Forthcoming launch of Astra 2E

Astra 2E
The Astra 2E satellite is scheduled to be launched in the second quarter of 2013. Astra 2E will deliver next generation broadcast, VSAT and broadband services in Europe and Africa at 28.2° East. The Ku-band capacity will allow this satellite to enhance and secure its existing offering to major Direct-to-Home (DTH) markets in the UK and Ireland. With a Ku-band payload specifically designed to meet the requirements of some of Europe’s largest DTH broadcasters, the satellites will have spot beam and pan-European beam switching capabilities to accommodate both pay-TV and free-to-air broadcasters, and to provide these customers with increased functionality. SES ASTRA customers in this region include BSkyB, BBC, ITV, Freesat, Channel Four, Channel 5, UK TV, Virgin Media, MTV and Discovery.
The BBC has confirmed their plans to move their services from Astra 1N/2F to Astra 2E in 2013. The over-spill of the BBC’s services will be reduced so viewers outside the UK will find it even harder to receive them. Astra 2E will have the same UK footprint as Astra 2F, so if you can currently view channels from Astra 2F, there should be no problems receiving Astra 2E. Here on the Costa Blanca there has been very little change to the reception from the recently launched  Astra 2F, it appears that the footprint is not as accurate as first projected, there is some loss of signal strength we have noticed a 10dB drop from the reception of Astra 1N which currently supplies 150 Direct to Home services. However this appears to only affect satellite dishes of 1 m or less, especially channel 5 group of channels.  The footprint of the new ( to be launched in the 2nd quarter of 2013) Astra 2E is projected to be the same as Astra 2F. Happy viewing.

Answer to total loss of TV channels

For years now Channels have been transmitting via a satellite based  west of the equator via  BFBS ( British Forces Broadcasting services) they use a BISS encoding system, however, available in Spain are Decoders that are capable of receiving these channels, they are:-

BBC One England
BBC One Scotland
BBC One Northern Ireland
BBC One Wales
BBC Two England
BBC Three
BBC News
BBC Four
CBBC
CBeebies
BBC Parliament
BBC HD
BBC One HD
ITV 1 Central West
Channel 4 HD
S4C HD
STV HD
UTV HD
Radio....
BBC R5L.
BBC R5SX
BBC 6 Music
BBC Radio 7
BBC 1 Xtra
BBC Asian
BBC World Sv
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 4
BBC Red Button
BBC Alba
Radio Scotland
Radio N Gael
Radio Ulster
Radio Foyle
Radio Wales
Radio Cymru
Channel 5 is also reported to be on this satellite, but as yet not confirmed.

So all is not lost!

Astra 2F TV channel migration update 5th Dec 2012

 We have done tests on the signal strength

1 metre dishes.......
Some have issues with the Channel 5  group  (Transponder 10964 Horizontal) is now right on the edge of reception. Some will get these channels and some may not on this size of dish, we tested it on Entre Naranjos Jacarilla with  Fergusan and Golden Media Decoders, the levels were barely 7dB in the middle of the day, possibly at night this channel may fall off the "Digital Cliff" with pixelation problems.
Also...
Transponder 10.994 H: ITV 1 Granada HD, ITV 1 Central South West,  Anglia West, ITV 1 Meridian North, ITV 1 Yorkshire East and ITV 1+1 Yorkshire, reception is now lower in strength.
Transponder 11.052 H: ITV 1 Central South, Central East,  Wales + 1, Westcountry+1and  Tyne Tees SD also reception is now lower in strength. Transponder 11126 V 4HD  incl. 4seven, reception was low but SD 4 and 4+1 etc were OK. All BBC channels reported OK as with the rest of the ITV channels.

 1.4m. 1.9m and 2.4m Dishes  we have tested the reception and all is OK.

Based on what we tested Wednesday 5th Dec 2012 the signal may move a little throughout the day and evening but it seems to be a minor loss although we are expecting to get calls re Channel 5 group loss as this is now the lowest levels.
There are further changes due, but these are  not clear and it does seem the UK spot beam is weaker than previously, but not disastrous. We will keep you informed  if there will be any other channels  moving from 1N to 2F,  they may be  waiting for another satellite launch, such as 2E scheduled for 2013 even 2G scheduled 2014.
However, presently it is looking  better than the predicted footprint . Satellite footprint maps are usually wrong, when it comes to fringe reception.
Dishes perform  differently in different areas, there may be reception issues especially microwave or localized interference.

