How big is your satelite dish?

[aabbc1]

How big is your satellite dish? Mine is 1m but hardly receive feeds from 7° and 10°E

 

[barney115]

Tiny dish just will never be useful if you really are serious about catching feeds .
you'll need to go up to 1.6m at least possibly as much as 1.8 meter .
i have 2 meter solid prime focus and do not miss any 10E/7E feeds .
good luck : )

 

[vakula]

Had an 1.2M prime focus dish with IBU.
Only few feeds as I can remembered in last couple of years missed from 7E/10E
Location Croatia.
cheers vakula

 

[moonbase]

Dish size for the job is defined by two importants factors.

1. The frequency band being used
2. The location of the dish with respect to the beam footprint.

If a user is right under the strongest part of the footprint beam a 60cm dish can outperform a larger dish that is on the fringe edge of the footprint beam.
As Ku-Band is the most common band, my personal opinion is that anything less than 1.5m is insufficient to have a guarantee of most feeds, especially from 3.0W.

For C-Band, I would say that 2.0m is the starting point for decent reception, smaller dishes will get some reception but might struggle with the more fringe stuff.
Again though, location plays a big part.

 

[vakula]

Dish size for the job is defined by two importants factors.

1. The frequency band being used
2. The location of the dish with respect to the beam footprint.

If a user is right under the strongest part of the footprint beam a 60cm dish can outperform a larger dish that is on the fringe edge of the footprint beam.
As Ku-Band is the most common band, my personal opinion is that anything less than 1.5m is insufficient to have a guarantee of most feeds, especially from 3.0W.

For C-Band, I would say that 2.0m is the starting point for decent reception, smaller dishes will get some reception but might struggle with the more fringe stuff.
Again though, location plays a big part.

can agree , especially for ABS 3W which is hard to catch due his inclination , but here we are talking about 7E/10E in primis my friend.
@aabbc1 was asking for 7E/10E .....

 

[CLED]

I'm using a 120cm offset motorized dish in Albania, and i can say i'm missing a considerable amount of feeds from 7e and 10e so i guess i'm gonna need to switch to a 180cm prime focus.

Does the recevier affect in this aswell ? Is a S2X tuner more efficent than a normal S2 ? I'm currently using a Zgemma H5.2S+ but considering to switch to a TBS6903X card, to be able to open 4:2:2 feeds aswell.

Any information would help a lot !

Thanks in advance !!

 

[butchyboy]

3 dishes here

1.2m IRTE prime focus
1.8m channel master offset dish
1.85m spun aluminium mabo offset dish
and a wee sly dish fixed on 28.2e

 

[barney115]

I'm using a 120cm offset motorized dish in Albania, and i can say i'm missing a considerable amount of feeds from 7e and 10e so i guess i'm gonna need to switch to a 180cm prime focus.

Does the recevier affect in this aswell ? Is a S2X tuner more efficent than a normal S2 ? I'm currently using a Zgemma H5.2S+ but considering to switch to a TBS6903X card, to be able to open 4:2:2 feeds aswell.

Any information would help a lot !

Thanks in advance !!

Read what @moonbase has posted .
Receiver you have is not a feed hunting box and not ideal at all but is not the root cause either .
you are on the edge of footprint possibly mostly outside the feed beam so would need a much bigger dish to stand any chance .
But in Albania it really would be very hard to complain too much since DigiAlb in my opinion is the best and most desirable package of all going at the moment .
Albanians know what people want and they deliver with no fuss and no nonsense .

 

[moonbase]

can agree , especially for ABS 3W which is hard to catch due his inclination , but here we are talking about 7E/10E in primis my friend.
@aabbc1 was asking for 7E/10E .....

The same logic applies to 7E and 10E.
Reception is dependent on location and dish size. For some 7E/10E feeds a 1.0m or 1.2m dish is not enough to lock the feeds but moving up to a 1.5m or 2.0m dish can lock them.

For example, if a feed has modulation of 8PSK with FEC of 3/4 it needs 7.9dB to get a lock, possibly slightly higher to keep a stable lock.
If a 1.0m dish is getting a signal level of 6.0db from this type of 7E/10E feed it has no chance of locking. Moving up to a 1.5m dish should increase the signal level to around 9.0dB and the feed will lock.

I have attached below a small table that shows how signal levels will increase by increasing dish size. Dish sizes are in millimetres in the table.
Note: - The values in the table are not absolute, they are approximate and dependent on factors such as accuracy of the dish surface, design profile (offset/prime focus) and accuracy of the dish size as stated by the manufacturer.

 

[CLED]

Read what @moonbase has posted .
Receiver you have is not a feed hunting box and not ideal at all but is not the root cause either .
you are on the edge of footprint possibly mostly outside the feed beam so would need a much bigger dish to stand any chance .
But in Albania it really would be very hard to complain too much since DigiAlb in my opinion is the best and most desirable package of all going at the moment .
Albanians know what people want and they deliver with no fuss and no nonsense .

Thanks a lot for you info, i appreciate it !! @barney115

Often i have problems with locking the signal with some feeds, exactly what @moonbase said in the comment above, so i definitely should get at least a 1.8m prime focus dish

As for Digitalb, it's very good and that's true but i'm interested in latency more than quality. What feed hunting box would you suggest me ? I've heard about Octagon sf8008, Technomate M3, and also TBS cards but i don't know what to choose because i'm also new at this field.

