Chris's C Band list

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

(Third try to post this)

Okay: you asked for it and here it is. These are the results of detailed, 4Mhz/step blind scans with the Merc II. To recap: the C Band setup is a 120cm dish, GeoSat dual output C band lnb and DG-380 Motor. I'll show what the Fortec indicates for the TP followed by the Lyngsat listing for the same one. The first thing you'll notice is that my polarities are the opposite of theirs! I have no idea why- the "0" marking on the back of the lnb is pointing straight up, and the only way I could be off like that is if I was 90 or 270 degrees out. We'll start in the east and work west.

ISS 805 (55.5W)- Great signal on all tps
TV:
3858/V/4449 (Lyngsat:3858/H/4444-2/3) Scans in as Scopus Net Tech; Panamerica channel

4097/V/5250 (Lyngsat:4097/H/5247-3/4) Canal 4, 10 (Nicaraguan Mux)

4119/V/3012 (Lyngsat:4119/V/3100-2/3) Edupol distance learning

RADIO:
3935/V/3258 (Lyngsat: 3936/H/3255-2/3) BBC radio feeds

4083/V/10328 (Lyngsat: 4084/H/10318-3/4) Radio Sonora, Fiesta, Tropicalida, Galaxia, Alfa, Ranchera

INTEL 9 (58W)
TV:
3799/V/4449 (no Lyngsat listing) Canal 8, studio news feed?

3880/V/27690 (Lyngsat: 3880/H/27690-7/8) Chinese state TV (CCTV) 4, 9, F, E, YTN, Arirang (Korea). Despite a solid 35% signal quality this tp is so broken up it's unwatchable for me. Maybe it's the low FEC value?

4039/V/16188 (Lyngsat: 4040/H/16180-1/2) NHK World 4 channels, 525 and 625 lines, english and japanese.

4119/H/27531 (Lyngsat: 4120/V/27500-3/4) Yes Italia, RAI News 24, Future News, Salute TV. The opposite of the CCTV tp above- with just 25-27% signal quality I can watch this one just fine.

4125/V/2941 (Lyngsat: 4125/H/2941-3/4) Bethel TV, spanish language religious channel

RADIO:
4039/V/16188 (same as TV) Scans in as "Radio 1, 2, 3, 4" NHK World radio, including a slightly creepy (for me) station ID in english and japanese

3807/V/3430 (Lyngsat: 3805/H/3428-3/4) China Radio International, 28 channels

4119/H/27531 (same as TV) "Radio Al Ddikr", "Radio Music", "Orient Radio", RAI radio service, RAI radio Australia, "RI Anni 60", "Radio 2Moro", "Radio Voice of Char."

AMC 6 (72W)
TV:
3785/H/4344 (Lyngsat: 3786/V/4340-3/4) NASA interactive channel, scans in a "Ch 1"

3974/H/8688, 3803/H/4344 (no Lyngsat listing) both scan in as "Ch 3", no video, just a buzzing sound for audio...some sort of data?

3953/H/4168 (Lyngsat:3953/V/4167-3/4) Pennsylvania Cable Network

4039/H/26688 (Lyngsat: 4040/V/26665-3/4) Nasa education channels ("HQ 1, 2, 3, 4")

No radio on AMC6

AMC 3 (87W)
TV:
3829/V/3523 (no Lyngsat listing) Michigan Government TV (reg. and AC-3, "MGTV")

4076/H/3027 (no Lyngsat listing) Roberts Communications dog racing feed

3834/V/2736 (Lyngsat: 3833/H/2734-5/6) THiS TV network (AC-3)

One radio channel scanned in but there was no audio.

GALAXY 28 (89W)
Here's where the trouble starts- no tps of its own showed up, they were all from Galaxy 17, the next sat over.

GALAXY 17 (91W)
TV:
4078/V/2898 (Lyngsat:4079/H/2900-3/4) GEMS television shopping channel

3919/V/26031 (Lyngsat: 3920/H/26000-3/4) Various versions of EWTN Catholic network (19 channels)

4013/V/6625 (Lyngsat:4014/H/6620-1/2) The Word Network (reg. and AC-3)

3820/H/30031 (Lyngsat:3820/V/30000-5/6) Fox Network feeds (color bars, reg and AC-3, scans in as "Network B/U" and "Network B/U-dig")

3859/H/30031 (Lyngsat:3860/V/30000-5/6) Info Card "This programming is available on another channel in your area" (Reg. and AC-3, scans in as "Future" and "Future-Dig")

RADIO:
3919/V/26031 (same as TV) Seven channels of EWTN radio

GALAXY 3-C (95W)
TV:
I'm not going to type them all out but there are 25 or so dog and horse racing feeds from Roberts Communications, they all have a 3074 SR and 3/4 FEC, and the signal on all of them is very weak.

