Astra 2E: Central & East Europe Reports

[Alistair_]

As for Propagation factors, a good starting point is to read this

Right. Thanks. Didn't know that. In my case it was a huge drop of signal (or significant enough because I'm right on the fringe area, I could receive all channels perfectly up until two days ago, then all of a sudden last night no signal whatsoever not even pixelated).
If we have to battle against BBC's intentions of getting rid of us AND propagation factors then I wonder how difficult this battle's gonna be for some of us..

 

[npire1]

My reception has also dropped over the last few days ! Last night I only had the c5's. The normally strong c4hd and bbc1hd whales were not working ;(

 

[Nagusia]

Huevos, monitors all Transponders from 2E and 2F continuously and records hourly variations.

Huevos noted a 0.5 db drop in the signal yesterday but attributed it to "heavy cloud and some rain". I found that this morning before I went to work the signal was higher than I have ever seen it (10818V 90%/90% on the Humax).

 

[Br492]

Last 10 days I have lost everything over 12500.with sat Finder near the dish I can lock several frequencies ,but with dm800 nothing.2e has very bad behavior .

 

[timo_w2s]

Last 10 days I have lost everything over 12500.with sat Finder near the dish I can lock several frequencies ,but with dm800 nothing.2e has very bad behavior .

Everything over 12.5GHz is actually on 2F. 2F is also a lot weaker for me in Finland. The higher FEC rate makes it hard to lock those weaker signals too.

Make sure you have decent quality cable as those higher frequencies are the first to go if you have long or bad quality cables.

 

[Alistair_]

I think at this time given the significance of the drop since ten days ago, the above-mentioned bad propagation was mere random guess, it's clearly more than that

 

[timo_w2s]

Everything over 12.5GHz is actually on 2F. 2F is also a lot weaker for me in Finland. The higher FEC rate makes it hard to lock those weaker signals too.

Just to correct myself, I meant to say 2F is a lot weaker than 2E in Finland. Otherwise 2F is pretty much normal here, ie just as bad as it always has been!

 

[Br492]

2 weeks ago I have changed the cable with the best low loss i could get.i will try to make a better alignment if that's the problem

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

Bad news: The following HD channels have moved to 2E UK spot beam. You can still watch the SD versions (on Sky EPG numbers 213 and 229 respectively). Dave UK HD and Alibi UK HD.

 

[tothbros]

Bad news: The following HD channels have moved to 2E UK spot beam. You can still watch the SD versions (on Sky EPG numbers 213 and 229 respectively). Dave UK HD and Alibi UK HD.

yep, bad news, indeed. not trying to read too much into this, but it does question the old assumption that sky tries to place their channels on PE beams...

 

[PaulR]

They could be sacrificial lambs to show that Sky have no favouritism for PE beams. I'll believe that they have no favouritism when they put Sky 1 or Atlantic onto a spot beam!

 

[Analoguesat]

Zilina added to the map and we should be up to date to here.

 

[Richard Hunt]

Non-tech viewer here again.
My overall perception is that reception has improved here in the last few weeks, to the point where around 21.00-22.00CET reception of these channels I normally watch is regularly perfect : BBC1SD, BBC2SD, BBC4 HD, C4. I usually notice the BBC channels breaking up after 23.00, but last night they stayed fine until I switched off at midnight. As for radio, BBCR5, and BBC Radio London are usually fine, but BBC R4 seems never to be available.

Does this suggest to you guys that with some tweaking of my set-up I could further improve reception?

 

[npire1]

Me too ! And If I move my dish with my motor very slightly I can either get many of the 2e channels or many of the 2f channels or sometimes both. I usually need to move the dish one or two clicks in the morning to clean up the picture and then again later in the evening. Mostly horizontal movements I think although the wind screws things up so often that vertical movement is also often a daily requirement.

 

[Lazarus]

Yup. Pros and cons of essentially large dishes: More gain, narrower beamwidth.

More gain gets you more robust reception from a fixed position.

Narrower Beamwidth bu**ers it up when the craft are not as co-located as one would like.

 

[npire1]

Signal has been very poor for over a week now ! Only c5,s and a few itv regions are ok in the day ! ;(

 

[hexah]

Me too ! And If I move my dish with my motor very slightly I can either get many of the 2e channels or many of the 2f channels or sometimes both. I usually need to move the dish one or two clicks in the morning to clean up the picture and then again later in the evening. Mostly horizontal movements I think although the wind screws things up so often that vertical movement is also often a daily requirement.

Yes as Tivu said it comes down to beamwidth and strung out satellites.

As I have posted elsewhere on fringe reception of 28.2e it is not a new problem at all. In the past it has come and gone as satellites have reached the end of their life but its back again as signals grow weaker due to beam shaping.

Signal has been very poor for over a week now ! Only c5,s and a few itv regions are ok in the day ! ;(

How do you feel about getting a bigger dish?

I'm not surprised if you are not keen, but there may be no other way.

 

[npire1]

Yes as Tivu said it comes down to beamwidth and strung out satellites.

As I have posted elsewhere on fringe reception of 28.2e it is not a new problem at all. In the past it has come and gone as satellites have reached the end of their life but its back again as signals grow weaker due to beam shaping.




How do you feel about getting a bigger dish?

I'm not surprised if you are not keen, but there may be no other way.

Yes the trouble is the cost ! I have a very good quality old 2.5m aluminium dish that was a steal ! A bigger new one would cost a small fortune ! ;)

 

[hexah]

You got lucky there.

I will also add the fact that polarotors are no longer used to adjust the polarization skew. That would help peak the signals very well, the difference would be significant I think.

Universal LNBs are dumbing down too much.

 

[npire1]

You got lucky there.

I will also add the fact that polarotors are no longer used to adjust the polarization skew. That would help peak the signals very well, the difference would be significant I think.

Universal LNBs are dumbing down too much.

Im not sure what they are ! I will have to google it, thanks