Astra 2E: Western Europe Reports

[Lazarus]

A reception report for you to update the map.
From about 42 56 N 2 27 E (half way between Carcassonne and Perpignan in Southern France) all channels ok on a 1.2m dish, though I did lose the BBC (at least) for five minutes this morning between 11:05 and 11:10. Did anyone else notice this? No significant weather as far as I could see. The loss included BBC Radio 4 for the first time.
Neighbours report loss of the spot beam contents with 60cm dishes.

(Tried using the link http://tinyurl.com/d6ozcrp given on the map page to sign up, but it gives an error "The requested forum could not be found.")

Welcome to the Forum - and many thanks for the Report.

Coming down that way (Lodeve area) in June, but sincerely hoping not to watch any TV at all!

 

[ralphmagno]

Update, looks like 4 meter dish is picking up bbc1, itv and 5 usa no problems on the new bird change over. The signal is runing dm500 box. It is a little weaker than the 2 meter dish befoer the change but considering a 1.2 meter was running bbc and free view before the change it should due.
Ralph Naples Italy.

 

[Analoguesat]

Thread checked & updated to here

 

[mesaka]

Reception report: Set up my new Gilbertini 1.25m dish / Inverto black / Amstrad DX895 / 15m cable run in my new apartment in Frankfurt-am-Main Germany yesterday afternoon. Signal quality at 80-90% on both 2E and 2F according to the Sky+ box readings. Clear skies though so will need to see how it performs in rain but given the size of the dish I'm hoping for good performance.

On a side note: Its the 5th time I have set up a dish and the easiest yet. No more than 15 minutes tweaking to get the whole thing up and running. It took longer to assemble the dish!

 

[Setanta]

Late night reception of BBC has stopped. I can no longer get any BBC/ITV stations so I've cancelled my SKy sub and unplugged the box as it was disheartening trying to navigate the epg trying to find the remaining available channels. I am using a generic sat decoder and tbh that remaining channels are abysmal so I'm seriously considering giving up altogether and taking down my dish. I can get some channels via the web and although it's a bit of a song and dance I think I'm going to have to opt for that.

 

[mickwig]

Late night reception of BBC has stopped. I can no longer get any BBC/ITV stations so I've cancelled my SKy sub and unplugged the box as it was disheartening trying to navigate the epg trying to find the remaining available channels. I am using a generic sat decoder and tbh that remaining channels are abysmal so I'm seriously considering giving up altogether and taking down my dish. I can get some channels via the web and although it's a bit of a song and dance I think I'm going to have to opt for that.

And its going to get worse. However, 80cm is a bit on the small side, ain't it?

 

[PaulR]

I'm a bit confused Setanta. You say that you have (had) a $ly subs but a generic decoder. Did you have a $ly box as well?

If so you shouldn't have lost ANY of your subscription channels (except for a few Box Office) as these are on the European beam. This points to something else being wrong.

If you've been paying a $ly subscription to watch the BBC, ITV, etc on a generic box then you've really been wasting your money as these do not require a subs. As mickwig says your dish is now too small for the spot beam that these are on. It's a bit difficult to be sure but something around the 1m - 1.2m may do the job depending on whereabouts in the Var you are.

 

[Setanta]

And its going to get worse. However, 80cm is a bit on the small side, ain't it?

I've had it receiving Sky without any problems for the last 9 years. I did upgrade the LNB to a better spec about 4 years ago when I got my hands on a Sky+ box but other than that my system has been pretty useful. I know the acrylic dishes are not as efficient but at least they don't rust and they are not quite as visible.
Is it even worth my while looking at a Freesat box or would I just be throwing money away?

 

[Setanta]

I'm a bit confused Setanta. You say that you have (had) a $ly subs but a generic decoder. Did you have a $ly box as well?

If so you shouldn't have lost ANY of your subscription channels (except for a few Box Office) as these are on the European beam. This points to something else being wrong.

If you've been paying a $ly subscription to watch the BBC, ITV, etc on a generic box then you've really been wasting your money as these do not require a subs. As mickwig says your dish is now too small for the spot beam that these are on. It's a bit difficult to be sure but something around the 1m - 1.2m may do the job depending on whereabouts in the Var you are.

I should have said "I am now using a generic box". Sorry for the confusion.

I had a Sky+ Box with an Irish subscription in the living room and I had a generic decoder in the bedroom. It's a quad LNB so for the sake of a few metres of cabel I had a second TV showing the FTA channels upstairs. When it all went down the tubes I did away with the sky box and card and moved the generic into the sitting room.

My Location is Vidauban 83550, 44 25'37 N 6 25'54 E

 

[PaulR]

Hi Setanta

If you look at the map that Analoguesat has produced (for the 2E satellite spot beam but 2F is similar) from various reports here http://goo.gl/maps/Ha4xf you can see that a 110cm dish near to St tropez is producing a weak signal. This suggests that you would need to go up to a 1.5m to be reasonably sure of getting the spot beams. Maybe a well set up quality 1.2m would do the trick is a moot point and, if you were an experimenter, would be a good starting point.