GALAXY 19 (97W)
TV:
3780/H/27625 (Lyngsat:3780/V/27600) scans in as "HD Clear", Lyngsat just says "feeds". No video for me, nothing audible either.

3820/H/26031 (Lyngsat: 3820/H/29270-7/8) Scans in as "GDMX 2, 3, 4, 5, 6", I can hear the audio but no picture, Lyngsat says "CBS feeds" in Digicipher2
So, to sum up, there's nothing watchable for me on this one...what a contrast to Ku band on this sat!

GALAXY 16 (99W)
TV:
3735/V/3781 (Lyngsat:3735/H/3776-3/4) WAPA America, San Juan PR- This one is a really strong signal (60-70% quality) and can be used as a reference point, they have the "WAPA" logo on all the time so you know what you're watching.

3844/V/15047 (Lyngsat: 3845/H/15030-3/4) Caribbean Mux: NBC, CW, THiS TV, etc.

3999/V/26406 (Lyngsat: 4000/H/26400-3/4) World Harvest TV (reg and AC-3) and LESEA network

3716/H/4344...Golden Eagle Broadcasting; but this is supposed to be on AMC 1, the next sat over, but scanning that one doesn't produce this channel!?

RADIO:
3999/V/26406 (same as TV) Angel radio religious channels.

AMC 4 (101W)...Nothing at scan time, however I did pick up the New York State Legislature channel last week, very badly.

From here on out to the west, things get very iffy, and there's not much I can see reliably. I'll try some more and put the results up if I get any.

CN

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

...and then something pops up in the west:

GALAXY 23 (121W)

3706/V/5641 (Lyngsat: 3707/H/5632-3/4) Sportstime Ohio- good signal

3719/V/3004 (Lyngsat: 3719/H/3002-7/8) TWV, Washington State public affairs

3723/V/3004 (Lyngsat: 3724/H/3002-3/4) Sportsman's Channel.

I could also get AYM Sports on one of the Satmex satellites.

CN

[Vitruvius]

Cnagorka, Thanks, That is real helpful. Glad to see you can get what you can... Now, do you think you are going to get a big old ugly dish now?

[electrolaw]

Hi Chris,

I thought you might want to see my C-Band list for the 1.2m dish. I'm using a Geosatpro CK1 and I also was never able to get the KU-Band to work either. The Conical Scalar rings really helps though. Did you ever make one from Satcom1's plans?

AMC 6: Penn Cable Net and the NASA channels
AMC 3: MGTV and ThisTv
Galaxy 17: Fox Movie Channel, all of the EWTN MUX channel, KHIZ, Barstow, Ca and the Divds test cards
Galaxy 16: All of the Virgin Island Networks, World Harvest, and the Lesea Network
AMC 4: Golden Eagle and WAPA TV
Anik F1: Lots of PPV channels that I could lock, but couldn’t watch
Satmex 6: Uteg, AGS TV, SYM Sports, TV Nuevo Leon. I stopped there, but could have locked on many, many more with excellent signal quality. However, I don’t speak Spanish and didn’t really need the channels.
Satmex 5: Canals 11 through 28 and many other Spanish channels. Again, I didn’t try to get them all. But signal quality was excellent.
Galaxy 23: Sports Time Ohio, Sportsman Channel and Jewelry TV
Galaxy 13: Louisiana Super Station and Apostolic Oneness channel
AMC 11: A&E TV Networks (PPV) and two QVC channels
Galaxy 15: The California Channel, Classic Arts Showcase
AMC 10: HSN (although pixilated)

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

To answer Vitruvius's question...NOPE! Really- I don't have space for a "real" dish, and I'm satisfied with the results of this one. Most likely I'll just leave the dish parked at 58 so I can see my favorite NHK and occasionally go over to ISS805 for the BBC radio.

