Eutelsat28A channels will be moving to Astra

The Cush

Over the last week channels have been moving from Astra 1N to 2E with no interruptions or retuning required.

Following the end of Jan announcement between SES and Eutelsat over the 28.2°E satellite position and Eutelsat's agreement to use the Astra2 E/F/G satellites to carry their clients channels, all channels and services will be moving off the Eutelsat satellite in due course.

This will include the Freesat home transponder that carries the relevant Freesat data such as epg, ssu and postcode data etc.

Because the frequency plan for both satellites differ, retuning of FTA receivers will probably be required but Sky and Freesat receivers should be OK and the changeover should go unnoticed.

The Freesat home transponder issue is causing some concerns especially if the receivers are switched off for a period of time and unable to receive the updated home transponder data.

Discussion on it over in the Freesat Community forum - http://community.freesat.co.uk/t5/Help-and-advice/Home-Transponder/td-p/14758

Gerry Wicklow

Any ideas where STV HD (3855) has gone to? No longer on 10936 V 23000

The Cush

The Cush wrote: »

Following the end of Jan announcement between SES and Eutelsat over the 28.2°E satellite position and Eutelsat's agreement to use the Astra2 E/F/G satellites to carry their clients channels, all channels and services will be moving off the Eutelsat satellite in due course.

The move from Eutelsat to Astra may not be happening until late this year according to an article linked from a post over on the DS forum. By that time Astra 2G should be launched (Q2 2014) and operational.

In addition to this, Eutelsat will lease an additional 250 megahertz — 12 transponders in this case — from SES starting late this year as Eutelsat moves the traffic off its own satellite, Eutelsat 28A. This will allow the satellite to move elsewhere and is one of the advantages Eutelsat takes away from the overall settlement. The company has not announced where it will place Eutelsat 28A.

...

The 12-transponder portion of the agreement includes capacity related to a French government regulatory filing and was not part of the SES-Eutelsat dispute, which centered on German regulatory filings for bandwidth to which SES said it had obtained rights.

http://www.spacenews.com/article/satellite-telecom/39345ses-and-eutelsat-reach-final-settlement-of-long-running-spectrum

The Cush

The Cush wrote: »

The Freesat home transponder issue is causing some concerns especially if the receivers are switched off for a period of time and unable to receive the updated home transponder data.

Discussion on it over in the Freesat Community forum - http://community.freesat.co.uk/t5/Help-and-advice/Home-Transponder/td-p/14758

Also in the DS thread I linked to in my previous post above, Bob_Cat (aka Bob Hannent, ex- Chief Technologist at Humax) posted the following comments regarding the Freesat Home Transponder issue

Bob_Cat wrote:

Kev is correct, if the box can't find the home transponder where it expects it then it just checks the other transponders to find the correct pointers to the right frequency.

Calm down... This scenario was designed in from the beginning. Would be nice if Freesat made a proper statement on their forums though!

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showpost.php?p=71400874&postcount=44

Bob_Cat wrote:

It is part of the Freesat specification, the only caveat is that it has been tested in the lab but obviously this is the first time it will have been done in anger on the live service.

I'm intrigued to see how well it works. ;-)

WHen boxes can't see the home TP isn't relevant, yes the box won't work properly because it looks at other TPs, says "Oh, the TP is here, it isn't? Oh no, lets look for it! Ah, it should be at x, oh no, it isn't there, lets look for it." and so on. The system isn't designed to work *without* any home TP and the home TP should be signalled correctly somewhere.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showpost.php?p=71402857&postcount=46

http://community.freesat.co.uk/t5/Help-and-advice/Home-Transponder/td-p/14758/page/5

The Cush

Speculation on various forums and satellite lists that the Freesat home transponder has now moved from Eutelsat28A to Astra2F using the same frequency and other parameters - Astra 2F 11428.00 H DVB-S QPSK 27500 2/3.

Sam Russell

That should give a stronger signal.

Rippy

Will certainly help with boxes like Manhattan which need a very good signal on home transponder to work.

Mint Sauce

Does does mean any new channels? ie, channels that were on Eutelsat and not Astra.

I retune manually, and usually only tune on Astra, as could see nothing different on Eutelsat.

ISAA

Rippy wrote: »

Will certainly help with boxes like Manhattan which need a very good signal on home transponder to work.

Only if the dish is installed incorrectly or to small

Rippy

ISAA wrote: »

Only if the dish is installed incorrectly or to small

Absolutely , lots of misaligned dishes out there!

The Cush

http://www.a516digital.com/2015/06/final-stages-of-satellite-transfer.html

Freesat's EPG, which is broadcast from Eutelsat 28A is expected to switch to stronger satellite Astra 2E at the end of the month.

The transfer schedule according to http://www.satandpcguy.com/blog/2015/05/uk-satellite-tv-reception-problems/.

According to one source the transponders will be moved as follows:
Transponder C1 will move to Astra 2G on the 19th June
Transponders C3 & C4 will move to Astra 2F on 1st June
Transponders C5 & C6 will move to Astra 2E on the 29th June
Transponder C2 move is currently unknown

This would also mean that the Freesat EPG transponder will also be moving from Eutelsat 28A to an Astra satellite. It is unknown if this will stay or change frequency. If the Freest EPG frequency does change, then hopefully software in the Freesat receivers will be able to accommodate this.

Transponder C5 (11428.00 H) is the Freesat Home Transponder

snaps

Just wondering does this mean more channels are going on UK spot beams?
Worrying times for all us ex pats.

The Cush

snaps wrote: »

Just wondering does this mean more channels are going on UK spot beams?
Worrying times for all us ex pats.

It would appear so, this link from dxhound2005's post earlier - https://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/threads/eutelsat-28a-switchoff-looming.165381/

The Cush

Satellite Update: Astra 2G is live - the big reshuffle is underway - a516digital.com

Tony

Good info there thanks.

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

Haven't had a signal off 11.426 V and H for the past 2 months I wonder if this is anything to do with the failing eurobird satellite. It's the only frequency I can't get channels on.

lertsnim

I get horrible signal levels off it meaning unwatchable due to picture break up but thankfully there is nothing on there that bothers me too much to tinker with the dish

peking97

How will we know when all channels have left Eutelsat@28.5?
Will there be some sort of official announcement?

STB.

peking97 wrote: »

How will we know when all channels have left Eutelsat@28.5?
Will there be some sort of official announcement?

By today by all accounts!

The Cush

Freesat EPG transfers to new satellite - a516digital.com

Eutelsat 28A now empty - http://en.kingofsat.net/pos-28.2E.php

Official footprints of the 3 Astra satellites at 28.2°E
http://www.ses.com/4628866/astra-2e.pdf
http://www.ses.com/4628845/astra-2f.pdf
http://www.ses.com/4628824/astra-2g.pdf

kooga

has anybody noticed any increase in signal strength? as this was one of the so called benefits of moving from 28a

Gerry Wicklow

I've checked a few houses and find that 2G is slightly weaker than 2E/2F but still better than flaky 28A

snaps

The euro beam is extremely strong. I'm getting around 18.6db off a 1.1m in south east poland. This is showing as 100% 100% signal, which I have only seen before with Amos 4 at 4 west here