Satelite changes in europe

[dakota]

 

Does this mean our satelite dishes will be useless in 2013 ??

 

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/posts/Changes-to-BBC-Satellite-transponders-in-2013

[BGD]

Others with more technical knowledge will be along shortly no doubt, but I can report that this news is causing big waves amongst the ex-pat population on the Costa Blanca in Spain.

 

This region is right on the edge of the current "footprint" of UK-meant satellite transmissions.

People already need BIG dishes to collect enough of the weak signal in order to sneakily watch UK-meant channels.

 

Apparently, according to the hysteria here, this change (which will seemingly stop most people here viewing stations that they were never meant to anyway, as BBC UK and other UK-specific TV channels are only licensed for UK viewing) will actually be The End Of The World here.

 

 

Guess they'll just have to actually learn Spanish from next summer onwards and learn a tiny bit about Spain by instead watching any of the loads of domestic Spanish TDT TV stations, if their existing monster 2.4 metre dishes can't pick up UK channels thereafter...... :-D

[dakota]

mmm it makes one wonder if this will become a reason for for some ex pats to come home , for some , english tv is big part of their lives , it gives them a feeling of being at home whilst away , if you know what i mean , and it certainly means no eastenders while in europe with the motorhome .

[Mike88]

dakota - 2012-12-31 12:38 PM

 

mmm it makes one wonder if this will become a reason for for some ex pats to come home , for some , english tv is big part of their lives , it gives them a feeling of being at home whilst away , if you know what i mean , and it certainly means no eastenders while in europe with the motorhome .

 

I think many want to come home already but are marooned there because of the declining property market. The absence of TV will be a major blow for many expats but I think there is a workaround as people I know living nr Benidorm receive their UK TV on a 60cms dish which obtains it's signal from Germany I think. This is unlawful but I doubt if too many are concerned about that although I would be.

[Frankkia]

Astra 2E, like some of the other satellites will have both "Spot" and "Pan European" beams - The Spot beam which the FTA (Free To Air) channels like BBC and ITV will use will be much tighter than the previous Astra 2D spot beam. Meaning that viewers in the far west of Cornwall and east Kent as well as the north east of Scotland will probably still require the larger of the Sky "mini dishes" to get a reliable most weather conditions signal.

 

If you look at http://www.astra2.org/astra2e.html It gives a picture of both the "Spot" and Pan European" footprints and you will see that European viewing of the "Spot" beam will be restricted to northern France.

 

It should be noted that these footprint maps are, at the moment, estimates and it will not be known until after the satellite has been positioned what the actual footprint is. When Astra 1N was launched to temporarily take over the work of Astra 2D the expected footprint was going to cut off the Costas and Porugal but the reality was that the signal was in fact stronger in both places. I would still think, though, that as 2Es "Spot" is designed to be much much tighter than 2N that it will be unlikely that a reliable signal on anything less than a 1 meter dish will travel much further south than the middle of France. Only the far north of Spain will get anything with a colossal 2.5.

 

There are alternatives for those in southern Spain / Portugal. By moving the dish 2 degrees south and 2 degrees up you can lock on to the BADR group of satellites (Arabsat) at 26 degrees where there are a number of channels broadcasting English language programmes. These include "Press TV" (News channel) and MBC2, MBC4, MBC Action etc

 

If you are resident in Spain or on a camp site with good internet access there is always the possibility of using the various channel "I" players to watch on your computer - you will have to use a proxy server in the UK though.

 

As Bruce said - you could always learn the language BUT you will then find, after all that effort, that Spanish / Portuguese tv has even more crap on it than their UK cousins.

[mgain]

such a shame that all you people that dont pay a licence fee will find it difficult to watch bbc, lets see some of the answers to that one then,

[Mike88]

mgain - 2012-12-31 4:52 PM

 

such a shame that all you people that dont pay a licence fee will find it difficult to watch bbc, lets see some of the answers to that one then,

 

Your home TV licence covers usage in a motorhome/touring caravan as can be seen from the following extract from the TV licence conditions:

 

What your TV Licence covers

For a main home or business It covers the installation and use of TV receivers at the premises specified on the licence.

For a vehicle, boat or touring caravan used as your second home

It covers:

The current licence holder

Anyone who normally lives with them at the licensed premises

Anyone who normally works at the licensed premises (as long as the vehicle, boat or caravan is being used for business purposes)

[hallii]

I think we have to wait and see, the predicted footprint is not always what was expected, maybe we will get lucky, but then we might not!

 

When talking with other nationalities it is surprising how many of them watch UK programmes via satellite.

 

They will be upset if the beam proves to be as tight as designed.

