receiver and noting signal strengths in the installation screens....

Finally, what has made life even more confusing, is that BOTH positions (91 & 82) have two satellites - N1 & N4i @ 91, N2 & N3 @ 82 - the reception footprints ARE different for each satellite AT EACH POSITION - I only have experience with 91 - but by experimentation, when tuning my dish, I've had to tune to a channel on N1's TP6 (I use 160) to "peak" the signal strength to an aim that is balanced for both birds. I'm sure that as you try to optimize for both 91 & 82, you may also find that gently/slowly rotating your LNB may yield improved results for reception of both birds at that position. (The purists may say that there should no need for LNB rotation with circular polarization - true enough for one bird, but if trying to receive two on one LNB, some skew is required... and hey, if it works....)

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

I also wondered if the invacom qph301 would help since it improves low signal.

I have had 2 Invacoms Quad Porlar LNBs. I used them for 82W and 148W - 2 birds with problem signals in my area - both needing atleast a 1 meter dish for any reliability at all.

In both cases, the standard dish legacy lnbs that I had and took out of the plastic casing ran circles around the Invacom lnbs in terms of signal and performance on the problem birds.

I can't tell you why, I can only tell you the end results which was repeated again for someone in the Industry who didn't believe it several weeks ago. One was a lnb and one was a lnbf - both from different sources and appear to be built at different times.

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

As a general answer to dual satellite reception, HD users here in the Caribbean usually resort to two dishes to get 2 satellites - futher south, the angle is just too wide to allow full strength reception (maximum signal - minimizing rain fade for BOTH 91 & 82).

Dual LNB's end up being used for multi-receiver setups... I've seen (and help set up) home-brewed versions of multiple LNB's mounted on bracket for HD on one dish - but there's always a comprimise for signal strength/priority. This is the case for either Echostar-type signal (Dish/ExpressVu).

If you already have a dish and have either a) a satellite finder/meter or b) local installer, best thing is to temporarily swing your dish and try out 82 as a test using your own receiver and noting signal strengths in the installation screens....

Finally, what has made life even more confusing, is that BOTH positions (91 & 82) have two satellites - N1 & N4i @ 91, N2 & N3 @ 82 - the reception footprints ARE different for each satellite AT EACH POSITION - I only have experience with 91 - but by experimentation, when tuning my dish, I've had to tune to a channel on N1's TP6 (I use 160) to "peak" the signal strength to an aim that is balanced for both birds. I'm sure that as you try to optimize for both 91 & 82, you may also find that gently/slowly rotating your LNB may yield improved results for reception of both birds at that position. (The purists may say that there should no need for LNB rotation with circular polarization - true enough for one bird, but if trying to receive two on one LNB, some skew is required... and hey, if it works....)

What seems like years ago now, companies would keep satellites pretty rock solid in their position. However, they figured out that expended a bunch more fuel and shortened the life of the birds. So then they decided to put them up there and let them drift a little. Many are in a small figure 8 pattern around their assigned position.

Now, for many of the the companies other than the E* and D* that own their own satellites, you can find a chart of when the satellite is "in the center of the box" and its the best time to finetune your adjustment - as that should be dead on in the center of the figure 8. See here for example: http://www.panamsat.com/global_network/cobview.asp?id=Galaxy-13

Companies like E* and D* own their own birds and lots of luck getting that info out of them (I someone knows where it is available, I'd love to see it).

The fact that you have 2 birds at 82W and 91W make getting the fine tuning correct even more critical - but again, I am not sure where that info is available for the Nimiq birds either - though I would guess it might be more readily available than the E* an D* info is.

 

[hockeyck]

I have had 2 Invacoms Quad Porlar LNBs. I used them for 82W and 148W - 2 birds with problem signals in my area - both needing atleast a 1 meter dish for any reliability at all.

In both cases, the standard dish legacy lnbs that I had and took out of the plastic casing ran circles around the Invacom lnbs in terms of signal and performance on the problem birds.

I can't tell you why, I can only tell you the end results which was repeated again for someone in the Industry who didn't believe it several weeks ago. One was a lnb and one was a lnbf - both from different sources and appear to be built at different times.

With those Invacom LNBs could you get 82 as far south as Los Angeles?

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

With those Invacom LNBs could you get 82 as far south as Los Angeles?

As they were 2200 miles away from LA, I have no idea.

I am back to picking up both 82W and 91W with all transponders on a .9m Toroidal with the normal Toroidal Reverse lnbs.

The problem is, as can be documented under various threads here, it has changed about 10 times in the last 6 months. So what I get today (or what you get today) you might not get tomorrow. Remember that originally I could not get 1/2 the 91W transponders a year ago - then I got them all - then lost some - now they are all back. 82W I had and then lost 1/2 even with a 1.2M Dish - they all came back several weeks ago to where I am back on the smaller .9M. I won't hold my breath as to how long they stay.

 

[rossb]

Ah yes, the wandering bird syndrome - We used to periodically have to tweak the aim on the dish when the birds wandered within their slots - proof that you can fine-tune too much. I finally figured out a set of readings on my satellite finder that correspond to an averaged position - signals still vary, but not enough to bother with [re]peaking the dish. Your results may vary....

And as for transponders coming and going - you were witness to a) satellites being moved around between slots (and/or being added i.e. two old DirecTV birds) b) transponder assignments being moved between satellites and c) channels being moved between transponders to either balance loading or to make room for additional/revised channel lineups... confusing as @#$%^&*!

 

[rossb]

thanks for your reply. I wonder if I would be throwing money away getting a bigger dish.

I also wondered if the invacom qph301 would help since it improves low signal.

guess I can always try to sell dish and lnb if it doesnt improve.

Bigger dish will often help cure any/all rain fade...

Don't have any experience with Invacom - use an Eagle Aspen dual output myself - have had good results... I'd be interested in a side-by-side real-life comparison using the same dish, receiver & cabling... Gain is good :