News from a 28e revenant :O)

4wd said:
Zero problems, all UK's 9 to 13 dB > weather-time of day-E-F-G variations.
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propagation improving after autumn equinox!
 
Very good reception here


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... and all comes to an end, this year's great South France cottage holiday (+ lots of work on the terrain).
28e Reception has been very good all along.
Dish and lnb's in house, cabling well secured against water, all will be ready for a successful next year.

Picture, the sad, lonely remnants waiting for someone to bring it all back to life :O)

Edit... about the "holiday", my Cote d'Azur selfie. not once went to the coast to look at the sea ou la Promenade des Anglais, so much to do up here in the mountain side :O) still cleaning up the river past my house after the storm Alex some years ago. Tons and tons of boulders and debris to cut up and move away, if nothing done the riverbed will change course towards the house\fundaments. Been great to work hard for some weeks, and that machine made the impossible possible, cutting things up into weights one manages to move. What you see on the picture and much, much more is now all gone, became the middle of a new riverbed. All done, cut up, carried away, by hand, no practical possibility to bring in any heavy machinery.
 

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Back in my mountain valley hideout in south France, dragged out the 130 (x140) from the cellar. Mounted on the pole made some years ago, happy to see the extra work \ concrete \ time spent made it 100% stable over the years. And the underground cabling intact (approx 15m, 2 cables in 1" solid pvc pipes).

Usual quick setup with the trusted old needle meter, found 28e easily. Initial tests shows the uk beams are 'still here', with e\f\g variations. Will let it settle down for some time, get the wifi\phone app running to try to squeeze out a dB or 2 more, then the final bolt tightening.

And the 'antique' Vu solo2 fired up immediately, a dozen years or so old, still works like new, provides everything needed.
 

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Nice to read you re back. Here the sandy winds (Calima) are a pain in the neck,yesternight nothing... 2 days ago most UK were there...
 
Got the excellent Signal Meter app running, looks like got dish alignment\levels as good as what dish size manages in this location. Useable BBC's etc, 2F uk's weaker and staying just below any steady lock.

But... a tree has been steadily growing and expanding, it's quite close and in direct line. Was no problem years ago, now seeing level variations with even light wind, sure sign of branches\leaves moving and in the way. Very probably a few dB's to be harvested there. Will report after getting hold of my trusted tree-climber guy to get branches down.
 

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4wd said:
But... a tree has been steadily growing and expanding, it's quite close and in direct line. Was no problem years ago, now seeing level variations with even light wind, sure sign of branches\leaves moving and in the way. Very probably a few dB's to be harvested there. Will report after getting hold of my trusted tree-climber guy to get branches down.
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We've got the same problem with my parents' house in Finland with a tree blocking 13E for Kabelio. At first it was just a bit of breakup when the wind blew, but last summer it was almost constant breakup or weak signals even with a light breeze. It's been fine over winter without the leaves but once the leaves come out again this year I'm going to have to see if I can move the dishes about a bit and find a gap or get someone in to do a bit of pruning.

When we moved into the house in 1993 I had a clear view from 68E to 45W from the roof but over the years it's gone down to just 28E-19E! :eek:
 
4wd said:
Got the excellent Signal Meter app running, looks like got dish alignment\levels as good as what dish size manages in this location. Useable BBC's etc, 2F uk's weaker and staying just below any steady lock.

But... a tree has been steadily growing and expanding, it's quite close and in direct line. Was no problem years ago, now seeing level variations with even light wind, sure sign of branches\leaves moving and in the way. Very probably a few dB's to be harvested there. Will report after getting hold of my trusted tree-climber guy to get branches down.
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Why not add an extra metre to the pole ?
 
Channel Hopper said:
Why not add an extra metre to the pole ?
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Been thinking about that but 3 things: wind \ tree will catch up \ vastly prefer absolute ground level (easy adjustments).

+ tree getting quite big\high close to the house > danger in heavy storm. On top it started to cut out sun on the terrasse.
 
