Reply With QuotePost 4 answers that question...
"The LNB that LBF sent was definately a universal LNB. When I quizzed the Tech about the replacement LNB used, he said it was a universal LNB, but I only have his word for it"
hi there what kind of lnb you had before? thanksOriginally Posted by Bizzibee
Post 4 answers that question...
"The LNB that LBF sent was definately a universal LNB. When I quizzed the Tech about the replacement LNB used, he said it was a universal LNB, but I only have his word for it"
hi there what kind of lnb you had before? just normal 1750 10600? thanks
Post 40
Hi Guys,
The Universal LNB was supplied by LBF and not by the installer. It was a Acer brand Universal LNB. I supplied the Azure Shine 1.2metre Satellite Dish. The installer just supplied the heavy duty mount and all the cabling.
From post 78..
The LNB is at the 5 O'clock position (with respect to F connection), which I believe is the correct position from reading the various threads on this forum for IS-701. The install Tech said that his Satellite Analyser told him the correct LNB skew position, and that is what he set it at. But it was a good thought however.
Cheers
Mark
You simply need a universal lnb for 701, otherwise you are snookered for other frequencies on the bird, and other birds.
Was just taking a look at the coverage maps for Intelsat 18 which is due to replace Intelsat 170 some time in the future. I don't know when.
There are only going to be 2 spot KU beams. From the map, it also appears to be a much stronger signal across the east cost as well. Bring it on!
It can be even received from Antarctica! lol Well, nearly.From the map, it also appears to be a much stronger signal across the east cost as well. Bring it on!
Yes, bring it on.
DM8000 quad tunner 2xDVB-S2 + 2xDVB-T, DM500HD
As reported in my post 63 & 64 on page 4 of this thread:
Taken from:Thu, 7 April, 2011
Rocket Production Issue Threatens Intelsat 18 Launch
By Peter B. de Selding
Satellite fleet operator Intelsat is scrambling to secure launch alternatives for its Intelsat 18 telecommunications satellite amid concerns that the provider currently under contract, Russia’s Land Launch operation, will be unable to secure rocket components to assure the planned June liftoff, industry officials said.
The issue has been complicated by what looks like a divorce between Land Launch and Sea Launch Co. following the latter’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009. It was during these proceedings that Luxembourg- and Washington-based Intelsat transferred its Intelsat 18 launch contract from Sea launch to Land Launch — specifically, to Moscow-based Space International Services (SIS), which operates Land Launch.
Land Launch and Sea Launch use the same basic Zenit 3SL rocket, with Land Launch flying from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and Sea Launch operating from a converted oil platform to launch from the Pacific Ocean on the equator. Sea Launch previously marketed the Land Launch vehicle.
Sea Launch is emerging from bankruptcy following a cash infusion by Energia Overseas Ltd., an affiliate of RSC Energia, one of Russia’s biggest space-hardware manufacturers. As part of the Russian government’s stated wish to consolidate its space industrial base, rocket-engine builder Energomash of Khimki, which produces Zenit engines, has recently been placed under the management of Energia.
Industry officials said it remains unclear whether Energia, given its ownership of Sea Launch, is giving preferential treatment to Sea Launch with respect to deliveries of engines and other Zenit components. What is clear is that at least three entities — Sea Launch, Land Launch and the Russian government for an upcoming science mission — all have an interest in protecting their own planned Zenit launches.
Intelsat officials were in Moscow the week of April 4 in a last-ditch effort to sort out the situation and make the case that the company, which has been a principal promoter of Sea Launch and Land Launch on the global commercial launch market, is adamant about Intelsat 18 being launched in June.
Intelsat Chief Technical Officer Thierry Guillemin said the satellite, under construction by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., will be ready for shipment to Baikonur in late April to prepare for the launch.
In an April 7 interview from Moscow, Guillemin said Intelsat remains hopeful that the Zenit component shortage will be sorted out in a way that permits SIS and Land Launch to proceed with the Intelsat 18 campaign.
“There are clearly some issues with Land Launch production, and we are sorting through those issues,” Guillemin said. “They have problems and we understand that, but our interest is only in seeing our launch occur as scheduled. We expect our vendors to fulfill their obligations and we would like to work this out in the next few weeks.”
