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Astra 2F Discussion Here Please!


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I can report that things are much improved this morning (weather much better). The 11023H transponder is showing 80% strength and 60% quality and both 8601 and 8611 feeds are looking good.

Maybe it was the weather yesterday? Maybe they were running low power?

Until things finally stabilise, I guess reception will be "variable"

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[quote user="crabtree"]BBC1 HD testing on channels numbered 8901 and 8911 received on my system (80cm dish, postcode 24260) picks them up with Strength 100% and Quality 90%.

To test for yourself you will have to manually tune using the following settings:
11.023 Horizontal
23,000 SR
FEC 2/3
DVBS2
8PSK
[/quote]

Assuming that these are correct at about 11:15 this morning I had access to a Humax box in Quillan (that's halfway between Carcassonne and Perpignan) and got absolutely nothing and I mean nothing like no signal at all.

I have to say however that according to the Astra2F website in the link I gave it says that the FEC is 8/9 and not 2/3 but I am no expert.

A friend in the UK also told me that Sky are broadcasting four channels on 4F, two without encryption and two with, one of them is Sky News. As I said I got nothing on Crabtrees setting so I don't have a clue.

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Hi, I tried to tune my SkyHD box to 11.023H using the 'add channels' facility in 'set-up sky+' but although I could set the frequency and polarity, it only gave me a choice of 22 or 27.5 for the SR setting, when I believe 23 is needed.  The FEC was already 2/3 so I left that.  I was unable to set DVBS2 or 8PSK but I did a channel scan anyway but nothing came up.  As such I'm no farther forward unless I did something wrong?  [:)]   
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[quote user="Daft Doctor"]Hi, I tried to tune my SkyHD box to 11.023H using the 'add channels' facility in 'set-up sky+' but although I could set the frequency and polarity, it only gave me a choice of 22 or 27.5 for the SR setting, when I believe 23 is needed.  The FEC was already 2/3 so I left that.  I was unable to set DVBS2 or 8PSK but I did a channel scan anyway but nothing came up.  As such I'm no farther forward unless I did something wrong?  [:)]   [/quote]

That's sort of what I meant when I wrote that I wasn't sure if it would let you.

The HD boxes must be able to "do" 23000 kbps but it's hobbled in the menus to stop you fiddling.   It won't (as you've found) find anything if the SR is set wrong.....

Frustrating isn't it!   Stuck here in (very wet) Devon I can't offer much observational advice - everything I try is of course banging in on a 45 cm dish....

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What we could be observing is the slight and slow movement of the satellite itself. You normally only observe that in the outer fringe area's, but it could be worse now due to the extreme sharp signal-cutoff they have implemented. That would explain why no variation is measured in the UK, but a lot is seen in the rest of Europe.

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Well not getting much action here I have spent the last two hours having a poke around the Internet and different satellite forums.

Firstly nothing has MOVED from 1N to 2F but a lot of channels are now available on both.

First to go were BBC1HD followed by ITV2+1 and as of about 14:30 this morning all BBC TV and Radio channels and all ITV (not C4 of C5) channels along with all the plus 1's of these channels are now on 2F not to mention their HD counterparts. Switching off 1N should start on the 26th now.

Here are some reception reports I picked up.

Bolzano Province, North Italy - Nothing

Vicenza, Italy - Nothing

Bergen - 60% after tweaking LNB n a 1.2M dish

Copenhagen (Rødovre). - 85% on 1.2M dish

The Bavarian Alps - 56% on 1M dish

Munich/Germany - 10% on 1M dish

Falkenberg Sweden - 35% dish size not given

Sweden (unknown location) 78% on 2M dish

Unfortunately I can't find anything for France. Reports for Spain seem to be zero. As I understand it only when all the channels have been fired up then they will be turned off in 1N which will then be 'moved' to another location i.e. 19.? deg roughly. I have not looked at any maps to see exactly where these places are by the way to see if there is a pattern.

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Well that's odd.   I'm not sure what you've looked at Quillan but I don't think you *can* simulcast from two satellites.    By which I mean that you CAN operate some frequencies from one and others from the other,  but what you CAN'T do is say broadcast on 10803 MHz from both co-located satellites at the same time.

So you pretty much have to turn off one transponder (ie on 1N) at the same split second you turn on the equivalent one on 2F;  this ensures that the viewer notices nothing (although it's normally done at night to avoid a glitch).   And you go through the transponders, switching them from the "departing" sat to the replacement one until you've done them all.

Then (as you say) 1N is going to be rushed off to its "designed" position of 19.2 deg E,   where it'll carry European programmes,   including perhaps Canalsat.....   It's never been there before,   but was itself rushed to 28 deg E in order to replace Astra 2D.    SES won't admit to it (and if ONLY the Freedom of Info Act was valid in Luxembourg!)  but it's thought that some sort of fear of imminent failure of 2D led SES to put 1N in its place while waiting for 2F to be launched.   When 1N is safely at 19 deg E they will then move 2C back to 28 deg E.    2C was more use in the interim at 19 deg E as it doesn't have tight UK beams,   presumably it and 2E will be used to replace 2A and 2B,  both of which are getting towards the end of their lives.     Aren't you glad you asked?  