 

H

 

[hallii]

I have done a bit of research, actual reception reports from http://robssatellitetv.webs.com/astra2freceptionreports.htm

 

 

These indicate that unless you have a 2 mtr dish and low noise LNB and receiver then you will not be

able to get any of the usual channels (ITV BBC etc) in most of Spain. Sky is on another beam and encrypted but is a good signal.

 

France is patchy but should be mostly OK with smaller dishes.

 

So it appears that the beam is indeed tightly focused on the UK with very little "spill over",

 

I will just have to record a load of stuff onto DVD, time consuming but doable.

 

H

[Patricia]

Hallii does that mean that I should still be able to receive Sky in France then?

 

Frankia: With regard to iPlayer etc. I have tried to watch these on my computer in France but the programmes recognise that I am abroad and close down the site.

[hallii]

Patricia - 2012-12-31 9:32 PM

 

Hallii does that mean that I should still be able to receive Sky in France then?

 

Frankia: With regard to iPlayer etc. I have tried to watch these on my computer in France but the programmes recognise that I am abroad and close down the site.

 

Yes Patricia, Sky appears to be unaffected, it uses a different beam (south beam) so is much stronger.

 

In fact just using a FTA box France should be OK with a small dish, but once you get into Sapin it will be difficult.

 

H

[sambukashot]

Patricia - 2012-12-31 9:32 PMHallii does that mean that I should still be able to receive Sky in France then? Frankia: With regard to iPlayer etc. I have tried to watch these on my computer in France but the programmes recognise that I am abroad and close down the site.

Hi Patricia,

You can subscribe to a private VPN connection for just £5 a month which will allow you to view UK live TV on your computer anywhere abroad, you can cancel this subscription at anytime :)

I have an article about this which you will find in the Q&A section half way down the page, here is the link: http://www.camperstops.co.uk/index.php/motorhome-articles/motorhome-wifi

[Mike88]

hallii - 2013-01-01 11:53 AM

 

Patricia - 2012-12-31 9:32 PM

 

Hallii does that mean that I should still be able to receive Sky in France then?

 

Frankia: With regard to iPlayer etc. I have tried to watch these on my computer in France but the programmes recognise that I am abroad and close down the site.

 

Yes Patricia, Sky appears to be unaffected, it uses a different beam (south beam) so is much stronger.

 

In fact just using a FTA box France should be OK with a small dish, but once you get into Spain it will be difficult.

 

H

 

Is this correct?

 

Doesn't Sky only use south beam when you change the transponder default setting . I used to use 12.129 (from the default setting of 11.778) when in Spain but I'm unsure whether this is the latest frequency due to the changes.

 

But I don't think that south beam is the default setting as mentioned above but I could be wrong so some fiddling around may be necessary before you are able to receive UK Programmes affected by the change.

 

For clarification do you need to re-programme the transponder setting as before?

 

As for free to air boxes do not they find the strongest signal automatically? There will be a need to do a re-scan following the change of satellites. I have always found my free to air box better to find programmes abroad than my Pace 12v Pace Skybox.

[johnnerontheroad]

This any help? http://tinyurl.com/axdvvqe

 

Dave

[Frankkia]

Sorry folks but I am going to have to bust a few misconceptions here.

 

Mike88 and Hallii - The default transponder has nothing to do with the power of the signal. The group of satellites we refer to as Astra 2 have an array of transponders (a transponder is like an antenna which receives signals from the ground stations then changes the frequency and sends it back to earth so you can see it). Some of the transponders are beamed towards the North and some to southern Europe (some to Africa).

 

When you travel south you move out of the area where you can see the transponder which broadcasts the Sky default transponder signal which is pointing northwards. As your sky box can't see that transponder (11788v) it will not load the EPG (programme Guide) so you change the default to one it can see - the best is 12207v at the moment. All you have done is given the box something it can see so that it will start to load the EPG. Sky in fact broadcasts their content over many transponders some of which you can see in Spain and some you can't because they are pointed too far north. That means that you may (if you are paying for movies) receive a movie channel but won't get say Eurosport. Sky itself is not on a separate beam but spread across them.

 

Each transponder can carry up to about 10 tv stations depending on if they are high def or not. And can carry lots of radio channels.

 

So far the results quoted above are only for the Astra 2F satellite which is already in orbit. The 2E satellite has not been launched yet so there are no figures for it yet only the builders estimate - And anyone who has had an estimate from a builder will tell you they are more fiction than fact. The BBC services will be migrating to 2E when it is in orbit.

 

Patricia - As I said in my earlier post you can receive I player abroad but only through a proxy server - some people use www.expatshield.com

[Patricia]

sambukashot - 2013-01-01 12:11 PM

Patricia - 2012-12-31 9:32 PMHallii does that mean that I should still be able to receive Sky in France then? Frankia: With regard to iPlayer etc. I have tried to watch these on my computer in France but the programmes recognise that I am abroad and close down the site.

