C-Band/Ka-Band Reception in the UK (Dish Project: LNBs, Dish, Alignment) - Post your results here...

natedogg20050

Donating Member
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409
An update from me related to the 2.4m fortec star antenna ordered couple of weeks ago...

Arrived well packed, but I was quite surprised with the weight of the package, could only just move it by myself.

Assembly fairly easy as long as you use an upturned bucket to support the petals at the centre, and take your time building it. I put the support assembly onto the reflector face down, then lifted whole thing onto the concrete pad.

Seems to be designed for C band, feed support arms come with holes to connect direct to a scalar ring. The unit came with an a KU LNB adaptor plate which I have not used.

Plus points :

Very low cost £195 inc delivery
surprisingly good build quality reflector
Decent results from 55W where it is pointed at the moment


Needs improvement :)

Nuts were not all well made I had 5 that were not threaded properly.
No washers included
Anchor bolts not easy to use, not quite long enough probably will have to replace.
Az El base not the best, the Az part is not really adjustable a case of move the whole thing around not easy
The base is going to rust, in fact already can see some issues around the bottom where I have been moving it. Hamerite needed.
Wish could buy the polar mount to go with it
No useful instructions


So the results.

Have C1W-PLL on there at the moment, Technomate TM6902 :

220 channels scanned…

4004 V IMC Worldcup 2014 signal 87, quality 68, works well, no luck with Sportsmax 1 or 2 on same TP
3846 V Fox + others, signal 89 quality 63, working, thanks to all for software upgrade :)

Not tried other satellites as yet may try for 58W next, not done this yet because wanted the IMC channel and how difficult it is to move.

Next step to find a polar mount for it….

Can upload some pics if of interest. Any questions fire away…

Where did you buy it?
 

samimexicano

Registered
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4
You are doing a lot of setting up there! I keep thinking about c band myself but it looks like the cost and setting up is a lot of work. Worth it in the long run I suppose. I'll use another dish if I ever try though.
 

empb

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CIS TV (Culture & Sport TV)

@ Eutelsat 10°E 3677 R 1083 -FTA

at 66% for me - confirmed will show matches (Sourced from Kwesé Free Sports) eg:

Just Advertised for today:
16:00 CEST Newcastle United - West Ham United

and advertised Napoli vs Atalanta for 20:45 CEST Tomorrow

[I've only ever caught the Chinese Muxx - Freq 3649 L DVB-S2/QPSK MPEG-4 SR 20161 FEC 2/3 - on this Satellite before with my small 1.06m dish!]
 

empb

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Caught a few more 5E C-Band channels on blind scan today ... MFM TV, DOVE TV, WAP TV, AIT, TVC

3707 L 1210 5/6 Impact Africa TV
3714 L 1724 2/3 TVGE Internacional & TVGE National (Which is a Blank Screen, doesnt open with the known TVGE Biss Key, so I assume is data only - as it only lists TVGE International at Flysat. If there is a Biss Key or Control Word Please let me know!!!!)
 

Xede

Registered
Messages
49
Assuming a clear line of sight anyone know what size dish is required to get the c band cricket feeds on 68.5e in the London area?
 

empb

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Can be a tricky sat to get line of site for. Looking at Lyngsat maps:

Intelsat 20 at 68.5°E

Intelsat-20-Landmass.png


Compared to one I do get on my 1.2m Equiv (1.06m Triax):

Express AM7 at 40.0°E

Express-AM7-C-Fixed.png


I would guess at 1.8m, you agree other UK C-Banders? :D
 

Ratzvan

Feed Hunter
Messages
22,693
Assuming a clear line of sight anyone know what size dish is required to get the c band cricket feeds on 68.5e in the London area?

I'm not at your position and I can't move my dish there now. But I remember I received enough channels with my 2.40M one when I tested it once.

Looking at satbeams table, it seems a 2,50m about is requested to get landmass beam at 68.5E in London.



Consider the very low dish elevation angle too(2.4° :rolleyes:) that could be a problem.

And we're talking about feeds.. :confused:, not regular channels.
So nor that dish couldn't be enough, because feeds signal is lower.
Be sure about what you're doing...