Intelsat has booked customers on Intelsat 18 and stands to lose revenue if the launch is delayed. The spacecraft is already about six months behind schedule following what Intelsat said was a “performance compliance issue” on the electronics payload during production. The company said at the time that it had built sufficient margin into its contracts with Intelsat 18 (IS-18) customers to absorb what then looked like a four-month delay without a major impact on revenue.
Guillemin said Intelsat would not ship the satellite to Kazakhstan until the situation is clarified. Asked if Intelsat could secure a backup provider in time to launch the satellite this summer, he said: “There is always a Plan B.”
Industry officials said Intelsat was first informed about the problem in late January. The company responded with a sharply worded letter sent to SIS, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency and to Sea Launch.
“We are shocked” at the news that SIS may not be able to proceed with the June launch, says the letter, dated Feb. 3 and signed by Kenneth Lee, Intelsat’s senior vice president for space systems.
“This is a very serious problem. Any delay of the IS-18 launch is completely unacceptable. It is imperative that SIS and Sea Launch work together to immediately find a solution to this issue,” says the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Space News.
Sea Launch President Kjell Karlsen said his company’s involvement with the Intelsat 18 launch ended when Intelsat, seeking to avoid complications surrounding Sea Launch’s bankruptcy proceedings, transferred the launch contract to SIS and Land Launch.
“I have nothing to do with the contract that Intelsat signed with SIS,” Karlsen said in a March 31 interview. “But we are working with the parties involved to see if we can be of help.”
Long Beach, Calif.-based Sea Launch is planning two launches this year, which will punctuate the company’s new ownership following the bankruptcy proceedings, Karlsen said. The first is the launch of Paris-based Eutelsat’s Atlantic Bird 7 satellite, scheduled for September. A second launch, of the Intelsat 19 satellite, is scheduled for December.
Karlsen said Sea Launch still needs to settle final contractual issues with Land Launch, for which Sea Launch handled marketing and mission management before the Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Karlsen said Intelsat is “a very important customer for Sea Launch” and that Sea Launch has taken steps to prove to both Intelsat and Eutelsat that components for their launches are being built on schedule.
Intelsat’s importance to both Sea Launch and Land Launch was a focus of Lee’s Feb. 3 letter.
Lee pointed out that Intelsat, seeking to assure the viability of Sea Launch and Land Launch at a time when both were in financial distress, agreed to pay SIS cash amounts beyond what was stipulated in the contracts for the launch of the Measat-1R, Telstar-11N, Intelsat 15 and Intelsat 18 satellites.
“These were very difficult and painful decisions for us,” Lee said in his letter. “But we … wanted to help ensure the long-term viability of the Land Launch program.”
Intelsat was also critical to Sea Launch’s survival of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, guaranteeing future Intelsat business, in writing, to the bankruptcy court handling the proceedings. “It is fair to say that Sea Launch would not have survived or emerged from bankruptcy without the support of Intelsat,” the letter says.
“Now is time for SIS and Sea Launch to step up and support Intelsat. … urgently demands that your companies fully cooperate and take all necessary steps to make sure that IS-18 is launched this June. This is of vital importance to Intelsat, as well as to the future of SIS and Sea Launch. If this problem is not resolved, Intelsat will likely not commit to any future launches with SIS or Sea Launch.
and
Taken from:"Summer or September-October: A Zenit-3SLB rocket with the Block-DM-SLB upper stage operated by Land Launch venture to carry the Intelsat-18 communications satellite from Baikonur. Due to production delays, Intelsat-18 needed the rocket originally intended for the Spektr-R satellite in order to fly in the summer of 2011. Otherwise, the launch would have to be delayed to the end of 2011 - beginning of 2012, when the additional Zenit was expected to become available. The satellite's owner, Intelsat, apparently needed to launch during the summer of 2011 in order to preserve its registration of an orbital position, which was about to expire. The company reportedly offered Land launch a very generous financial incentive in order to move the Intelsat-18 mission at the top of its launch manifest. As of middle of May 2011, sources within commerical launch industry said that Intelsat-18 was being prepared for launch in the summer of 2011, ahead of Spektr-R. At the same time, sources at Zenit's manufacturer in Ukraine said that negotiations were ongoing on the transfer of a second in the pair of Zenit rockets intended for the Sea Launch venture. In case of the delivery of the RD-171 engine for this vehicle in June, the launch could take place in September-October 2011."
and
Taken from:Thu, 2 June, 2011
Launch Contract for Intelsat 18 Reverts to Sea Launch
By Peter B. de Selding
PARIS — The Intelsat 18 telecommunications satellite will be launched by Sea Launch Co. from the Russian-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in September or October following Sea Launch’s agreement to donate rocket hardware previously intended for a future Intelsat launch campaign, officials with the two companies said June 2.
