Narrow beam transmissions planned for 28e

[Conaxthewarrior]

Hello all,
I read with horror that the next satellite to launch at 28e, the Astra 1N this year, will have narrow beam transmission over the uk and will eventually replace an existing satellite which will move elsewhere.
Looking up planned launches at lyngsat.com, I see yet more satellites will go up to 28e, these being the Astra 2F in 2012 , Astra 2E in 2013 and Astra 2G in 2014.
It would seem inevitable that these new satellites will follow suit, having narrow beam. I live some 399 miles (642km) outside the uk and was wondering does anyone know if these narrow beam transponder transmissions would still reach me here in Vejle, Denmark?

[Larry-G]

i'm not sure about the exact footprints of these planned satellites but yes they are planning more tight spot beams to cover the UK market.

[FuManchu]

Found this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54601843@N03/5068070339/

Don't know how acurate it is tho.

[Conaxthewarrior]

Many thanks, Fu. From the illustration, I see that the signal weakens off at roundabout Copenhagen which is some 200miles east from me, so I'm more optimistic now about still being able to recieve the bbc channels although my geographical position would put me exactly on the border of the 2nd weakest / weakest reception area. Just hope my 110cm dish is enough!!

[Conaxthewarrior]

Ive just found
http://www.astra2d.com/astra1n.html which shows 3 footprint diagrams for the astra 1N, one a uk spot beam which sounds as if this might carry the bbc channels (seems my 110cm would gather a weak signal at least!) and the other 2 both pan european.

[pooface]

Please remember to code live links in future ;) Done this one for you...

[Conaxthewarrior]

Opps,sorry Pooface , will do.

[Conaxthewarrior]

While updating from the 28e satellite I've noticed somthing I've apparantly missed ie that the astra 2D already transmits a narrow spot beam over the UK. After checking my vu+ duo, I see that my BBC One London is from such a spot beam (10773 H 22000-5/6) so this must mean I can recieve any 28e spot beam transmission at my latitude - now my worries of missing the BBC , the football & snooker have suddenly passed away (oh, thankyou, God).

Has anyone an idea why there are two identical BBC London's on the astra 2D? One transmits from 10773 H 22000-5/6 and another from 10803 H 22000-5/6 , this would seems a waste of channel space, would'nt it?

[silverfox0786]

so far all i can see is BBC 1 London which is the TV channel and BBC London which is the Radio channel

and i did a scan yesterday

[Larry-G]

well ive just done a scan on 10773 and you are correct BBC ONE LONDON is shown in the results so god knows what its there for as it;s not listed on the usual reference sites.

[silverfox0786]

i could be a change of frequency and BBC are transitioning the change by keeping the old till lanuch and testing the new

[Larry-G]

i could be a change of frequency and BBC are transitioning the change by keeping the old till lanuch and testing the new

very possible yes.

[Conaxthewarrior]

Well, Silverfox, I noticed the dual bbc londons whilst looking at the astra 2d listings on the Lyngsat web site. When checking the same with King of Sat, I see 10773 etc is listed as having a BBC One England and 10830 has BBC1 London.... nothing more than nit - picking all this but at least it proves there are differences between certain satellite tv listings services on the net where there really shouldnt be!
Also did a scan of both frequencies today and the result is I have to agree with Pheonix, I've now got two (aparrently) identical BBC London's on the main channel list!!

[silverfox0786]

very curious this one

[Conaxthewarrior]

Could also be somthing to do with the new Astra 1N on the way over.When it's there, one will eventually be moved to 1w if I'm correct so there would be unavoidable reshuffling of channels & frequencies, I expect. Makes us wonder how much more "musical chairs" is to be expected before all the new satellites are in place!
Ps just had to put in a new freq for True Movies 1&2 & True Entertainment so quick, lads, take your chairs......

[Larry-G]

it wont even be finished when 1N is in place as thats just a temporary measure until a new astra 2 bird is launched and then 1N will be relocated once again to 19.2 east. so yes there will be a lot of reshuffling for some years yet.

[Larry-G]

Astra 2D, 28.2°E
(23h16) Sky Digital: BBC One London has left 10803.00MHz, pol.H (DVB-S SID:6405 PID:2351/2352 English), it is no longer transmitted by satellite in Europe.