SatSig topic:

Interference on C band

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May 28^th, 2007 at 12:59pm

Hello Eric,

A friend of mine had a bad experience installing a C band antenna recently, somewhere in Nigeria. He could not lock on the satellite. He concluded that there was interference in the area. He drew his conclusion from a similar installation that was done on the same rooftop but has cease to work!! Is it possible to have bad microwave interference to block your downlink from the satellite ? He tried pointing to other satellite, but he got the same result ? What do you think could be the problem ?

May 28^th, 2007 at 4:02pm

C band interference is a possibility. The same frequencies may be used for terrestrial radio relay links and possibly new C band services ref: https://www.satsig.net/itu/c-band-spectrum.htm There is also the possibility of interference from radar systems which may be on close by frequencies but at very high power. Can you see any obvious source of interference such as radio relay link tower, airport radar etc.

The only way I know to definitely diagnose this problem is with a spectrum analyser. You might try a simple satellite signal power meter and connect it to an LNB and feed and then try holding the LNB/feed and pointing it in all directions around, and straight up for a cold sky reference. If the meter is sufficiently sensitive, you will see the warm ground if you point it down or at walls/trees. You can walk around and measure the C band radio noise coming from anything. Do the same in some radio quiet location and compare results.

If it really is interference you need to hide the dish like so: https://www.satsig.net/satellite/reducing-interference-satellite-tv.htm

I would also consider the possibility of some misunderstanding regarding frequency, polarisation, pointing etc. Is the LNB actually working properly?. Does the LNB and modem work normally at other locations ? Is the dish correctly assembled (e.g. upside down or wrong feed strut arm holes ?). Is the satellite direction obstructed by overhead power wires, walls, trees ? Is there an earthing problem such that mains voltages occur between the roof metal work and the indoor modem earth ? Take care. A spurious stray 30 to 50 volts AC could give you a shock and also damage LNBs. Use a thick earth cable between the dish structure and the indoor modem rack earth. A thick lightning earth is also recommended but beware stray mains voltages between the real earth and the building metal !
wxw
Best regards, Eric.