AMC3 and signal meters???

[wejones]

I've noticed this over the past year or so, and may have mentioned it once or twice, but decided to start a thread about this. Anyway, with either of the two signal meters I have, ie the little SF95 (or whatever it's called) or my Channel Master 10071FD, I have problems seeing AMC3. It is really weird. Yesterday, I was re-aiming my fixed Primestar dish, moving it from G26 to AMC3. I just happened to be doing this at a time when my Fortec dish was aiming at AMC3, and the sun was at the same azimuth as AMC3, so I knew where to aim the dish approximately, however the signal meter wasn't showing a maximum there. So I moved the dish a bit to the east, watching the meter go up to a maximum. Went inside, and I was sitting on AMC9. Went back outside, moved the dish a bit to the west, watching the signal go down, then up to a maximum. Went inside, and found that I was on G11 (I think), then moved to a smaller peak to the east, and found I was on G28. Moved back to the east more, and ended up on AMC9 again. I eventually found AMC3 (had to run the signal to a TV I could see outside), but AMC3 was not at any perceptable maximum on the meter, but instead was at the minimum between two maxima.
I assume that what is happening is that the two maxima I'm seeing are the two Nimiq sats, which AMC3 is pretty much exactly in between, and apparently they are so strong that they are wiping out sats in between. However what confuses me is why it seems to only be AMC3 that gets wiped out this way. Ie I can see other satellites that are in between strong DBS satellites, usually they appear to be less intense maxima. But for AMC3, there isn't even a hint of a peak there. Perhaps it's because it's exactly in between the two strong sats???
Anyway, like I said, this exact same thing has happened to me 4 or 5 times before, almost always with AMC3. Just curious whether anyone else has ever noticed this? Seems like the best way to eliminate this behavior is to have some kind of a low pass filter on the meter, that would filter out everything above 1450 MHz, but I don't think I've ever seen anything like that for sale. I guess it's simpler to just use a sat receiver like I did. It's just kind of annoying that the satellite I watch the most (PBS) is the one I have the most trouble finding with a meter.

[Larry Acklin]

Hi Bill-

I've noticed the exact same thing with my (exact same) meter. I ultimately had to use the receiver in concert with the meter to find and lock a transponder. The method I used was to set the altitude to the sat I am looking for, eyeball the AZ, and sweep, with the meter just under beeping. If I'm on the belt, I hear the adjacent sats, one on either side, and I look carefully for the peak in signal strength that is AMC3.

Once I realised how much we watch PBS, I put up a ChannelMaster (andrew) 1 M. dish with Invacom LNB on the Channelmaster feedhorn.

It is parked on the PBS feeds, and I renamed the sat so my wife can select it easily.

I tinker with the other dishes, but that one stays where it is.

I just put up a 90cm (?) old Primestar for IA-5 this weekend, and the Fortec 80cm is now pointed at G10R.

Now to rework the BUD install to get more function out of it...

Larry

[wejones]

Originally Posted by Larry Acklin

....
Once I realised how much we watch PBS, I put up a ChannelMaster (andrew) 1 M. dish with Invacom LNB on the Channelmaster feedhorn.

It is parked on the PBS feeds, and I renamed the sat so my wife can select it easily.
....

That's pretty much the same thing I do too, ie I generally keep my Primestar on AMC3, however in August, I move it to IA6/G26 so that I can watch NFL preseason games (I made the mistake of placing my Fortec dish at a place where a power transformer is directly in line with G26, and I wanted to have one dish on G26, while I use my big dish to surf other sats.). I intended to move the Primestar back to AMC3 after preseason, but I was lazy this year, and a couple months late.

Re the PBS stuff on AMC3, not sure if this is useful or not, but I found a schedule for some of the APT feeds on schedule 511, ie the channel on 12163/4444 . American Public Television
Not a complete schedule, just some of the APT stuff, but I watch that channel a lot. I tried to create a schedule of those three feed transponders, but never completed it.

[schlever]

Originally Posted by wejones

I've noticed this over the past year or so, and may have mentioned it once or twice, but decided to start a thread about this. Anyway, with either of the two signal meters I have, ie the little SF95 (or whatever it's called) or my Channel Master 10071FD, I have problems seeing AMC3. It is really weird. Yesterday, I was re-aiming my fixed Primestar dish, moving it from G26 to AMC3. I just happened to be doing this at a time when my Fortec dish was aiming at AMC3, and the sun was at the same azimuth as AMC3, so I knew where to aim the dish approximately, however the signal meter wasn't showing a maximum there. So I moved the dish a bit to the east, watching the meter go up to a maximum. Went inside, and I was sitting on AMC9. Went back outside, moved the dish a bit to the west, watching the signal go down, then up to a maximum. Went inside, and found that I was on G11 (I think), then moved to a smaller peak to the east, and found I was on G28. Moved back to the east more, and ended up on AMC9 again. I eventually found AMC3 (had to run the signal to a TV I could see outside), but AMC3 was not at any perceptable maximum on the meter, but instead was at the minimum between two maxima.
I assume that what is happening is that the two maxima I'm seeing are the two Nimiq sats, which AMC3 is pretty much exactly in between, and apparently they are so strong that they are wiping out sats in between. However what confuses me is why it seems to only be AMC3 that gets wiped out this way. Ie I can see other satellites that are in between strong DBS satellites, usually they appear to be less intense maxima. But for AMC3, there isn't even a hint of a peak there. Perhaps it's because it's exactly in between the two strong sats???
Anyway, like I said, this exact same thing has happened to me 4 or 5 times before, almost always with AMC3. Just curious whether anyone else has ever noticed this? Seems like the best way to eliminate this behavior is to have some kind of a low pass filter on the meter, that would filter out everything above 1450 MHz, but I don't think I've ever seen anything like that for sale. I guess it's simpler to just use a sat receiver like I did. It's just kind of annoying that the satellite I watch the most (PBS) is the one I have the most trouble finding with a meter.

I just picked up a SF-95. What do you think of yours?

[wejones]

Originally Posted by schlever

I just picked up a SF-95. What do you think of yours?

It's OK. Not very Sensitive, so it's sometimes hard to find the sats, but it works. You have to set it mid scale before searching, and I usually set the level to just below where the pitch changes, however I've found it better to watch the meter than listen to the squeal.
I like my Channel Master meter better, since it's more sensitive, has a voltage readout, and indicates or generates 22khz as well, however the Channel Master costs close to $100, so for the price, the SF95 is a value.
One thing.... there are apparently different versions of SF95. Some people have complained that this meter does not pass 22khz, but I've verified that my SF95 from Saduon does pass it.