Lost Satellite, Satlink WS-6979

One of the possibilities is that the satellite has encountered 20 tons of sand travelling in a counter-orbit.

Wasn't that the Soviets' answer to the idea of placing powerful lasers into orbit as part of Reagan's 'Star Wars' initiative? Sand? 20 tons as I recall, in a counter-rotating orbit.

Some red faces in Washington over that one. They'd become so enamoured with their high-tech they couldn't see the obvious, low-tech countermeasures.

Dang sand storms. I have lived in those much of my life, and I hate them. I would never make on Mars, with a year long sandstorm.

NSS-6' operational status shows as 'active' but also be aware that as of December 2016 it is at the very end of its expected operational life.

I would check some other local forums to see if the problem is just you, or the satellite is experiencing technical difficulties...

Do you remember where you placed it last time you saw it?

Just kidding, sounds like you need to change both zenith and azimuth, not just azimuth...this thing does have a dish, does it not? Also the LNB needs to be oriented properly with respect to field polarization, and also at the correct focal distance, I believe.

Did you do a ringer test on the coax? That quality 0 message says to me you are indeed amplifying some noise, and not signal.

Don't bother with forums, it is just you, obviously. Or call up a buddy and have him give you signal parameters on his uplink/downlink.

Cheers. I was not sure how much bearing the LNB polarization would effect my results. The tech info advises approx. 50 degrees yet it was at 40 degrees when I attended site and I don't have enough experience/support to know if this would be enough to give me the poor results I am seeing.

Yeah, there is a 120cm dish, 17.3 degree offset. The site was working up until about 10 weeks ago, and all hardware is still there. Haven't had any cows or goats eat anything. The installation is for data comms to a work scada system. The interwebs indicates that NSS6 also provides free to air TV so I was pondering trying to 'tune' a TV signal in the hope that this may be a little easier. Is this worth a try?

As NSS-6 is geostationary, it should be visible at all times within its coverage footprint (those faint ovals), so what do you suppose the coloured area means in this map?

The coloured area moves around the oval throughout the day.

Even though the satellite is technically visible from all points within the oval, possibly its onboard antennae are directional and so their coverage varies as the satellite precesses/nutates? If this is the case (which seems kind of weird, though it may be a result of the satellite's being at the end of its service life and its thrusters are out of fuel/reaction wheels aren't working?), possibly your attempts to get a signal will work only when that coloured area blankets Australia?

Is that where the sand is?

Lol! Yeah, maybe it's beached. GA

Yes. Also, inspect the dish for bird poo.