Astra 2F at 28.2E: General Discussion

[woborny]

Heard on an English expat radio station in Spain today by a "uk satellite installer / expert":

"The new 2F satellite will not be over head in Spain until about the 18th December and it will be then when we see what coverage Spain will get."

Just goes to show what some of us have to cope with here....

 

[Lazarus]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

 

[Analoguesat]

I assume solly has no signal in Israel on his 4.5m dish, but cant remember seeing a report yet.

 

[interested newbie]

I suppose it's just coincidence and I don't actually know if its freesat or free to air as I am in a rented holiday home in rural Somerset, it's pouring and ch5 has no picture and a message "no signal is being recieved".

When I get home I'll see what people are getting in Algarve.

 

[Analoguesat]

I suppose it's just coincidence and I don't actually know if its freesat or free to air as I am in a rented holiday home in rural Somerset, it's pouring and ch5 has no picture and a message "no signal is being recieved".

When I get home I'll see what people are getting in Algarve.

Exactly the same - there are no successful reports from Portugal or south western spain at all yet.

Chances are its a marginally misaligned dish in Somerset - installed by some clueless ladder monkey which gets a reasonable signal in good weather..

 

[hedge]

Heard on an English expat radio station in Spain today by a "uk satellite installer / expert":

"The new 2F satellite will not be over head in Spain until about the 18th December and it will be then when we see what coverage Spain will get."

Just goes to show what some of us have to cope with here....

Try this one: http://algarvedailynews.com/news/8306-freeview-via-satellite-to-end

No longer will I get: "Have you got Sky?" - Answer: "No, I've got satellite".
Now it will be: "So you can't get Sky anymore". - Ans: "I never did have or want it on principle", ---- After deep thought: "But you've got satellite dishes!"

....
As regards 'ex-fat shield': I've never heard of it & never ever tried as a joke to see if I could stream tv on it at 2G EDGE's amazing 200kbps

Thinks cut down trees on opposite hillside, & how to shield wireless dongle from from elements when 20 ft higher up to improve that weak 3G signal; & does 4G have a greater range than 3G? -

 

[Analoguesat]

Oh good grief whoever wrote that hads a grasp of about 10% of whats happening havent they??

4G should have greater penetrating power due to the more advantageous frequencies to be used.

 

[davidcmadrid]

I suppose it's just coincidence and I don't actually know if its freesat or free to air as I am in a rented holiday home in rural Somerset, it's pouring and ch5 has no picture and a message "no signal is being recieved".

When I get home I'll see what people are getting in Algarve.

To confirm you are in " Rural Somerset " UK and you dont get CH5 ? Do you get the other stations ok ?

 

[hedge]

4G should have greater penetrating power due to the more advantageous frequencies to be used.

Thxs. It might work at our shack in darkest Portugal.
The annoying bit is Portugal Telecomm's wireless arm TMN offered us their 4G package 8 months ago when it launched with a better deal than now
We didn't want/need it then. GRRRR. Only rejected it as it's a two-year contract & we travel half the year
So 4G, & *eetle or Torr*something, & we could have something better than what we have now.....once I update my aging brain.

 

[TENERIFEFORUMTV]

withdrawn


[warning]This Post was a question asked by Former Member TENERIFE_TV of a contact within SES PR, followed by a misleading and factually incorrect response Posted on Facebook. [/warning]

 

[timo_w2s]

The UK channels are currently shifted from ASTRA 2B and ASTRA 1N to ASTRA 2F which has been launched recently and is operational now.

Shifted or shifting? :-HB

 

[Lazarus]

Yet more misleading and partially incorrect nonsense from SES.

This PR guy is typical of the genre, it seems.

Even if it's a typo, it's really unprofessional.

 

[C0re]

As far as I know only the former Astra 2C frequencies which were taken over by Astra 1N temporarily.

 

[TENERIFEFORUMTV]

withdrawn

[warning]This Post was a defence of SES PR based upon the multi-lingual skills of someone in their PR Department. A quality which did not assist with the veracity of the information released[/warning]

 

[Lazarus]

Yes, but it is kind of the essence of PR to get it right - facts, spelling, everything. It matters not a jot how many languages an individual speaks if what they say is not correct.

So yet again, we the slightly more knowledgeable can figure out the meat, but the "little people", by which I assume you mean the Fringe viewers with no technical knowledge, are just going to get confused.

And surely the "social media" site they use is targeted precisely at those "little people"?

 

[Chazz]

I've put up a summary on SES's FB page. While of course it contains guesswork, I can honestly say it's not just my guesswork but a brief summary of the most often read and most impressive guesswork I've come across ;)

It's in answer to a Costa del Sol query but its mostly relevant to all affected by 2F. Here it is:
-----------------------------------
I'd be delighted if SES are able to say more, but in the absence of this, the best current guesswork is that the remaining Ch4 services, along with BBC & ITV will be switched over to Astra 2E at the beginning of May 2013 and at that point there's a strong likelihood that Astra 2E will have the same characteristics as Astra 2F (which now carries Ch5 etc) thus on the Costa del Sol we'll then lose these channels.

There is a possibility that they could switch these services to Astra 2F anytime between early January and May. If so, we lose the services earlier.

Canal Digital carried on Spain's Hispasat does provide with subscription, BBC Entertainment (mix of BBC progs) and BBC News, but requires a small dish (provided & fitted free when taking out a subscription).

Even if SES did inform us of the likely schedule, nothing is set in stone. If a satellite develops a problem it gets replaced by another that will usually have different transmission characteristics.
-------------------------------------

I haven't copied a paragraph about GBC possibly providing some BBC services on the Costa, as that is only relevant for Costa del Sol folk.

 

[Lazarus]

That's useful, thankyou.

 

[andrewcrawford]

im going to make a prediction for 2E i got some things right about 2F especially the drop off but i got the areas it drop off wrong, still to see some reports from Iceland and north of Scotland once i get that i am pretty confident i can draw the actually beam although canaries seems to have thrown me out a bit wasn't expect that but hay it could just be manufacturing error and it there to stay.

my prediction for 2E is that the beam will be different it looks like the 2F beam it pretty much optical over the uk extend down through France and into the north east of Spain at the edge of the footprint the beam drops off signfaically i think to make it really confusing and give broadcasters a slight choice, the 2E and 2G UK spots will be slightly different with different skew on them so maybe 2E will be nicer to the ones in Sweden etc but northern Spain France might not fair so good, and 2G might be nicer to west Spain and Portugal but not to east spain

 

[Juan69]

I seem to have lost Ch 5 and associated chanels. I´ll play around with my new FS1 tomorrow just in case the recent wind is the cause. I am continuing to get everything else. (ie BBC, ITV, 4, Film 4 etc).

 

[buckshee]

I seem to have lost Ch 5 and associated chanels. I´ll play around with my new FS1 tomorrow just in case the recent wind is the cause. I am continuing to get everything else. (ie BBC, ITV, 4, Film 4 etc).

Should be ok with your 1.4M