₦airaland Forum

@Spacevice,
U can track without a compass, that I agree. This is possible if u know the parameters of the sat u want to hit by using a known fixed dish as a reference or using the coordinates in your head!
But in the absence of that and in all, u need to  first identify your true North--automatically u know where is your south, west and east respectively.
Then if you know the other parameters like the elevation of the sat, or as referenced, you go ahead and start the tracking.
Pay your due by sweating it out.
It is a high time we did things like learned people!
For all who want to learn tracking, this is my first assignment for you:
1--go and know your true North, south, east and west of the area u stay.
2-- understand how to turn 15, 45, 89, 105, 155, 210 245, degrees from your facing true north
3-- understand little geometry of elevation/depression: 0-90 degrees
4-- go know your position on the globe, --northern hemisphere, southern hemisphere, longitude to the east, or the west.
Then, you can go get the technical parameters of the satellite intended.
I you are using a small dish ( offset dish), please know the offset of your dish. Its very important if u want to do a fresh tracking under 1-2 minutes.
Spacevice this is my submission for now.
enjoy.

@Litanaija,
Thanx for your response to my post.
I would be glad if u can hit me a flash on o8o54589716, or 08062853039.
let me talk with u on phone. U can also reach me on onlyshehu@yahoo.com. let me add u on my chat.
Thanx bro

@ Litanija.
u once talked of going to the market to get a compass. Did actually get one?/and at what price?
@ Isu ata.
bros where u base for abuja?
@ George D
just wana say hi, seeing you are online

@ enitan
please i need a compass. can you be of help?
I stay in abj, and Iv browsed the market here. men nothing here o.

@litanaija
hei bros, please I would be glad if you can reach me on onlyshehu@yahoo.com
so I can add you to my yahoo chat.
plaesssssss!
thank

@ Gorge-D
interesting.
the experience i shared was on 1.8m. from what u said, the dish size solves the problem then.
i will try somthing about it and see, hoping 4 improvement.
Thanx man.

@ Emeritus
just relax. so long as u are able to catch those channel. u are on the right bird.
Note. if d signal is on air and u are not able to c them, (ie with red bars), u will c the channel name scroll immediately u tuned to RODG------, TV. then as the signal comes on u c it freezing/cracking.
But if the channel name doesn't scroll, then d signal is off air.
This is my experience with mbc 1 and 2/3 using strong 63X
As I`ve always say, those guys are mostly off.

const6:
@all,

Has anybody in the house tracked Paksat 1 on 38.00 E.

I am trying to get azimuth, elevation and polirisation on IGP.net but there is no satellite listed that is on 38.0E.

Any useful information will be greatly appreciated

iv never traked it befor.
from the info gathred, Paksat has 2 beams , one of which covers most part of Africa, and can be tracked using 1.8m dish.
All its signals are C-band, and thre are about 13 fta stations on it among which is Nickelodeon (pakistan). i think the sat channels are indian/pakistan .
try this freq:
3753H/6500.
3814h/4666
830V/12000
3886H/6200
3968H/11481
4145V/6000.
From my area in Abuja: Latitude: 9.1412°, Longitude: 7.3782°
Name: 38.0E Paksat 1
Distance: 36903km
Elevation: 52.9°
Azimuth (true): 105.0°
Azimuth (magn.): 106.7°
LNB Skew [?]: -72.5°
Turn counter-clockwise standing behind the dish.
Hope these help.

olatufu:
Mbc is proving too stubborn for my liking.i have been trying to nail the bird for the past 2 hours but to no avail.should i go for premium2 lnb?how much is it and where can i get it?

If u are tracking mbc on W3A, I will advice u use 12728V/30000 to track or 10976V/3333. most tyms this mbc is off-air or their signal is not guaranted.
or u can try tracking Sirius 4 on 4.8 deg East, shares closeness to W3A, use this tp 12605V/29950. the signal is stronger than that of W3A .on this u should be able to get Aljezera, bvn, vox africa and globecast promo.
If u are able to nail Sirius 4, just move ur dish slitly to ur left, about 13 degress.
where are u and what dish size ar u using?
Remember the tips,

@ all
I say kudos for your effort is yielding good results.
However I would like to repeat here that in as much as we can come up here and make a post, we should be able to check www.lyngsat.com/satellite name. In most cases, here we can check for receivable beam in our location, know the average dish size required, know the transponder frequencies and their symbol rates, and lots more. From here, one can boil down to business, and taste the real thing-sweat it out!
I believe from here, one would have technical ?s to ask.
I feel its a good way for starters.

