Intelsat-18 at 180 W

I tried to see if I can point my 0.85m Ku dish down low enough to make 7.8 degrees elevation, but it needs a bit of help....probably have to mount it upside down. But, holding it perfectly still on the balcony railing, I was able to see some data trying to lock on I-18, even through some trees.

I'm waiting for a new receiver that can do DVB-S2 and MPEG-4, and I'll try again at the nearby park, where I have a good shot toward the west. Hopefully, I'll be able to see some programming from France TV and TNS providers, on the French Polynesia and US Beam.

 

Lyngsat shows a very few un-encrypted on there. I'm just "playing" with that one, not expecting a lot of programming. I used to watch some c-band from Wallis et Futuna, on NSS-9, here at work...same polarity as our BYU-TV uplink. It'll be nice if I get something on Ku, since so many hemi beams are only C-band.

BTW, Globecast SLC has their Business TV facility in the next room from where I'm sitting.
Small world!

 

Well, the new FTA Receiver came last week. I'm assuming I got Serial Number 1, because I've never tested such a piece of junk.
I'll refrain from posting the manufacturer and model number until I see if they are going to issue some "fixes" for it.

Right now, it's search functions are totally flakey, and it's "Signal Strength" metering seems to be purely cosmetic (all-or-none readings).
Maybe I just got a dud.

 

Yeah, that's what I tell OTA viewers all the time. I think the manufacturers just try to make their newest box show the highest arbitrary number they can come up with, to make their own product look "more sensitive" than another.

I tried adding some attenuation to the L-band input, to see if it was just slightly overloaded....after 18 total 3 dB attenuators, it tried to lock on PBS.
54 dB made no difference at all, on Signal Strength ("90%"), and almost none on "Quality" (10-12% all the way).

I tried scanning, using the big Simulsat dish at work today. Found channels on about one-forth of the transponders that it saw activity on. I'll have to check against Lyngsat, and see if those were all video channels (some were likely broadband).

 

Looks like the receiver I got was some sort of useless "clone".
Remind me to never buy that "brand" again.

 

It was a clone of the OpenBox S11.
No manufacturer's name or address on the unit or in the literature.