More news on the new Astra 2F satellite (2nd Dec 2012)

SES posted on their Facebook page:- "SES Services are currently being transferred to ASTRA 2F. BBC (Trp 2.061) has been migrated to Astra 2F whereas Channel 5 (Tp 2.057), ITV (2.059 & 2.063) and Channel 4 (Tp 2.068) will move to Astra 2F next Tuesday 4th December 2012. This will then mark the completion of the transfer" Transponder 61 is new: 11023 H, 23000 2/3, DVB-S2/8PSK, currently testing on 2F and we have tested this on a 1.9m dish and the reception is excellent. The other 1N transponders due to be transferred next Tuesday are: Transponder 57, carries Channel Five, 5 USA, 5 USA+1, 5*, 5*+1 etc. Transponder 59, carries some ITV One regions Transponder 63, carries some ITV One regions and ITV One London HD. Transponder 68, carries Channel Four HD and 4 Seven etc. They have indicated that not all BBC and ITV channels will be moved to the new satellite! BBC have 4 other transponders (45,46,47 and 48) - which indicated by the SES statement, are not scheduled to move to 2F yet (strange?) We will keep you updated as soon as we have more information.

More news on the new Astra 2F Satellite

 Astra 2F signal reception
There is no actual detailed information as to the signal reception from Astra 2F for the new UK Spot beam for Spain, however BBC1 HD has been tested on this new satellite as from 22 Nov 2012
and the reception here on the Costa Blanca is excellent on a 1.9m dish. It is now understood that this satellite has a European beam, so the actual dish size of the dish for TV reception of  BBC, ITV, C4, C5 etc can now be received on as seen on the above footprint image on a smaller dish possible as small as 80 cm. This is assuming they will continue to use the European beam.

                                                                   
This is the official footprint from SES ( Astra)

More news will be posted as and when we get it.

Astra 1N & Astra 2F- UK TV reception, Costa Blanca.

Astra 1N is stated as being in a temporary position and is the satellite we currently receive majority of the Free to Air English Language TV, it is reported to be replaced with another satellite
Astra 2F.  Launched in september 2012 it is currently under test- Originally stated this will be in operation by late 2012 or ealy 2013.
Reception strengths in Spain could change!
The new satellite will be in the same orbit at 28.2ºE and is reported to transmit all the channels that are currently on Astra 1N.
It is also reported to have three beams, two of which the footprint indicates will be similar to what we are receiving now, however the third beam  (Spot Beam) could render reception in Spain difficult if they decide to use it to transmit Free To Air channels.
Presently there is no official published information regarding this, we are continuing as we have in the past years until official news is released.
There are no reported changes due to Astra 2A & 2B which we can also receive in Spain, which (currently) contains some English language television - Sky & Free To Air channels, with Radio.

BBC TV and Radio Changes in October 2012

    BBC TV and Radio Changes in October 2012

The BBC have confirmed the changes to some BBC TV and BBC Radio services in October.

BBC Red Button streams to be cut to one. As part of the BBC cost cutting drive the number of BBC Red Button video streams on satellite will be reduced to one - on the 15th October. The lone BBC Red Button video stream will be moved from its current frequency (Astra 2A to 13 11954 H) to a new frequency : Astra 1N to 45 10773 H 22 5/6

BBC TV and Radio Channels Frequency Changes. The BBC will need to shuffle some of their other TV services around, so in the early hours of 15th October 2012:

BBC Three / CBBC and BBC News will move to Astra 1N to 48 - frequency 10818 V 22 5/6

BBC ALBA and BBC One North East & Cumbria will both move to Astra 1N to 47 - frequency 10803 H 22 5/6

BBC Four / CBeebies and BBC Red Button stream 1 will move to Astra 1N to 45 frequency 10773 H 22 5/6

BBC Radio Frequency Changes

Some of the BBC Radio services will also change frequencies and will be split between frequency 10803 H 22 5/6 and frequency 10788 V 22 5/6

Possible loss of BBC Radio stations for Expats??

This will mean the BBC can close Astra 2A to 13, which is a Pan European beam. As the BBC statement says:

"This will also mean that our radio services move from a European beam to a UK spot beam as DSat7 is the last of our European beam transponders. We use a UK beam for our TV services, so the radio services will be as available in the UK as our TV services. But it does mean that the radio services will no longer be receivable across much of mainland Europe. I’ve no doubt that some readers of this blog will be disappointed by this news. But I’m afraid European-beam transponders are not cost effective for us. We broadcast our services for UK audiences “in the clear” or unencrypted (which is what makes Freesat possible) and so for rights reasons we are limited in terms of the services that we are able to broadcast on a European beam. The BBC’s radio station for listeners outside the UK is the BBC World Service, and it is widely available throughout the world. In Europe you can receive the World Service in many different ways including on satellite from Eutelsat Hot Bird 8 at 13°East. It’s also available online 24 hours a day via the listen live link from the BBC World Service homepage."

BBC One HD Regions to Launch

These changes to BBC TV and Radio will also help with the launch of BBC One HD for Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland "over the next few months".

The BBC also confirmed that "BBC HD will be converted into BBC Two HD towards next year".

To allow these further BBC HD regions to be available on satellite the BBC are renting a new Transponder and frequency from Astra.

New TV Channel on Spanish TDT

There is a new TV channel called Xplora recently launched on Spanish TDT, a retune of your Spanish TV listing should pick up this new channel with otheres that have recently been launched, it has a switchable language to English (when available)

To do this view your TV or TDT decoder user manual for instructions.