@kuga
 

pedro2000uk

Member
Messages
56
I'm not at your position and I can't move my dish there now. But I remember I received enough channels with my 2.40M one when I tested it once.

Looking at satbeams table, it seems a 2,50m about is requested to get landmass beam at 68.5E in London.



Consider the very low dish elevation angle too(2.4° :rolleyes:) that could be a problem.

And we're talking about feeds.. :confused:, not regular channels.
So nor that dish couldn't be enough, because feeds signal is lower.
Be sure about what you're doing...

@kuga

Quite right reserved it's feeds and low elevation. C band is lower power because it's used for ground based coms, that means you can be trying to see it through a low level fog of ground based c band coms.. eg the precision dishes between mobile phone mast installations can be using it and the IF L band is being used by the actual masts and mobile phones. Doing a lot of ku at 68.5e you'd seefluctuations that looked like mobile phone activity.

It can depend where in London. Aiming over London from the NW is different than say the SE.. unless there's a phone mast in the aim.
 

empb

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Eutelsat 3B @ 3.1°E

Caught my first Eutelsat 3B @ 3.1°E C-Band signal:

3666 R 2268 2/3 QPSK (HEVC x265) DVB-S2 QPSK

Disappointed to find whilst CCTV 4 Europe is there seemingly 24/7, that Eleven Sports 1 Taiwan is a test and today that test has CCTV 1 on it :(

For small C-Band Dish reception however SES5 5°E and Eutelsat 3B 3.1°E are too close together, I catch overspil from 5°E at 3.1E's strongest lock of 3.1E 3666 R with signals at 3705L (Liberty TV from 5°E) and 3692L (Plus TV Africa HD from 5°E)
 

amdade

Member
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76
Here is my small list from this position, 2.4m mesh dish, not perfect feed horn, not quite spot on focus wise I suspect :

Using GSKY HelloBox receiver blind scan :

3780 L 3199 Digital-1 (HD) CJC ?
3661 R 2898 Libya Al Wataniya
3988 R 16296 Congo-Kinshasa mux
4005 R 1500 Nour TV Gabon (TV-101)
 

empb

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The last two weekends I have struggled to catch any signal from CIS TV 3689 L 1082 at 10E (I note they added CIS Radio Live early december, so this is prob the reason), whilst still getting the Chinese Muxx at 3649 L 20160 2/3. Thought I'd do I blind scan after peaking the 3649 L signal.

I can report even thou still no CIS TV for me, I now catch Télé Tchad at 3856 R 2062 2/3 :thum:

Now blind scanning 5E (3668 to 3714) as WAP TV (3697 L 1517 - Flysat forget to list this one, but it is still listed at Lyngsat) is all I catch at the moment.
 

harshy

Well Known Member
Messages
736
Can anyone help me does anyone have 1w c band and the bbc Africa channels are there any TV channels there and what does it show?

Thanks in advance,


harshy
 

amdade

Member
Messages
76
Usually just an animated BBC World Service logo, occasionally BBC TV news programme for African continent, not very interesting IMO :)

Useful though in that its not a strong signal and top of the arc here, more or less, when working on my dish mechanics
 
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kippysat

Donating Member
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245
Usually just an animated BBC World Service logo, occasionally BBC TV news programme for African continent, not very interesting IMO :)

Useful though in that its not a strong signal and top of the arc here, more or less, when working on my dish mechanics
Hello Amdade,
Did I read correctly earlier in the thread that you can pick up the ESPN transponders on 40.5W with a 1.5m dish,
using a C-band lnb and you are based up north? If yes, then are the signals strong?

I am in Hertfordshire, so would hope I could do the same if I tried a C-band set up. There a few sports channels
on 40.5W that would make the work worthwhile.
 

moonbase

VIP
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517
Hello Amdade,
Did I read correctly earlier in the thread that you can pick up the ESPN transponders on 40.5W with a 1.5m dish,
using a C-band lnb and you are based up north? If yes, then are the signals strong?

I am in Hertfordshire, so would hope I could do the same if I tried a C-band set up. There a few sports channels
on 40.5W that would make the work worthwhile.


You got very little chance nowadays of locking the ESPN transponders on 40.5W in the UK with a 1.5m dish.
 
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