Astra 3B - 2 different European Footprints discovered !!

[saadi]

Hello,

I just discovered from the Astra PDF's: (_http://uploaded.to/file/r9wmir), that there are two different Footprints of the European-Beam:

_http://img683.yfrog.com/img683/568/european23b.png

and the second version of the European beam:

_http://yfrog.com/78europeandownlink3bp




And here are the other 2 beams:
_http://img132.imageshack.us/i/3bmiddleeast.png

_http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/737/astra3bcomp.jpg




Is there a reason why they did 2 Versions of the beam?




Source of the Footprints is_:
_http://www.ses.com/ses/siteSections/services/satellitefleet/upcoming-launches/index.php

Backup:
_http://uploaded.to/file/r9wmir


@Analoguesat:
1. Could you add the second european beam into the attachment on this site:
http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/satellite-footprint-library/170247-astra-3b-will-23-5e.html


2. Secondly, OT:

I added your Footprint image of TV-Sat to _http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV-SAT]
The image is in that thread:
http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/satellite-footprint-library/162350-tv-sat-19-2w.html

Would it be ok if you could PM me some infos about the Image: Such as copyright, image source, etc.

Thank You!

[Moderation Note] Unparsed several outbound links. Please take note of forum rules

 

[Analoguesat]

Havent got the faintest idea where the TV Sat image came from.

Credit this forum as you have swiped it from here though.

 

[hexah]

Astra 3B is intended to serve the Central European market in particular.

One spot beam is intended to serve the German speaking countries and The Netherlands. The other is mainly for The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

 

[saadi]

And why do they need two Europe Beams?
Isn't one Beam sufficient?
I mean the coverage area is almost the same.

Btw: Will both the Ultra-Paneuropean Widebeam and the Arab-Beam be for Astra2Connect, etc?

 

[hexah]

You may be right. The map that you have provided (with the EIRP) seems to be the most recent one.

Astra will provide a full factsheet pdf for Astra 3B in a few months when the satellite has been fully tested.

As far as I can tell Astra2Connect is available through European resellers. You would have to ask them.

Comercial data will be provided point-to-point across any of the beams, avoiding expensive multiple hops. The unique innovation is that the satellite has an internal switching matrix so it can uplink in KA and downlink in KU or vice versa. The high power of the satellite and improving uplink technology it means it is cheaper and easier to provide feeds and remote monitoring services using lower powered devices. A good example of this will be the 2010 World Cup, uplinked from Africa and downlinked to any or all bands or beams.

So I expect there will be more feeds from this satellite position than ever before. This makes 23.5e much more interesting than people may have expected.

 

[hexah]

When reading footprint maps it might help to know that SES Astra consider an area where you could use a 60cm dish as being served.

Eutelsat used to consider an area where you could use an 80cm dish as being served, but since they moved to high power satellites 70cm is their minimum size.

 

[Analoguesat]

The third footprint in the top post is either the Ka band downlink coverage or an error as its almost identical to one of the uplink maps, but made into a proper map rather than the line drawing in the coverage pdf file.

Im not putting it in the "official library" until we get confirmation of exactly what it is.

 

[hexah]

According to the official SES Middle East spotbeam factsheet it is a KA band downlink footprint, for Middle East uplinks with European downlinks.

Downlink frequencies are given as 21.425 - 21.625 GHz.

_http://www.ses.com/ses/layout/upcoming-launches/PDFs/ASTRA_3B_spot_beam_-_11Feb09.pdf

Pages 6 - 7.

The KU band footprint is in the general factsheet.

_http://www.ses.com/ses/layout/upcoming-launches/PDFs/Astra_3B_factsheet_17Feb10.pdf

Page 3.

 

[saadi]

I just discovered that they changed the footprint Maps of the Widebeam: Now supposedly 150 cm dishes are needed instead of 120 in the Middle East area:

_http://www.ses-astra.com/medialib/content/Footprint_Graphics/Footprint_Graphics_23.5_East/0_astra_3b_pan_european_beam_pe2_downlink_M.jpg

In the new factsheet about the 3B however its still the old one:
_http://www.ses-astra.com/resources/pdf/en-shared/satellite_factsheets/0_3b_footprint_fact_sheet.pdf


What is right now?

 

[hexah]

Who knows for certain?!?