recommended dish size vs. bare minimum

[Mateosat]

I happen to live in a location that is covered by the outer ring of AMC4 Ku band. My recommended dish size is 130cm, according to satbeams.com.

Now I happen to have a 80 cm offset dish. Is it pointless to look for a transponder on this bird or might I get lucky? In general, how much margin is there between recommended dish size and the bare minimum?

I already noticed I can get Galaxy 19 on a 78 cm dish, whereas satbeams.com recommends a 90 cm. My quality levels are about 40%

But then again, 80 cm vs. 130cm seems a lot. I'd like your views on this one.

 

[Lak7]

I would try to lock Galaxy 16, so you know you are close, then try for AMC 4.
You are correct, there is a big difference from 80 cm to 130, about 60%.

 

[Mateosat]

Lak7,

Unfortunately, I'm out of G16's footprint.

 

[Lak7]

Hard to tell, but you may have a shot...
http://www.intelsat.com/flash/coverage-maps/sat_foot.html?sat=G-16%20at%2099%BA%20W&display=map&spot=1

 

[updatelee]

a good lnb will help too, especially as that signal gets lower, a lower noise floor will come more into play

 

[Mateosat]

I guess I'll give it a shot tomorrow. My equipment is so so. Your plane jane $10 LNB from China so nothing special there. I'm just curious if I can get a lock on. In any case, is it possible to couple two smaller dishes to achieve the effect of one big dish? Just a crazy idea.

 

[Anole]

Two dish idea: no, not really.
You need a large dish to do the job.

But another thing to consider besides your location, is how much rain you have to put up with.
Where I live, we have maybe 10 days of rain per year.
Of course the intensity of the rain is important, too.

So, if you have a lot of heavy rain, that larger dish may be what keeps your signal working.
The small dish may work on a sunny day, but only the sunny days. -

I would recommend you try with what you have, and then you will have first hand knowledge of the problems.

edit:
Oh, and it's always possible once you've moved up to a big dish, to re-use the smaller one for another satellite.
Maybe 30°w, for instance, or one of the others which put a strong signal into your area. -

 

[Mateosat]

Zip rain over here. Maybe we're neighbors. Anyways, I'll check it out tomorrow.

 

[jogon64]

It was also mentioned that they would be focusing their signal more strongly at the USA once they switch to the new bird.

I hope we who are beyond the lower 48 are not left out.

 

[SatelliteAV]

The mid and lower Caribbean will lose the 101W coverage with the new SES1 satellite replacing AMC4.

 

[drboyddrboyd]

Keep in mind that the signal strength is proportional to the surface area of the dish; more important, in your case, is the fact that the surface area is proportional to he square of the diameter.

A 100 cm dish has not twice, but four times the surface area of a 50 cm dish.

 

[Mateosat]

drBoyd,

Right, I should have remembered that from math class.
Indeed I'm going to lose AMC4 altogether once the switch to SES1 is made. I'm all out of that new footprint.