UK Satellite TV is provided by FIVE satellites.
Four of these satellites are operated by SES Astra of Belgium, and one, Eurobird, is operated by Eutelsat.
SES Astra operate Astra 2a, Astra 2b, Astra 2d and Astra 1N.
Eutelsat operate Eurobird 1.
These satellites provide the UK And Europe with the UK satellite TV channels, such as the BBC, ITV and those provided on the Freesat and Sky satellite platforms.
These five satellites are located at 28.2 to 28.5 degrees east of south.
Each of these satellites operate a number of "beams". Each of these beams have different reception characteristics, especially in fringe reception areas like Spain and the Costa Blanca. This is the reason why channels like Sky News can be reepived in Spain on a smller satellite dish than channels like BBC TV Channels, as these channels are distributed across these different beams.
There are a number of "siganl reception maps" or "footprints" for these beams, but they have to be treated with some caution. Many of them are the theoretical reecption, and are different to the actual reception.
Showing posts with label reception in Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reception in Spain. Show all posts
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Astra 1N. New satellite for UK satellite TV reception. Sky tv in Spain. UK TV in Spain
On the 24th October 2011, Astra 1N finally made it to it first location.
Today, some frequencies on Astra 1N are powered, but there are no channels available from Astra 1N as yet.
However SES Astra have confirmed that
What can be said is that C4HD will be defintely moving from Eurobird1 to 1N.
And there are rumours about Film4hd, E4hd and M4hd becoming free to air and, in the case of Film4HD, finally on satellite, on the same C4HD frequency - however nothing has been confirmed by Channel 4.
As for ITV, you can probably safely say that the "free to view" versions of ITV1 on freq 11973 and 12402 that currently require a sky card to view will also move FTA and move from their Astra 2 south beams to Astra 1N.
And, although nothing has been said, there are strong rumours about the "five channels", apart from FiveHD, moving from their current ASra 2 frequencies to Astra 1N and also becoming FTA and no longer sky card required.
Astra 1N Reception
Earlier this week C4HD appeared on Astra 1N. I assume this was a test of the satellite and frequency. The channels appered for a few hours in the clear and free to air. However, after a few hours the channel became encrypted and unavailable.
C4HD frequency on Astra 1N is:
11127.00 V DVB-S2 8PSK 22000 2/3
channel named 21200
The signal is currently encrypted.
This cannot be tuned manually on a Sky receiver or a standard definition FTA box.
The reception for this frequency is not as bad as first thought. If this is indeed on Astra 1N's UK spot beam, then it is not very restrictive, and looks to be avaialble on smaller 80cm to 1m satellite dishes on the Valencia area and Costa Blanca areas of Spain. That is assuming that the satellite power is not reduced, meaning the reception is also reduced.
But from recent reception reqpoers it looks like those in Eastern Europe will be the ones that may well struggle more than before with channels that
migrate onto Astra 1N.
Luxembourg, 24 October 2011 - SES S.A. (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) today announced that its new ASTRA 1N satellite has entered commercial service at the orbital position of 28.2 degrees East.
ASTRA 1N was built by Astrium on the Eurostar E3000 platform and is equipped with 52 transponders in the Ku frequency band. The satellite was successfully launched on board an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, on 6 August 2011. It had a launch mass of 5,325 kg and is the fourth Eurostar satellite in the 49 satellite-strong SES fleet.
ASTRA 1N greatly enhances the flexibility of the SES satellite fleet at the orbital slot 28.2 degrees East over Europe. ASTRA 1N is notably being used by Channel 4 and ITV. The new satellite will also allow SES to offer its satellite-based broadband service ASTRA2Connect via 28.2 degrees East and thus complement its service offer from the 23.5 degrees East position. ASTRA2Connect is Europe's largest satellite broadband network with more than 80,000 end users
Today, some frequencies on Astra 1N are powered, but there are no channels available from Astra 1N as yet.
However SES Astra have confirmed that
C4 and ITV will start on 1N in the coming days. This will be completely transparent to consumers as there will be no change in frequencies.
What can be said is that C4HD will be defintely moving from Eurobird1 to 1N.
And there are rumours about Film4hd, E4hd and M4hd becoming free to air and, in the case of Film4HD, finally on satellite, on the same C4HD frequency - however nothing has been confirmed by Channel 4.
As for ITV, you can probably safely say that the "free to view" versions of ITV1 on freq 11973 and 12402 that currently require a sky card to view will also move FTA and move from their Astra 2 south beams to Astra 1N.
And, although nothing has been said, there are strong rumours about the "five channels", apart from FiveHD, moving from their current ASra 2 frequencies to Astra 1N and also becoming FTA and no longer sky card required.
Astra 1N Reception
Earlier this week C4HD appeared on Astra 1N. I assume this was a test of the satellite and frequency. The channels appered for a few hours in the clear and free to air. However, after a few hours the channel became encrypted and unavailable.
C4HD frequency on Astra 1N is:
11127.00 V DVB-S2 8PSK 22000 2/3
channel named 21200
The signal is currently encrypted.
This cannot be tuned manually on a Sky receiver or a standard definition FTA box.
The reception for this frequency is not as bad as first thought. If this is indeed on Astra 1N's UK spot beam, then it is not very restrictive, and looks to be avaialble on smaller 80cm to 1m satellite dishes on the Valencia area and Costa Blanca areas of Spain. That is assuming that the satellite power is not reduced, meaning the reception is also reduced.
But from recent reception reqpoers it looks like those in Eastern Europe will be the ones that may well struggle more than before with channels that
migrate onto Astra 1N.
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