Eutelsat 28A switchoff looming

[cazhh]

People in the german part of the sidelobe report an increased signal.
I agree that is is most probably a deliberate action. Beginning of january we saw the same procedure.
Could this be related to the transponder switches, ie probably to measure the transponders and make sure they fulfil certain SLAs ?

Here is the january event (just 2E shown)



And this is what happens today.

 

[dxsat]

Loss of BBC & ITV on a 120 cm in Milan. I've now had more than a dozen reports of BBC & ITV loss over a wide geographical area of southern Europe in the past 4 hours.
Perhaps this is 28A switch-off related. Sky would presumably like to use zone 1 dishes nationwide. They may have asked SES to nudge the UK beams north-west.

 

[william-1]

So if the footprint has moved further north this would give rise better reception in Iceland,

Can anyone in Iceland confirm this ?

This footprint map was released a few years ago then with drawn.

 

[hairybadger]

Loss of BBC & ITV on a 120 cm in Milan. I've now had more than a dozen reports of BBC & ITV loss over a wide geographical area of southern Europe in the past 4 hours.
Perhaps this is 28A switch-off related. Sky would presumably like to use zone 1 dishes nationwide. They may have asked SES to nudge the UK beams north-west.

I'm noticing much lower signal on BBC and ITV (T-90). I only checked the signal levels because I was trying to watch the Champions League final on ITV HD and it was breaking up with clear skies

 

[Lampard25]

lets hope the pixelation is also due to seasonal low signals , but definatly here in southern spain something has happened, but this happened also last weekend.

 

[ExIcom]

lets hope the pixelation is also due to seasonal low signals , but definatly here in southern spain something has happened, but this happened also last weekend.

My loss of signal occurred about 4.30pm UK time, it was OK before that today. I remember last year in May /June we also had lower signals. Luckily can watch Euro final on TF1 HD digital terrestial

 

[4wd]

& this evening 2e uk gone as well (& I mean gone, not low), matching the 2f uk loss earlier today eu beams strong so dish\lnb is working fine.

Even the previously 'always strong' ITV3 10906 has gone black, that's not a good sign.
Temporary, or end of an era... ?

 

[Nalleman]

Here I can still get 2F UK beam but it is weaker than before. Now only between 55-62 % SNR (may be a bit stronger in daytime). European beam strong SNR between 92-99 %. 2E also a bit weaker than before SNR 65-75 % on UK beam (may be stronger in daytime) European beam is strong with the same SNR values as on 2F. Will be interesting to see if the UK beams stays this way or if there will be an improvement further on.
Seems many have lost their UK signal today.

 

[dxsat]

20 reports now in from around Europe from expat viewers, all reporting the same loss. Typically, they are in southern France with 100 or 120 dishes that used to be adequate. A few have spent serious money since last year and are very, very annoyed, such as one person with a newly-installed 150cm near Fréjus, Provence. Someone in Sweden has lost C5 on 2F with a 2.4m PF (but BBC and ITV are still OK.)
If you put together the 2E and 2F changes today, the migration of 28A to UK-only beam, the conversion of ⅔ FEC to 5/6 FEC, it adds up to something going on.

 

[Pietclock]

I dont think those changes are linked to be honest... as cazhh has shown this has happened before...

 

[dxsat]

This is over and above seasonal variation and weather-related issues. Last year at this time of year, southern France didn't lose signal like it did today. Large numbers of expat dish installations in the southern third of France lost BBC & ITV. My guess from the number of people emailing is that most have. This hasn't happened before.

 

[Pride Of Cucamonga]

Loss of BBC & ITV on a 120 cm in Milan. I've now had more than a dozen reports of BBC & ITV loss over a wide geographical area of southern Europe in the past 4 hours.
Perhaps this is 28A switch-off related. Sky would presumably like to use zone 1 dishes nationwide. They may have asked SES to nudge the UK beams north-west.

No noticeable difference here - we're close to Greenwich Meridian so perhaps has shifted more west than north (affecting us less than in Italy, Scandi etc.).Anyway, not sure what has to do with 28A switch off. Maybe sats moved slightly in preparation for 2g?

 

[mickwig]

I am recording SQ of 2F (5 TP's) on my 240 since August 2013. A comparison of the 2014 values with 2015 shows hardly any drop except for the 2 TP's that have the Skew problem. Have a look:



Blue=2014; Red=2015; 11097 ITV Granada HD

As you can see there is hardly any difference to the previous year. The same goes for the drop in January. And there will be a few more like this until September.

 

[hairybadger]

I am recording SQ of 2F (5 TP's) on my 240 since August 2013. A comparison of the 2014 values with 2015 shows hardly any drop except for the 2 TP's that have the Skew problem.

Thanks for this As a matter of interest, what are the Y-axis units?

 

[mickwig]

Thanks for this As a matter of interest, what are the Y-axis units?

The Y axis represents the SQ of my Samsung TV wich I found to be the best out of all my other devices. Its 10% SQ per line. The red lines 10/20% are the cut off points for lock (SD is about 10% and HD 16%)

 

[cazhh]

Here is a graph which shows all measurements i've ever made. Transponders are 10964H on 2F and 10773H on 2E.
You can see a few things.
- they always wobble in perfect harmony. ie when 2Fs SNR goes down, the one of 2E does that as well.
- the january event did not happen in january 2014
- and the event which happens currently did not happen in June 2014

before the 1.7.2014 i've had a gib150, now it's a Laminas 180, so you have to add approx 1.5db to the old values. I've also introduced an offset for 2E, because otherwise it would overlay 2F and nothing would be visible.
Overall there is indeed no big difference between the years, except for these two big drops.

 

[mickwig]

According to my numbers it did. obviously not on the exact date but with a couple of days varition. Then I am about 800 km further south than cazhh. And I dont record the data continously but about 6 times a day at about the same time every day

 

[cazhh]

your TV must be a magical device.
It didn't happen in jan '14. Just the other way around. 2F was incredible strong for a few days and then fell to normal levels again. But that was end of january.
The same has been reported by a few other people from your region.

Can you show a 2E transponder pls ? 2E was affected more yesterday.

 

[Nalleman]

Here I can still get 2F UK beam but it is weaker than before. Now only between 55-62 % SNR (may be a bit stronger in daytime). European beam strong SNR between 92-99 %. 2E also a bit weaker than before SNR 65-75 % on UK beam (may be stronger in daytime) European beam is strong with the same SNR values as on 2F. Will be interesting to see if the UK beams stays this way or if there will be an improvement further on.
Seems many have lost their UK signal today.

This morning it looks like this:

2F UK: 65-73 % (12 422 H weaker though at only 54 %)
2E UK: 69-81 %

Almost back to normal values!

 

[woborny]

Just a quick report from me and my 80x85cm dish here near Valencia, is still getting the BBC ITV C4 Five channels, but the signal is slightly lower than previous weeks. It is not getting the bbc red button streams anymore, that were there last weekend.