Astra 2F at 28.2E: General Discussion

[Juan69]

the Black Ultra is not compatible with the 1.9m dish.

That´´s interesting. I didn´t know that. Thank you.

 

[Huevos]

That´´s interesting. I didn´t know that. Thank you.

BU is for offset dishes. 1.9m is PF and takes a C120 flange LNB (Inverto Black Pro or Invacom QDF-031 for example).

 

[Juan69]

Thank you.

 

[itisix]

I have a 1.25m dish in Portugal, near Aveiro and 2F is still possible (at least for now). I have quad LNB's and four of them on the same dish (28.2 is the centre one). However, I need to further fine-tune my system as I'm getting signal losses in my bedroom (pretty much unwatch-able). Could just be some connections that need a rework or the diseq acting up (would not be the first time).
Still, I'm not getting too worked up about it as I just read about the possible upcoming changes and prefer to wait and see. I don't want to lose my fav UK channels. I can't even get cable here and Portuguese resellers won't do multi-room (and I would have to pay for TV). For now, I can still (if not too rainy) watch Ch5.


EDIT: Definitely I must have some sort of problem with the bedroom connections. All other receptors working fine.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

In the last few days I have noticed a significant change in 2F UK Spot beam reception here in Gran Canaria. I am actually getting 2F UK spot here at the moment on my big dish. Channel 5 TP coming in most of the day (albeit a little pixelated some of the time) whereas before it was only ever for a few hours in the morning and never really watchable. Channel 4 HD, although not watchable, is also now showing a heavily pixelated signal most of the day as well.

Once 2E is live I am going to get someone to try to tweak the big dish to see if we can get them to come in properly. It has been up for 8 years and was aligned for 2D. 1N UK spot has not been a problem at all, although bizarrely it doesn't get 1N PE !!

Has anyone else, either here or elsewhere, noticed any difference in fringe reception of the 2F UK spot beam recently?

 

[Pietclock]

Has anyone else, either here or elsewhere, noticed any difference in fringe reception of the 2F UK spot beam recently?

Ohh yes - reception has improved dramatically during the last few days in central Europe. About 3dB more than in September, and 5dB more than in July...

 

[4wd]

Testing 10964 ch5 here, am also experiencing stronger & more stable signal.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

Ohh yes - reception has improved dramatically during the last few days in central Europe. About 3dB more than in September, and 5dB more than in July...

I wonder if it is just seasonal conditions or if the satellite has been reconfigured in some way.

 

[timo_w2s]

I've noticed 11.024GHz/H seems to be stronger than before in Helsinki on a 1.8m but it's still below lock so hard to measure accurately on a receiver. The other UK spots are so weak it's impossible to tell if they are any better.

 

[mickwig]

I am keeping book on all 5 TP's - and they have all gone stronger since middle of october - about 15 % stronger.

But we had a bump in the middle of july, it lasted for about 4 weeks.

 

[bema]

Lower and lower signal here in West Sweden. Lost >0.5 dB since March...

 

[cazhh]

development of several local minima and maxima of 10964 since end of july (+a bit of january measured with my old 100cm dish)



And for the art lovers, all days in one graph. At the top there is a PE beam transponder.

 

[kota]

In the last few days I have noticed a significant change in 2F UK Spot beam reception here in Gran Canaria. I am actually getting 2F UK spot here at the moment on my big dish. Channel 5 TP coming in most of the day (albeit a little pixelated some of the time) whereas before it was only ever for a few hours in the morning and never really watchable. Channel 4 HD, although not watchable, is also now showing a heavily pixelated signal most of the day as well.

Once 2E is live I am going to get someone to try to tweak the big dish to see if we can get them to come in properly. It has been up for 8 years and was aligned for 2D. 1N UK spot has not been a problem at all, although bizarrely it doesn't get 1N PE !!

Has anyone else, either here or elsewhere, noticed any difference in fringe reception of the 2F UK spot beam recently?

What size of dish and lnb are you using ?? This is absolutely amazing since I can't get a hint of any of the 2F UK beam transponders here in Lisbon with a 1.8m dish ....

EDIT: just noticed on your signature. Channel Master 2.4m offset dish. Don't think anyone has got one in my location for testing.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

What size of dish and lnb are you using ?? This is absolutely amazing since I can't get a hint of any of the 2F UK beam transponders here in Lisbon with a 1.8m dish ....

EDIT: just noticed on your signature. Channel Master 2.4m offset dish. Don't think anyone has got one in my location for testing.

If I recall correctly right back at the start someone in Tenerife (who actually got their alignment tweaked) was getting good reception on a large dish even then. There is a map somewhere set up by @Analoguesat showing the initial reports.

 

[wallycharlo]

I am also seeing a considerable increase in Signal Strength on 2F spot beam over the last couple of days. 11023H now watchable with nearly no pixelation, had been losing it practically on a permanent basis before.

 

[FRINGE]

Have seen a slight improvement in signal here but not been able to get C4 HD. Had CH5 for some time now, yes it does get a bit pixelated at times but is watchable. Cant say seen any 'significant' change.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

I agree C4 HD is bad. I tuned in UTV HD and it is watchable all the time (rock solid really). I remember in the 2D days we could get the horizontals but no verticals, maybe something similar is happening here. When I get home I will check Flysat to see if there is a correlation between polarity and reception.

Sent from my GT-I9205 using Tapatalk

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

I agree C4 HD is bad. I tuned in UTV HD and it is watchable all the time (rock solid really). I remember in the 2D days we could get the horizontals but no verticals, maybe something similar is happening here. When I get home I will check Flysat to see if there is a correlation between polarity and reception.

Well a quick look at Flysat reveals the following:

10964 H Channel 5 bouquet. --------------- Currently good reception 90% of time
10994 H Various ITV1 plus an ITV1 HD. ---- Currently good reception 90% of time
11023 H BBC HD services. ----------------- Cannot test on Sky receiver
11053 H Various ITV1 plus an UTV HD. ----- Currently good reception 90% of time
11126 V Channel 4 HD / 4Seven. ----------- Unwatchable pixelated to nothing

Well it is not exactly a scientific sample but there definitely seems to be a much better signal on the horizontals here. There is a glimmer of hope as at least there is sniff of 11.126 V which is better than we ever had with Astra 2D verticals.

It remains to be seen if 2E behaves the same way and at a similar or, hopefully, higher strength signal.

 

[4wd]

Ref. my earlier posts about stronger 2F, even 4seven showed up this evening, 90cm dish.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

Well a quick look at Flysat reveals the following:

10964 H Channel 5 bouquet. --------------- Currently good reception 90% of time
10994 H Various ITV1 plus an ITV1 HD. ---- Currently good reception 90% of time
11023 H BBC HD services. ----------------- Cannot test on Sky receiver
11053 H Various ITV1 plus an UTV HD. ----- Currently good reception 90% of time
11126 V Channel 4 HD / 4Seven. ----------- Unwatchable pixelated to nothing

Well it is not exactly a scientific sample but there definitely seems to be a much better signal on the horizontals here. There is a glimmer of hope as at least there is sniff of 11.126 V which is better than we ever had with Astra 2D verticals.

It remains to be seen if 2E behaves the same way and at a similar or, hopefully, higher strength signal.

I thought I might be able to test the BBC HD TP by pressing the Red Button for "Autumn Watch", but it just seems to take me into an SD feed with no option to switch to HD. Shouldn't pressing the red Button from 141 take you into the HD feed? I rarely use the Red Button and so am not too sure how it works.