Beginner Equipment and starting up

[darkage]

Hi All,

Im interested in picking up Mainland China FTA channels from the following satellites for starters... New wife is from China and this is the same programming she gets back home..

- Telstar 18
- AsiaSat 6A
- AsiaSat 6B
- ChinaSat 6B

Im at 145 Degrees (Melbourne suburbs). I think I should be able to have line in sight of these sats. Im guessing they should be in viewable sight from my location in the Northern part of the sky.. Probably roughtly a little lower than the mid way point between the horizon and directly above center of the sky.

Obivously I need a C Dish for these sats. Motorised setup.. The front of my house is north facing, not sure if a 2.3 metre dish at the front would go down well. I've been looking at DIY satellite kits that range from $500 to $1000 depending on how serious the receiver box is.

My questions are -

- From my location are the above 4 satellites doable? (before I invest any money into this )

- Whats a good bang for buck satellite receiver (decoder). ie serious one but at a sensiable price point. (probably should look at HD only to future proof it a bit) If theres any current community favourite models please let me know. I prefer to buy quality equipment that will last for awhile. ie. don't have to upgrade when I want more capabilities later down the track. Satplus have the Strong 4663X with their complete kits. Maybe one that combines terrestrial and PVR together would be good.. I dont have a proper terrestrial digital receiver at home.

- LNB I havent really researched this.. I would assume have to get a LNB that supports the freq's of sat's I want to tune into.. Better start reading up.

Thanks all!

[LeroyPatrol]

I would go to dishpointer.com and input your details there to confirm your line of sight to those sats. The only sats I'm not sure about are Asiasat 6A and B. Do you mean Asiasat 2 and 3A?

HD receivers are the way to go as more services move to HD and MPEG4. Korean made UltraPlus are an excellent choice but the Openbox S9 receivers also will do the trick. There is a HD chinese CCTV channel on Chinasat 6B.

If you buy a dish kit you will get the correct LNB for C-Band. You can also get a dual C/Ku band LNB as there maybe something on Ku of interest as well.

Cheers,
Leroy

[darkage]

Thanks Leroy!

Opps I already got the sat names confused -

Ment to say

- Telstar 18
- ChinaSat 6A
- ChinaSat 6B
- AsiaSat (something)

Looks like ChinaSat 6B, & ASIASAT 4 are doable.. have to browse the list of channels for available sats from dishpointer

Telstar 18 is coming up with a recommended dish size of 450 CM's on dishpointer.. yikes.. I really dont want to go beyond 2.3 meters. Is it possible to pick up Telstar 18 from 2.3 meter dish or is the recommended dish size a general rule you should respect?

Thanks for the brands of receiver boxes.. have to do some research into those specs. also have to find out if my backyard will do line of sight without obstacles with my house a little bit in the way.. checked council rules and need a permit with a large dish sitting at the front roof.

Thanks again! Learning heaps!

[LeroyPatrol]

has all the sats and their channels (well most) Dishpointer is more for finding the direction to point your dish.

I'm in NE Vic and get all those sats plus more. What channels on Telstar 18 are you after as I can check or someone in Melb may as well.

Leroy

[darkage]

Well thats alot of satellites...

Basically Im interested in anything with Hunan and Shenzhen in the title. I've noticed they are available on the ChinaSats (6A & 6B) as well.

If you can get all those satellites in NE Vic, then I shouldn't have any worries myself just need a good place to setup the dish.

What kind of setup do you run ? particular dish size?

[LeroyPatrol]

What kind of setup do you run ? particular dish size?

I have a 2.3m motorised mesh with a VBoxII and various HD receivers. I can get from Measat3 to i701 but not all beams/transponders cover us down here but most does. Like for example you can get H transponders on Palapa D but not V.

Leroy

[viewer]

Yep..agreed..BEFORE you rush off, you need to see where the satellite beams hit on the earth's surface. They all go to different designated areas...go look at these paths, because it is likely that some you are interested in, don't beam to us in Australia, and then you might be dissapointed.

