Astra 2F: European Beam Transfers Starting?

[Zorba]

Right. My turn.
This morning and all day I was getting phone calls about missing channels. I also checked mine and sky news(and channels on that frequency) was not working but sky news HD was. Also comedy central HD,Syfy HD,Sky sports 2HD, Sky sports news HD but SD was,and some other movies.Nobody else that called was getting these either but I called a customer in Paphos in the West of Cyprus was receiving everything on his 3.8m dish, so i guessed it might be the pan european beam is on now and slightly weaker than the previous beam.Or a technical problem caused by the weather in UK. But on my dream box there are a few sky sports 1,2 ,3 and 4 channels and some were working, which explained why some customers had certain sports channels and others hadn't. Obviously depended on which region their card was from.
Tonight when I got home I find that all those channels are back. I have a customers new sky+HD box and sky sports 2HD and F1 HD are not working. But I have spoken to a few people and they do not get sky news or sky sports news. They are either on smaller dishes or same size but inferior quality/reception.
I still have the aluminium reflector strips that I fitted to my dish which got my BBC channels back from last year.I think if the signal has dropped a bit, maybe the signal from BADR 26e are sneaking in.

 

[woborny]

Just to report that here in Madrid the listed stations are all perfectly recievable with SNR on my vu+ between 90 and 100% depending on TP tested. That is with a 1.55x1.6m dish. This is a little bit stronger than i get Astra 2f uk beam. I never bothered to note the SNR of these tps before but do know the weaker signal for me was 2A north beam ( SNR% 35ish percent ) . Ill get into it later after work and will have a fiddle about later but just to say that the signal is very strong in Madrid.

To add to this, some of these channels could be "tricky" to receive 24/7, especially mid afternoon early evening, even on 2.4m dishes in my area of Spain.
However, now they are all coming in nicely on the 80cm dish.

 

[davidcmadrid]

Actually that beam here must be very strong as my ( black eco ) lnb is deaf cerca 12ghz, (Getting 2A north beam , 12Ghz tps with same SNR on the large dish as with the 1,2m motor which has a " proper" BU lnb )

Update : 12382H which was down around 35% SNR is now 60% SNR.

 

[nebeluk]

Hello, my location is Sainte Maxime, Var France. Today I have lost most channels on Freesat leaving me only with Skynews, CBS, and the Food Network. At first I thought it was the weather as we have heavy cloud and rain, but I guess not. I will re-scan tomorrow and see what I have been left with. Any idea if we are going to be able to access regular channels in the future?

 

[timo_w2s]

Hello, my location is Sainte Maxime, Var France. Today I have lost most channels on Freesat leaving me only with Skynews, CBS, and the Food Network. At first I thought it was the weather as we have heavy cloud and rain, but I guess not. I will re-scan tomorrow and see what I have been left with. Any idea if we are going to be able to access regular channels in the future?

This has nothing to do with last night's European beam swaps as it's only causing problem for those of us in the fringes of Europe. Sounds like you've got a local problem with your setup.

 

[hairybadger]

No problems at my location - looks pretty much the same as normal.

 

[iandoh]

Report from Pärnu, Estonia on a 80cm multi LNB dish with 28e not central.

Here are the north beams I'm missing:
12.070GHz/H

Gone. No signal what so ever

12.090GHz/V

Can't check, No S2 box

12.148GHz/H

Gone but shows some sign of life,

12.168GHz/V

12.226GHz/H

12.324GHz/V

Same problem, No S2

South beams are harder for me to tell as they where very weak anyway for me but it looks like these might have moved:
12.188GHz/H

No s2

12.207GHz/V

Gone completely, indeed this one was Sky News and the weakest I had. Was usually able to lock it though.

 

[geoffrey]

In Israel I have lost 12207V (Sky NewsSD etc) and 12266H (Channel 5 HD) transponders. Sky News HD remains variable depending on time of day. Sky2 can be added from the 11508H transponder.

 

[nebeluk]

Haute-Savoie is a fair bit further north than the Med, but I will try again tomorrow owing to the very heavy cloud and rain we have had. Just re-scanned and getting the same as before, ie lost all BBC ITV 5 etc. and left only with those mentioned before.

 

[AHMET_YILDIRIM]

I talked with some guys in west of Turkey.
they reported that they lost their signals almost %15.
We hope that they are not going to migrate 2B TP s 2F.
But the shame is it is going to be.

 

[Analoguesat]

We hope that they are not going to migrate 2B TP s 2F

They will - 2B is pretty run down now , although she will find a new home elsewhere on the arc.

 

[denis1501]

Good news for me here in central Italy, 2A north has always been a pain! Signal has at least doubled on these, delighted!
Hopefully the other 2A north transponders will follow soon!

 

[timo_w2s]

12.148GHz/H
Gone but shows some sign of life,

On the 1.8m this was the strongest of the missing channels coming in at about 4dB. Still no lock though!

 

[AHMET_YILDIRIM]

In Istanbul I get signal but no lock on Dreambox.
The transporters are almomst the mame as 2A

 

[davidcmadrid]

Is it clear that the migration is to Astra 2F p/e beam ?

 

[Lazarus]

No.....................

It could be 1N.

The absence of the Canaries side-lobe might be a pointer.



Problem is, the transfer of 2A/2B was expected to be to 2F Pan European - and before Christmas, to boot - but it didn't happen then and it's not clear that today's changes are merely a delayed version of that.

If all was well, you'd expect it be to the delayed 2A/2B >> 2F transfer, but if it isn't, then we must wonder why not.


A cynic might suggest that 2F is not operating correctly - we've already had much debate about its assumed performance at the bottom end of the band.

Personally, I have no view - but very happy to stoke the fire and get a debate going.


But whatever one thinks, it's clear that summat is up: Why launch a Bird and not use it to the max when the one it is supposed to replace is needed elsewhere?

 

[Analoguesat]

Read back - these moves are more likely to have moved to one of the 1N PE beams.

 

[Analoguesat]

A cynic might suggest that 2F is not operating correctly - we've already had much debate about its assumed performance at the bottom end of the band.

And lets NOT have any half assed speculation & theories about failures this time!

 

[iandoh]

On the 1.8m this was the strongest of the missing channels coming in at about 4dB. Still no lock though!

Same, Can't lock it. Going to try with the 1.5m in a few mins will report back.

 

[iandoh]

Update: With the 1,5m dish still no lock.