I have a TBS6902 but i uninstalled it from my pc because it skips many feeds even if i scan the whole 7e or 10e, so i think i'm gonna need a professional card, maybe TBS6903X

About footprint, i checked it yesterday and you are right, Albania is at the edge, but fortunately i'm in west part of Albania, while the east part is outside the footprint, so i hope a 1.8m dish is gonna work for me

Thanks again !!

 

[moonbase]

Thanks a lot for you info, i appreciate it !! @barney115

Often i have problems with locking the signal with some feeds, exactly what @moonbase said in the comment above, so i definitely should get at least a 1.8m prime focus dish

As for Digitalb, it's very good and that's true but i'm interested in latency more than quality. What feed hunting box would you suggest me ? I've heard about Octagon sf8008, Technomate M3, and also TBS cards but i don't know what to choose because i'm also new at this field.

I have a TBS6902 but i uninstalled it from my pc because it skips many feeds even if i scan the whole 7e or 10e, so i think i'm gonna need a professional card, maybe TBS6903X

About footprint, i checked it yesterday and you are right, Albania is at the edge, but fortunately i'm in west part of Albania, while the east part is outside the footprint, so i hope a 1.8m dish is gonna work for me

Thanks again !!

My advice would be do not buy TBS6903x. If you want the TBS6903 go for the "non X" model.

If your TBS6902 is skipping feeds it can be related to the software settings of the app you are using to scan with it. BlindScan 1 mode and BlindScan2 mode can give different results at times.
For your need, there is no benefit in going for the TBS6903, the TBS6902 will do all you need.

If you are familiar with using an E2 receiver, go for the Octagon SF8008, it is a decent receiver.
The latency levels between all the various TBS cards and receivers are minimal, not worth thinking about.

 

[gorgeit]

I have an offset 1.8 m dish what would be the advantages on changing to prime focus thanks

 

[CLED]

My advice would be do not buy TBS6903x. If you want the TBS6903 go for the "non X" model.

If your TBS6902 is skipping feeds it can be related to the software settings of the app you are using to scan with it. BlindScan 1 mode and BlindScan2 mode can give different results at times.
For your need, there is no benefit in going for the TBS6903, the TBS6902 will do all you need.

If you are familiar with using an E2 receiver, go for the Octagon SF8008, it is a decent receiver.
The latency levels between all the various TBS cards and receivers are minimal, not worth thinking about.

@moonbase

I was never able to use Blindscan 1 even with the last StreamReader. It says Blindscan not supported, while Blindscan 2 works perfectly. It was the same for both EBSPro and CrazyScan, so i only used Blindscan 2 and i didn't get good results tbh, but i can re-install TBS6902 in my pc again and check if there's a way to fix Blindscan 1 and make it work properly, but i guess i should get a 1.8m prime focus first.

So this means if i get my TBS6902 working properly it's not worth to get an Octagon SF8008 ? ofc considering my priority is latency and not quality

Thanks for your advices !!

 

[moonbase]

@moonbase

I was never able to use Blindscan 1 even with the last StreamReader. It says Blindscan not supported, while Blindscan 2 works perfectly. It was the same for both EBSPro and CrazyScan, so i only used Blindscan 2 and i didn't get good results tbh, but i can re-install TBS6902 in my pc again and check if there's a way to fix Blindscan 1 and make it work properly, but i guess i should get a 1.8m prime focus first.

So this means if i get my TBS6902 working properly it's not worth to get an Octagon SF8008 ? ofc considering my priority is latency and not quality

Thanks for your advices !!

You will need a TBS for 4:2:2 feeds.
An Octagon SF8008 can only do 4:2:2 feeds indirectly which adds latency. For standard 4:2:0 feeds an Octagon is OK.

I have just checked a TBS6902 card in a PC, it works with both BS1 and BS2 mode in EBSPro, scans OK in both modes.
If you did not have this working then it may have been a configuration issue or a version issue of EBSPro.

I prefer v17 of EBSPro instead of v18 if using BS2 mode. If using BS1 mode v17 and v18 are both OK
I do not mess about with versions of streamreader in EBSPro, I accept the default version that is shipped with the EBSPro version.

 

[CLED]

You will need a TBS for 4:2:2 feeds.
An Octagon SF8008 can only do 4:2:2 feeds indirectly which adds latency. For standard 4:2:0 feeds an Octagon is OK.

I have just checked a TBS6902 card in a PC, it works with both BS1 and BS2 mode in EBSPro, scans OK in both modes.
If you did not have this working then it may have been a configuration issue or a version issue of EBSPro.

I prefer v17 of EBSPro instead of v18 if using BS2 mode. If using BS1 mode v17 and v18 are both OK
I do not mess about with versions of streamreader in EBSPro, I accept the default version that is shipped with the EBSPro version.

yeah i've noticed there's at least 1 sec delay if you try to open 4:2:2 indirectly using vlc (tried this with Zgemma H5.2S+) because i could hear the audio on tv, doesn't match with the video on vlc

I'm gonna need to re-install the TBS6902 then, and find a way to fix EBSPro and at the other side order an Octagon SF8008. I'd appreciate if you could send a screenshot of EBSPro settings

EBSPro v18 was what i used when i got that BS1 not supported but apperantly settings problem if it's working for you

 

[moonbase]

... I'd appreciate if you could send a screenshot of EBSPro settings

I use the default install settings of EBSPro v17 apart from setting the scan ranges per satellite and using BS mode (same as BS1) on a 2MHz step scan.