Telstar 12 @ 15W Ku

[spongella]

Is anyone receiving FTA from this bird? I have a 30 inch stationary dish pointed to it with an old receiver, a FortecStar Dynamic, which is MPEG-2 only, and get two channels: TVGA from Equatorial Guinea, and TPA from Angola.

Perhaps with an MPEG-4 receiver there might be other broadcasts.

Sponge

 

[jorgek]

Last time I looked at it there was only 4 non English channels in the clear. All the good stuff is scrambled.

Have you tried Hispasat 30 W? Lots of interesting programming.

 

[FaT Air]

Perhaps with an MPEG-4 receiver there might be other broadcasts.

Mike has channels listed, on that satellite, that use H-264 .and an S2 one... Agree with jorgek, 30w. Many more channels. Only a few use S2 or H-264. (See Mike's list)
Time to upgrade the receiver? Think so. Many are going to newer compression standards and switching to S2 to reduce their transponder rental cost. Especially on the CONUS satellites.

 

[spongella]

Thanks guys for the responses. Yes I get Hispasat, great bird with lots of channels, my favorite next to Gal 19. Telstar is my Eastern-most satellite so I like the challenge of going as East as possible. None of my motors/STB will work that far East so I do it with a stationary dish. Years ago they had about 6 channels.
Sponge

 

[Pixl]

Years ago they had about 6 channels.
Sponge

A couple of years ago about 12 premium channels opened up and lasted about two months.
Sponge, of the channels you are getting which is the strongest? I need to re-point my T-12 dish and my sat meter does not do S-2 signals making it difficult to find this bird.

 

[spongella]

PIXL,

Yes a few years back this satellite carried Al Alam, MSNBC, and of course TPAI which has been on several years. The signal I'd aim for is TPAI/RTVGE which is: 11964/v/14734.
Usually when aiming my dish I first locate Hispasat, then mark the pole where you find it. That is your azimuth reference point for 30W. Then move the dish East while lowering the elevation angle and look for the strongest signal. And that should be Telstar.


Sponge

 

[Pixl]

Usually when aiming my dish I first locate Hispasat, then mark the pole where you find it. That is your azimuth reference point for 30W. Then move the dish East while lowering the elevation angle and look for the strongest signal. And that should be Telstar.

That is how I found it first time around. I'm using a 1.2m Channel Master mounted upside down. The elevation markings are now inside out and backwards. Finally found 30w and knew where I was. My neighbor hit the dish with his riding lawnmower, I didn't dare complain since he was mowing my lawn when I had a bum knee. Now that I'm getting around again I'm ready to do the re-alignment. Your info on a good TP will help. Thanks.

 

[jorgek]

By the way to get my dish to point down to 10 degrees I did not have to invert it. Try tilting the mast/mounting pole instead. Still it does look strange having the dish pointing at the ground.