Astra 1N - made it to geostationary orbit, now the fun starts

[remlap]

Definitely seeing the modulation or whatever it is come on and off.

 

[Pietclock]

Hi all,
I get strong signals at 10818V, 10847V, considerably weaker at 11112V, very strong at 11694V and VERY strong at 12491V.

also very strong at 10818H, a lot weaker at 10847H, very strong at 11112H, strongest signal at 11706H, weak signal at 12383H and bit stronger at 12494H (but a lot weaker than 12491V).

It seems the Spot beam is not being tested yet, as reports from the UK show the same different signal levels.

 

[solly]

the low band it uk spot beam

 

[Pietclock]

Why do you think so? Is it considerably weaker at your QTH?

 

[Analoguesat]

Can someone confirm hr orbital slot being used atm

 

[Pietclock]

it is around 1.5-2°E, can't define it more exactly.

 

[strs65]

Why do you think so? Is it considerably weaker at your QTH?

They are here. Some of the reported frequencies I can't even see, some have weak signal, and the four I reported earlier are quite strong.

 

[Pietclock]

so you cannot get 10818V and 10852V in Greece ? They are quite strong here, which would be strange for the spot beam as I am quite far away from the officially served area. The signals are also stronger than those I get from Astra 2D (which are still strong enough to get a good signal during rain).

11692V is just a bit stronger than those too, 12491V however delivers a VERY strong signal here, even stronger than all those sats on 19 east...

11704H is also a very strong carrier.

 

[Pietclock]

Here is my spectrum with 125cm:

View attachment 43533

 

[park_gate]

so you cannot get 10818V and 10852V in Greece ? They are quite strong here, which would be strange for the spot beam as I am quite far away from the officially served area. The signals are also stronger than those I get from Astra 2D (which are still strong enough to get a good signal during rain).

11692V is just a bit stronger than those too, 12491V however delivers a VERY strong signal here, even stronger than all those sats on 19 east...

11704H is also a very strong carrier.

Don't forget it is not at the final position so you might find different results when it goes into service. Also don't forget there a 3 beam patterns and it would make sense to test all three beams but it's difficult to know what you are looking at at the moment.

So does out of area reception look promising?

Terry

 

[strs65]

so you cannot get 10818V and 10852V in Greece ? They are quite strong here, which would be strange for the spot beam as I am quite far away from the officially served area. The signals are also stronger than those I get from Astra 2D (which are still strong enough to get a good signal during rain).

11692V is just a bit stronger than those too, 12491V however delivers a VERY strong signal here, even stronger than all those sats on 19 east...

11704H is also a very strong carrier.

I can't tell about the whole Greece, there is a great difference (and distance) in reception for many satellites from south to north, but here in west Crete I do not see those two frequencies. On the other hand, there are 3 beams on Astra 1N (spot, pan European 1 and 2), and none of them officially at this moment cover my area. So the observed differences could stem from those latter beams, pan European 1 and 2, and not the spot beam.

This is what I see here...

 

[Pietclock]

yeah, and there is that steerable 4th beam at the satellite, SES are not talking about at all. But it's there, EADS tells us at their page.

 

[xenon]

Do we know which transponders will be for uk beam.

 

[solly]

the the beam very weak in tel aviv
10862h receiver 3.8m maybe uk spot

 

[Analoguesat]

yeah, and there is that steerable 4th beam at the satellite, SES are not talking about at all. But it's there, EADS tells us at their page.

Ive asked SES on their FB page

 

[xenon]

yeah, and there is that steerable 4th beam at the satellite, SES are not talking about at all. But it's there, EADS tells us at their page.

From eads:

Astra 1N will operate 55 Ku-band transponders at 130W RF power. The spacecraft will have three deployable antennas with diameter up to 2.6m and one top-floor steerable 1.3m antenna.

 

[Pietclock]

yeah, those three 2.6m dishes are clear, one is RX, one is for the spot beam and one is for the two pan-European beams (different illumination patterns I guess).

The steerable is a bit mysterous. Actually it is too small for a Ku Band Spotbeam, you dont get the gain. So my first guess was it is for Ka Band which isnt mentioned at all in officiall documents.

 

[xenon]

I think it is for ka-band.Astra2connect will use ka-band.

 

[Pietclock]

strange SES are not bragging about that, they usually do.

 

[dvdfilm]

so you cannot get 10818V and 10852V in Greece ? They are quite strong here, which would be strange for the spot beam as I am quite far away from the officially served area. The signals are also stronger than those I get from Astra 2D (which are still strong enough to get a good signal during rain).

This would correspond to the 'unofficial' Astra 1N footprint map that was leaked a few months ago,where Germany was well covered.
How stronger is the signal in relation to 2D,in terms of dish size?