However, you should still have been getting the subscription channels on your $ly + box. When you say "went down the tubes", have $ly 1 and the like gone? As I said above, this points to another problem if so.

Fitting a Freesat box at the moment would be no use as Freesat and $ly use the same satellite and channels for the FTA (free to air) channels such as the BBC, ITV, C4 and C5 use.

 

[Setanta]

Hi Setanta
Fitting a Freesat box at the moment would be no use as Freesat and $ly use the same satellite and channels for the FTA (free to air) channels such as the BBC, ITV, C4 and C5 use.

I was receiving all the other subscription channels that did not move to 2F. I had no problem getting All the Leisure/Lifestyle/Documentary/Kids/Music channels. I lost RTÉ1/RTÉ2/TV3/TG4 from my Irish sub and BBC1 NI/ BBC2/ITV/Ch4 plus some variants +1 etc. I never said I lost any other channels? I just have no inclination to pay a Sky sub for them when all the primary channels are gone.
I realise that the Freesat Channels received on a Humax Box or whatever come from the same source but I was hoping that the sensitivity of these boxes would be superior to a standard Sky box and therefore pull in the weaker signal. Maybe even perhaps when linked to a better LNB.

 

[PaulR]

The Humax boxes are well regarded for their sensitivity but so too are the new $ly HD boxes. If your $ly+ box was quite old then it might have been deaf relative to these newer models but not enough to make up for such a big difference in dish sizes. It's more likely to make a difference if you lose your signal late in the evening in evening but have no problem the rest of the day. I'm afraid that you're far from that situation!

You are unfortunate with the encrypted ROI channels. The suspicion is that $ly moved these on to the spot beam as there would be less of an uproar from Irish expats than the British expats as there are less of them.

Resumption of reception still comes down to a bigger dish unfortunately.

 

[Setanta]

I am afraid that you are correct on all counts. Luckily I have unlimited broadband running at about 14Mbps so I think I shall have to commit to the TV over IP route. I have already found a source for UK TV and the RTÉ player is not geo locked so that's a plus but it doesn't show all the content.

Thanks for all the help and advice.

 

[PaulR]

No probs. Glad to help even if it's all bad news!

Luckily I have unlimited broadband running at about 14Mbps...

My ADSL in France is also unlimited. Unfortunately it maxes out at about 2Mbps.

On a good day...

 

[Analoguesat]

Thread checked & map updated to here.

 

[mickwig]

I thought its time for a little update. Since the spring equinox the Signal has degraded considerably. Seems like the summer low is beginning. My 240 dish is still working 24/7 and it has not been raining hard yet. But I am getting near the limit of what my setup can handle. My Samsung TV has been doing fine up to 15% SNR with DVB-S2 and 10% SNR for DVB-S TP's. I am getting near the limit with both 2E and 2F. How about the rest of you? Any changes further south?

 

[TonyWhalley]

I thought its time for a little update. Since the spring equinox the Signal has degraded considerably. Seems like the summer low is beginning. My 240 dish is still working 24/7 and it has not been raining hard yet. But I am getting near the limit of what my setup can handle. My Samsung TV has been doing fine up to 15% SNR with DVB-S2 and 10% SNR for DVB-S TP's. I am getting near the limit with both 2E and 2F. How about the rest of you? Any changes further south?

I am directly South of you about 100K North of Munich.
Signals definitely down.
On 2F lose ITV1 HD (but pick up UTV... Although last night that just about died at the end of the football. Didn,t check CH4HD or CH5 SD but usually hold them.... Just.
On 2E still OK although signal down.... But I did align specifically on BBC1 HD.
Dropped my 1.25M and upgraded with 2E to 1.5M. Initially on quad (which had slightly better signal) but for practical reason reverted to quattro with feedhorn when I took down the 1.25M

 

[cazhh]

summertime again. 2F back down.



These are daily minimums and maximums. Minimums have to be used with care as bad weather can play a role.

 

[mickwig]

Hi again, for about a week now 2E has been really bad, BBC1HD is not working from 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. onwards until I go to bed.

Also, n2yo.com has been listing 2E at 28.45 deg rather than the 28.35 deg for the last 2 days, back to normal now at this time.

Any thoughts? Will they move 2E to 28.5 permanently?

 

[hexah]

If they are going to space out the satellites a bit more it will create problems with big dishes because of the narrow beamwidth.

If they are more than 0.2 degrees apart it may be necessary to have two large dishes to receive them consistently with enough gain to ensure reception at all times.

Remember that the satellites wander around in their 'box' in the sky and you have to take that into account.

Atmospheric electrical thermal noise and man made background electrical noise and aliens trying to contact us from outer space on a bad choice of frequencies is something we can't do much about except try to drown it out with a big dish and to ensure proper shielding in the cables (removal of the foil and making sure the braid wire is evenly distributed around the cable before putting the F connector on, if its not a crimped f connector a decent amount of self amalgamating tape and a drip loop will stop it sliding out under its own pressure).