In this case study, we will outline a recent project we completed in Sydney’s CBD for a long-time client to upgrade their C-band satellite dish. We also outline the options available for customers to receive free international TV channels by installing a C-band satellite dish.
3.0 Metre Satellite Dish Installation
The building manager at this 50 storey apartment building in the middle of Sydney’s CBD called Nu Life TV Antenna to provide a free quote to fix international Chinese TV channels at their building. With a large number of international occupants, the building had received over 10 Chinese TV channels for many years.
Following recent bad weather (possibly including hail), it was clear that the existing mesh satellite dish was damaged beyond repair. There were a number of holes in the mesh and the arms supporting the LNB had been broken loose.
Nu Life TV Antenna provided a free quote to replace the damaged dish with a new 3.0m heavy duty mesh satellite and a new dual output LNB with an in-built 5G filter. Once given approval, Nu Life TV Antenna completed the physical installation within 1 week, which was an exceptional turnaround given the only 3.0m satellite dishes in the country had to be shipped from interstate.
A 3.0m satellite dish is a big dish! The 2 man team that completed the installation was able to make use of the existing dish mount (not damaged) and one existing cable run to the headend in the communications room on the level below.
Distribution To Apartment Building Occupants
Once the physical installation was completed, the QPSK to COFDM Terra transmodulators were required to be re-programmed. Given the previous installation used an ‘OCS LNB’ (ie a One Cable Solution used to stack Vertical polarity transponders on a higher Horizontal frequency), the new Dual Output LNB delivered Horizontal and Vertical polarity transponders on separate cables.
With a new cable run completed, the input frequency on the Terra tdx311c modules (part of a Terra MMH3000 headend) were adjusted to ensure all channels were restored and multiplexed into the building’s existing SMATV system.
Using the building’s existing RF distribution equipment (also used for a KU band and digital Free To Air TV), the Chinese TV channels were integrated and distributed to all TV points in the 50 storey building.
In this case, the C-band dish was pointed to the AsiaSat 6B satellite, which is located at 115.5° East, with the satellite dish Azimuth & Elevation from site: 308° & 35°.
Channels received with the modulators provided included:
- Fujian TV
- Hunan TV (multiple channels on the single transponder mux)
- Shanghai Media Group
- CCTV (China Central Television) channels CCTV 2, CCTV 17, CCTV 10, CCTV 11, CCTV 12, CCTV 15, CCTV 4 Asia, CGTN, CGTN Français, CGTN Español, CGTN Russkij, CGTN Arabic, CGTN Documentary
- Henan TV
Free International TV Channels
Whilst it has been more popular in years gone by, there are still a large number of unencrypted free TV channels available to receive via satellite. There are C-band satellite dish channels and KU-band satellite dish channels available to anyone based in Sydney (or Australia for that matter).
Without providing a full list, LyngSat provides a relatively up to date list of all channels that are able to be received. At the time of writing, this list includes channels from the following countries:
- China
- Korea
- Indonesia
- India
- Portugal
- Spain
- France
- Russia
- Many other channels available
If you would like to learn more, feel free to give us a call or send an email outlining your requirements and we will provide you with the various options available to suit your needs.