On crtv,
to me i was thinking the problem of signal freeze/break for about 2sec is a transmission thing. because its a complete off state.- i mean d green bar turns red at that moment, even when signal strength is about 75%.

@ Emeritus
To track a bird, u must know certain parameters concerning the bird.:
the longitudinal position of the bird- how many degrees EAST or WEST, Eutelsat W3a is on 7deg E
the tp frequencies-xxxxxV or H
the Symbol rate- that comes after the freq.
the type of dish u want to use, having known the size that will give u signal- offset dish or prime focus. ofcourse, 90 cm should do
the ELEVATION /AZIMUTH u need to turn from your area.- this u can judge from other dish hanging around
the skew of ur lnb- ie 3 o clock, 2 o clock- For eutelsat W3A, from my area, I skew 2 o clock. the signal is strongest when ur lnb skew is in phase with the incoming signal, completely out when skewed some degrees out of phase.

For mbc -mauritius,
Its like those guy go to sleep when man is trying to relax and watch them.though, thy go off-air most times.

oga modrator-Twinstaiye,
Georg-D, Enitan200000000000000, Dejsam, Pito., Constanc6, Blexxman, fijabi, Eko ti daa (ekonibaje), emmexi, 2 numerous to mention,and all my Ghanian fellow, U guys are great!
to new bees, she d thin easy?
but e de sweet abi?
so take tym, follow and practicalise.
enjoy.

my honorable modrator
I just want to say hello.
so u too are now on the HD level. fine we shall soon join the igbaduns.
@ George D.
well done o

@Blakstars.
Thanxs
I was able to get to the 2M website u gave, I was also able to translate the site,.But the everton/arsenal and the man u/wigan matches are for the national grid.
These matches are not on the satellite tray.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=cltr&cd=0&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftranslate.google.com%2Ftranslate%3Fhl%3Den%26langpair%3Dfr%7Cen%26u%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.2m.tv%2Fsports%2F%26prev%3D%2Ftranslate_s%253Fhl%253Den%2526q%253Dwww.2m.tv%2Fsports%2526sl%253Den%2526tl%253Dfr&ei=2zGBSpzcBIT4lAO-sN2BCA&usg=AFQjCNE2P6wc527oWVh24XXc1bz9KXgGaw.

http://64.233.169.132/translate_c?hl=en&langpair=fr|en&u=http://www.2m.tv/grille/&prev=/translate_s%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3Dwww.2m.tv/sports%26sl%3Den%26tl%3Dfr&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhhOamJGTm_cF5CtmaiChXxad8xmHg.

what a link!

@tonaija,
they know u are a true apostle of fta here,thinking they are wearing u down, NO! u have just been stepped up to a higher gear for more blessings.
Nothing do u man.

blexxonmak:
@all.It seems to me that Daarsat may be a better option for now.DSTV MPEG4 decoder may be another angle to explore.Just thinking.

the common version are being programmed for their signals only wetin come b mpeg4. I hop strong is coming up with something that will math our taste. just a little patience people.

@ George-D
Good to hear u shaking greens from those birds now. Baba God heard our prayers while I was away to SPACE
Any way, thanks alot for ur role.
@ all
I really appreciate the effort of all who have come to realize what fta means here, and have taken time to practice what they learn .
However, learning to track a satellite is not a rush rush thing as some thought. U need patience and constant learning, gathering of info and putting them to practice. Season 1,2 and upto date on season 3 are enough tutorials for any new comer. Besides, www.lyngsat.com/(satellite name) has been a very good reference for us. Use this to get ur signal parameters, as well as average dish size required in ur area. This will save u asking so many questions and jump into more technical issues well. Again average knowledge of ur elementary Geography is very important.- knowing ur East, West , South and North- Azimuth turning, elevation angle and lnb skew. see enough tutorials on the begining of this season.
Again, for those of us who can identify true North from our location, and having these small dishes calibrated- about 23 deg offset, with u knowing the elevation of the sat from ur area, set ur dish and turn the azimuth. I tell u no stress.
www.dishponter .com is a good cal site.
Astra 2B in Abuja-9.26N, 7.03E,
Dish Elev:63.5 deg
Dish azim; 112.6 deg
Lnb skew: 58 deg anticlockwise ( standing behind the dish ).
Results;Track with freq-12599V/3249 sr. CRTV.
Sirius 4 -same location----
Elev-78.8 deg, Azm-195.8 deg ,lnb skew- 15.6 deg clockwise.
Result : track with 12605V/29950sr---- Alja zeera english.

