Update to North American UHF Satcom guide

[blaze]

I've updated the North American UHF Satcom guide, based on new surveys just completed from the east and west coasts.

Not much has changed; a few transponders have gone missing over the Pacific, and a couple new signals have appeared, but the 243-270 spectrum is mostly the same as it was a few months ago. And pirates, Russian mobile phones, and broadcast leakage remain the main source of (unintended) clear traffic.

UHF SATCOM Downlinks Receivable in North America

 

[SCPD]

Thanks for the info blaze! Your satcom guide is a very useful tool especially for us on the lant side of things here on the East Coast. Skynet 5C,Milstar and FLTSAT-8 are the birds buzzing with tons of pirate activity here from my neck of the woods!

 

[Darth_vader]

I just have a pull-out (telescoping) whip aerial that I can use with my PRO-2004 and my PRO-98, although I can also use a rabbit-ears with a suitable F-BNC adaptor. Are these sufficient to receive these sorts of birds? I ask because I'm on an extremely tight budget, I travel around with radio equipment a lot, often to different areas of town on the Mongoose, and I'll potentially be moving back into an apartment at some point later in the year (and the landlord might not be particularly keen on tenants using outdoor aerials, probably not even the kind suggested on Mr. Blaze's page.)

General rule of thumb: if it doesn't fit easily in a milk crate mounted on the handlebars, it ain't practical. ;o)

 

[blaze]

I just have a pull-out (telescoping) whip aerial that I can use with my PRO-2004 and my PRO-98, although I can also use a rabbit-ears with a suitable F-BNC adaptor. Are these sufficient to receive these sorts of birds? I ask because I'm on an extremely tight budget, I travel around with radio equipment a lot, often to different areas of town on the Mongoose, and I'll potentially be moving back into an apartment at some point later in the year (and the landlord might not be particularly keen on tenants using outdoor aerials, probably not even the kind suggested on Mr. Blaze's page.)

General rule of thumb: if it doesn't fit easily in a milk crate mounted on the handlebars, it ain't practical. ;o)

You may be able to get away with a small whip antenna as long as you're outdoors with an unobstructed line of sight to the satellite (and in the sat's primary footprint).

You give your location as Vancouver (Washington, I presume). In that case, you're in the footprint for CONUS and PAC region satellites. A good test would be 255.550, which usually has a great deal of Brazilian pirate activity on the CONUS bird in the early evening Pacific time. You'll want to be somewhere with a relatively unobstructed view to the horizon to the southeast, and you'll probably need to spend some time orienting your antenna for a good signal level.

 

[Darth_vader]

Thanks. Pulled out all the way, the aerial's 2 1/2" long, with no loading coil/resonator. (It's the one that was attached to the 2004 when I pulled it off the shelf at Goodwill.) I need to get a better one, regardless.

Yeah, Washington ("America's Vancouver"). I know of a spot just outside of town with an excellent southern panoramic view (http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=45.590077&lon=-122.474207&z=18&m=bs) that'd probably be decent for this sort of thing. Just have to wait for a clear day, since the weather's gone to dog s--- the last few days.

By "early evening", approximately what are we talking about, 1600-1700 Pacific, what?

 

[Darth_vader]

^-- Not sure how far within the bird's footprint that particular site pictured at the Wikimapia link is, though.

 

[Darth_vader]

Hey blaze, I just came across the old "reel-to-reel" longwire (~12' fully extended) that I got with the Yacht Boy and the TRS-BNC adaptor I bought ages ago to use it with the scanner. Do you think that might work for picking up satellites?

 

[W9NES]

I've updated the North American UHF Satcom guide, based on new surveys just completed from the east and west coasts.

Not much has changed; a few transponders have gone missing over the Pacific, and a couple new signals have appeared, but the 243-270 spectrum is mostly the same as it was a few months ago. And pirates, Russian mobile phones, and broadcast leakage remain the main source of (unintended) clear traffic.

UHF SATCOM Downlinks Receivable in North America

What mode is this is it NFM, WFM,? Please advise, Thank You.

 

[mancow]

It depends on the user of the system.