Eutelsat 31A (inclined)

S

s-band

Member
My Satellite Setup
1.5m IRTE PF, Invacom SNF-031, TBS6983,
Various L, S, C, X & Ka bits. 1.2m S/X/Ku/Ka Prodelin on Az-El (being refurbished), 1.8m Precision PF with Bullseye Ku LNB or various C & X bits
My Location
Essex
Admin edit - the first 3 posts have been moved off the Angosat-1 thread. Fringe reception is a better home now the signals have been ID'd as 31E. A/S


I'm not sure that this is it but it is unusual. There appears to be a 1kHz FM tone with about 80kHz deviation on 10950.5H around 30E. It's strong and shows on CS. 1.5m PF Dish. The only other thing near there is the Eutelsat 36B telemetry beacon on 10950.2H

30e_10950.5h_time.gif30e_10950.5h_freq.gif30e_10950.5h_cs.webp
 
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Hmm, I'm not convinced, I think I may have got it wrong:-doh. The signal slowly descended into the noise. I switched to the 1.2m az-el and it is just detectable at about 144.1 az 21.9 el which ties in with the position of Eutelsat 33A (30.8E nominal) at 12:30 Real time satellite tracking for: EUTE 33A (EB 3). At that elevation it is behind a tree and just clearing the roof. If anyone has inclined tracking maybe you can find it.
 
It's probably Eutelsat 31A/33A as it has come back into the beam of the 1.5m. It has shown me that my 1.5 is not tracking the arc on that side any more. Not bad for 10+ years without a tweak though. @Mods - would this info be better moved to somewhere more appropriate?
Edit - that was quick, thanks
 
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I could not find the Turksat feed last night, maybe gone??
 
Yes, quite a few racing feeds were on that bird..
 
If the last TLE is to be believed, Eutelsat 31A is drifting 1.6°W/day, now near 27°E.
 
Eutelsat certainly had good value for their money with this one started of as eBird 27th Sept 2003 operating @ 25.5 east later renamed EuroBird 3.
March 2012 the satellite became Eutelsat 33A.
In 2014 it was moved to a position of 31° east where it operates from an inclined orbit under the name Eutelsat 31A.

EUTE 33A (EB 3) Real time satellite tracking for: EUTE 33A (EB 3)

NORAD ID:
27948
LOCAL TIME:
10:18:37
UTC:
10:18:37
LATITUDE:
-1.66
LONGITUDE:
26.86
ALTITUDE [km]:
35896.64
ALTITUDE [mi]:
22305.14
SPEED [km/s]:
3.07
SPEED [mi/s]:
1.91
AZIMUTH:147.6 SEELEVATION:
+24.2
RIGHT ASCENSION:
19h 43m 12s
DECLINATION:
-10° 07' 04''
Local Sidereal Time:
17h 47m 42s
 
I think this was the last Spinner satellite in operation.

ebird-1__1.webp
 
@william-1 it was EuroBird 2 that was at 25.5°E for a while.

The e-Bird / EuroBird 3 / Eutelsat 33A / Eutelsat 31A has not made many moves so far.
Started at 33.1°E, then a week trip to 21.6°E (Nov 2003), back to 33.1°E, and a few inclining years at about 30.9°E.
The current drift/altitude is too small to conclude it's end-of-life, yet!
Eutelsat33A_27948 InclLonTime.webp
 
Eutelsat 31A now IS end-of-live, and brought well into graveyard altitude (about 36200 km).
 
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