Astra 2F

Seabee

Seabee

Member
For anyone thinking of using Freesat in Southern Europe be aware that UK channels are moving to a more tightly focused satellite: Astra 2F, which doesn't have the coverage of Astra 1N. The Channel 5 set have already gone and the rest may follow early next year.

More details here http://www.astra2.org/astra2f-maps.html
 
Hello, Seabee,
Thanks for the info. I'm here on the south coast of Spain and have set up a little network of two Foxsats and one Fox all networked in our small apartment, having disposed of Sky boxes. Had heard rumours of changes and have now read up more fully. What a disaster for the non-UK Humaxers. Bet there are many who have sought the simple HD option via Humax. I've quizzed a few of my ex-pat chums and they're of the opinion it may not happen/affect this region, but with C5 already gone at least this should give the opportunity to test the 'new platform' for South Med in terms of dish size etc. if there is any chance of a signal. I've trawled other fora and although there's awareness of the forthcoming changes there appears to be reluctance to accept that the coverage will disappear. Apparently there have been 'scares' before! I'm hoping there will be a raft of alternatives suggested........unfortunately ADSL down here is laughable at 2/3 megs if you're lucky so VPN access is doubtable. Could be SKY wins through after all!!
Cheers.
 
Our local satellite dish installer in Malaga thinks that IPTV is probably the only alternative if you have the bandwidth. We have been advised that even Sky subscribers will loose the free to air UK channels but have not been able to substantiate this.

We have a FoxT2-HDR in the UK and a Foxsat-HDR in Spain both with the custom firmware so we can remotely program the T2 and repackage the files and move them to the Foxsat with Raydon's excellent utility. It means one has to keep an eye on program schedules and put up with seeing them 24 hours later but so far it has worked for Channel 5 with a 3Mbps ADSL connection.

Thanks to Raydon and all those who have done outstanding work on the T2
 
Interesting reply! I also have Humax in the UK all running the CFW but have never considered, or had the need to, use this facility although I was aware of it, so will see if I can set it up with my meagre 2.7 mB.
No doubt this topic will gather pace as the realisation dawns on people outside the UK.
Thanks for the info.
 
Seabee said:
Our local satellite dish installer in Malaga thinks that IPTV is probably the only alternative if you have the bandwidth. We have been advised that even Sky subscribers will loose the free to air UK channels but have not been able to substantiate this.
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Sky don't have different fta channels to anyone else. Loss of fta content is purely down to your dish and reciever. Humax boxes in particular are known for having very sensitive tuners, much better than the ones in a Sky box. I fact in a marginal situation a Sky box will be more likely to lose the channels.

The only reason that Sky subscribers get pictures is that most of it is currently on wide beam transponders relying on encryption to satisfy drm. There's no guarantee that even these won't eventually finish up on UK spot beams.
 
I am back out in Spain (near Malaga) and can confirm that all the main UK Freesat channels are no longer available to the Humax, however the rubbish channels still are proving that the kit is OK. So it looks like the move to Astra 2F is complete.

Putting the Humax in to "STB" mode pulls in 245 channels which is useful if you want to know the news in China. :(
 
You can't cherry pick, basically you get all the services your location/dish allows. If you cannot get the UK spot beam transponders you still get the epg courtesy of the Pan European Freesat home transponder and via the channels you can still access. Any attempt to view will result in a no signal message. Only way to resolve an individual satellite is with a dish the size of Jodrell Bank and the capability to follow it as it moves within the orbital cube. Other than that all you can do is use non freesat to scan a transponder you know is on a specifc satellite.
 
Sorry Mike your link 404s - Having put my Foxsat HDR into STB mode (not Freesat) I'm experimenting with trying to create a favorites list of marginally interesting channels as opposed to those that are completely useless. Don't yet know enough to comment.
 
Seabee said:
Sorry Mike your link 404s - Having put my Foxsat HDR into STB mode (not Freesat) I'm experimenting with trying to create a favorites list of marginally interesting channels as opposed to those that are completely useless. Don't yet know enough to comment.
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If you get the channel editor package, you can stick the non-freesat channels on the Freesat guide, above BBC1 local (or below everything else)
 
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