In an ironic twist to a months-long dispute among Intelsat, the Russian government, Sea Launch owner Energia and Land Launch — the company that was supposed to launch the satellite — Intelsat 18 has returned to Sea Launch’s manifest, the officials said.
“We have been working with Intelsat for some time on this and we are very happy to have found a solution for our customer,” Sea Launch President Kjell Karlsen said in a June 2 interview. “We are happy we could be of service to Intelsat, and in the end we came to the solution we had the most control over.”
Dianne J. VanBeber, Intelsat vice president for investor relations, confirmed that Intelsat has transferred the Intelsat 18 contract from Space International Services (SIS) of Moscow, which runs the Land Launch operation, to Sea Launch. VanBeber said the transfer has been accomplished so that Intelsat’s payments to SIS for a Land Launch campaign will be accounted for by Sea Launch. Luxembourg- and Washington-based Intelsat, VanBeber said, will not lose the milestone payments it has made to SIS.
Long Beach, Calif.-based Sea Launch, which since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection has been owned by a division of RSC Energia of Korolev, Russia, booked the Intelsat 18 contract several years ago.
But with Sea Launch in bankruptcy and its future unclear, Intelsat transferred the contract to SIS and Land Launch, which operates the same basic Zenit-3SL rocket that is used by Sea Launch, but from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan. Sea Launch operations occur from a floating platform towed from California to an equatorial position in the Pacific Ocean.
In recent months it became clear that SIS and Land Launch were having problems securing the necessary Zenit hardware to support the Intelsat 18 launch. Intelsat wrote strongly worded letters to Sea Launch, SIS and the Russian space agency, Roskosmos, insisting that the satellite be launched, as planned, in June, saying any other scenario would be “completely unacceptable.”
Various explanations were given for the problem — that Sea Launch had used its new Energia ownership to deprive Land Launch of hardware; that the Russian government had used its muscle to divert the Intelsat 18 (IS-18) rocket to support a July launch of Russia’s Spektr-R science satellite; and that Zenit hardware was in such short supply that neither Land Launch nor Sea Launch would be conducting operations in 2011.
Karlsen said none of these allegations is true. “The Russian government did not play fast and loose with Intelsat, nor did Energia,” Karlsen said.
As for the Zenit hardware, meanwhile, Karlsen said two Sea Launch rocket Block DM upper stages, built by Energia, and one Zenit-2S vehicle — the Sea Launch vehicle’s lower stage — were shipped from Russia May 31. “None of our competitors ever believed we would see this day of shipping hardware,” he said.
The hardware should arrive in Long Beach July 12 to prepare for Sea Launch’s return to flight from its mid-ocean launch facility. Sea Launch is scheduled to carry Paris-based Eutelsat’s Atlantic Bird 7 telecommunications satellite to orbit in September or October.
Karlsen said that Energia engineers say they can handle back-to-back launches from the Baikonur and Pacific Ocean sites with no more than 48 hours separating the two. “We would like to have slightly more time than that, however,” he said.
Sea Launch has ordered 10 Zenit rockets from its Russian suppliers, principally Energia, an order that should see the company through 2013. Sea Launch wants to conduct five launches in 2013, he said.
Sea Launch had planned to launch Intelsat’s IS-19 satellite from the mid-ocean site in December. But because that vehicle will now be used for IS-18, the IS-19 launch will slip to early 2012, Karlsen said.
Karlsen said he is aware that the confusion about the IS-18 launch has caused suspicion among prospective Sea Launch customers as well. “I’ve been very clear with all our customers and potential customers about what the situation is,” Karlsen said. “I have also been clear that we will be very careful in the future about handling any business for Land Launch. Clearly Energia and SIS need to find a solution to this problem to be sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Karlsen said the Sea Launch Commander, the control ship that accompanies the rocket platform to the mid-ocean launch site to manage operations, is in such good condition that Det Norske Veritas, or DNV, the organization that certifies ship seaworthiness, has permitted it to go another year without a dry-dock refurbishment.
