GOES 16 GRB downlink vs GVAR

[GOES 12 GVAR user]

I can confirm that GOES-17 GRB is on today, but they are sending 'fill frames'.

I figured they were sending something. I don't think the transponder is a full power though. It seems weaker then when 16 was there.
Considering what weather01089 and KWX are getting on the East coast the satellite should be around a 9.5 dB C/N here.
The cookie can feed works. I don't doubt that, as I am using something very similar here but homemade.

What's puzzling me is that I can lock and stream GRB with the SNR in the low 7's. But after additional fine tuning of the dish and getting the SNR up to 8.1, it would neither lock nor stream.

You may have to do what KWX does, I have to do the same.
In my pictures above of the (TBS data services) program I would click the (lock TP) button and the signal strength bar would show the signal level, but had to unplug the coax to get the quality bar and the "LOCKED" indicator to show.
Have to do the same with the Omnicom card as well.
In the lower 6 to 7's it would lock on it's own, my figure of this is that the receiver sees such a weak signal that it resets and then locks.
It should be getting better and better for you there soon Brett.

 

[GOES 12 GVAR user]

Brett, would you do a favor for me if you can.
If you have EBS Pro installed please do a signal plot of the GOES 17 GRB carrier in high res. and send it to me in email or put it up here.
I want to see how it plots the GRB carrier with your cookie can feed, please do both polarization's on the plot.
I can tell you this, when I did a plot the GRB carrier over the 12 Mhz didn't look like that on your screenshot. It's making me think.

 

[N6BY]

I figured they were sending something. I don't think the transponder is a full power though. It seems weaker then when 16 was there...

They are sending packets filled with the letter "T". No kidding. Below is a screenshot of a small section of a 4 GB recording I made. Aside from the BBHeaders and CADU headers the payload is entirely 'T'.

...
You may have to do what KWX does, I have to do the same.
In my pictures above of the (TBS data services) program I would click the (lock TP) button and the signal strength bar would show the signal level, but had to unplug the coax to get the quality bar and the "LOCKED" indicator to show.....

Yes. That's what I had to do to get it to start streaming. Once it did I was able to capture over 1/2 a million error free BB Frames. According to 'DD Control Center' my SNR was 8.0 to 8.1. But earlier during the day it would not stream. I am thinking that there is strong interference during the day that goes away at night. I am going to add some RF filters near the receiver and see if it helps. Currently, with my SDR I can see a local FM station coming through my satellite cable with an SNR of 50 dB! It could also be cell phones in the 1700 MHz band.

Brett, would you do a favor for me if you can.
If you have EBS Pro installed please do a signal plot of the GOES 17 GRB carrier in high res. and send it to me in email or put it up here.
I want to see how it plots the GRB carrier with your cookie can feed, please do both polarization's on the plot.
I can tell you this, when I did a plot the GRB carrier over the 12 Mhz didn't look like that on your screenshot. It's making me think.

In my earlier post with the GOES-17 spectrum screenshot I used an AirSpy SDR running 'SpectrumSpy' from 1660 to 1710 MHz (a 50 MHz wide spectrum). That probably explains why it looks different than yours. But I will try 12 and 50 MHz plots in EBSPro and post the results later.

 

[N6BY]

Brett, would you do a favor for me if you can.
If you have EBS Pro installed please do a signal plot of the GOES 17 GRB carrier in high res. and send it to me in email or put it up here....

Here you go. I only did one polarization because its too late to go out to the dish and switch the probe cables. I did both 12 and 50 MHz spectrums. They certainly look a lot different than the AirSpy!

 

[GOES 12 GVAR user]

Thanks a bunch,

In my earlier post with the GOES-17 spectrum screenshot I used an AirSpy SDR running 'SpectrumSpy' from 1660 to 1710 MHz (a 50 MHz wide spectrum). That probably explains why it looks different than yours.

I figured that the SDR spectrum would look different then EBS, but I can compare what you see to what I see on the EBS display and it looks the same as mine on one polarization.

I only did one polarization because its too late to go out to the dish and switch the probe cables.

I don't want you to do any changes, by doing sweeps on both polarization's you should see the isolation you're getting between the two. Just have it scan both polarization's.
One more thing.. I can lock on RHCP or LHCP without changing a thing on the feed. I'm wondering if you can do the same. My signal quality is about the same on each though.

