The engineer has at last given up after nearly four hours working on my aerial today. We can see the satellite and are getting -44dBm signal strength but only 6.2dB carrier to noise. This is baffling, accidentally lining up on an adjacent satellite we got 12 – 14 dBm without trying. Engineer says he can lock on to a strong signal from satellites much further east but this one has defeated him. One possible explanation is that the tip of a tree is interrupting the signal, so I’m going to follow this up, though if the tree in question happens to be in a neglected local wood, I’ve had it. The owner refuses to discuss the wood with anyone.
So, two questions; could I expect any improvement with a larger dish? I am currently at one metre and have room to go a bit larger. Secondly if I cut my losses and went back to data from the polar orbiters with a turnstile or quadrifilar aerial would the investment be worth it – not sure about the life of these satellites. Will the LRPT data be available for a while? I would, however, really miss all the interesting and useful data that I have had so far.
Robert