28E - Weak transponders

SalteeDog

I have 60cm Triax dish w/ universal LNB. I can get a SNR of 99% on Five and about 80% on BBC1 HD (both on Astra 1N) but struggle to get anything above 50% on the Horror Channel (Eutelsat 28A).

Other channels on Eutelsat 2A, hit 60% e.g. Bloomberg UK. (All measurements yesterday - fine day no cloud cover)

There may or may not be a potential obstruction from a stray tree branch.

Before I risk my life looking for further improvement, is it the case that the Horror channel (picking that one as its the weakest with anything worth watching on it) is so weak that I'm unlikely to get any improvement anyway (particularly given I am 99% on Channel Five)?

For what it's worth I'm on the West coast near Lough Corrib so may be towards the edge of the beam and perhaps not comparable with experiences in Dublin.

Peter Rhea

What have you tried so far? The lnb skew for Astra & Eutelsat is different & some compromise may be required but you probably know that.

SalteeDog

I didn't do the dish install myself (high ladder work not really being my thing) - I believe the skew was set to optimise across the group of 28E satellites - not sure what angle it is at.

Ronnie Raygun

If you're just going to be climbing up & down making blind adjustments, you'll only be wasting your time.

You'll need some kind of display of signal quality within view of the dish.

SalteeDog

Ronnie Raygun wrote: »

If you're just going to be climbing up & down making blind adjustments, you'll only be wasting your time.

You'll need some kind of display of signal quality within view of the dish.

I know that. My question is really about whether it's typical that some of the channels on Eutelsat 28A are significantly weaker than other and whether its even possible from the west of Ireland on a 60cm universal dish to achieve a good signal from them without compromising too much the channels on 1N.

The context is a set up which has some possible tree obstructions which involve some difficulty/danger to remove and which I wont attempt if I think the improvement is marginal.

watty

I'd say for rain margin you want more than 60cm in West.

60cm is fine for Waterford to Portliose

Eurobird transponders used to be the weakest in West.

Hotblack Desiato

SalteeDog wrote: »

I know that. My question is really about whether it's typical that some of the channels on Eutelsat 28A are significantly weaker than other

On my set-up (in Dublin, standard Sky minidish) they are a little weaker, but not much - this is after I used a sat finder to optimise the aim of the dish. It used to be fine on 28.2 channels but very much weaker, with occasional breakups, on 28.5 channels. The Sky installer obviously didn't care so long as the main BBC etc. channels worked OK. He also managed to put a staple through the cable he installed :rolleyes: he then asked if he could use the jacks, thought he meant a pee, I was wrong :mad:

Ronnie Raygun

SalteeDog wrote: »

...The context is a set up which has some possible tree obstructions which involve some difficulty/danger to remove and which I wont attempt if I think the improvement is marginal.

There's no way anyone here can usefully advise on such a situation, the only way to find out what, if any improvement is available is to remove the obstruction or relocate the dish.

SalteeDog

Ronnie Raygun wrote: »

There's no way anyone here can usefully advise on such a situation, the only way to find out what, if any improvement is available is to remove the obstruction or relocate the dish.

On the contrary the responses from Watty and Ninja are helpful. I'm not asking for advice on my particular set-up as I understand there are many variables at play that have an impact - including the LNB and receiver sensitivity. My experience for 28.2E is with a single dish but there are others here who have done many set-ups and can advise on the general question as to whether a 60cm universal dish in the West of Ireland can ever hope to have satisfactory signal response on all satellites in that group - using a typical LNB. In a way the question is theoretical and perhaps what I really want is the actual transponder data and the calculations to allow me to figure it out myself.

This thread is covering the same ground.

Thanks for everyone's responses. I appreciate folks willingness to engage.

Peter Rhea

Footprints for 28A here.

Tv is carried on the fixed & S1 beams.

Peter Rhea

This site's worth a look: http://www.satbeams.com

Click on the map for the power level & recommended (more like minimum) dish size at any location.