So, two metres to the pole, some supports and save the cost of a tree surgeon with a bit of your own pruning.
 
Channel Hopper said:
save the cost of a tree surgeon with a bit of your own pruning.
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Nope, maybe 20 years ago. Tree way too tall, needs someone in the business, with security \ climbing equipment and knowing how to deal with chainsaws while suspended.

Got a local guy that fixes such things for a very reasonable fee, much better than 6 months in hospital, or worse.
And keeping the dish at ground level is primordial, to stand firmly on the ground doing all the repetitive fine-tuning needed here for 28e.
 
Down S. France 28E should be quite a bit higher in the sky than in the UK. And that tree looks fairly low to be a signal blocker. Do you have a satellite line of sight app on your phone that you could check?
 
Captain Jack said:
Down S. France 28E should be quite a bit higher in the sky than in the UK. And that tree looks fairly low to be a signal blocker. Do you have a satellite line of sight app on your phone that you could check?
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Photo just gives an approximate idea, it's become massive. Over the red line was not there some time ago, signal has been degrading as that tree has been growing. I can watch up to many dB fluctuation as it's branches moves in the wind. No line of sight app, am clear of the hill tops, knowing the place after 20 years of dish use.

And anyway, as mentionned, got to control it, tree is a danger for the house if falling in one of the heavy winds that sometimes comes through this valley.
 
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Fair enough - trees are a PITA. My eastern side is completely overgrown with neighbours trees, highly infuriating.
 
^^^ About line of sight, the 28e eu beam says all well, same for 19e. It's the weakness of the uk beam here that needs all and every tweak and help (trees, leaves, lnb tests, mm nudging, finding e\f\g balance etc).

Probably a larger dish would counteract the growing tree problem, but do not want to deal with anything larger \ heavier (mounting \ dismounting every year), and the tree is the actual problem, all was well before it found out it wanted to grow a few meters.

Captain Jack said:
My eastern side is completely overgrown with neighbours trees, highly infuriating.
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Sorry for that, understanding well. Am lucky here, as the only problem is on my own property.
 

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Maybe this can help:
 
4wd said:
Photo just gives an approximate idea, it's become massive. Over the red line was not there some time ago, signal has been degrading as that tree has been growing. I can watch up to many dB fluctuation as it's branches moves in the wind. No line of sight app, am clear of the hill tops, knowing the place after 20 years of dish use.

And anyway, as mentionned, got to control it, tree is a danger for the house if falling in one of the heavy winds that sometimes comes through this valley.
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Sand-loaded high winds are also cutting off 28E reception quite often this year!Everytime wind blows from the South bingo!!
 
rodscha said:
Sand-loaded high winds are also cutting off 28E reception quite often this year!Everytime wind blows from the South bingo!!
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Surely sand does not go well with sat reception ! Never reacted to any sandy wind here north of Cannes, only seen a slight orange dust a few times on the white garden chairs.

Regarding your periodic loss of channels, sure the dish is adjusted & optimised to the max? How is your eu beam reception? In your region should be as good as here = 100+% "melting the lnb". Impression is if ones does not get the eu's at full blast, it's a sure sign of diminished chances for any reliable uk reception.

Am always starting with getting the eu's to show max snr\dB, then the uk beams will be nearly ready to grab, some fine dish nudging, strongest ones very easy (f.ex. 10818v), weakest ones after some work. Just got that elusive 12129 V 'U&' 2F to show up. Lowish 7 (close to cutout) to 9 dB varying by time of day etc, quite sure will see a few more dB's after adjusting for better e\f\g compromise + getting that tree under control.

And some lnb's tested each year, again the Black Ultra's (got single, duo, quad) are the absolute worst in my collection when it comes to dealing with very low levels.
 
I get the EU beam full blast even on a 75cms dish. It never varies.
 
^^^ That's the sure sign one is at least in the right direction, and a good point for starting finetuning for the uk's.
 
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