Hi Patricia,

You can subscribe to a private VPN connection for just £5 a month which will allow you to view UK live TV on your computer anywhere abroad, you can cancel this subscription at anytime :)

I have an article about this which you will find in the Q&A section half way down the page, here is the link: http://www.camperstops.co.uk/index.php/motorhome-articles/motorhome-wifi

Thank you for this information which may be very useful for me. I will wait and see before signing up because I think I read that BBC iPlayer is changing and becoming more "expat" friendly. However, I might be very wrong about this. Also as I have Sky + HD box and a FTA box I will see what the reception will be like after the change over. Being in the mountains I often lose signal anyway when it is raining but the signal remains better in the parked m/home so I can always sit out there if necessary.I am not actually an expat but usually spend about 3 mths in France/ 3 mths in England and so on. Presumably I would need to keep the service active even when back in the UK.PS Will also investigate expatshield.com.PPS I do also watch French TV of course but their coverage of UK news is usually sparse at best ( except for the "big" events such as the Jubilee celebrations etc. or anything else with a Royal link).

[Guest pelmetman]

Sat........................in Zaragosa......................................................................................................... on my bum :D..............watching a US series *-)...........dam the adverts are in Spanish :D...............................AND...........I've not even got my cheapo satellite out of its box ;-) ...............just tuned my Morrisons 99 quid special TV in with the "Status" ariel and hey presto 85 channels and 3 or 4 in English 8-).................Gives us something to look at..................but bye eck I ain't aft glad I'm not in America 8-).....

 

 

Anyone seen the half ton woman 8-)

[Cliffy]

 

Most of these posts talk about the BBC satelite reception. Will the changes affect ITV channels in the same way?

 

We have a Free to Air receiver supplied in the portable kit bought at Maplins and it has always worked well as far as Austria and southern France. There is a selection of satellites to choose from other than Astra 2D, Eurosat, Turksat, Astra 19.2 to name just a few. How, if at all will the coming changes affect these.

 

 

 

[Guest JudgeMental]

Blimey.........this will cause big problems for many down in Spain. Must admit the ability to watch BBC when down there will be sorely missed. Guess proxy the way to go so can at least view IPlayer (would be adequate for us) but some sites have crap Internet ....

[Mike88]

JudgeMental - 2013-01-03 8:30 AM

 

Blimey.........this will cause big problems for many down in Spain. Must admit the ability to watch BBC when down there will be sorely missed. Guess proxy the way to go so can at least view IPlayer (would be adequate for us) but some sites have crap Internet ....

 

There are a few sites in Spain with British TV piped to the pitch. The 3 (La Torretta, Villasol and El Raco) in Benidorm for example have this facility. Meanwhile all other nationalities seem to be able to receive their TV via their 40 cms dishes.

[Frankkia]

Cliffy - It will gradually affect all the FTA stations - At the moment some of the Ch4 and ITV regions are on Astra 1N which will be leaving the 28degree location once 2E is up and running so those channels will move on to 1 of the other "Birds" as they are sometimes called.

 

Other ITV regions and Ch 5 regions are already on 2F on a UK spot beam which should mean that they are already difficult to get in Spain. If people are getting them then the footprint is much wider than SES (Astras owners) are saying.

 

As I said in the post above - don't rely too much on the builders estimate - It usually is as wrong as a BBC weather forecast.

 

You can see which channels are where by looking at www.lyngsat.com

[terryW]

Not sure if this has been mentioned previously but a couple of years back I took an very old AVTEC tely down to Spain and tuned into the local digital broadcasts. I discovered two things, firstly some programs were broadcast in English but the more interesting point is that the set allowed me to tune to a second audio channel that gave me the English audio for the film.

 

Just a little side info.

 

 

[Bojitoes]

Hi

i have purchased the dongle mentioned by sambukashot, does anyone know do you need to purchase a different sim card for each country you travel through or will a French card work in spain/ Also do you have to specify you want a data card/

many thanks

bob

[Losos]

Patricia - 2012-12-31 10:32 PMHallii does that mean that I should still be able to receive Sky in France then? Frankia: With regard to iPlayer etc. I have tried to watch these on my computer in France but the programmes recognise that I am abroad and close down the site.

 

Hi Patricia,

Just edited this post as I see he has answered you above, might be worth following that up, £5 a month seems very reasonable to me.

 

[Patricia]

Frankkia - 2013-01-01 11:27 PM

 

Patricia - As I said in my earlier post you can receive I player abroad but only through a proxy server - some people use www.expatshield.com

 

I downloaded this site this morning and my McAfee refused to download part of it. When I investigated the IP address assigned to me it showed that the location was off the West African coast and web reputation high risk. It might be free but I don't fancy this at all so will investigate the £5 monthly one.