Where did you read about "lots of channels being available on both"?

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[quote user="crabtree"]BBC1 HD testing on channels numbered 8901 and 8911 received on my system (80cm dish, postcode 24260) picks them up with Strength 100% and Quality 90%.

To test for yourself you will have to manually tune using the following settings:

11.023 Horizontal

23,000 SR

FEC 2/3

DVBS2

8PSK

It is expected that many BBC, ITV, C4 & C5 channels will move to

this bird over the next week or so, so it might be worth testing your

system to ensure you can get the currently testing channels.

Maybe some of you will post your results for comparison.

[/quote]

I should have said that you will need a HD receiver for these channels.

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[quote user="Jako"]Yes, channels cannot be available on both satellites. All parameters remain the same, the whole operation is invisible to the ordinary customer. (us)

[/quote]

Apart from a potential drop in signal;  (which is in fact what is leading people to "guess" that 11023 MHz is on the new satellite,  there's been no official word).

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So why do you have to manually tune? When I looked at my friends Humax box the settings for BBC1 HD were different to the ones in the Crabtree post and we had to change them.

I got my information from all over the place. Basically I searched for Astra 2F footprint and found some of the sites had forums. I then searched for just Astra 2F and found some other sites that again had forums. Don't ask me to give a URL because I was all over the place. Some were websites for expats in specific countries as well that got picked up in the search. If you try the two basic searches I did used you should be able to find the places I visited.

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[quote user="Quillan"]

So why do you have to manually tune? When I looked at my friends Humax box the settings for BBC1 HD were different to the ones in the Crabtree post and we had to change them.[/quote]

You don't have to manually tune under normal circumstances.

The 11023 MHz transponder was already on test only (carrying 2 x BBC 1 HDs) and presumably it was felt by SES and the BBC that it was a suitable guinea pig for a transfer to 2F,  as only the real hardened geeks would notice.    The "normal" BBC HD channels have so far stayed where they are,  so that's why the values on your box (unless you've changed them) are different to the 11023 MHz that we're looking at,  and we're looking at it because it's the only transponder so far to have been switched to 2F.

I appreciate that you've looked all round,   I was only curious to see who was spouting - well - nonsense about simulcasting.   That last comment is NOT aimed at you Quillan!!!

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Nope sorry your going to spell it out to me in very simplistic terms. My friend was watching BBC1 HD when I arrived, we then went to the manual setup to change it to the settings in Crabtree's post because obviously they were different. This indicates to me that two frequencies are being used or something else is different between the two.
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The BBC1 HD channels that Crabtree listed are not yet official. They are still labelled 8901 and 8911. They are two of the new national BBC1 HD channel variants either BBC1 HD Scotland, BBC1 HD Wales or BBC1 HD NI

So the BBC1HD that you found on the Humax is the current BBC1 HD which will probably remain the same or may change to BBC1 HD England soon.

That explains why you did a manual tune to find them. When they go live, the Humax freesat box will detect them and update automatically. In setup you enter a postcode and the BBC1 HD variant will be selected automatically like the current BBC1 SD is.

Danny

EDIT Martin beat me to it, Quillan

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As Danny says.   The 11023 MHz signal was/is a test (which has been going on for a couple of weeks),  but it was not originally intended to test 2F,  just set up to test the BBC's capabilities to eventually split BBC 1 HD along sub-national lines.   No freesat or Sky box actually USES this test frequency at the moment.

Hence (presumably) SES and the BBC agreed together that it would be a good candidate as a guinea pig to ALSO test out 2F;   that way if something awful was discovered about the way 2F was working it wouldn't affect normal programming.....

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BBC does not even need to know, nothing changes for them either. Everybody is expecting a big changeover this night, most likely all 6 BBC transponders.

Let's hope we'll not be disappointed. But we only know for sure when a lot of people suddenly loose reception and they will not be happy.

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11023H signal disappeared at 13:30 yesterday.

Reappeared this morning at 08:00 - just as the sun was pushing clear of the horizon, roughly "inline" with the sats.

So - evidence suggested that the beam is being distorted (favourably for anyone in the SE) by the solar wind and this effect goes away later in the day?

All other tps still seem to be on 1N as far as I can tell.
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[quote user="Jako"]Everybody is expecting a big changeover this night, most likely all 6 BBC transponders.

Let's hope we'll not be disappointed.

[/quote]

Always dangerous to run with the crowd eh Jako....?

(Although I'd be the first to admit that the switch-over is pretty imminent,  but it never pays to second-guess SES in my long experience!)

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