 

[N6BY]

...
I don't want you to do any changes, by doing sweeps on both polarization's you should see the isolation you're getting between the two. Just have it scan both polarization's.....

Selecting the polarization in EBSPro does nothing for our L-Band setups. For KU and C Band it changes the LNB voltage, which signals the LNB to electronically switch polarities. My cloned replica of KWX's Cookie Can Feed doesn't do that The only way for me to change polarities is to go out and switch the probe cables on the 90 degree splitter/combiner. I will try that sometime this evening.

.... I started GRBStreamer at 3:30 AM last night and it was still going when I woke up. Over 4 million BB Frames and still going. Zero errors!

 

[GOES 12 GVAR user]

Great!

Selecting the polarization in EBSPro does nothing for our L-Band setups. For KU and C Band it changes the LNB voltage, which signals the LNB to electronically switch polarities.

Oh, I didn't realize that. Good to know. Cause I thought it sweep them separately by detection.

Can you get GRBStreamer to lock RHCP or LHCP without changing anything?
In other words, with your screenshot can you get GRBStreamer to lock V/R by clicking the "lock signal" button.
If so will it stream?
In my setup I can get it to do that. But again no good data comes of it.

 

[N6BY]

When the SNR is in the high 6's or above, I have to click the 'Lock' button and then reset the cable. About 50% of the time it will lock and then I click 'Start Streaming' and off it goes. Sometimes it takes a few cable resets.

Its the same with both of my DVB cards. The TBS6983 reported an SNR of 8.4 dB at night. Now it has dropped to 8.0 - 8.1. Over 5 million frames now and still going....

 

[N6BY]

Here are some screenshots of the other polarity of the GOES-17 spectrum.

This signal is about 0.6 dB weaker. It took several coax resets before it would lock.

 

[GOES 12 GVAR user]

Mine looks the same in EBS Pro.

Thanks again Brett, KWX, Weather01089 and everyone else out there.
I can get GVAR here with no issues but
my results have stagnated and now knowing that GOES 17 is sending receivable data confirms I have some type of big problem here.
Is it the receiver?
Is it the feed? (I'm really not thinking so)
Is it an interference?
Is it the dish size?
That's the questions I'm left with and no more answers for them.
I've tried everything in vain to solve the issue.
I'm unwilling to put anymore funds into no results.
If anyone can test my receivers with their working setup I'll be willing to send them the receivers. But until I can eliminate at least one part of the system then I can do no more here.
I will focus my remaining resources on NOAAPORT as I can get the data off there, it won't be GRB but it will be better then nothing.
I'll still be monitoring the forum though.
To all that have made working setups I...
To everyone else out there giving this a try, hope your results turn out better then mine.

 

[N6BY]

...
Is it the receiver?
Is it the feed? (I'm really not thinking so)
Is it an interference?
Is it the dish size?
That's the questions I'm left with and no more answers for them.
I've tried everything in vain to solve the issue.
I'm unwilling to put anymore funds into no results.....

Please, hang in there and don't give up.

I'm almost positive its your feed. It took me 4 attempts to get it right. I have an extra "Cien en boca" can and I will make another feed and mail it to you. I'll test it here first to be sure it works. If by chance it still doesn't work on your dish, then my next guess would be your TBS 5927.

 

[GOES 12 GVAR user]

I would be grateful.
I will reimburse you for the parts, shipping anything else. Just send me an email of the amount and when I get it I will send you the amount.
My morale is near 0, so I will try anything at this point.
If you want I could send the TBS 5927 to you, it's USB interface so there should be no problem of using it.

 

[N6BY]

I'll drill a can tonight after bowling league and test it tomorrow. The only cost is $6.25 for the cables that mount to the can and shipping.

 

[N6BY]

Also I recommend getting 4 rechargeable D-Cell batteries to power your Sawbird+ or another ripple-free DC power source. I bought some Ni-MH batteries from Amazon and the charger is included (go to Amazon and search for "B01F589LOW" ) I tried putting a direct link and it didn't work.

