600 FTA Channels! - BSC621-2 LNBF/Mercury II

bill190 · #1 (**permalink**) 06-26-2007, 08:11 AM

After doing a bit of tree cutting down and adding satellites to the list in my Mercury II receiver (need two of each satellite listed, one for C and one for Ku), I power scanned every satellite my dish can see (58 W to 139W). I did not scan any circular polarity sats.

I got over 600 FTA channels!

My set-up...
Fortec Mercury II receiver.
VBox II diseqc to 36 volt dish positioner controller.
12 ft. C/Ku wire mesh dish with 36 in. 36 volt dish actuator/positioner.
BSC621-2 C/Ku LNBF

elgemcdlf · #2 (**permalink**) 06-26-2007, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bill190

After doing a bit of tree cutting down and adding satellites to the list in my Mercury II receiver (need two of each satellite listed, one for C and one for Ku), I power scanned every satellite my dish can see (58 W to 139W). I did not scan any circular polarity sats.

I got over 600 FTA channels!

My set-up...
Fortec Mercury II receiver.
VBox II diseqc to 36 volt dish positioner controller.
12 ft. C/Ku wire mesh dish with 36 in. 36 volt dish actuator/positioner.
BSC621-2 C/Ku LNBF

You are now entering the twilight zone. You really will find some channels you like and then forget all about them

I swing from 30 to 139 with 40.5 on circular which stirs in quite a few more channels. It just amazes me how many channels there are available out there legally for free. What I find even more amazing is I keep looking for more

Admin · #3 (**permalink**) 06-26-2007, 10:10 AM

Bill,

That is awesome and the ultimate in FTA geekness.

Wow, are those all TV channels? Did you count the audio channels also?

bill190 · #4 (**permalink**) 06-26-2007, 11:56 AM

Yes those are all TV channels. There is an additional 290 radio channels.

Admin · #5 (**permalink**) 06-26-2007, 01:03 PM

Cool.

It is well worth it to have a C/KU band system. Obviously there are enough channels to keep you watching all day...

Bill, did you include the feeds in the total or are the feeds extra?

bill190 · #6 (**permalink**) 06-26-2007, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Admin

Bill, did you include the feeds in the total or are the feeds extra?

Yes this is everything including feeds.

Note: The BSC621-2 is extended C-band and universal Ku-band. I set each power scan to search the full frequency range for the capability of each LNB. This may have given me a few more channels...

C-Band Power Scan: Full, All, 3400 to 4200, 4, Scan FTA, Locking Speed: Detailed.

Ku-Band Power Scan: Full, All, 10700 to 12750, 4, Scan FTA, Locking Speed: Detailed.

bill190 · #7 (**permalink**) 06-26-2007, 03:04 PM

Then the other thing which gave me more channels is having each C/Ku satellite listed twice. You need a separate listing for C and for Ku so you can specify which LNB to use (C or Ku).

Following is the satellite list I entered into my receiver. Note that I am on the west coast of the U.S. Someone in the central U.S. or east coast could see satellites further east than my dish can. (And probably get more channels than I got if they have a 12 ft. dish!)

C = C-band
K = Ku-Band
CC = C Circular (Did not scan)
KC = K Circular (Did not scan)

INTEL_1R_C (45.0W)
INTEL_1R_K (45.0W)
INTEL_705_CC (50.0W)
INTEL_707_CC (53.0W)
INTEL_707_K (53.0W)
INTEL_805_C (55.5W)
INTEL_9_C (58.0W)
INTEL_9_K (58.0W)
AMAZ_C (61.0W)
AMAZ_K (61.0W)
E_3_RN_1_KC (61.5W)
NAH_1/A_6_C (72.0W)
NAH_1/A_6_K (72.0W)
DIREC_1_KC (72.5W)
SBS_6_C (74.0W)
SBS_6_K (74.0W)
AMC_5_K (79.0W)
NIMIQ_2_KC (82.0W)
AMC_9_KC (83.0W)
AMC_2_C (85.0W)
AMC_2_K (85.0W)
AMC_3_C (87.0W)
AMC_3_K (87.0W)
GAL_28_C (89.0W)
GAL_28_K (89.0W)
GAL_11/N1_C (91.0W)
GAL_11/N1_K (91.0W)
GAL_26_C (93.0W)
GAL_26_K (93.0W)
GAL_3C_C (95.0W)
GAL_3C_K (95.0W)
GAL_25_C (97.0W)
GAL_25_K (97.0W)
GAL_16_C (99.0W)
GAL_16_K (99.0W)
AMC_4/D48_C (101.0W)
AMC_4/D48_K (101.0W)
SPACE_1_KC (102.8W)
AMC_1_C (103.0W)
AMC_1_K (103.0W)
AMC_15_K (105.0W)
ANIK_F1/R_C (107.3W)
ANIK_F1/R_K (107.3W)
DTV_5/E810_KC (110.0W)
ANIK_F2_C (111.1W)
ANIK_F2_K (111.1W)
SATMEX_6_C (113.0W)
SATMEX_6_K (113.0W)
SATMEX_5_C (116.8W)
SATMEX_5_K (116.8W)
Anik_F3_KC (118.8W)
E_7/D_7S_KC (119.0W)
E_9/GAL23_C (121.0W)
E_9/GAL23_K (121.0W)
GAL_10R_C (123.0W)
GAL_10R_K (123.0W)
GAL_14_C (125.0W)
GAL_13/H1_C (127.0W)
GAL_13/H1_K (127.0W)
GAL_27/E5_C (129.0W)
GAL_27/E5_K (129.0W)
AMC_11_C (131.0W)
GAL_15_C (133.0W)
AMC_10_C (135.0W)
AMC_7_C (137.0W)
AMC_8_C (139.0W)
ECHO_1/2_KC (148.0W)

be236 · #8 (**permalink**) 06-26-2007, 05:27 PM

Holy cow.. so many sats and channels.. where do you find the TIME to watch them all? heheehe...

