Astra 1N - Canary Islands reception reports

[barryt]

Thanks to all for these interesting posts.

I returned from GC last wednesday and as I left for the airport, I was chatting to a neighbour who had just had intstalled a 1.8 metre dish with which he claims to receive all freesat SD and HD channels and presumably sly with a subscription!

This left me confused as I did not believe this was possible but, I had no time to check it out further.

He advised it was fitted by Eur*Cub*s from San Fernando at a cost of 680 euros and suspect BLUEPLATINUM will know of this company.

If its that easy and that cheap I will get one as soon as I get back but, I remain suspicious that its not some form of repeater system.

I would be pleased to learn if anyone elses has come across a dish system of this type.

As I have not had time to update my profile, I have the following:-

1.2m facarro dish with mondeal quad lnb for 28E, 1 metre fibre dish with dual lnb for 19E & 13E, and a 0.5 mesh dish for 30W
Old panasonic slybox, DM800HD and DM500 with each with varying subscriptions.

Cheers,
barryt

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

It is now possible to receive all of the Astra 1N transmissions here with a 1.8m dish. HOWEVER around the end of the year Astra 1N is being moved and these channels will be transmitted for Astra 2F.

The beam on 1N which forms the "UK Spot" is actually meant for the Iberian peninsula and Canary Islands. It is possible we are only receiving it because of overspill from the, currently offset, Canarian lobe.

I would not therefore make any major investment until 2F goes live.

Also, if a lot of the encrypted channels from 2A and 2B North move to 2F pan-European (2A and 2B are being withdrawn from service soon) then those with small dishes and Sky subscriptions will start to receive a lot more channels than they do now. This could even include ITV 2, 3 & 4 HD.

A lot is going to change when 2F goes live !!!

 

[milestone 11]

I have perfect reception of ITV 2,3 and 4 HD now, 118-120 on the EPG.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

I have perfect reception of ITV 2,3 and 4 HD now, 118-120 on the EPG.

Yes, but sadly thinGs are different in Gran Canaria.

 

[barryt]

Many thanks BLUEPLATINUM for your advice and information, I guessed there must be a catch.

You will know the Telefonica broadband speed is useless in the south of GC so I am using the Blend wifi system and this works well.

Your wait and see advice is wise so, I will just have to continue to make do with my slingbox and slingcatcher setup, which is fine for UK terrestrial channels.

Thanks again
regards
barryt

 

[FRINGE]

You will know the Telefonica broadband speed is useless in the south of GC so I am using the Blend wifi system and this works well.

Hi barryt

I'm interested in your comment re Blend wifi. We are in Tenerife and do not have land lines where we are, so use a wimax system from Navegatel for our internet. Its better than what we had before (Telefonica dongle) but its not great, certainly no good for streaming video.

Cant seem to find anything on Google re Blend wifi. Can you tell me more please.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

Blend is WiMax. My friend gets 10 Mbs and uses it to watch TV. It only works well with clear line of site to the base station though and some people here have problems with it (generally, not just for watching TV). -www.blend.es

 

[barryt]

Hi,

With Blend wifi I get around 7.5 Mbps which is fine for streaming but as BLUEPLATINUM says, it does sometimes have its problems which are generally cured by turning the system off for a few minutes and rebooting. Otherwise the engineer service has been good.

I understand its owned by a Norwegian outfit also known as Cloudberry, which has been a victim of its own sucess, the take up has exceeded its expectations.
At 40 Euros a month including unlimited internet, 1000 minutes of European and Spanish calls and free calls to mobiles at weekends, I think its pretty good value.

Sorry, I dont know of a similar service in Tenerife

regards,
barryt

 

[FRINGE]

Thanks BLUEPLATINUM and barryt.

I have Wimax from a company called navegatel ( _http://www.navegatel.com/) but its only 1Mbs (unlimited) at 38 Euros/month with no other/additional services. So I will see if I can get this instead.