I have 3 extra 4-D cell battery holders (I had to order a pack of 4 to buy 1). So I'll send you a holder too. The combined voltage of the 4 Ni-MH batteries is very close to the 5 volts to power the Sawbird+. They are 10,000 mAh each so they last several days.

 

[GOES 12 GVAR user]

I can make the SMA M-M cables no problem.
What is the length that you made (from connector end to connector end)?
And the type of cable, I need that to match lengths.

The only cost is $6.25 for the cables that mount to the can and shipping.

Okay, I will reimburse you for that.

Also I recommend getting 4 rechargeable D-Cell batteries to power your Sawbird+ or another ripple-free DC power source.

I have 3 extra 4-D cell battery holders (I had to order a pack of 4 to buy 1). So I'll send you a holder too.

I have a usb power tube device that powers the Sawbird up fine. It's like a big battery, I had a picture of it when I showed my feed setup.
I don't think there's a need for the D Batts.
Remember my Sawbird had a mini usb connector for additional power supply source.

 

[N6BY]

The cables can be any length, but they must both be the same. The cables I used for your new feed (in the photo below) are 10 cm each as recommended by KWX. All you have to do is screw the ends onto your 90 degree combiner. I will test this feed tomorrow. Meanwhile, please send me a private message with your mailing address.

EDIT: In the photo it looks like the 10 cm cables are screwed into female connectors but they are actually one piece (male to female cables). Also they are as short as possible to minimize the signal loss.

 

[GOES 12 GVAR user]

The cables can be any length,

Umm, there may be an exception to this, If my theory is right. Details about that later.
I will send you an email with my info, Thanks Brett you've made my day more then you know.

 

[Micanopy Mike]

Would really like to give this 12' dish away. It will fit in a full size pickup.
View attachment 132837 View attachment 132838 View attachment 132839 View attachment 132840 View attachment 132841

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As expected I am not getting near enough GRB signal with my 8' dish (see attached) so am searching for a 12' replacement. I saw your post about the 12' dish. I am in N. Central Florida which is a l-o-o-o-n-g drive from Montana in my pickup truck !! I have no idea what it would cost to ship the dish here (assuming you still have it!) and there would be additional costs to get it loaded for safe transport via trucking company for transport to N. Central Florida. I am about 12 miles south of Gainesville, FL near the little town of Micanopy.

 

[Magic Static]

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As expected I am not getting near enough GRB signal with my 8' dish (see attached) so am searching for a 12' replacement. I saw your post about the 12' dish. I am in N. Central Florida which is a l-o-o-o-n-g drive from Montana in my pickup truck !! I have no idea what it would cost to ship the dish here (assuming you still have it!) and there would be additional costs to get it loaded for safe transport via trucking company for transport to N. Central Florida. I am about 12 miles south of Gainesville, FL near the little town of Micanopy.

I think there is an unwritten rule that everything you really want has to be as far away as possible. Seems like half of what I buy online comes from Florida. LOL I would like to visit Florida. I have a good friend in Ft. Lauderdale. But I have nothing capable of hauling that dish to Florida. I'm sure getting that dish and its parts crated for shipment and then as big as it is to ship would cost a small fortune. I did not take it down so I never saw it assembled. But there is an exact copy at a motel west of town still up. My buddy who has all these dishes would like to see them get used but he has over a hundred dishes tucked away all over his place. They will be going to scrap fairly soon. That one is the big one though.

 

[Micanopy Mike]

I think there is an unwritten rule that everything you really want has to be as far away as possible. Seems like half of what I buy online comes from Florida. LOL I would like to visit Florida. I have a good friend in Ft. Lauderdale. But I have nothing capable of hauling that dish to Florida. I'm sure getting that dish and its parts crated for shipment and then as big as it is to ship would cost a small fortune. I did not take it down so I never saw it assembled. But there is an exact copy at a motel west of town still up. My buddy who has all these dishes would like to see them get used but he has over a hundred dishes tucked away all over his place. They will be going to scrap fairly soon. That one is the big one though.

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Hmmmmm...... I am a rank newbie at using forums like this. How do I send a personal message to you so as not to clutter up this forum thread with "one-to-one" exchanges? I do not see a place to click on to do this. My email is MPB45@clanbaker.org. Mike Baker