joddle
Specialist Contributor
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2007
- Messages
- 555
- Reaction score
- 106
- Points
- 43
- Age
- 73
- My Satellite Setup
- 2x Pace 2600 C1 (in a box just in case) , 3 x Humax HD Foxstat (2 of which in store as spares) . 3x Manhatten Plaza - Pasat 2.4 PF dish mounted on flat roof with Invacom C120 quad LNB .
- My Location
- Massanassa, Valencia, Spain
On another now closed thread there was some pretty heated debates about whether the fringes in Spain will receive a signal from the new 2e, 2F and 2G birds and how their deployment might affect fringe use. Many very good and well argued points were raised, many of which cast some doubt on what we might come to expect in 2013.
What does seem almost certain is that with a more focused beam than 2D, those in the east such as in Turkey and Cyprus who have already felt the effect of a tighter beam from 1N will continue to be out in the cold regarding 2E, 2F and 2G. This has not been due to power but to the fact that 2D was not really a fine focus device but 1N (as will be 2e, 2f, & 2g) is. However, what happens in the rest of Europe seems to be a bit more confused and debatable and regarding reception in southern France and in Spain there seem to be two main views of what is perhaps to come.
1) The new birds will have a very tight beam focused on the UK and so those on the current fringes may receive even less of a signal then when we had 2D operational. The evidence for this appears to be based on the footprint maps recently released and from assumptions that 2F will have more of a "spot beam" than 1N currently has.
2) The second view is that the new birds are the same type and model as 1N using the same power and antenna size and will operate from the same orbit as 1N is in now and so some people think this will mean that only shaping of the beam is possible in order to create a tighter spot beam on the UK which then may have some affect on exactly which other parts of Europe are illuminated. The evidence for this is that as 1N and the new birds have exactly the same power output and the same 2.7m antennae, the actual amount of area illuminated will be about the same – although it will be possible to change the shape (but not the total area) of the footprint. If this is the case then it is possible that much of Spain could get a very similar signal as it does now from 1N – but that will depend on the final shape of the footprint.
As far as I can see from all the threads on this and other forums, there are likely to be several consequences of all this for people on the costas.
If 1) is correct then only very large dishes will work here and perhaps for some areas reception will be impossible and so TV will have to be delivered by either re-broadcasters (using perhaps internet feeds) or direct by ADSL.
If 2) is correct then there are several possible outcomes, including that reception will be similar to 1n so no change in dish will be needed - or a medium sized dish may be necessary is some areas whilst in others the signal may drop off more quickly than with 1n in fact so larger dishes may be needed. Thirdly there may be areas which fall off the new beam shape altogether and so reception will not be possible.
The main problem is there is no real published data about the beam shape over Iberia apart from the current footprint maps which are only really relevant for small dishes and areas closer to the UK. What we need now is for some expert to work out the likely extension of the published footprint using the known data from 1N and its original published footprint, and then use it to produce a guesstimate of the likely extended footprint of the new birds from the so far published footprint maps for 2e,2f &2g. Anyone up for the job? And if so are people willing to supply good information regarding 1N reception where they are and what size dish is needed etc in order to be able to produce a good and reliable “extended footprint” map for 1N? As I say – anyone up for the job?
Overall I am now feeling a little more hopeful that my set-up designed for 2D will still be more than enough for this location and that it seem possible I will be able to get away with a smaller dish than my 2.4m – however – until the new birds actually fly I am not about to swap dishes just yet!!
What does seem almost certain is that with a more focused beam than 2D, those in the east such as in Turkey and Cyprus who have already felt the effect of a tighter beam from 1N will continue to be out in the cold regarding 2E, 2F and 2G. This has not been due to power but to the fact that 2D was not really a fine focus device but 1N (as will be 2e, 2f, & 2g) is. However, what happens in the rest of Europe seems to be a bit more confused and debatable and regarding reception in southern France and in Spain there seem to be two main views of what is perhaps to come.
1) The new birds will have a very tight beam focused on the UK and so those on the current fringes may receive even less of a signal then when we had 2D operational. The evidence for this appears to be based on the footprint maps recently released and from assumptions that 2F will have more of a "spot beam" than 1N currently has.
2) The second view is that the new birds are the same type and model as 1N using the same power and antenna size and will operate from the same orbit as 1N is in now and so some people think this will mean that only shaping of the beam is possible in order to create a tighter spot beam on the UK which then may have some affect on exactly which other parts of Europe are illuminated. The evidence for this is that as 1N and the new birds have exactly the same power output and the same 2.7m antennae, the actual amount of area illuminated will be about the same – although it will be possible to change the shape (but not the total area) of the footprint. If this is the case then it is possible that much of Spain could get a very similar signal as it does now from 1N – but that will depend on the final shape of the footprint.
As far as I can see from all the threads on this and other forums, there are likely to be several consequences of all this for people on the costas.
If 1) is correct then only very large dishes will work here and perhaps for some areas reception will be impossible and so TV will have to be delivered by either re-broadcasters (using perhaps internet feeds) or direct by ADSL.
If 2) is correct then there are several possible outcomes, including that reception will be similar to 1n so no change in dish will be needed - or a medium sized dish may be necessary is some areas whilst in others the signal may drop off more quickly than with 1n in fact so larger dishes may be needed. Thirdly there may be areas which fall off the new beam shape altogether and so reception will not be possible.
The main problem is there is no real published data about the beam shape over Iberia apart from the current footprint maps which are only really relevant for small dishes and areas closer to the UK. What we need now is for some expert to work out the likely extension of the published footprint using the known data from 1N and its original published footprint, and then use it to produce a guesstimate of the likely extended footprint of the new birds from the so far published footprint maps for 2e,2f &2g. Anyone up for the job? And if so are people willing to supply good information regarding 1N reception where they are and what size dish is needed etc in order to be able to produce a good and reliable “extended footprint” map for 1N? As I say – anyone up for the job?
Overall I am now feeling a little more hopeful that my set-up designed for 2D will still be more than enough for this location and that it seem possible I will be able to get away with a smaller dish than my 2.4m – however – until the new birds actually fly I am not about to swap dishes just yet!!