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Well I am really bugged by the fact that my optus B1 reception is very
poor - I would like some advice.

I live in Alice Springs.

I can pick up PAS 8 OK, which is further a field that optus B1
Optus C1 is easy (no access to paid tv though..)
and am currently enjoying the manifold delights of multicultural TV on
optus B3

Frankly, I would much rather tune into Optus B1
The problem is the signal is SO weak - I can get 7 Central BARELY and
nothing else. There is a whole array of other SBS stuff on it an such..

I have put my girlfriend through the rigors of helping me fine tune the
LBN by relaying signal quality and strength to me as I adjust it and am
happy that I have optimized reception.

The Optus B Series Satellite map leaves me none the wiser with regard
coverage. But My reception is comparatively lousy to any other satellite
mentioned above.

I am using a disused Austar satellite dish and LBNF with a deamax decoder.

Is it simply dish limitations that I face - or theoretically - should I
be picking up more than I am from optus B1????
waduyareckon?

Many of the signals on B1 are SCPC signals which are weaker than the
full transponder signals on C1 etc.
Also the high performance beams favour the eat coast and little signal
gets to you there.

When Austar had a MDS system in Alice they used a SIX metre dish to get
the signals to feed it.
IM

You really need a 1.2 dish or a 1.5 prime focus,
The pay stuff on C1 has a strong signal, while B1 is mostly channel feeds,
which are not meant for Jo Public.
The problem is not the signal, but your dish size. Also a high
performance LNB, could make a lot of difference.
SCPC or MCPC does not make a lot of difference, with regard to signal
strength.
bassett
<chromatronics@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1132098814.224985.219680@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...

Many of the signals on B1 are SCPC signals which are weaker than the
full transponder signals on C1 etc.
Also the high performance beams favour the eat coast and little signal
gets to you there.

When Austar had a MDS system in Alice they used a SIX metre dish to get
the signals to feed it.
IM

If you are using a foxtel/austar dish then it would probably be to small.
65CM dish is a bit small, even for C7, which breaks up. Try getting a 85+CM
dish. a 1.2M should be ideal.

SCPC or MCPC makes a huge difference according to the bandwidth of the
SCPC
signal. There are many SCPC signals on B1 that a dish size of over 3
metres
is needed to receive.
The other matter is what beam or footprint the transmission is on.
The national and central beams are OK for you but the others are just
not going to work.

Have a lool at the EIRP maps for the various beams in pages 37 to 46 of
the Optus Designer's Guide which you can download at

http://optusbusiness.com.au/doclib/Sate ... 0Guide.pdf


As you will see there is no coverage at all on some of the B Series
beams.
If the EIRP is 40 or so you will get something.
IM

Isn't B1 retiring within 6 months (if it doesn't fail before then)?

Will D1 carry everything that's currently on B1? If so, will the signal be
stronger (allowing for smaller dishes)?

Justin

The over 3 metre thing, would depend on where you where, I doubt that there
where any signals in the normal footprint area, that would requite anything
like 3 metres to receive anything be they video or data
bassett

Yeah, you are both right.
Its not just a matter of RX, but a 'requirement' of stability, and
availability of service.
Hence the grey area of predicted rain fall/rain fade, is calculated out to
be a dish that can provide 'lock' on even scpc, in the heaviest weather.
A hobbyist, can be 3,6,12 dB down on what is 'required', and still get
piccies....but he doesn't have 'x' amount of customers ringing the call
centre when his telly says 'Bad Signal'.....

There are many signals on B1 that are often shown in Lyngsat etc. as
"Feeds".
These are SCPC signals and they are much weaker than the full
transponder signals
that you find for Aurora or Foxtel etc.
These SCPS signals use typically a 9 Mhz slot and as such are using
about one sixth of a transponder.
This means that they have one sixth of a transponder power or are about
7dB down on the full transponder signals at best.
The backhaul feeds from ABC, Seven Central and Imparja are such
signals.
The distribution feeds on C1 Seven Central and Imparja Aurora platform
are full transponder
signals and are OK on a small dish.
The typical margin (That is the available signal strength over what is
needed to decode a digital signal) on a Foxtel or Austar dish is
usually less than 3dB depending where you are in the footprint.
Simple answer to getting the unscrambled version of Seven Central as
the original poster asked is get a bigger dish.
signal)

Well thanks to all you guys that responded to mu inquiry..
SUBJECT {optus bee one}.

I do appreciate all the input - I figured the dish I was usu=ing was too
small. Thanks for confirming my suspicions.. :-)