Advice needed.

[Battlespud]

Hi all.

I have a strange problem, well it is to me, a total newbie.

I work onboard a ship that basically works worldwide and spends most of its time in rather remote locations.

Onboard we have a very nice ORBIT MARINE AL-7103-CCU-DF MARINE TRACKING SYSTEM, which is fully working and tracks beautifully.

My strange problem is what can we point it at, so that we would at least have something to watch and what equipment would we need?

We would obviously need something that was pretty universal, seeing as we travel worldwide, if such I thing exsists.

What do cruise ships use, anyone know?

Any advice or things I should read would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Vinnie]

I looked at the product page and it looks like you might be able to receive FTA Ku band signals. I'm not sure at all though, it just looks like a very capable setup.

Have you tried contacting Orbit Communications Systems support staff? They might be able to help.

?What do you currently use the system for?

 

[Kallesatman]

That unit is not for FTA but rather for communication/data, internet, location service. Bottom line you can not put it on a FTA satellite. Any technical modifications, if possible and I don't think so, would violate the warranty. Furthermore the equipment installed falls under the technical licensing rules of country of ship registry. Bottom line " Don't mess with it ". Now if you can get a system such as is used on recreational vehicles
which track the satellite since the ship moves it gets touchy. You pretty much would have to have a duplicate hardware setup for stabilization and tracking tied to the compass and so forth and that is also extremely
expensive. This is not anything that a ships radio officer ( if there is one still on board not knowing what type of ship it is ) or qualified technician can accomplish. My recommendation to you is to contact the " Orbit " company and see what they recommend. Be ready for sticker ( $ ) shock. Sorry for the bad news. Keep us posted and good luck.

 

[primestar31]

Why the need to watch LIVE shows?

You can buy a player to hook to a tv set (like WDTV Live or the like), a large harddrive or drives, load them up with tv shows and movies, and have enough shows and movies to go for years... I have this with terrabytes of ripped dvd's, and it would take me 3 years to watch everything I have, with no repeats.

 

[Battlespud]

Why the need to watch LIVE shows?

You can buy a player to hook to a tv set (like WDTV Live or the like), a large harddrive or drives, load them up with tv shows and movies, and have enough shows and movies to go for years... I have this with terrabytes of ripped dvd's, and it would take me 3 years to watch everything I have, with no repeats.

Sound advice and i actually have 6 of these setup already, they work really well. Thanks for your thoughts though, they are appreciated.

 

[Battlespud]

That unit is not for FTA but rather for communication/data, internet, location service. Bottom line you can not put it on a FTA satellite. Any technical modifications, if possible and I don't think so, would violate the warranty. Furthermore the equipment installed falls under the technical licensing rules of country of ship registry. Bottom line " Don't mess with it ". Now if you can get a system such as is used on recreational vehicles
which track the satellite since the ship moves it gets touchy. You pretty much would have to have a duplicate hardware setup for stabilization and tracking tied to the compass and so forth and that is also extremely
expensive. This is not anything that a ships radio officer ( if there is one still on board not knowing what type of ship it is ) or qualified technician can accomplish. My recommendation to you is to contact the " Orbit " company and see what they recommend. Be ready for sticker ( $ ) shock. Sorry for the bad news. Keep us posted and good luck.

The system is fully stabilized and cost a small fortune, but certainly not my money
We have Ku and C-band LMBs that we are allowed to change out on the system. It is just what can anyone recommend as a decoder. Remembering that I'm looking for it to work on and in as many different places as possible.
we are really just looking for a bit of world news if possible as we are out to sea for 2 months at a time and sometimes like to see what is going on in the world.
I'll contact Orbit Marine tomorrow, I never actually thought of contacting them, how stupid of me.
Thanks for the advice.

 

[Battlespud]

I looked at the product page and it looks like you might be able to receive FTA Ku band signals. I'm not sure at all though, it just looks like a very capable setup.

Have you tried contacting Orbit Communications Systems support staff? They might be able to help.

?What do you currently use the system for?

I'll contact Orbit Marine tomorrow and see if they have any thoughts as to what we can do.
The setup we have will track any satellite within its range and in any sea conditions and was previously used to watch TV channels, but they became scrambled, so I'm hoping to find something else I can use this expensive piece of equipment for.
?thanks for the reply.

 

[Kallesatman]

From your statement; you used to watch the TV channels, then it would seem that you already have a proper configuration and all that it needs would be to find the proper satellites in your area of operation and then program that into the receiver. Orbit might just be able to help you with that info since it might require additional programming of the Orbit unit. Keep us posted.

 

[Titanium]

As long as the system is not in use for IT or other communication services, you have an incredible set-up for receiving satellite TV and Radio! Nothing unique or proprietary about the system as was previously suggested. This is just a super deluxe version of in-motion stabilized dishes that are found on RVs. Just confirm the system is not in use with your ship's communication officer before swinging the dish to another satellite!

You will have many options for viewing free to air programming without the need for subscribing using your existing LNBs. Orbit can supply other LNBs suitable for many subscription services if you wish to invest in a subscription specific receiver. Many free to air receiver options will work for viewing in the clear channels, GEOSATpro, Amiko, Openbox, etc. These units will receive FTA channels from most satellites in the world. Verify with Orbit the correct cable connections, LO and polarity control settings before attempting to connect a DVBS S2 receiver to the system.

