Strange reception problem

JoyPad · 19-04-2005 11:14am #1

Hi all,

I'm experiencing a very strange reception problem. I had my new TD110 dish pointing at 5E, using an old .8dB LNB. I've had a strong signal for the Europe BSS beam, faint signal for the Europe FSS beam and no signal from the Nordic beam.
Now, the strange part is that I lose the signal from FSS in the morning, but it comes back in the evening and remains at that level all night long. No changes occur with the BSS beam reception.

I've recently acquired a multifeed arm for the TD dish, and a couple of .3dB LNBs. With this arm you can no longer place a LNB in the middle, so I put one LNB as close to the middle as possible, rotated the dish a bit, and I'm now getting 5E again, with about 10% improvement. However, the FSS beam continues to disappear during the day.

Any ideas what might cause this?
It's not a huge problem, but I'm curious. Is the reception at night better than the daytime reception? I see no difference for any other satellite or beam, except for this one.

Cheers,
JP

Tony · 19-04-2005 2:17pm

AFAIK the transponder power is varied during the day depending on weather conditions in the target area. The LNB temp may also have some bearing on this and/or sun noise.

JoyPad wrote:

Hi all,

I'm experiencing a very strange reception problem. I had my new TD110 dish pointing at 5E, using an old .8dB LNB. I've had a strong signal for the Europe BSS beam, faint signal for the Europe FSS beam and no signal from the Nordic beam.
Now, the strange part is that I lose the signal from FSS in the morning, but it comes back in the evening and remains at that level all night long. No changes occur with the BSS beam reception.

I've recently acquired a multifeed arm for the TD dish, and a couple of .3dB LNBs. With this arm you can no longer place a LNB in the middle, so I put one LNB as close to the middle as possible, rotated the dish a bit, and I'm now getting 5E again, with about 10% improvement. However, the FSS beam continues to disappear during the day.

Any ideas what might cause this?
It's not a huge problem, but I'm curious. Is the reception at night better than the daytime reception? I see no difference for any other satellite or beam, except for this one.

Cheers,
JP

byte · 19-04-2005 7:29pm

Sorry for going off topic (though I think Tony has answered the question) but could you tell me how much and where you got the multi bracket for TD dishes? I am after one, though Triax said that it comes with the 4 LNB's and switch (which I don't need).

TIA

Zaphod · 19-04-2005 11:02pm

The increasing/decreasing power output on the TPs is the most likely answer, more people watching the gogglebox at night so important to have better quality signal then.

Some people have suggested that the bird is being re-oriented during the day so that the solar panels are getting good view of the sun etc. Only other possibility is that if the bird has a slight wobble, then you're more likely to notice it with the FSS beam as we're on the edge of the footprint in comparison to the BSS beam.

Tony · 19-04-2005 11:35pm

AFAIK a similar thing happens with Astra 2d reception in the canary Islands

JoyPad · 20-04-2005 9:01am

byte wrote:

Sorry for going off topic (though I think Tony has answered the question) but could you tell me how much and where you got the multi bracket for TD dishes? I am after one, though Triax said that it comes with the 4 LNB's and switch (which I don't need).
TIA

I got them for free from a friend who doesn't need them. You should be able to get one from here, for 29 yoyos. Right, Tony?

Cheers,
JP

Tony · 20-04-2005 9:12am

JoyPad wrote:

I got them for free from a friend who doesn't need them. You should be able to get one from here, for 29 yoyos. Right, Tony?

Cheers,
JP

eh yeah

thanks

JoyPad · 22-04-2005 1:31pm

Hey all,

Today was the first day since I opened this thread when it wasn't sunny at lunch time. It's raining outside, but the signal on the FSS beam is better than yesterday, when we had fair weather with sunny spells. However, the signal on the BSS beam is poorer than yesterday, as I thought it would be, due to rain.
I will have to check it again for a few days, charting the signal strength against the weather before I can draw any conclusions, but I still find this really weird. I wonder how the signal would be tonight, if the rain continues.

Right now I tend to agree with Tony on the LNB temperature affecting the reception. However, this doesn't explain why that same LNB has no problems and no variations on the BSS beam.

Just food for thought

Cheers,
JP

telecinesk · 22-04-2005 3:11pm

Hi Joypad,
was curious what you were listening or watching on 5E? Funnily theres a feed of Virigin1215 in Mono there.

I also have same probs with Amos4W, Im within footprint cos Im well east but in parts of the day its weak. Same goes with nordic beam on 5E in reverse!
Down to temp of LNB and the satellite upping erp and dropping etc..

JoyPad · 22-04-2005 9:14pm

I'm watching the Romanian channels on 12449H and 12697V (this is the one I'm having trouble with).
When you're saying "well east", do you refer to central Europe? I was under the impression that you can't get Amos in Ireland, not with regular sized dishes anyway.

Cheers,
JP

telecinesk · 24-04-2005 6:38am

Hi, Im down near Slovak/Hungarian side of C.Europe, yeah Amos is even bumpy here, the beam is v tight from what I see and aim right under it.Behaves like astra2D.
Romanian channels, must have a look on 5E at them. Never thought to try it.
Regards, D

JoyPad · 18-05-2005 4:18pm

Another update on this issue, if anyone's listening:

I replaced the LNB with the latest and greatest, the Smart Titanium 0.2dB. I now have marginal reception on FSS throughout the day. When I say marginal, I mean the occasional break in sound and picture.

Anyway, starting with 5pm, the signal gets better and better. Right now we have light rain, and the signal is stronger than it was at lunch (no rain).
The temperature, sun noise, etc are out of the question, the variation is way bigger than these factors can induce.

Oh, and the variation happens on the BSS beam as well. With the new LNB I can see it a lot better than before.

The only explanation I see would be the "slight wobble" suggested here by Zaphod. Should I email NSAB and complain?

Maybe they can send a tech up there to fix the thing.

Cheers,
JP

Tony · 18-05-2005 5:52pm

JoyPad wrote:

The only explanation I see would be the "slight wobble" suggested here by Zaphod. Should I email NSAB and complain? Maybe they can send a tech up there to fix the thing.

Cheers,
JP

Yes this sounds very plausible, is it possible to alter the elevation and azimuth of your dish slightly to check this? I remember berlusconis channels being carried on an inclined orbit satellite years ago and the only way to keep the customer happy was to align it at night

Zaphod · 18-05-2005 8:57pm

FSS and BSS are both on Sirius 2, but according to 'official' info, which AFAIK comes courtesy of NORAD, it's not inclined.

http://www.sat-index.com/geo/25049.htm

Zaphod · 19-05-2005 11:00am

The same thing is reported on kingofsat.

2003-08-15 12:44:58 dxn (39.9N-9W,200cm) weak signal here. Get some chls but only for some hours per day
2004-12-01 20:50:41 ralp (37.3N-4.5W,80cm) only in afternoon and night (30%). in morning only 9% (no signal)
http://www.kingofsat.net/en/beams.php?s=25&b=46

If it is in proper inclined orbit then it should drift about its orbital position in a figure of 8 fashion - the result being that the footprint would move back and forth between north and south. It would be interesting to see if adjusting the dish has any effect on signal strength during the day as Tony suggests.

Strange reception problem

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