Astra 2F: Iberia & Balearics Discussion

[Huevos]

It would be interesting to see the results of the same test today. 10847V seems to have disappeared here in the Algarve. Didn't think they'd be playing about so close to that annual Christian festival that's only a week away.

10847V is not on this satellite.

 

[davidcmadrid]

Just to confirm that Barcelona reading was on 11023H , 100cm , with 5.5db more needed.A sat shop up there is going to give it a go with 1.8m also and report. From what i can see 11023h is often the first to go in marginal conditions.

 

[Analoguesat]

Map now updated to here

 

[Juan69]

Finally got round to fitting my new Inverto Black Ultra and got the Five cluster back. I am happy to say that here 20 Kms north of Murcia I am getting all Freesat channels. I tried the Inverto on the smaller dish as well and grabbed all channels also. I have just placed an order for another Inverto. Brilliant piece of kit. In contrast without it I get only 11307 and such.

 

[Lazarus]

The long neck on the Black Ultra also gives scope for further adjustment by allowing the feedhorn to be moved closer to or further away from the dish.

 

[Menorca Man]

Finally got round to fitting my new Inverto Black Ultra and got the Five cluster back. I am happy to say that here 20 Kms north of Murcia I am getting all Freesat channels. I tried the Inverto on the smaller dish as well and grabbed all channels also. I have just placed an order for another Inverto. Brilliant piece of kit. In contrast without it I get only 11307 and such.

Hi Juan69,

Which size dish did you fit the new Inverto to, your 100cms or the 140cm?

Regards

 

[Huevos]

Which size dish did you fit the new Inverto to, your 100cms or the 140cm?

In Murcia city all transponders on 2F work on a 100 x 90cm dish, although 11023H is borderline. 120 x 110cm works 100% on all 5 transponders.

 

[Juan69]

Huevos is absolutely right of course. I tried the Inverto on the 100 first. Hardly anything beforehand, but the whole of Freesat with it. I installed it on the 140 and as I expected all worked also. As I said I have just placed an order for another which i will fit on the 100 when it arrives.

 

[Hughes]

In my subjective estimation, the Inverto Black Ultra twin is also fantastic, but not the quad. I have all three.

 

[Analoguesat]

Ive bought a couple of BU twins to try on my 53E & 36E dishes, and to look for Eutel 21B

 

[Juan69]

Huevos is absolutely right of course. I tried the Inverto on the 100 first. Hardly anything beforehand, but the whole of Freesat with it. I installed it on the 140 and as I expected all worked also. As I said I have just placed an order for another which i will fit on the 100 when it arrives.

I didn´t say but I bought the quad and I have ordered another.

 

[Menorca Man]

I didn´t say but I bought the quad and I have ordered another.

I ordered a quad Inverto Black Ultra, Part No. IDLB-QUDL40-ULTRA-OPP, from Amazon.es yesterday (31€ including postage from Germany) to replace my Grundig quad. On its own, I don't expect the new Inverto to pull in the 2F transmissions but it should help to maximise performance when the time comes to increase the size my dish.

 

[jleal]

Hi, I'm between coimbra and lisbon, in the caldas area, and no signal with a 1.8m prime dish. Also an aqcuaintance in the same area with a 2m prime, and also no signal on 2F transponders.

And the same person managed to get 4seven on a well optimised 1m dish in the same area but just above the reception threshold.So far there are positive reports down to Coimbra with a 1.5m dish.Further south from Coimbra no one has declared to be able to get the 2F transponders. But the fact is that apart from a couple of reports in the Lisbon area saying that they don't manage to get Astra 2F with 2m and 2.4m dishes I've also not seen any positive nor negative reports from all the area between Coimbra and Lisbon. We are speaking about a straight line distance of 180km but the actual behaviour of the footprint in all this region is pretty much unknown.Also, we have to keep in mind that the 28.2E in this area of the Iberian peninsula may not be very well optimised as before the reception (even with the 2D) was quite easy with small dishes. Also, I don't think the are that many dishes larger than 1.8m around here.

 

[Analoguesat]

Hi, I'm between coimbra and lisbon, in the caldas area, and no signal with a 1.8m prime dish. Also an aqcuaintance in the same area with a 2m prime, and also no signal on 2F transponders.

Interestingly there is a positive report from Figueira da Foz just up the coast on a 1.8m

 

[davidcmadrid]

From my very limited experience I will say that tuning the dish to 2F and making sure everything is aligned right could make a difference, we were on the roof with a promax and my installer was showing me the difference between pointing the dish at 1N and 2F, he was adamant with me on this point ( that on the spectrum analyzer you could tune one sattelite or the other for maximum signal ) and showed me some .4db difference on a 1.6m offset from 2F if it was tuned to 2F / 1n alternatively. I was amazed that the dish could pick that out at 36000km , were talking leaning on the dish slightly but taking that at face value , I would imagine on a quality focussed dish this is larger ( ? ) though how larger i dont know. That negative in portugal on a 2m is indeed surprising but not the first report from this area of variation over a short distance in central west portugal. I was also surprised at the difference between a black eco and black ultra.. i have one of each and the black ultra performed better giving a higher dB SNR.

 

[jleal]

Interestingly there is a positive report from Figueira da Foz just up the coast on a 1.8m

But I'm far from figueira da foz, almost 90km south in a straight line and 85km north of lisbon, and close to the sea.

 

[Mr Hoover]

But I'm far from figueira da foz, almost 90km south in a straight line and 85km north of lisbon, and close to the sea.

You're right in the line where the signal dies away super fast !

 

[Juan69]

I ordered a quad Inverto Black Ultra, Part No. IDLB-QUDL40-ULTRA-OPP, from Amazon.es yesterday (31€ including postage from Germany) to replace my Grundig quad. On its own, I don't expect the new Inverto to pull in the 2F transmissions but it should help to maximise performance when the time comes to increase the size my dish.

I have fitted a Vitecom Universal Quad while waiting for my Black Inverto Ultra. I am getting hardly anything. The BIU does definitely make a big difference.
I wish you well in Menorca.

 

[Huevos]

the difference between pointing the dish at 1N and 2F, he was adamant with me on this point ( that on the spectrum analyzer you could tune one sattelite or the other for maximum signal ) and showed me some .4db difference on a 1.6m offset from 2F if it was tuned to 2F / 1n alternatively.

That is nothing to do with the satellites being in different locations. Band C doesn't have Badr5 interference, whereas band D does. So for band C best alignment is for maximum signal, whereas in band D best alignment is for minimum interference.

 

[Acuario]

I'm based in Southern Catalunya and since the migration on 4th December we've lost all the '5's etc.
I've been doing various tests around the area (I'm an installer and have a Promax Sathunter and a Horizon HD-TC8 that I have been testing with).
So far on a 1.3M dish, nothing - on a 1.5M dish, nothing. Best signal has been 72.7dBuv on 10994 but no lock - this was on a 1.5M dish in a village called El Perello.

Tomorrow I'm driving down to Alicante and am taking a 1.3M dish with me in the van. I'm planning to stop off in various places to try to see where the reception edge is for 1.3M.

I'm hopefully going to buy a 1.9M dish to bring back with me to try - again stopping off and doing various tests en-route.

Here's hoping...