[mrblack]

With the heavy rain and clouds yesterday & today we have lost the saorsat signal here in Meath.

I set it up myself 5/6 weeks ago and it was working fine till yesterday. Normally our signal strength is only about 30% but picture was always perfect till now.

Anyone else have this problem or is it time to get the ladder out again for an hour+ fun of finetuning the dish.

MrBlack


Signal is back now as the rain is subsiding

[Peter Rhea]

I'm not one of the experts here in the Saorsat area, but maybe you're using an undersized dish? In that case, no amount of tweaking will deliver satisfactory reception.

[Gerry Wicklow]

Like Peter I'm no expert either but AFAIk...
Because SaorSat uses much higher frequencies than "ordinary" satellite, it is much more prone to rain fade. This is why larger dishes are recommended to give you more signal to play with. Likewise, mesh type dishes don't suit. 30% seems very low even for normal channels so i think a new dish may be on the cards.

[watty]

Recommended is a 80cm solid dish.

Alignment must be about x4 more accurate than for Sky/Freesat.

Your dish is either too small or not perfectly aligned.

[mrblack]

Hello lads,

Yeah my dish is indeed 80cm and solid as I bought it from TVtrade.ie as part of their saorsat kit back in May. I did drop it a few feet onto wooden floor when unpacking it so I hope its not fractionally warped or misaligned enough to adversely affect the signal.

Does anyone know what the expected signal strength would be in Meath? Armed with this I will know exactly when my 80cm dish is perfectly aligned.

Thanks for the replies

MrBlack

[zg3409]

The signal strength varies depending on the make/model of receiver and even one model can vary compared to another.

It is very, very, very important you set it for max signal, so it will continue to work during rain. Even moving the LNB in and out a little can be important. Ideally you would use an analyser that has bit error rate, but even then unless it is calibrated it is hard to give an exact answer. You should be looking for very, very strong quality during good weather.

Ideally you need the meter/TV right beside the dish and adjust it mm by mm. Even tightening the bolts can make the difference. The better the meter the easier it will be to peak the signal.

[watty]

Only professional meters show the BER. The absolute signal depends a lot on the amplifier in the LNB as is almost irrelevant. It's the ratio of signal to background noise (visible in Analogue mode on a Spectrum Analyser) or the digital SNR (BER = Bit Error Rate, approximately "Quality") that counts.

Absolute signal level includes noise and Interference amplified in the LNB so is a useless measure. Direct signal level measurements are only possible on
1: Calibrated LNBF with no AGC
or
2: Wave guide to SMA transition and meter working direct at real satellite frequency instead of IF
or
3: Lower frequencies that use no LNA or LNB, i.e. with a direct aerial of known gain.

Also not all dishes the same size are exactly the same gain.

[MikeSat]

Here in Cork i am using an 80cm solid dish supplied by Tv Trade to view Saorsat i am also using a Ross hd box. Normally it shows 54% signal but during heavy rain it drops as low as 39% but i have never lost the picture or sound

[Antenna]

Originally Posted by mrblack

saorsat signal here in Meath.

I wouldn't have thought that any part of Meath needed Saorsat??

[kodscoll]

hi all i have installed a good few saorsat systems in the southwest since inception of Saorsat and followed and exceeded the specs recommended ie triax td 78 dishes initially - all worked ok till a few weeks ago when there was a NOTICABLE drop in signal strength - reception has started to fail in inclement weather particularly heavy rain or fog where all was previously ok - have started using larger td 88 dishes but they are now having problems as well --- these systems have been installed to a pro standard with the best of equipment --- all have worked flawlessly till recently --- signal strength on the Ka band has dropped !!! Seems that the fringe regions AKA the regions which most require the InFill Saorsat service are incurring a reduced signal level --- thanks a bunch RTE !!! seems that the people who are most likely to need saorsat might need the largest dishes - where is the sense in that ? ? ?
has anybody from rte actually gone to west cork or kerry or clare and tried to receive saorsat on a bad day ? ? ?

[Peter Rhea]

Don't RTENL recommend a 100cm dish for west Cork & Kerry?

[kodscoll]

to my knowledge initially they recommended a minimum of 45cm /60 solid dish -- the semi official saorsat kits which triax supplied after consultation with rte nl were 78cm / 80cm this now seems to be insufficient - these kits worked ok till recently --- the point i'd like to make is that everything was ok till recently so we have been led up the preverbial garden path as to the size of dish required -- the most likely areas to require saorsat are the "fringes" of the country where Saorview is problematic -- good Saorsat signal is badly needed in these areas NOT the geographic centre of the country where Saorview is more readily available --- the dishes i have installed for Saorsat have not moved and are set for optimum Saorsat reception with Smart & Horizon meters - i have been back to them and read the signal with the same meter and the signal is down --- not good enough as far as i am concerned --- either the system works with a reasonable size dish for the people who really need it or dont bother - who wants a 110cm dish on their house ? ? ? an 80cm is ok, an 88/90 is pushing it but 110cm is out of order --- unsightly prone to wind movement and unsafe for the poor soul installing it -- roll on oct 24 with the long dark days and bad weather perfect for putting up big dishes !!!!!!

[zg3409]

Kodscoll,

Have you followed the size guidelines shown on the PDF here:

http://www.saorview.ie/wp-content/up...RSAT-final.pdf

Also:

http://www.rtenl.ie/wp-content/uploa...12-Rev-1.1.pdf
Particularly page 14

Is the KA LNB at the prime of a 1M dish?

Have you compared the internet carriers (can be seen on a spectrum view) to the TV carrier. Have the TV and internet carriers BOTH dropped or has just the TV carrier dropped (it was 7dB below the internet carrier)

I have some contacts and others have contacts. If the transmitted power has indeed dropped we all need to know. I might be able to do some tests to check that. Here is my spectrum image from a while ago:

Your purple should be the same. The levels of the green part should be ignored. These are from a different spot.


M2 is Saorsat. M1 is an internet carrier. The difference was 7dB. What is it now?

[kodscoll]

dont know anything about the internet carrier i'm not worried about that just the tv - switch off is coming up fast and the "infill" solution is not practical for the very people who are being forced to use it if 1m dishes are going to be needed !

i havent got any pics of signal analysis at the moment but the FACT is that 80cm dishes did work perfectly for the first few months where the ka band lnb is centred as much as possible whereas now pictures are breaking up and being lost especially when it gets foggy which is a lot around the coast !

if rtenl are providing a service it should work properly and not be a bargain basment effort requiring oversized equipment to receive it - they should worry less about overspill into wales and concentrate on providing proper coverage in their own country !

[Peter Rhea]

Are any of these dishes installed in areas that will be served by the extra Saorview transmitters that weren't on the original list?