Got my Dreamcatcher but cannot keep a lock

Wait and see - - works here.

Even with my FTA LNB/dish, my SNR sometimes drop by 6 dB from my nominal -6 dB to -12 dB here in Annapolis, MD. Not an issue here when other go RED - - I go YELLOW… It has got to be a satellite transmit related issue. Ken

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konrad roeder

from twitter @WA4OSH

DreamCatcher Status for WA4OSH-7 CN87wn
Stream= files
SNR (dBm)= -13.5
Lock= no
RSSI (dBm)= -79
Freq. (MHz)= 11902.4
Freq. Offset (Hz)= 0

No lock. Why?
–Konrad, WA4OSH

I get from this.
Looking at back of LNB, toward satellite:
If LNB skew is a minus value, turn counter-clockwise.
If LNB skew is a plus value, turn clockwise.

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still seeing a lock… but -9 to -11 with the dish… not the norm. Usually way lower.

-l

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Whole country is in trouble now at 1123 EDT Wed May 16. Ken

trouble

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@Syed
thoughts?
-liam

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That puts it succinctly. Yes.

Looking at LNB, toward satellite (if no dish, this is the back of the LNB. If you are using a dish, you will see the front of the LNB). Either way,

If LNB skew is a minus value, turn counter-clockwise.
If LNB skew is a plus value, turn clockwise.

This works whether you have a dish or not.

–Konrad, WA4OSH

I don’t see that the whole country is in trouble. The SNR on our receiver is still -13, which is normal. I think reception issues are all local in nature. We could increase the spreading factor, but that would significantly reduce the bitrate.

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@Syed, there was a drastic change in the last two days. Now my SNR hovers around -15 and I don’t have lock anymore. Have you changed anything on the uplink?

–Konrad, WA4OSH

There has been no change in the uplink, though we have been receiving regular reports of inclement weather at the teleport, which is located outside of Washington, DC. Garbage in(to the satellite); garbage out. But it’s odd that we see no change here.

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You’re blessed. OK - - you have localized the problem to the teleport. Yes, Washington,DC, is having weather problems now (I live 30 miles away in Maryland at 2111 EDT May 16). So this all starts to make sense. Ken

It all depends upon where the uplink is located. Ken

Again at 2129 EDT 16 May, bad weather here in DC at this time

teleport

is occurring, and CONUS – - signal SNRs are lower.

Let’s not get our knickers twisted over something out of our control. Ken

Tuesday night here in Washington, DC, (at Dulles where I think the up link SES antenna is located) flights to Europe were delayed over 4 hours. Ken

PS - I like thinking I found a logical answer to a problem.

I also upgraded from Skylark 5.1 to 5.2. For a while it did look like the whole country was having difficulty with the signals.

–Konrad, WA4OSH

The teleport is in Woodbine.

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I’m looking at the down link side which is poor based on my usual operation

down

But it is raining like crazy here in Annapolis, MD, and Virginia. This is all starting to make sense. Ken

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@Syed, I can’t find a previous snapshot of the Outernet signal I’ve taken, but here’s today’s Outernet Sat Signature

–Konrad, WA4OSH

Perhaps some help interpreting that for those of us that aren’t engineers?

I think I know what I’m seeing, but some reassurance and education would be good for all of us.

thx,
-liam