The dry-dock certification will now occur after the fall launch of the Eutelsat satellite, Karlsen said.
Cheers!
Mark
Last edited by Bizzibee; 13-06-11 at 09:21 PM.
Yes when Intelsat 18 is launched and operational, it certainly will have a much improved signal strength and coverage for Ku-Band and C-Band. Intelsat 18 has 24 C-band and 12 Ku-band transponders. Intelsat 701 has 42 C-band, 24 Ku-band Transponders. However C-Band Beams have been reduced from 4 (Global Beam, Hemi Beam, Zone Beam & C-Spot Beam) on Intelsat 701 down to 3 (Global Beam, North Hemi & South Hemi)on Intelsat 18. Ku-Band Beams have also been reduced from 3 (Spot 1, Spot 2 & Spot 3) on Intelsat 701 down to 2 (French Polynesia/US & South Pacific) on Intelsat 18. See:
Taken from:
Intelsat 18 Ku-Band South Pacific Beam
Intelsat 701 Ku-Band Spot 2 Beam
C Band coverage and signal strength will also be much improved with Intelsat 18.
Intelsat 18 C-band South Hemi Beam
Intelsat 701 C-Band Spot Beam
All images from:
I expected that with the consolidation of both the C-Band & Ku-Band Beams on Intelsat 18, there will be sufficient Transponders to provide some additional services on the new Satellite.
Cheers
Mark
Last edited by Bizzibee; 14-06-11 at 12:45 PM.
Hi Guys,
Well just a final post in this thread (before it dies), to say that all is well with our reception off Intelsat 701, and I very much appreciate all the help that you have provided to me over the period of time since I started this thread seeking help. To think, all this was caused by an intermittently faulty Acer Universal LNB that was supplied by LBF. In hindsight, I should have just asked LBF for a replacement LNB when the installer said that he thought there was an issue with the supplied LNB, rather than asking him to test it again. But in my defence, I thought that LBF might want me to do this anyway.
Anyway it was a learning experience nonetheless. We had very heavy rain again the other night, and we didn't have a single dropout. So buying the 1.2 metre Sat Dish was a good idea at the time as I didn't want to loose reception during heavy rain etc. and that was the reason for opting for the 1.2 metre sat dish instead of an 85 or 90cm dish. So it's all good.
I'm guessing that our signal strength reading will be greatly improved once Intelsat 18 replaces Intelsat 701 something this year. In our area Intelsat 701 provides an Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) level of approx. 43.9 dBW. Intelsat 18 is meant to provide an Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) level of approx. 49.3 dBW for this part of NSW (Wagga Wagga). So in hindsight, perhaps a 85 or 90cm would have be sufficient. But I didn't know at the time that Intelsat 18 would have much stronger transponders. Doesn't matter really. It's all good!
Anyway thanks again. My sincere thanks and appreciation to all of you.
Kind Regards
Mark
Godzilla (22-06-11),LeroyPatrol (22-06-11),michell (23-06-11),nfnovice (22-06-11),viewer (22-06-11)
At the moment with the current storms about I lost my IPSTAR satellite internet connection for over an hour late yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon during some very unwelcome snow storms.
The payTV wasnt affected during this time which surprised me but even with the biggest dish, signal droput can occur if the conditions are severe enough.
Last edited by gordon_s1942; 22-06-11 at 02:40 PM.
I stand unequivicably behind everything I say, I just dont ever remember saying it !!
Hi Gordon,
I understand that our set-up won't prevent us from reception loss in very extreme weather conditions. But for 99% of the time, we certainly won't have issues. There is nothing worse that paying for something and you can't use it sometimes. With a 85-90cm Dish, I think we would have lost reception in heavy rain. I base this assumption after searching the various forums, where other people have experienced loss of reception in heavy rain using an 85-90cm Dish in QLD, NSW & VIC from Intelsat 701. That was the reason I opted for 1.2metre Dish instead of a 85-90cm Dish. We lost reception during heavy rain a few weeks ago, and I was very very surprised. But that was because the Acer Universal LNB was faulty (slowly failing).
Anyway I'm happy with what we have, and I can only see things improving when Intelsat 18 comes on-line sometime later this year.
Cheers!
Mark
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