All BBC digital channels will be FTA on Astra 2D

[rolfw]

Sound slike you may be in luck then Leonard.

 

[BarMoo]

Originally posted by leonardwolk
This will be great, the two missing channels I've always wanted, finally I can get them.

What two missing channels?

If I were you, I would certainly check again whether you really need a 120cm dish: its certainly the minimum size for Berlin (sic) which is in east germany.

Regards,

Mark.

 

[leonardwolk]

Originally posted by mljgmljg
What two missing channels?

If I were you, I would certainly check again whether you really need a 120cm dish: its certainly the minimum size for Berlin (sic) which is in east germany.

Regards,

Mark.

Berlin is by far more east than NRW.

Well checking out the ITV/Astra 2D thread, I'll get the channels with a 1m dish, and by the way, I live just outside Düsseldorf.

 

[BarMoo]

@ leonardwolk,

I would still love to know about these missing channels you spoke of :-)

Regards,

Mark.

 

[iceman]

Originally posted by zansi
The good news is that any digital receiver should be capable of reception of BBC, providing it is within the footprint of 2D.

The bad news is for all the East and South European's who do not at present receive ITV (which is on 2D) will lose their BBC!!:mad:

I am still confused about all this..
My location is Cyprus & i use 4.2m prime focus dish for SKY.
I have reasonably good signal & no problems with ITV on 2D (10832H Tp49) but zero signal on ITV2 (10906V Tp54)
actually,no signal on Tp50,51,52,53,54,55,56...Tp49 seems to be the only working Tp off 2D on my part of the world..(with 4.2m)

iceman

 

[Cordless]

mljgmljg,

I presume Leonardwolk means BBC1 & 2.
Of course he will also be able to get BBC News 24. BBC 3 & 4.
There is also CBBC & CBeebies for children.

The problem with the BBC broadcasting without encryption is that English is a second language for most people and will attract a lot of attention.

 

[2old4this]

Iceman -
transponder strengths do vary, and there can also be variation dependent on the polarisation of the signal.

But have a look at the footprint of the 2D beam:

http://www.ses-astra.com/satellites/footprints_new.php?value=4&sat=15

Fact is, you're so far outside it you're lucky to be getting anything at all regardless of how big your dish is (and 4.2m is bloody big... where I come from we'd call it an eclipse).

2old

 

[zansi]

In the Algarve, South Portugal, well out of the footprint, 2D is fine 95% of the time on a 1.3m offset with .6db lnb

This must be down to a side lobe as if you view the footprint from Astra (see link on 2old's post) reception cuts off @ Northern Spain.

Anyone any views on this anomoly?

 

[Expat]

Yes, why not there seems to be sidelobes in Sweden and italy, Astra 2d even been picked up in Cyprus!

 

[iceman]

I must say,i am surprised that people are amazed at ITV reception from Cyprus.I do not know the technical explenation to this but i reckon 2old's quote "transponder strengths do vary, and there can also be variation dependent on the polarisation of the signal" is the most logical.

I sell & install these large petalised dishes for Astra28 reception.
I have tested on various types of large dishes but all except this model failed on ITV.!!

iceman

http://icebox.freeservers.com/cgi-bin/i/images/dcp03720.jpg
http://icebox.freeservers.com/cgi-bin/i/images/tilmo.jpg
http://icebox.freeservers.com/cgi-bin/i/images/mydish.jpg

 

[BarMoo]

I have never seen an LNB look so small

Have Fun,

Mark.

 

[rolfw]

LOL, yes I thought that as well Mark

PS. have you lost a lot of posts? I moved some threads around and some people lost a lot from their post count..

 

[Expat]

I have finaly got hold of a second hand 1.25 prime focus dish. It has not been used for some time, has no lnb or ground mount. Can any one tell me if I can use a normal lnb with this dish or do I need a special one for prime focus dishes? What is the best type of ground mount?

 

[rolfw]

Hi Expat, a C120 LNB and feed will be required and a 3 inch pole would probably suffice as a ground mount.

 

[T_G]

I am actually a bit confused by the problems some German viewers have. I live south of Bonn, and that is way south of Berlin and I don't have ANY problems viewing all the BBC1,2 ITV, CH4 and CH5. I can tune in to get all ITV regional variations, and all this with a rather old and rusty second hand 80 offset dish and a standard 0.6 LNB...

The only problems I had to begin with, that the card did not manage to authorise all these channels, but when I got the pre authorised card it was all ok.

 

[BarMoo]

It should also be noted that Bonn is significantly further west than Berlin (by at least 400 km in fact).

Have Fun,

Mark.

 

[rolfw]

Yep, looking at the map, that 400 km certainly makes a difference, nice beer from the south western area as well

 

[rolfw]

Here's the footprint for 2D

 

[T_G]

OK, Berlin is 480 Km away. But why be negative?? It is only 300 Miles

Anyway, I have included the colour –dish-dish size legend to the map Rolf has posted earlier.
From that it is clearly visible that Berlin needs a dish much bigger than mine. But Dusseldorf should not be a problem, it is on Latitude 51.3 North and Longitude 6.7 east. Just to compare, I am on 50.5 north and 7.3 east. The dish size I got is 66 x 57 cm offset, and the signal strength I get on the D 100 is between 75-80%. Looking at the map, I am inside the green area (75CM dish)

Even though the footprint map is not very clear, you can more or less draw an arc starting from Saarbrücken in the south, towards Koblenz-Dortmund-Oldenburg. Everything west from that should not have a problem. Anything east of that, still no problem but bigger dish.
The one thing that I noticed being in the “Green” area is that I should have a 75 cm dish, but mine is smaller- still get excellent reception. This would also explain why Berlin can use a 120 Dish, even though on the footprint it is not even on.

 

[Cordless]

It is obvious that as the footprint stands many people in Europe will be able to receive the BBC channels on modest size dishes.
In the future however (I'm pretty sure in saying) Astra will use the same frequencies that 2D uses for Eastern Europe as well.
This will cause interference for the central area as they will pick up a dual signal, basically wiping it out! Western France, Holland and Iceland will be OK but Germany will lose out. I'm sure the Astra Satellite 1K that was destroyed a few months ago was going to try these "dual" transmissions. Although of course that would have been a 19E satellite!