Good news for Freesat? Astra 2E satellite launched
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV Good news from SES , Luxemboug today (September 30, 2013)
The ASTRA 2E satellite blasts into space on board an ILS Proton Breeze M booster last night at 3:38am Baikonur time (23:38 CET and 17:38 EDT on September 29).
After a 9-hour, 12-minute mission, the Breeze M upper stage of the Proton rocket successfully released the ASTRA 2E satellite directly into geostationary transfer orbit, from where ASTRA 2E will be deployed at the 28.2/28.5 degrees orbital arc.
54th SES satellite to be deployed into 28.2/28.5 degrees East orbital arc
The satellite was built for SES by Astrium of France. Based on the highly reliable Eurostar E3000 platform, the spacecraft carries 60 Ku-band transponders, including 12 incremental transponders for delivery of services outside Europe, as well as 4 Ka-band transponders.
It will enable the delivery of next generation broadcast and broadband services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. ASTRA 2E, which had a launch mass of 6 tonnes, will feature a wingspan of 40m once its solar arrays are deployed in orbit, generating 13 kW of spacecraft power at the end of its 15-year design lifetime.
Romain Bausch, CEO of SES says "We would like to thank Astrium and ILS for the successful ASTRA 2E mission. The 54th satellite in SES’ global fleet provides significant capacity expansion at a strategic orbital neighborhood over Europe. In combination with ASTRA 2F which was launched in September 2012, and the upcoming ASTRA 2G due for launch next year, ASTRA 2E is an important part of our fleet renewal programme at the 28.2/28.5 degrees orbital arc. The state-of-the-art new satellites provide more focused and higher power to our broadcast customers, while the Ka-band on board supports the delivery of next-generation satellite broadband services"-
9:06 PM
Ian from notts: You've hit the nail on the head when it comes to the inital cost - a dish is a dish, and cable is cable. In fact my work will put up a twin LNB dish with 10m of cable for £99, so its not as if thats an especially expensive option. And £299 for a Sky HD box makes the Humax equivalent look OK value.
I think the bigger thing to consider is that Sky does tend to add on extra costs to do more things, such as recording, and of course this is on an ongoing basis.
I didn't know that the EPG will list all the channels, just to tempt you - very clever of them!
The best thing to do with all these things is to tot up how much each option costs in total, and which service gives you what you want.
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10:06 AM
rob: Thanks for your opinions... It has helped me.. I decided to go freesat all the way. thanks. will get octo lnb so i can wired up the whole house, get shot of freeview and tv areials then the place look alot more tidy :-)
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4:50 PM
Petersfield
HELP.
Can someone please advise the 4 different frequencies used for the 4 inputs of a multi switch.
I am having issues with my test meter and need to double check the settings.
thanks in advance.
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jamie's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
6:17 PM
Petersfield
HELP.
Can someone please advise the 4 different frequencies used for the 4 inputs of a multi switch.
I am having issues with my test meter and need to double check the settings.
thanks in advance.
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jamie's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
9:29 PM
jamie stevens: Multiswitch boxes do not operate on four different frequencies (or any in it comes to it) but over the entire intermediate frequency range of the LNB that its connected into, which in the case of Sky or Freesat is from 950 - 2150 Mhz.
Each of the outputs on a multiswitch box used for providing sat facilities in individual flats etc are internally connected into their own dedicated four position electronic switch that operates in exactly the same way as on a normal LNB, the only difference being that when a viewer is changing channels on a satellite box that's connected into such as a communal aerial systems multiswitch unit, the band / polarity control signals sent out from the sat box are not controlling the LNB but selecting which one of the four position switches dedicated inputs to latch onto, those being: Low band V - Low band H / High band V - High band H.
As far as your vertical / high band problem is concerned, is this problem occurring when your meter is connected into a quad block? or is it a Quattro type? because if the former and you have access to a scope then you should check that when your meter is set to measure the V / High output its supplying 12.5 - 14.5V DC as well as the 22Khz high band control signal.
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9:43 PM
jamie stevens: Just a small correction to that said, re: > > but selecting which one of the four position switches dedicated inputs to latch onto < < I meant to say which "pair", not one.
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7:02 PM
I noticed that the new astra has a Middle East coverage. I am in Doha, Qatar. What size dish and what degree do I need to face the dish to watch all uk channels? I have my sky box with me with full UK subscription.
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2:59 PM
Stamatina, the UK national broadcasters (and some english language commercial channels) within Sky and Freesat use Astra2's UK spotbeam which restricts reception, largely, to the United Kingdom and just a limited overspill to North West Europe, other english channels subscription and non-subscription use a Pan European Wide Beam which covers a good part of western central northern and eastern europe but unfortunately doesn't get much further than the far northwestern quadrant of Greece. Some of the Astra satellites at 19.2degE NOT 28.2degE DO cover the Middle East. There is a West African spotbeam on Astra2 but this DOES NOT unfortunately cover the Middle East.
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Stamatina: The coverage maps for the satellites with UK services on them are listed at Satellite footprint maps | ukfree.tv - 11 years of independent, free digital TV advice .
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7:30 PM
could you give me the frequencies of astra 2e over middle east. I can't find them any where.
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