[darkage]

yep okkies, researching signal footprints next!

[darkage]

Checked with BeamFinder

Seems to list the Sat's that I would have a good chance of picking up that Im actually interested in.

One question about beams from a single satellite. I assume generally satellites only have one general transmitter that beams all its available channels to the highlighted area on footprint maps? ie. satellites dont have multiple transmitters that can beam some channels to this region and another lot of its channels to another region?

[LeroyPatrol]

There are multiple transponders that have beams for different areas. Take Optus D3 for example. It has transponder beams for Australia and new Zealand and each can't receiver the other!

I think you'll be fine. You just need to make sure you don't have large trees, buildings etc in the way of the direction you need to point your dish.

Leroy

[darkage]

Ok that makes sense.

I have a big backyard with about 4 index fingers width view above the horizon with clear skies above that point from direct West to North..

Just have to find where they sit in the sky to make sure

[viewer]

Does this help?


Uploaded with

Taken from a freely available program you can download from the net to help you work things out
Gorb Track

You just need to load the program, adjust where you are, and click either Ku or C bands to get a correct dial to suit you

[viewer]

Here's Ku and C ex Melbourne



Uploaded with



Uploaded with

[darkage]

Fantastic program!! gives me an instant picture in my head what to expect in line of sight in my sky..

Is the satellite list in that program out of date.. doesnt have the chinasat's ?

[viewer]

Go into options, update the keps data files...little globe on right.
When you save your location etc, you need to go to misc tab, and click save settings on exit, so you don't have to set up all the time.
The binoclar tab shows you all sats visible from your location.
My head tells me you need to download an aussie cities map, and drop it into the gorb folder..probably tells you where to get it where you d/l it from...if not, I have it.

Not sure about updates

[LeroyPatrol]

Fantastic program!! gives me an instant picture in my head what to expect in line of sight in my sky..

Is the satellite list in that program out of date.. doesnt have the chinasat's ?

The pics are from a program called Gorbtrack. Do a google, it's free. He's prob been slack and not updated the sat list.

Leroy

[viewer]

yep slack...didn't save my settings...derr.

[darkage]

Hmm Im really liking the capabilties of the Vu+ Duo receiver, but not sure if I would actually use the twin tuners.. would love to stream to other laptops in house and with ipad.. plus I really love tinkering with technology behind the scenes.. I use to build OpenBSD firewalls etc..

Does anyone have a list of compatible terrestrial cards that can plug into the Vu+ Duo.. dont want to end up with a box where its hard to get a regular terrestrial card working on it.

[viewer]

lol darkage..great to see a "newbie" jumping in, and going straight to quality gear...very impressive...shows that you have a good mind in doing your research...well done.

[tristen]

Ment to say

- Telstar 18
- ChinaSat 6A
- ChinaSat 6B
- AsiaSat (something)

Looks like ChinaSat 6B, & ASIASAT 4 are doable.. have to browse the list of channels for available sats from dishpointer

Telstar 18 is coming up with a recommended dish size of 450 CM's on dishpointer.. yikes.. I really dont want to go beyond 2.3 meters. Is it possible to pick up Telstar 18 from 2.3 meter dish or is the recommended dish size a general rule you should respect?

There is a website where it is possible to view footprint maps for all communication satellites.

Go to the SatcoDX website at .

Select FOOTPRINTS - run the mouse pointer along the horizontal line of satellite icons near the top of the page just below the SEARCH box in order to select the satellite of interest - click on your home location on the map of Australia (if it's not visible, use the mouse to scroll left or right until you find it) - Read the EIRP (signal strength) and suggested dish size) in the balloon labeled Reception details, which then appears.

The panel labeled Reception details to the left will contain additional relevant information.

Note that all satellite footprint maps indicate the theoretical coverage and signal strength (nobody travels around taking actual measurements).

Repeat the procedure for the other satellites of interest.

Additional features are available if you register using the Register button at the top right hand corner of the web page.

The screen-grab (below) might help to illustrate what you can expect to see when you visit the site.