Whats the Furthest East Sat you can Hit?

[goaliebob99]

For me Its NSS10 on my cband dish, I havent ventured in to KU yet. It seems like anything east of amc3 gets forgotton about other than a few like amc6. Im mainly looking for FTA hd. When I wake up in the morning I think Ill start swinging my dish twards the west up to amc 6 and give that whole side of the arch a good scan. Lots of s2 over on I805, but nothing good .. Im hoping that maybe I can find something coming from over the pond that might be good! ^____^

 

[Blindowl1234]

For me it's probably 72W. Huge trees along property line. Sadly they're the neighbors trees. If they were mine they'd be long gone. Blind

 

[Tron]

Hispasat at 30w over the rooftops of the two story apartment buildings to my southeast.

 

[Mr Tony]

Hispasat 30W here

9 elevation

 

[scottc98]

T12 (15W) in Columbus, OH

Haven't tried any further east.

 

[starman345]

Telstar 12 here and I could go further but the side of my house is in the way. One of these days I'm going to try my 1 meter Winegard away from the house and see exactly how far down I can get.

 

[photoman76]

I805 from Northern California.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Hispasat 1C/1D @ 30.0W from 96.4 degrees West Longitude is all the further I can detect any signal from a Ku band satellite.

I should have a LOS from my location (barring any obstructions from the neighboor's trees) to as far as 18.0 W Intelsat 901 or 22.0 W NSS 7, but I do not detect anything past 30.0W in Ku band.

22.0W NSS 7 is the only sat east of 30.0 W listed on Lyngsat that has any Ku beams for N.A. and those are feed channels, so without knowing when those feeds are active, I cannot tell if I am aimed correctly at the bird.

I cannot drive my motor to this position using USALS, so I have to use DiSEqC 1.2 positioning, and in doing so, I can only guestimate when I am close by how many motor steps I make and the degree reading on the motor stem.

I would estimate that you should be able to pick up a signal (if there is a beam for your area) as long as the satellite is not further east or west than 76 degrees from your location longitude and there are NO obstructions. Beyond that, the curvature of the earth places the satellite below the horizon or just atop it.

For me, 30.0 W is 66.4 degrees east of my location and it comes in very strong (90%+ Q with a 1.2 M dish and an Invacom QPH-031 LNBF). If there were any Ku band sats between 22.0 W and 30.0 W that transmitted a beam towards my area, I think I would pick it up.


RADAR

 

[iafirebuff]

30w for me

 

[mikelib]

Dxing Atlantic Satellite's

I have been Dxing the KU-Atlantic side of Lyngsat here are some of the results:

Atlantic Bird 2 @ 8.0º W 1 Transponder/2 Arabic TV Channels

Telestar 12 @ 15.0º W 11 Transponders/ 19 Stations mix languages

NSS 7 @ 22.0º W 3 Transponders/ 2 feeds and 1 scrambled station

Hispasat 1C/1D@ 30.0º W 15 Transponders/ 38 TV Station most ITC

Intelsat 3R @ 43.0º W 4 Transponders/ 4 Mexican TV Stations

Intelsat 1R @ 45.01º W 1 Transponder/ 1 TV Station Spanish

Intelsat 70 @ 53.0º W 1 Transponder/ 1 TV Station Spanish

Intelsat 9 @ 58.0º W 3 Transponders/ 6 Feeds

Echostar 3 @ 61.5º W 2 Transponders with 5 Dish Net channels ITC

Telstar 14 @ 63.0º W 1 Transponder/ 10 channels, ½ full with TV Stations

NSS7 feeds can be interesting at times and I am surprised that I can get the one scrambled station, as it is listed as a Caribbean footprint. (Can’t find a ERP map for the transponder)

Hispasat 1C/1D has a couple of interesting stations that show American movies with foreign subtitles.

I add Telstar 14 because it has PBS stations that are ITC with normal audio.

If there is an American beam on any of the Atlantic side satellites, I try to lock in any stations or receive the transponder that has a signal.

 

[FTAsquirrel]

58W C band here in Oregon.

