Consistency of 2B North outage at 16:00 GMT

Pride Of Cucamonga

Pride Of Cucamonga

Regular Member
My Satellite Setup
Cheap piece of junk Spanish (Tecatel) 120cm(x110) dish, Inverto Ultra twin LNB and Sky HD box.
My Location
Valencia (city)
Apologies if this has been covered before, but it's really bugging me and i would love to know the answer.

I have a 120cm, rather cheap and nasty, dish here in Valencia (fractionally west of the Greenwich meridian) that picks up all the 28.2 satellites in good weather. The one exception is 2B North beam which i lose for around an hour every day at 16:00 GMT. I would like to know why this outage is so incredibly consistent day in day out. I don't think it can be movements in the satellite, as that would be far more random. If it's the sun, why is it happening at a time when its peaking somewhere over the Atlatnic? Could it be changes in air pressure?

anyway, any theories much appreciated. thanks
 
Sorry, meant 16:00 local time, i.e. 15:00 GMT
 
Yes 2Bs north beam did reduce at around that time - but not any more since it has no channels!
2As north beams is also affected - and has been for ages - which is why we sometime have issues rebooting Sky boxes when it is looking for the EPG data stream on 11778.
And perhaps the same reason also was the reason for 2D to be great in the morning but "weak" in the evening.
As it is so regular, at all time of the year, theory is nothing to do with weather, atmospherics, sun, local interference, but the satellite and its position - perhaps a slight "wobble" which affects fringe reception (orbit is circular, earth is not..?)
 
On a small 80cm dish in Helsinki the 2A south beam is always strongest at around midnight local time. In the mornings most of the south beams are not receivable on a small dish.

Now with 2F euro beam it seems like a 1.8m will just about pick up the channels mid mornings and again late evenings. Worst time seems to be around 6pm local time but the signals seem to vary in weakness more than they did on the old satellites which where a bit more regular but this might be due to the fact the signals are already so weak that atmospherics also have a more noticeable effect.
 
It's pretty simple really. The satellite (or at least the aerial platform part of it) revolves at one revolution per day. If the axis it revolves around is not 100% parallel with the earth's polar axis the footprint will wander north/south once in ever 24 hour period.
 
Why does 2F seem to have two peaks and troughs for me? Is this something to do with the figure of 8 movement they do? Has it not just been as noticeable on 2A?
 
woborny said:
Yes 2Bs north beam did reduce at around that time - but not any more since it has no channels!
2As north beams is also affected - and has been for ages - which is why we sometime have issues rebooting Sky boxes when it is looking for the EPG data stream on 11778.
And perhaps the same reason also was the reason for 2D to be great in the morning but "weak" in the evening.
As it is so regular, at all time of the year, theory is nothing to do with weather, atmospherics, sun, local interference, but the satellite and its position - perhaps a slight "wobble" which affects fringe reception (orbit is circular, earth is not..?)
Click to expand...

Ha, yes 2A North even! Interesting that 2B North had the same weakness at the same time. If affects all satellites does indeed sound like an anomaly in the shape of the earth rather than a misalignment of the satellite's orbit (Huevos - is this what you are suggesting?)

thanks for the info guys and girls.
 
Its not 2B you are having problems with - shes currently off air near 19E.

Which frequencies are you having problems with?
 
All 2A North frequencies around 16:00, but it's a well documented phenomenon in the area.

Woborny - how similar were the signal strength and time of drop out of 2B North to 2A North? could give some indication of how similar 2E is to 2F
 
DeadHorse800 said:
If affects all satellites does indeed sound like an anomaly in the shape of the earth rather than a misalignment of the satellite's orbit (Huevos - is this what you are suggesting?)
Click to expand...
No. I'm suggesting the Earth's polar axis is no 100% in sync with the satellite's axis.
 
DeadHorse800 said:
could give some indication of how similar 2E is to 2F
Click to expand...
I can't see how. And incidentally Astra 2D's diurnal signal level cycle was completely out of phase with that of 2A/B.
 
DeadHorse800 said:
Woborny - how similar were the signal strength and time of drop out of 2B North to 2A North? could give some indication of how similar 2E is to 2F
Click to expand...

IIRC 2Bs north beams tended to be better than 2As north beams- but both weakened at around the same time...
For example, 1.8m and 2.4m dishes south of Valencia can really struggle with 2Bs at the critical time (11778 sky epg, sky movies sd for example) even today, whereas 1.25m /1.4m dishes held onto 2As fine (proven by the fact that people with the 1.25m /1.4m dishes used to receive ITVs that used to be on freq 12402 on 2bs north beam prior to them moving may 2012).
 
woborny said:
IIRC 2Bs north beams tended to be better than 2As
Click to expand...
Yes. A bunch of the Olympic channels were on 2A last year and they would go off every afternoon around 4pm even with a 1.8m dish. Also goes off around 4am too. Changed the timer on my EPG download recently from 04:00 to 06:30 and it works a lot better now.
 
Even I am getting confused now - (blaming it on painkillers - slipped and damaged ankle a bit doing a job in the snow here in Valencia area!)
Should have read:

For example, 1.8m and 2.4m dishes south of Valencia can really struggle with 2As at the critical time (11778 sky epg, sky movies sd for example) even today, whereas 1.25m /1.4m dishes held onto 2Bs fine (proven by the fact that people with the 1.25m /1.4m dishes used to receive ITVs that used to be on freq 12402 on 2bs north beam prior to them moving may 2012).
 
Yes, the snow a real problem for my reception here in Valencia!
 
Huevos said:
I can't see how. And incidentally Astra 2D's diurnal signal level cycle was completely out of phase with that of 2A/B.
Click to expand...

Just that 2A and 2B were built at a similar time and to a similar spec (as were 2E and 2F). I'm more interested in the footprint similarity in general, but admit it's all very crude!

Interesting that 2D had different diurnal levels - any theories on why this is? If the anomaly is in the shape of the earth, would expect to be reasonably consistent between all satellites?
 
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