Astra 2B moving west.

Analoguesat

Analoguesat

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My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
Ive just been looking at the SES centre of box info for the old Astra's (1E 1F & 1H are no longer listed) and noticed 2B is due to drift west from May 30th

ATM shes wandering around 19.4E, by June 5th she will be out around 16.1E. Anyone got any idea of the final destination?
 
Destination is 19.6°W, next to the old & inclined NSS-7 at 20.0°W.
It will be reached on August 1.
 
Astra 2B (incl. 2.3°) arrived at 19.6°W.
 
It'll be feeds only if the old girl is even powered up. 2.3 degree inclination makes 2B unsuitable for domestic broadcasting.

Its far more likely 2B will sit there for 3 months "activating" a new frequency band at 20W, and then will be shunted off to another slot to do the same.
 

Attachments

0.9 deg N at time of beacon plot attached, dish not tracking. Frequency wobble due to clouds obscuring sun intermittently - DRO. 11708V & 11710V 10kHz BW

Astra_2B_19.6W.gif
 
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Nothing showing with vertical polarization 11700 to 12750

DSCN2023[2].webp
 
william-1 said:
Nothing showing with vertical polarization 117oo to 12750
Click to expand...

I was only getting about 12dB SNR in 10kHz which is 8dB below noise in 1MHz bandwidth.

11710 had dropped by 6dB by 11:38 when at 1.14N.

Edit: Only 2dB over noise in 10k at 12:03 1.38 deg. N, 28.2deg elevation

Astra_2B_19.6W_11-33.gif
 
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It was barely detectable in 10KHz when at max inclination. As it was wandering, 11708 became a dB or so stronger than 11710 (vs 2dB weaker when peaked). Maybe they have different radiation patterns?
At max it is about 8dB stronger than here: Astra 2B moving west. and can be seen on Crazyscan

astra2b.webp
 
In June 2018, Astra 2B was back at 19.4°E (in-orbit spare).
And since 2 weeks, slightly adjusted to 19.6°E. :confused
Inclination 4.0°.
 
In hindsight, Astra 2B moved to 19.6°E to make room for Astra 1G that arrived at 19.4°E in February 2021.
Now Astra 2B has left 19.6°E, drifting West.
CoB does not give a new location but drift will become about 4.5°W/day.
This is probably the end-of-life manoever. Astra 2B was launched in 2000.
 
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