TV from a 1m satellite dish Including HD

HD satellite Decoder with HDMI output

Pan European Footprint

High gain professionalñ satellite Dish

 

New satellite commissioned early2012  has a Pan European Beam, this means that you can receive most of your favourite TV channels from a 1m satellite dish including HD channels, you can even use a SKY card on it too!
● 1m Dish (Portuguese Famaval)   
● Single LNB
● HD Satellite Decoder
● Installation and cabling
From only

 ●260.00€ (one off payment)

Call Phil on 630 839 793

New Business

 1.8m Satellite dish  with an Invacom Quattro LNB on the roof of an apartment block, Laguna Green
Vista Bella Jacarilla, feeds a 12 output Matrix Multi-switcher system for residents on the top floor of
the apartments.
Full system including facilities to receive SKY card system channels.

Movies 4Men have moved

Movies4 men have moved transponders

Freesat & Sky Digital: Movies4Men  has left 11223.67MHz, polarity Vertical to 11681.00 MHz.  Satellite Eutelsat 28A ( formerly known as Eurobird 1 ) Those communities that have our single cable TV system will now not be able to watch Movies4Men . Speak to your President or TV committee for a solution.

New Business

This installation is a well overdue upgrade to an original Analogue Community
system which supplied poor quality, noisy and audio sync problems, the maximum
channels that were available was 20. The urbanisation approached us with a view
to improving the system.

We completely re-designed the system to purely digital TV with an initial availability
of 61 Channels, imtegrated on the same cable is TDT community Spanish TV, the system is
expanadable to accept various feeds from multiple satellites.
The new system feeds over 100 properties.

Interesting news on illegal antennas on Torresat's building in La Zenia

 News item from  the Spanish newspaper Vega Baja Digital Orihuela. Friday, April 13, 2012
Five antennas/ Transmitters claimed to be of illegal activity in Orihuela Costa
The Town Planning, Antonio Zapata, said today that there has been identified five antennas activities that are illegal in Orihuela Costa, owned by Torresatélite.
Zapata recalled that a few weeks ago, denounced the illegal opening of a trench six miles long in Orihuela Costa and has linked this fact with the existence of these five antennas. It so happens that the owner of the company that owns the devices is councilor of the neighboring municipality of Pilar de la Horadada.
"The trouble is that these illegal activities who exercises a public office," said The mayor of Orihuela has indicated that it will require the withdrawal of these antennas and, if not done, will take other measures to restore legality.
As has been detailed, the antennas are located on buildings or plots belonging to persons other than the owners of the company that  installed them. Thus, the council has stated that the antennas, in addition to lacking licenses and environmental activity, nor has accredited the permission of the owners of the land on which it sits.
The above news item has been translated from Spanish to English and there may be possible errors in the accuracy of it's translation

Paramount Channel now on Spanish TV

Paramount Channel has just been launched on Spanish Digital television network (TDT)
For users  tuning info is
Murcia Transmitter (Carascoy) channel 38
Alicante Transmitter  (Aitana) channel 50
 This increases the lineup with the recent addition of Discovery Max on Channel 69
Don't forget to do regular auto scans of your Spanish TV channels as there are more and more channels being added, many have switchable  language facilities (English)

New Astra 1N satellite at 28.2ºeast is now in operation Astra 2D R.I.P

This may be good or not so good news.....
Astra 1N has temporarily replaced Astra 2D until it's replacement Astra 2E is launched next year, then it will take up a new position at 19.2ºEast to service the German and the Spanish market.
The good news-----
ITV transponders, Channel 4 Transponders, Channel 5 transponders and the latest news is that
BBC transponders have migrated  ( 24th Feb 2012) meaning that with it's Pan European beam  viewers on the Costa Blanca will be able to receive all the migrated channels on  a much smaller dish as Astra 1N here has a signal coverage measuring 50dBW as opposed to some of the recent poor reception channels being only an average of 10dBW
Well the not so good news.......
This could be short lived because Astra 1N has spot beam technology so it is fair to assume that
Astra 2E( to be launched in 2013) will supply all the ITV, BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5 bouquet
of TV channels and this most likely will have spot beam technology and  we could lose them as the coverage could be lightly focused on the UK.
 Freesat is the main user of  Astra 1N and could be of  the new Astra 2E ( Freesat is jointly owned by BBC and ITV) and thy could use the BBC licence issue to prevent viewer's outside the UK being able to access this new satellite..
Enjoy it while it lasts?

Discovery Max

On Channel 69 of the Spanish Digital Terrestrial TV network, TDT, they have added "Discovery Max", which contains the original sountrack which is ( switchable from your remote control) generally in English, so those of you who are discovery fans, retune channel 69 (Spanish TDT only)

Channel 5 has moved

Channel 5 for some years has shared the same transponder as BBC1 London and BBC2 England, now it has moved to Astra 1N the new satellite on 28.2º East and shares with 5 USA and 5*, those  communities that have our single cable TV system will now not be able to watch channel 5. Speak to your President or TV committee for an upgrade to your system.