Update: Just contacted Blend, head office on Las Palmas. Unfortunately they do not operate yet in Tenerife but plan to do so later next year so will keep tabs on them.

 

[barryt]

FRINGE, at that price you would probably be better off using a 3G usb stick, it would be much faster, I think you could get a deal from Carrefour, Yoigo or Hits mobile for much less. I use Hits for my mobile as its only 7 cents a minute at all times and only 5 cents minute for calls to UK , check it out.

You could then use the stick with a Vonets wifi and in effect creat your own wifi system.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

I do not normally make predictions, but here is how I see the situation in the Canaries by the end of 2013.

The current Astra 1N channels (mainly FTA) will be on Astra 2F and will not be receivable here even with a "big dish", however the main PSB catch up services will all be on Sky Anytime+ and will therefore be available on a Sky+ HD box.

The encrypted Sky package will have moved from Astra 2A and Astra 2B to 2F Pan-European beam and will be available here on a small dish (thus including those currently on the "North" beams and currently available). The only channels not available here will be any that remain on Eutelsat 28A Steerable 1.

 

[barryt]

Thats an interesting prediction BLUEPLATINUM and seems logical give that, Mr Murdoch already makes his main sports channels readily available on a small dish.

In the meantime, I will stick with my trusty slingbox and, as as you suggested before, wait and see.

 

[Dan Dan]

i agree to a point ...but its going to be ALL UK PSB on UK SPOT BEAM and SKY etc on PAN-EUROPEAN BEAM

not a fag paper between them ....

 

[cheekymonkey]

Probably not too long to wait now. I guess the ultimate question will be how big a dish is needed for the 2F UK spot beam reception. I expect to see a lot of unhappy people who have shelled out 700€ for a 1.9mtr dish who will likely only get the same as they had before on their 1.2s.

Will 2.4 be enough.or will it mean at least 3 mtr or perhaps even larger? Or will those of us in the canarias be in a similar situation to cyprus under 1F and no chance of 2f uk spot?

Depending on how urgent 1F needs to get back to 19.2 then will we all be able to see the queens xmas speech this year?!

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

Even though it is public knowledge that 1N is very temporary there seem to be unscrupulous installers offering 1.8m dish solutions. Times are hard ... any opportunity to make a fast buck I guess.

 

[Dan Dan]

love to know who ...pm me ....do you know if miller rentals has sold out to CSTI ...rats leaving a sinking rebroadcast ship me thinks
also was surprised to find that EUROPA get there signal direct from a dish and not str8 from UK via internet ...

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

The SES pan-european beam footprint maps for 2F, 2E and 2G show dish sizes of 120cm, 90cm and 90cm respectively for the Canary Islands. This is also supported by their Google earth app.


Can this be right? Why bother having a Canary Islands lobe designed into 2F it it requires a much bigger dish the other two beams? And why not provide backward compatibility for existing dishes - the existing Canary Islands lobe at this orbital position (from ASTRA 2A and 2 is rated at 90cm?

 

[trigger]

The SES pan-european beam footprint maps for 2F, 2E and 2G show dish sizes of 120cm, 90cm and 90cm respectively for the Canary Islands. This is also supported by their Google earth app.


Can this be right? Why bother having a Canary Islands lobe designed into 2F it it requires a much bigger dish the other two beams? And why not provide backward compatibility for existing dishes - the existing Canary Islands lobe at this orbital position (from ASTRA 2A and 2 is rated at 90cm?

But remember that in the east of the canaries (Lanzarote & Fuerte) we get the current 2A north beam (11778V etc) on a 1.2M dish anyway. So for us a 1.2 is the norm for 28 East.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

I don't mean that. I am talking about the beams which are specially aimed at the Canaries.

Sent from my LT18i using Tapatalk 2

 

[andrewcrawford]

it might be that the map is wrong or they had to make it smaller power to make sure of intrference or something?