RTE Announce FTA Saorsat service

watty wrote: »

There is no prize, but can you name all the EU countries and overseas territories that are NOT in Europe Geographically?

BTW Geographically, Greenland is technically in Europe and Canaries are technically in Africa.

There are a couple of bits of Spain in Africa: Melilla and Ceuta; there's the Azores, which are part of Portugal, and there's Martinique and French Guiana.

watty wrote: »

Is Cyprus really in Europe or Middle East?

Europe.

TV3 *MIGHT* know. At whatever point the Advertising revenue vs costs of carriage cross over...

watty wrote: »

There is no prize, but can you name all the EU countries and overseas territories that are NOT in Europe Geographically?

There's a couple of islands just off Newfoundland (10 km in fact) that are part of France - use the Euro and all, called Saint Pierre and Miquelon - look 'em up in Wikipedia.
Came across them in a book on sailing (The Boat That Would Not Float) and they are intriguing - used to illegally send booze into the US during Prohibition, were part of Vichy France in WW2 and suspected of refuelling German subs (mind you the same allegation was made about Cork), Canada wanted to invade them but didn't, invaded by De Gaulle in 1941 which pissed Roosevelt off etc.

The Brits still have a few places though they don't claim them to be part of Britain (unlike the French who pretend all their overseas territories are part of France - like when they did their nuclear tests in the Pacific). Most of these are military bases. The most interesting one is probably Diego Garcia where they shamefully just shifted the inhabitants out and leased the place to the US Airforce. Whether the inhabitants had any rights to stay there would depend on your political point of view I suppose. I think you can see it on Google Earth now.
Here's another link about the place:

http://thedude.com/archives/travels/diego_garcia/

At the risk of posting something of remote relevance to the actual thread title...

Eutelsat promotional video for Ka-sat @ 9E


Older version of the above video mentions original 13E orbital slot along with Hotbird. Interestingly, the older version makes reference a dual Ka/Ku-Feed for reception from a co-located Ka-sat & Hotbird simultaneously.

Eutelsat wrote:

"Users satellite equipment will be able to operate in Ku- and Ka-bands in order to connect both to the TV set and the PC. 'TV and broadband through a single antenna.'"

Eutelsat were investigating this using Unicable technology as outlined previously.


Here you can see a Ka-Band feeder cluster:


From the following blog:
http://www.beltrance.com/blog/ka-sat-satellite-emitting-in-ka-band

Khrunichev Space Center wrote:

Proton M Delivered to Baikonur to Launch KA-SAT Satellite For Eutelsat

28.10.2010

The Proton M launch vehicle assigned to launch Eutelsat’s KA-SAT communications satellite has been delivered from Khrunichev Space Center of Moscow to Baikonur Launch Base by train. The Proton launch of the КА-SAT satellite is scheduled for December.

Khrunichev Space Center wrote:

Breeze M Delivered to Baikonur For December KA-SAT Launch

28.10.2010

The Breeze-M upper stage for the Proton launch vehicle that will be used to loft the Eutelsat’s KA-SAT communications satellite in December, has been delivered to Baikonur.
Operated by Polet Airlines, an Antonov cargo plane with the upper stage aboard landed at Jubileyniy airport of Baikonur earlier today.

http://www.khrunichev.ru/main.php?id=1&dat=60

Tv3 are available as we speak on Irish DTT . just checked yesterday evening and there they were. not sure if there just doing a test or if they are there for good ..:)

I did say that if Ka-Sat launch goes OK, no Saorsat tests before Feb/Mar. Well I'm wrong, though according Eutelsat, two months (Dec 20th to Feb 20th, or early March) is normal period.

Service expected in April 2011
http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=13439002

Eutelsat's KA-SAT is the first of a new generation of High Throughput Satellites in Europe. It is optimised for consumer broadband services and targeting users located beyond range of high-speed terrestrial networks. Fully-operating in Ka-band frequencies and with total throughput of over 70 Gigabits per second, the satellite will be located at Eutelsat's 9 degrees East position. Through a configuration of 82 spot beams and a ground infrastructure of ten gateways connected to the Internet, service will be provided across Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. In addition to supporting expansion of Eutelsat's TOOWAY(TM) consumer broadband service, KA-SAT will open new resources for telecom operators, broadcasters and ISPs, for data and video services.

Estimated satellite launch schedule

Satellite Estimated launch Transponders
KA-SAT December 2010 > 80 Ka beams
Note: Satellites generally enter into service one to two months after launch, KA-SAT, however, is expected to enter into service in April 2011

via http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=13439002

watty wrote: »

I did say that if Ka-Sat launch goes OK, no Saorsat tests before Feb/Mar. Well I'm wrong, though according Eutelsat, two months (Dec 20th to Feb 20th, or early March) is normal period.

Service expected in April 2011

If Ka-Sat is expected to go into service late March or early April, when do you think RTÉ could begin the uplink and downlink tests? If the tests don't begin until April how long before they could launch the full Saorsat service?

Will they uplink to the satellite from the RTÉ campus or will they have to use one the 10 Eutelsat gateways? (unless of course Donnybrook is one of the 10)

I assume consumer equipment will also have to be tested in conjunction with the pre-launch testing before it can be made available for purchase.

On economies of scale how much could a Saorsat receiver and dish cost the consumer considering its primary market is just 2% of the Irish population plus NI plus west coast Britain (possibly)?

The Cush wrote: »

If Ka-Sat is expected to go into service late March or early April, when do you think RTÉ could begin the uplink and downlink tests? If the tests don't begin until April how long before they could launch the full Saorsat service?

Will they uplink to the satellite from the RTÉ campus or will they have to use one the 10 Eutelsat gateways? (unless of course Donnybrook is one of the 10)

April

RTE can have their own uplink as it's one-way, not two-way DVB-S2 + DOCSIS tooway traffic. However see http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056081234

The Cush wrote: »

I assume consumer equipment will also have to be tested in conjunction with the pre-launch testing before it can be made available for purchase.

On economies of scale how much could a Saorsat receiver and dish cost the consumer considering its primary market is just 2% of the Irish population plus NI plus west coast Britain (possibly)?

It's just a regular DVB-S2 HD receiver. It it has MHEG5, then it will be identical to Soarview.

The Ka LNBF is just the same to install as Ku LNBF.

The Tooway gear is well established and anyone getting Internet from eircom, SBI, Digiweb or Bentley walker only needs a sat IF splitter (€4) on the Modem receive coax to feed the regular HD DVB-T2 sat receiver. Only one polarisation and band used on a spot.

A regular Triax feed bar and 80cm solid dish does work for 28E and 9E

A regular Triax feed bar and regular 80cm solid dish for 28E and 9E,
I understand the above for Freesat and Saorsat.
In relation to internet will this mean I can recieve Internet through 9E without a phone line coming into the house.
Thanks

Thanks Tony,
At the moment I have a zone 1 satellite for Freesat, so I can fit a new satellite for Saorsat.