Also, it's gotta be a pain if you had to switch one one channel at 45w to 148w, for example. eheheh.. d'oh... that's a smoke break? ;-)

wejones · #9 (**permalink**) 06-26-2007, 05:51 PM

I'm curious about :
SBS_6_C (74.0W) ...no C-band
AMC_2_C (85.0W)...No C-band
AMC_9_KC (83.0W)...not circular.

bill190 · #10 (**permalink**) 06-27-2007, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wejones

I'm curious about :
SBS_6_C (74.0W) ...no C-band
AMC_2_C (85.0W)...No C-band
AMC_9_KC (83.0W)...not circular.

74.0W - I read that Newly launched Galaxy 17 will be there for awhile then move to 91 W. I don't know if this will be both C and Ku or not, but thought I would add C just in case. (Currently with it being SBS_6, I think I got nothing on C and maybe 1 Ku channel.)

85.0W - I read that this will become AMC 16. Don't know if it will have C-band or not.

83.0W...not circular - Right. I fixed this on my other list and on receiver before scanning, but did not get it on this list.

bill190 · #11 (**permalink**) 06-27-2007, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by be236

Holy cow.. so many sats and channels.. where do you find the TIME to watch them all? heheehe...

Also, it's gotta be a pain if you had to switch one one channel at 45w to 148w, for example. eheheh.. d'oh... that's a smoke break? ;-)

Actually I don't like watching TV, I prefer to read books. There are others in my house who like watching TV though. I do like to set everything up!

Also I have two other dishes which I point to sats with our favorite channels on them (and connected to diseqc switch). Then when we switch to those channels, it is instant.

wejones · #12 (**permalink**) 06-27-2007, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bill190

74.0W - I read that Newly launched Galaxy 17 will be there for awhile then move to 91 W. I don't know if this will be both C and Ku or not, but thought I would add C just in case. (Currently with it being SBS_6, I think I got nothing on C and maybe 1 Ku channel.)

Oh, OK, I guess that makes sense. You might catch the doing some testing.
Probably just saturation testing, but you never know.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bill190

85.0W - I read that this will become AMC 16. Don't know if it will have C-band or not.

AMC-16 is KU/KA

Quote:

Originally Posted by bill190

83.0W...not circular - Right. I fixed this on my other list and on receiver before scanning, but did not get it on this list.

OK.

Also, you have SPACE_1_KC (102.8W) , I think that's just Ka.

I just went through and deleted all the unused sats in my Mercury. I've dedicated the Mercury to be a Ku only receiver, as I have my Ultra slaved for C/Ku. However I left a couple of the C band sats in there, plus a generic C and Ku, which I won't assign to any location, for when I switch it over to the C-band dish (I'm expecting to have to do this, since my Ultra is giving signs of going belly up). But as mentioned in the other thread, after deleting most of the C-band, and unused Ku, I had to go back in with the binary editor, and re-assign DiseqC1.2 sat #s. I added a couple of the old numbers that are in the 20s, and the Mercury seemed to take them, and seems to be working still.

elgemcdlf · #13 (**permalink**) 06-27-2007, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bill190

Actually I don't like watching TV, I prefer to read books. There are others in my house who like watching TV though. I do like to set everything up!

Also I have two other dishes which I point to sats with our favorite channels on them (and connected to diseqc switch). Then when we switch to those channels, it is instant.

I know exactly where you are coming from. I do not watch very much tv but I love playing with the equipment. Not to try to one up you but I turned off the SID last night (thanks to whoever posted that one) and show 875 channels. Now some of those channels are actually radio that scanned in on the TV side. Some are duplicates like VOA on 40.5 and the 4 identical Azteca channels on SM6. Some are the same channel on different sats.

wejones · #14 (**permalink**) 06-27-2007, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elgemcdlf

... Some are duplicates like VOA on 40.5 and the 4 identical Azteca channels on SM6. Some are the same channel on different sats.

I may be wrong, but I don't think that the 4 Azteca channels are alway identical. I tuned in several weeks ago, and they all had the same program on, but I tuned in a few days ago, and all 4 "seemed" to be different. I'm not 100%, because I was using Tsreader at the time, which pops up 4 little thumbprint images every 20 or 30 seconds (a setting). Well all 4 thumbprints seemed to be different programming. It's possible I guess that the scene could have been rapidly changing, but the 4 images were only separated by about 2-3 seconds each, so I was pretty convinced that they were different at the time. I thought that perhaps they were 4 different local stations that all carried the network programming most of the time, or something like that???

q12345 · #15 (**permalink**) 09-15-2007, 10:12 PM

Hehe, nice bill190! I think one-third of the channels are from G25 alone! I get about 170 video and 90 audio from it (Ku only lnbf).