Good news for us (probably) but bad news for SES-Astra..

The latest launch failed after 10 seconds with the launch rocket exploding.
This means a delay so we have a bit more time until the channels move.

Launch tomorrow 15th. Sept.
May get through to November, now, Nigel?
Keep us all posted, please.

Astra 2E has just been launched (23:39) and all looks ok so far. It takes about 9 hours for the mission to complete so by the morning it should be in its testing orbit.

Next phase will be tests (if I recall it's at 43 or 45 degrees) before it is moved to 28.3 degrees and put into operation.. the clock is ticking...

One of the biggest changes in satellite TV delivery to the UK and Ireland for many years is under way.
Dishes pointing towards 28.2º east receive UK satellite channels from two operators: SES Astra and Eutelsat.
Up to now, bands of frequencies have been distributed between the two rivals.
SES claimed that Eutelsat's licence to use some of the these expires on 4th. October 2013.
SES went to the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris to try to prove it had a right to use the bands in place of Eutelsat. After a year's legal battle, and following a court ruling in Germany, SES announced it would take over the disputed frequencies of 11459 - 11700 Mhz and 12500 - 12750 Mhz after 4th. October. This claim has been hotly disputed by Eutelsat, which has operated the bands since 1999, though it appears to have now conceded defeat.
Channels broadcast in the contested 500Mhz of spectrum will change frequency over the next ten days, with some 300 channels moving to Astra's satellites.
The switch will be in two phases. Some channels are moving temporarily to Astra 1N's Europe beam by 3rd. October, then moved in phases to Astra 2F's European beam over the following seven days.
Principal channels affected by the change include:
BT Sport 1 & 2, BT Sport 1HD & 2HD, TCM, The History Channel, National Geographic, Fox News, Sky Living It, Comedy Central, Nick Jr, Al Jazeera English, Kiss 100 Radio, Magic 105.4FM Radio, Jazz FM, Absolute Radio, XFM, Capital FM.
Viewers with Sky and Freesat receivers need take no action, these boxes will update automatically.
Free to air receivers have no way to auto update and will need retuning.
Some in fringe areas will see better reception, some in eastern Europe will lose channels completely.
It's probable SES Astra anticipated that they would win the battle some time ago: this may be the reason Astra 2F has been kept largely empty of channels until now.

Hi Nigel,  I have a one metre dish that I installed my self.  It works fine for all the channels (except five and related channels).  On the sky signal test it shows signal strength about three quarters and quality about half.  When its windy or heavy rain this varies although rarely affects reception.  The thing is some times, and I don't check that often I get a picture on channel five. Its usually blocky with broken sound and after a while it reverts to the sky no signal screen. Does this mean the after the change over it might be possible to fiddle about with my dish to get a better signal and possibly get the channels I want.
I don't know much about the technology involved in all this, and I have researched on the internet but there seem to be many different views, from we are all doomed to there will be no change.  Does your 1.9 dish point the same way that our dishes point now.
Thanks Bill

Hi. Isnt this all just speculation at the moment, no one seems to know whats going where, especially as regards the Pan European Beam, that we will get in Spain, what channels are going on there, ive asked all over the internet and no one knows, wait and see, I'm told.
Terry.

I finally got round to doing some testing around the area with a 1.9Mdish (it's not that easy as you can't just pop it in the back of the van!).

It's obviously still speculation on what will happen but if, as they say, the footprint is idéntical then the results are valid. If there is no signal from 2E then they are even more important. If it has a strong signal here then they are invalid. But at least this gives a picture of the current situation.

So results:
Mora (near Mora Caravans) - very weak signal
Tivissa (lost in the hills somewhere - very weak signal
So for Mora and Tivissa area you will need a 2.4 or 3M dish.

Burgar Valley (between Rasquera and El Perello) K13 - signal on 2 out of 5 transponders and 1 had an occasional lock.
El Perello outskirts, just off KM1108 (L'Ametlla side) - signal on 3 out of 5 transponders.
L'Ampolla - signal on 4 out of 5 transponders.
Tortosa - signal on all 5 transponders.

So for the Burgar, El Perello and L'Ampolla a 1.9 may be sufficient if you are prepared to lose a few channels (and I have no idea which they might be), if not then a 2.4M

For Tortosa a 1.9M should be fine.

From the results I would guess that L'Ametlla will also need a 2.4 or 3M dish.

So, as I suspected, the further north the less signal however I'm suprised at how quickly it has dropped off.

Yes and yes.

A 1.9M dish Works out at 850 euros fitted (with a single LNB) and needs a (supplied) Steel cage with mounting bolts casting into a min 1M/1M concrete base - the construction of the base isn't included.

A 2.4M dish Works out at 1500 euros.

A 3M is approx 1900 euros (to be confirmed).

It is not posible to mount any of these on a Wall.