Astra 2E: General Discussion (Post-Testing)

[davidcmadrid]

It won't be for long: Trawling a wide selection of sources, it seems SES are happy with 2E and the logistics are such that on 28 Nov there will be transfers from 2A to 2F. Then Astra 2A can move before the Winter break.

Subsequently, 2E can move to 28.2E and assume the stuff from 1N, leaving 1N to complete it's original mission. Don't forget 2E's launch was delayed, so much re-planning has been required. Originally, the consensus was that 2E would be tested and moved asap, but maybe they've gone all prudent on us.

Ergo, 2E might not be operational at 28.2E until early in the New Year. Mid-January, perhaps?

Currently 2A uses 20 TPs from 11720 to 12480 . The transponders according to lyngsat are all sky. Will be interesting to see if when they move to 2F they will be on the PE beam of 2F or UK Spot.

 

[solly]

it must to be pe beam over band 11700-to 12480v
maybe 2a move al to 1n few tp
list not close it

 

[Huevos]

No movement yet. Current TLE epoch:
13328.69285553 = 2013-10-24 16:37:42 UTC

 

[Schroeder]

Maybe it's journey will start today, or maybe it will just stay here until the new year

 

[Lazarus]

Maybe it's journey will start today, or maybe it will just stay here until the new year

As suggested earlier, I think that 2A will be shifted from 28E first, after the migration to 2F scheduled for 28 Nov. Then 2E can be moved to its station. That probably does mean that 2E won't be populated until mid January.



Speculation Points Awarded: 9.2/10

 

[solly]

ses cant switch transponder on one days
it take few days will be competed transmited

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

If the frequencies remain the same then surely it would be a similar scenario as when 2D switched to 1N.

Sent from my GT-I9205 using Tapatalk

 

[tothbros]

although, while sky mentioned PID changes, they might as well have said "moving to 2F", but didn't.

 

[solly]

why it not write screen we moveing satellite signal
please contact the service operation ?

 

[M60]

Currently 2A uses 20 TPs from 11720 to 12480 . The transponders according to lyngsat are all sky. Will be interesting to see if when they move to 2F they will be on the PE beam of 2F or UK Spot.

I would say that most will be PE but with the option to switch any to spot if a particular customer requests.

Solly: when Sky moved services from 2B to 1N where they are now it was done in one go so no reason why this couldn't be done over one or two nights.

 

[solly]

I think 2a it have inclient orbit soon
that why it switch satellite

 

[woborny]

When Sky moved services from 2B to 1N,2f,2a was there a similar announcement about an outage and interruption to services? Or did they simply move the channels without notice..?

 

[kevjs]

It sounds plausible as 2F is still under-utilised considering the number of available TP's she's got at her disposal. The 11.45-11.7GHz spectrum remains pretty empty for now and, assuming Eutelsat don't snatch it back, then SES can reserve capacity here for future expansion possibly to be used by 2G.

I make it 17 TP's currently in use on 2F, excluding the West African beam ones, not done a count of how many 2A is currently carrying but a quick count on Lyngsat makes 23. How many UK/European TP's does 2F carry, something like 48??

We obviously don't know for certain this is happening, just based on these PID changes I'm assuming?

The note's I've put together from the various sources say that Astra 2F can carry 64 transponders (not sure if this is European+UK or European+UK+Africa) of which 52 can be on the European/UK A-D bands and 28 in the E-G bands*. The African beam has 18 transponders of which 16 can operate at once.

* This is higher than the total - so if all 52 were in operation on the A-D bands that would allow 12 in the E-G bands.

It's currently operating 12 in the G band which means it could take a maximum of 16 transponders from 2A (perhaps TPs 1-18 (13&14 being inactive) with the rest going to 1N).

At maximum capacity 2E could operate the E and F bands but with no spares so I guess the plan is 2E = E Band; 2F = G Band; 2G = F Band. (2G not being able to operate in the G band).

1N had 64 transponders in the A-D and E-F bands and can operate 55/52 across both bands at the same time.

 

[mickwig]

64 transponders is including the Ka-Band. 48 Europe, 12 Africa. That information is from the SES website which suggests, that the 48 Europe TP's can be used either way (UK/PanE), and the 12 Africa are only for Africa.

 

[timo_w2s]

Don't forget also if Astra 2C is coming back to 28E for a temporary visit (as is shown in some SES documents) it will basically only be good for transponders in band E and tiny overlap into band F (ie where most of 2A is now). Otherwise there is little point of it being at 28E other than limited backup (it can also cover bands C and D in an emergency but has no spot capability that we know of).

 

[M60]

Can someone quickly list the sub-spectrum breakdown of the A-G bands for reference. Cheers.

 

[kevjs]

Don't forget also if Astra 2C is coming back to 28E for a temporary visit (as is shown in some SES documents) it will basically only be good for transponders in band E and tiny overlap into band F (ie where most of 2A is now). Otherwise there is little point of it being at 28E other than limited backup (it can also cover bands C and D in an emergency but has no spot capability that we know of).

Could it be used al-la 1N (i.e. point the pan pan-european north so it's coverage is the North Atlantic and British Isles) or is 1N's pan-European beam steerable?

 

[kevjs]

Can someone quickly list the sub-spectrum of the A-G bands for reference. Cheers.

From frequency shown to frequency on next line (e.g. D is 10.7 to 10.95)
D10.7
C10.95
A11.2
B11.45
E11.7
F12.1
G12.5
12.75

All my notes are at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...ZG5Jc1VneU9UNWc&single=true&gid=0&output=html although the active transponders hasn't been updated since the big move

 

[timo_w2s]

Can someone quickly list the sub-spectrum breakdown of the A-G bands for reference. Cheers.

Does this help?
http://www.w2s-inter.net/tmp/astra-freq-plan.gif

 

[dvdfilm]

Probably testing Ka band tps