Different satellites provide coverage to different areas. Websites such as lyngsat and sathint are great resources to find out what satellites and channels are available in the region.

What are examples of areas that you cruise? We could suggest satellites and channels that you could receive.

 

[Battlespud]

From your statement; you used to watch the TV channels, then it would seem that you already have a proper configuration and all that it needs would be to find the proper satellites in your area of operation and then program that into the receiver. Orbit might just be able to help you with that info since it might require additional programming of the Orbit unit. Keep us posted.

Thanks for the reply, Orbit are the next job on my list.

 

[Battlespud]

As long as the system is not in use for IT or other communication services, you have an incredible set-up for receiving satellite TV and Radio! Nothing unique or proprietary about the system as was previously suggested. This is just a super deluxe version of in-motion stabilized dishes that are found on RVs. Just confirm the system is not in use with your ship's communication officer before swinging the dish to another satellite!

You will have many options for viewing free to air programming without the need for subscribing using your existing LNBs. Orbit can supply other LNBs suitable for many subscription services if you wish to invest in a subscription specific receiver. Many free to air receiver options will work for viewing in the clear channels, GEOSATpro, Amiko, Openbox, etc. These units will receive FTA channels from most satellites in the world. Verify with Orbit the correct cable connections, LO and polarity control settings before attempting to connect a DVBS S2 receiver to the system.

Different satellites provide coverage to different areas. Websites such as lyngsat and sathint are great resources to find out what satellites and channels are available in the region.

What are examples of areas that you cruise? We could suggest satellites and channels that you could receive.

We are presently between Japan and Korea. Before that we were between Victoria, Canada and Alaska. We will be heading for the Philippines next, but I'm heading home from Korea real soon Next year it looks like we will be hanging around Asia, with port calls in Taiwan and Japan. Exact ships position as yet unknown.

The dish by the way is purely for TV, so I can point it where I like well any where I can find a satellite footprint that is.

Our system is fibre optic between the above deck and below deck equipment. The LMB is connected to our receivers via coax, so I guess right now our satellite equipment and old receivers (now dead) run independently.
i remember many moons ago having to change out LMBs and receivers constantly to just get something. Are the receivers you mentioned a little bit more universal.

Well many thanks for your reply and info, looks like I have some homework to do. I also need to see what is best for us and then see if I can get one of my crew members to bring me whatever from the USA in November.
PS would I need to purchase more than 1 type of receiver?
PPS Do you Know of any subscription services that do say the whole of the Pacific?
?PPS We are not always that close to land, so we don't always have many satellite footprints to look at

 

[Titanium]

Subscription services usually restrict the footprint of their services to specific regions and often require a specific authorized receiver or LNBF type. Examples would be like http://www.skyperfectv.co.jp/eng/ or http://www.wowow.co.jp/ from Japan. Each uses different receivers / encryption and LNBF types. Skyperfect uses high band KU like Dish and DirecTV, but are linear polarity. Wowow uses circular polarity on high band, but transmits with ISDB format. In the Philippines they several providers (Dream Satellite TV / Koreansat5, Gsat / NSS11, Cignal / SES7) linear polarity high band KU. Dream uses access cards can be purchased preloaded at local stores and used in authorized receivers. GSat prepaid cards can be used in STBs supporting Conax and Cignal require proprietary receivers. In North America the major subscription providers are DirecTV, Dish Network, Bell and Shaw. All of these providers require proprietary receivers with a type of subscription commitment and only select LNBFs work between Dish and Bell.

As you can see, international satellite usage with subscription providers can be quite confusing with the different LNBFs, frequencies, polarities, receivers and encryption. If you would be satisfied with less mainstream channels with minimal LNBF swapping, consider buying a non-subscription MPEG 2 / MPEG 4 receiver to receive the non-scrambled FTA (Free To Air) channels. These satellites are not directed at the Direct to home subscriptions and usually cover larger footprints, often up to 1/4 of the globe. To receive most FTA KU band channels anywhere in the world, you would only need two types of LNBFs. Linear 10.7 - 12.7GHz and Circular 11.7 - 12.7GHz. By reviewing Lyngsat / Sathint or other online website source of what is on the satellites, you will find that there are unencrypted channels on most satellites anywhere in the world. It should be quite easy to find many channels of news and entertainment. With a FTA receiver the LNBF polarity type would need to be correct for the desired satellite, the dish controller would be programmed with the LNB LO frequency then lock the satellite. The FTA receiver LO frequency would be matched to the LNBF and perform a blind scan of the locked satellite.

If you are ever in San Francisco or Northern California area, I would be happy to arrange to meet and show your team how to get the most out of that Orbit dish! Most of us hobbyist would be head over heels with envy over the horizon to horizon open skies when you are out of at sea and having that hardware available for surfing the skies!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Most cruise ships I have been on use Directv Latin America for the small handful of channels they carry.


Posted Via The SatelliteGuys Reader App!