Electrolaw: What part of the country are you in? It's interesting that you're picking up some channels from the west I couldn't get, but you don't have the far eastern ones that I do. It's quite disappointing, because the one thing I really wanted to find was the plethora of free Music Choice channels on Galaxy 14, I believe, and I can't get a single tp on that one. Anik F1 I could get a couple tps but no locks on any channels. And yet I can pick up three channels on Galaxy 23, but they aren't the same ones you got. BTW, take a close look, you've got a mixup between Galaxy 16 and AMC 4- WAPA is supposed to be on Galaxy 16, for you it's bleeding over to the west, for me it bleeds into Galaxy 19 and even further, so for me it's bleeding over to the east. I've found the only way to minimize the problems is to find a tp you know is in a given place (after I've used USALS initially and scanned in) and peak that one using Diseq 1.2, then scan again and I can usually turn up another tp or two on that sat, and the ones adjacent will get so broken up or disappear that you know they're on the next sat over.

One thing I did do this evening was get up there and turn the lnb 90 degrees, so "0" is at the 9:00 position, and started rescanning everything; I'm getting some different things and the receiver is recognizing pre-stored tps now.

I need to try the homemade scalar rings but it's going to have to wait as work is getting busy and I'm not going to have as much time for this (for a few weeks anyway).

CN

[electrolaw]

Chris,

I'm in Northern California.

You are right about the bleed-over. What we really need is the old type of Corotor where you can adjust the skew. Search this on YouTube: Waveguide Polariser AV-COMM Test It's in German, but this guy has come up with a solution for the skew problem on a small dish.

I also did one other experiment with my 1.2m dish. I slaved my DSR920 4DTV receiver to the loop-out of my Viewsat Ultra and went to G1-3 and got the 4DTV guide to lock. I then went to W-5 and locked (with plenty of signal quality) W-5 603 (FTA American Life Network) and all of the premium movie channels. I could subscribe to these channels now if I wanted to. I then got all of the free 4DTV channels to lock on GB with good signal quality. I haven't tried any of the other 4DTV satellites, but I would think that results would be similar.

I just realized that the free music channels you are going after on Galaxy 14 are DGII. You will have to have a 4DTV receiver to get them. Also, I forgot to add that there are a lot of free 4DTV DGII music channels on AMC 18 that I was listening to the other day on my DSR920.

If you want another dimension to the 1.2m experiment, you might want to get a 4DTV receiver (either DSR920 or DSR922) and see what you can get.

[electrolaw]

Here are some photos of my installation. The pole is a 10ft piece of 2" electrical conduit that I purchased at Home Depot. I used 10 bags of concrete to secure the pole.

[William Eng]

...and then something pops up in the west:

GALAXY 23 (121W)

3706/V/5641 (Lyngsat: 3707/H/5632-3/4) Sportstime Ohio- good signal

3719/V/3004 (Lyngsat: 3719/H/3002-7/8) TWV, Washington State public affairs

3723/V/3004 (Lyngsat: 3724/H/3002-3/4) Sportsman's Channel.

I could also get AYM Sports on one of the Satmex satellites.

CN

Can you post some pictures of your attachment to the C/Ku LNB? I am interested in where you have it attached and where the cone is attached? Is the cone attached to the very end? Is the plastic attachment closer to farther away from the dish? How much skew is optimal? Looking at electro's pics. His cone doesn't seem to be the one from Sadoun.

[electrolaw]

Can you post some pictures of your attachment to the C/Ku LNB? I am interested in where you have it attached and where the cone is attached? Is the cone attached to the very end? Is the plastic attachment closer to farther away from the dish? How much skew is optimal? Looking at electro's pics. His cone doesn't seem to be the one from Sadoun.

Mr. Eng,

I fabricated my scalar rings from plans suggested here.

Walrus1957 Scalar on Prime Focus Dish - Satellite TV support forum & Digital TV support forum.

It took me about an hour to make it and cost about $15 total. It works really well.

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

I'm going to try that scalar ring business myself...but before that, a question for electrolaw or whoever wants to answer: I'm not understanding this whole 4DTV business. For example, the Music Choice radio I wanted on Galaxy 14 is listed as DGII, but the individual channels are listed as free, so, they're encrypted but free? I don't understand the aspect of what's encrypted, what isn't, and what you subscribe to with 4DTV. It's intriguing but not $400 intriguing...yet.

Tomorrow I'll post a few pics of my setup, with big and little dishes on the same roof. Of course, the big dish isn't that big

CN