UK Satellite Spot Beams (helpful sites)

[veletron]

Hi

 

Just been fiddling at lunch re the UK spot beam. You can get the tool at:

 

https://www.satbeams.com/footprints

 

to show you the coverage for the three spot beams (from Astra 2E, 2F and 2G) that make up the 'UK Spot Beam' that causes us with small dishes grief while in Europe.

 

Move the slider along the top to 28E, and then you can select the 'Spot Beam' for each of the three satellites 2E, 2F and 2G.

 

When you do this, you'll note how much tighter the spot beam is for 2G vs the others (NB: I dont know how up to date this info is!).

 

Looking at the Freesat/FTA channel list for 2G here:

 

http://en.kingofsat.net/freqs.php?&b=303&pos=28.2E&standard=All&ordre=freq&filtre=no

 

Shows the channels that might be troublesome to recieve because they are on Astra2G. Look at the channel lists for 2E and 2F

 

2E: http://en.kingofsat.net/freqs.php?&b=288&pos=28.2E&standard=All&ordre=freq&filtre=no

2F: http://en.kingofsat.net/freqs.php?&b=270&pos=28.2E&standard=All&ordre=freq&filtre=no

 

And you'll see the same channels from 2G repeated in either non-HD versions, or different regions So, when deleting all the duplicate channels from your FTA receiver, its likely worth keeping some of the non-HD or other region channels in the box's memory for use abroad since these may be more receivable than the same channels on Astra 2G with its more focused spot beam. Additionally, due to the modulation methods having different acceptable bit error rates, SD transmissions may be more watchable than HD transmissions from the same satellite.

 

NB: Out of 2E and 2F, For France, 2F is the strongest.

 

On the Spot Beams site, you can zoom in and click on your location and get the dish size required as well as the Elevation angle, True North azimuth, and the LNB Skew. Setting the skew correctly becomes more important when closer to the outer edges of the beam.

 

Nigel