Do I here someone say sounding too theoretical? Just try it and just 1 hand fyam! ur signal don show.
To track Nss7 ku. If u are already on dstv position, facing the dish, keep turning left about 148 deg towards the west. The two birds share same elevation. u are sure to catch it. if not turn ur lnb the opposite direction.
May be my dream to be the first Nigerian on the moon is my driving force.
can some1 try this and see?

@all
greetings for all effort and job done.
@ George-D
Well done for the achievements so far. Pls if I may ask, how much did you get your compass/or can one acquire a compass for?. Its just a necessity man! I made a simple inclinometer and ground compass which i use in tracking and I get good results using it. I want to do thins more like a professional and not like the mere INSTALLER who do guess work. Just doing it right you know

@shegzy0
I experience similar thing as u do.
I tried aligning my dish so that MBCs come on clearly rather no positive outcome.
being the only channel for me 2 enjoy English language there, I decided to leave W3.
@all
has any one experience the difficulty of using 1.8m dish (prime focus), though quite big to track both Sirius 4 and W3A using 1 lnb at its focus?
Nilesat I must say is giving me tough time.I never appreciate even my own effort at tracking off-footprint bird, until I saw an Installer struggling to keep nilesat at about 57% on the average on a 2.4m dish for all the tps that came on. before u know it it has disappeared .
1.8m guys. abi we self no try?

emexi:
@spaceman, please your confirmation is incorrect LNBFsuggest that the receiver is in a bad state and needs replacing ,,,

bros I was once tracking a bird and after sometym, I saw the signal (still red) became erratic and blinking LNBF on the Dx. I rushed to the point of connection of the cable to my lnb, removd it immediatly and the Rx stopped doing that. I mad sure the F-connector was well fixed and connected back. Everything was normal! Till 2day I still use the Dx. I suspected a bad connection or bridging, just an experience shared.

@ emeystan
Though yesterday was the first tyme to track W3a, I gunned it down with no difficulty within a minute. I got all other station up on green, but the MBCs came up freezing and finally dissapeared, all effoert to get them back proved abortive. nevertheless, lets keep checking as emexi as stated. litle pati---ee----nnn--ccc--e

@ Georg
I can see u are online.
This is my yahoo Id. ucan reach me so that I can chat with u when neccessary:
onlyshehu@yahoo.com

@ George,
take heart. we are all learning different things every day.

emeystan:
@ all, i did not see anything like sirus4 in my decoder. Am using strong 4653x, what i saw is sirus 2/3. Pls help me out because i will like to track that sat
i would have gone for 2.4m dish, but the problem is space. You cannot install such thing when you live in a public yard most especially in ajegunle.
One love fta fans

@emeystan,
Bros Sirius 3 and 4 share same location to my understanding.
U just add the tp u want to track, that is if its not on ur dx. then carry go with the way u use to track other birds. i use 4663x and its just as u stated

@ iwes
i got this stuff from wiki, it coud be of help:
A satellite is said to occupy an inclined orbit around the Earth if the orbit exhibits an angle other than zero degrees with the equatorial plane. This angle is called the orbit's inclination. A planet is said to have an inclined orbit around the Sun if it has an angle other than zero to the plane of the ecliptic.
A satellite is in an inclined orbit when its orbital plane is tipped some number of degrees from the horizontal defined by the equator. In the case of an inclined geosynchronous orbit, although the satellite remains geosynchronous (that is, completing one orbit around the earth every 24 hours), it is no longer geostationary.
If u are online, just go straight to this site and understand more.
www.larc.nasa.gov/SCOOL/orbits.html.">http://asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/SCOOL/orbits.html.

@ll
glad to register my name among those who have gunned down the Astra bird. I hit about 70% on 60 cm dish with d tp and hints provided on this forum. All u guys have said about it I confirmed. As for the MPEG4 coded video, we shall follow the steps of Blakstars.