 

[scottc98]

Hey Mike,

Have you tried Atlantic Sat at 12.5W? That is one that I can probably hit but just never tried. Any strong Tps on that sat?

 

[pendragon]

For the Denver area (39.6N, 104.9W) 30W is at the very limit of usable with 2.9 degrees elevation. That's a bit more than my USALS Ku motor can turn, but I have manually adjusted my 1.2m and locked it. My bigger dishes have motor or LOS issues before they get down that low, but in my sleep I can dial up and get 37.5W (8.6 degrees elevation) and 40.5W (10.9 degrees elevation) on all.

 

[vfrjim]

see sig

 

[USDownlink]

45W is the theoretical limit here, but I've never been able to receive anything below 72W. I know that with some substantial effort (relocating dishes and building support structures), I can see as low as 61. About a year ago, I GPS-aligned a high power green laser and it illuminated a clear path down to 61. At that point, I fall victim to trees in my yard which, sadly, I am not able to cut down.

I am rather jealous of those that can see the Atlantic sats. I have excellent western sky, to almost 170E, but nothing there is pointed at North America.

 

[tvropro]

I can see down to about 40 degrees then my bud hits my garage roof. Nothing but trees beyond that anyway. Could be cool to see 10 degrees though.

 

[Raysat67]

15 W here in Easton, PA.

 

[mikelib]

Hey Mike,

Have you tried Atlantic Sat at 12.5W? That is one that I can probably hit but just never tried. Any strong Tps on that sat?

I tried tonight but was not sucessful, USAL was not working and when I used Diseq the dish hit the tripod. I will try again, I have to raise the dish up higher on the mast.

see sig

vfrjim, can you post a couple of the active transponders from 12.5W
Thanks in advance :up:up Mike Lib

 

[Tron]

For the Denver area (39.6N, 104.9W) 30W is at the very limit of usable with 2.9 degrees elevation. That's a bit more than my USALS Ku motor can turn, but I have manually adjusted my 1.2m and locked it.

You were able to lock 30w at a 2.9 degree elevation? That's quite impressive! You must have an empty field that runs as far as the eye can see in that direction... Keep the grass mowed! ...

 

[AcWxRadar]

Solar Transit Calculator

For anyone who is interested, there is a nice solar transit calculator available (on-line) here:

Sun Outage Calculator

Twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring, the sun aligns nearly perfectly with the satellites in the Clarke Belt. This generally causes prime focus dish owners to experience sun fade as the noise from the sun can overpower the satellite signal when it is directly in line with the satellite.

However, for anyone desiring to actually "SEE" where every satellite is in the sky, you can use this calculator to locate them by viewing the sun's position during a specific time window on a certain number of days during the spring and fall.

I usually enter the orbital degree of the satellite (rather than selecting the sat name). Then enter my coordinates (lat/long), Ku or C band and spring or fall and the dish size and year. Then I select my time zone and hit CALCULATE.

This should result in at least four dates and a time window on each date when the sun is aligned with that one specific satellite. Then go out and look at the sun's position during that time on one of those dates to see where the satellite is in the sky.

You will be amazed at how high the satellites actually are! This is also a very excellent tool if you are questioning whether any trees, buildings, a bluff or ridge or other obstruction is going to interfere with your reception. Not to mention, being able to directly witness exactly how high the sat is above the horizon.

I used this calculator to determine where the best location in my yard would be to install my motorized dish. I have many trees and buildings scattered all around, so I wanted to be certain that I located the dish closest to the house (to avoid too long of a cable run) and get a clear LOS shot to at least the majority of the satellites. I ended up with (if I remember correctly) 285+ feet of cable run. I used RG-11 cable for most of this and have no problems.

This calculator is assuredly mentioned somewhere else on this site, but I thought I would revisit it here as it has a direct application to the discussion and the time of the fall solar transit is approaching (beginning of October).

If you have the opportunity to be at home (or wherever you are setting a dish up) on the dates indicated, I urge you to check it out. It is really sweet!

RADAR