Depending upon whether or not you are in Mexico, and how far south of the Rio Grande...will determine what is doable with your collection of antennas and parts. Let's assume you are well into the country....the 18 inch DBS antennas will be next to useless, and you will have to consider how to
reconfigure or modify the larger antennas. For some ideas, look at my website
www.global-cm.net There is a section called "High Tech Hillbilly Cable Systems" and in other parts of the site, a lot of information concerning Multifeed arrangements on large Ku-band antennas. Plus tons of data with pointing angles for many Ku-band and DBS satellites in locations through North America, all the way down to Panama.
You will have to modify the dish size info if within Mexico due to reduced signal strength as compared to domestic U.S. locations, but the basics still apply. If you have a large enough Ku-band dish, and the 1.1 and 1.2 meter do qualify, there may be enough spillover to attach LNBFs to the left and right, up and down from the center LNBF holder. Signal is where you find it. The Galaxy Latin America LNBF can be left on its large antenna to begin with as a direction finder. It will find 95 West, if you have a GLA receiver handy. Looking at the front of the dish, any satellites to the East of 95 West will appear to the Left of the LNBF. West of 95 West will appear to the right. Just like a mirror. Compare the incoming elevation angles with respect to that of 95 West in your location. If the elevation is higher than that of 95 West, the LNBF will have to be placed Lower. Lower incoming elevation = LNBF for that satellite placed Above the center device, height-wise. An in-line tuning meter could be useful.
DBS is going to be dicey. The only in-the-clear (Free To Air) MPEG-2 signals are going to be audio channels (some on 119 West, others on 91 and 82 W).
See the MPEG-2 channel charts at the above website for an idea of what's up there. The further south you get, the weaker these are going to be. If you are more than 10 degrees off center, these satellites may be unusable without going to an even larger dish. My suggestion would be to start with one dish on 123 West (Galaxy 10R), using a standard Ku-band LNBF (not GLA or any DBS type of LNBF) and another on 95 with your original GLA hardware. Skew settings are critical on Ku-band, so will take some fine tuning to get best results. Use an MPEG-2 receiver in an attempt to find 123/G10R. Once you have 123 West working, hold a DBS
LNBF (single type, not a multiple satellite device) just to the west side of the Ku-band LNBF, and attempt to get DBS signals from 119. About 55 audio channels are there at the present time. Take your other dish and install a Ku-band LNBF in place of the Galaxy Latin America device. Move over to 97 West and see if your MPEG-2 receiver has any luck on Intelsat 5 (aka T-5).
Move the dish to the west and see if you can scan all Ku-band channels
on AMC-4 (101 West). If both satellites have been successfully scanned, move the antenna back to 97 West and lock in place. Get a second Ku-band LNBF, and place it to the East of center Ku-band LNBF...and find a place that works on 101/AMC-4. If you are successful, fastening the offset LNBF may be a challenge....AGAIN, look at the above website for attachment ideas using 1/2 inch EMT electrical tubing and 1/2 inch conduit clamp hardware.
Once you have 97 and 101 working, try a DBS LNBF waved in the other direction from center (physically placed to the West) and see if anything can be coaxed from the 91 West satellites operated by Bell ExpressVu. There may be some Canadian radio stations worth listening to. Reception will depend upon how southerly your location is.
In my quest to find good satellites with a number of interesting signals to feed an MPEG-2 receiver, I found best results on 97, 101 and 123-Ku band.
DBS audio favorites were 119 and 91 West. Other Ku-band satellites may provide interesting catches, but will probably require their own dedicated Ku-band antenna in at least a 3-foot diameter size. PBS signals can be found on Ku-band from 87 West (AMC-3) as well as 79 West (AMC-5). You might also check 72 West (AMC-6) to see if anything new has showed up.
C-Band might be another place to look for dedicated signals, or justify the motorization of a 10-to-12 foot mesh antenna for access to all satellites.
Study the MPEG-2 lists mentioned above, as well as Lyngsat, for ideas on what may be interesting.
Good luck!
Mike