@Iwea

iwes:
please how can one identity satellites, that are not in line with other satellites in the satellite arc, ( i.e satellites that are not in true west e.g Nilesat or true east e.g Sirius 4 and Eultesat W3 ) before attempting to track them.   Does it have something to do with inclined orbit satellite ?

Let me first draw ur attention to elmentary Geography/ Geometry. To my understanding,True North is zero degrees, so true east should be 90 deg. Does that make sence at all?
Now those satellites u mentioned are not true west nor true east, obvious from their longitudinal position- not exactly 90 deg/ 270 deg.
Recall to mind. Attempting to track, you must know the azimuth value of the sat from ur location. this is the degree of turn u make from true north to face the sat. For ur elevation, to reduce ur stress, try have an approximate value- from calculation or setups u see around u- in relation to ur Long/Lat position. this helps reduce ur swing up/down of the dish when u face the sat direction ( azimuth). This I just put into practice yesterday, fix values on my dish, and with first move ,I got the Astra.
Its not easy bro. but with patience and persistence, the birds will keep falling for us.
My next hunt is the Sirius 4 and Eut W3a using my 60 cm stuff.
Hope u have a great day

@ Dejsam,
Thank u for your response. These freq. I have tried, and only the 12575V/3378 works giving me the Manas. Notwithstanding, I will still go back to it with the never give up spirit of fta.Thanks a lot.
@ Goerge.
I appreciate your technical Know how man. The highest strength I ever got is about 65%. I thought of it as much, too small for a signal being beamed to us. I have skewed and re skewed. Nevertheless that I shall do again and all d green feathers of the bird shall come out. I'm sure there is just something Ive not done right. As for 90cm, make that one stay aside first.
As for the nilesat I promised to hint u, space in the yard has been hindering me. I need to erect a platform for the dish to keep it above any obstruction. no problem man.
Eyo eyo I CAN DO IT MYSELF!
Enjoy

@ Dejsam, George-D,Enitan,

spaceman:
@ all
I used "Hitv" dish measuring 60cm x 66cm (60cm for short) to track Eut W4, but tracking Intelsat 7/10, I was only able to catch Mana sat 1$2. Mytv an other fta are not comming out green even after fine tunning lnb. what could be the problem house?

@ all
I used "Hitv" dish measuring 60cm x 66cm (60cm for short) to track Eut W4, but tracking Intelsat 7/10, I was only able to catch Mana sat 1$2. Mytv an other fta are not comming out green even after fine tunning lnb. what could be the problem house?

@all.
Greetings to all in house.
Its nice to be back to the forum. U guys have done lots of work, and i commend your effort.
Equally i will like to congratulate all those who celebrated birthdays and those who brought forth their minimal form ( new born babies). May the good lord bless and be with u all.
i salute u oga moderator, George-D, sathob ennitan,.pito, emmexi ola, olu willi, u guys are just too much to mention. good job men!
to the new comers i say welcome, and take tym and patienc to enjoy your self on this forum
Let me go start preparing to make searches and researches.
enjoy

lovala:
Quote: from George D
@ George D : The geographical coordinates of my location, Yaounde are 3° 52' 0" North, 11° 31' 0" East. Thankx a trillion for the paint type and LNB/f I should use, George D. with this coordinates for Yaounde, will it still be a big hurdle for me to capture Nile Sat or Dubai ONE using the prime focus 2m dish?

Nuff respect,
Lovala.

@ Lovala.
Welcome to this forum where things de happen.
U can use this link to check your dish AZIMUTH and ELEVATION for the various satellite u want to track. Its just and idea I think :http://www.hansa-electronic.com/satcalceng.asp
Enjoy,

@ all.
just a little of brainstorming here.
two receiver systems with nose figure ratings 0.9dB and one of 0.3dB, which has the best perfomance?How would you relate these values to their ability filter your signal from the noise?
Your time starts now!

George_D:
@spaceman,
How far about your nilesat installation? Is your signal better now?

@ George-D
bros Iv not been chanced to get back to it. Got home late yesterday, and the rain started, back at work today again. Hopefuly today I shall get back to it again. promise to hint u on happenings.
Thanx for ur concern.

hi every 1.
hw are u all doing?
im fine and wishing u all same

@emexi.
I will revisit it after close of work.
thank u

Hi house,
how do I know if an lnb is faulty?
Just having some difficulty tracking Nilesat on 1.8m, after relocating my dish.
it still shows the signal level upto 87% but quality 22%.