We could be facing more problems with satellite TV reception over the next couple of weeks.

Doug (“The Dish”) has been on asking us to advise everyone that for a brief period our satellite signals may disappear for a short time around 10am-11am each day.

He explains: “This is due to the sun (that bright orange thing we haven’t seen a lot of recently) being directly in line with the satellites at this time and the sun’s electrical emissions upsetting the satellite signals we receive.

“This is simply because of the sun’s alignment with the satellite. If you happen to see the sun (!) around this time stand near your dish and you will see how central the sun is to the dish. Obviously it goes without saying that you shouldn’t look straight at the sun.

“This situation will only last a few days during the next couple of weeks, but if you do lose your signal you will know this is the reason.”

Doug says we still run the risk of permanently losing BBC, ITV etc later in the year.

“The satellite from which you are currently receiving the main signals (i.e. BBC, ITV, C4 etc) is Astra1n, which is a temporary satellite transmitting these signals for just over 1 year now,” he explained.

“The signals which have been much stronger than pre 2012 are to be changed to Astra 2e which should have been in service by now but which was delayed because the Russian launch vehicle had a problem—it let go of its last satellite too early!

“So, Astra 2e is launching from French Guyana at the end of May and will be commissioned around June time. If the reception is similar to Astra 2f which they stopped transferring signals to in December then we will have a problem getting from the satellite the BBC and ITV signals that we want.”

Doug is still trying to track down a possible solution to the potential loss of signals from June onwards.

He told us: “I am hoping to get details of the largest dish manufacturer In Portugal, to try and get a better guide of what we may need to receive Astra 2f, which is transmitting channel 5 etc ITV Anglia West etc.”

Doug will keep us posted as the situation develops.

Satellite TV–More Bad News

Doug has also come up with what could be more bad news for those of us hoping to be able to replace our TV pictures from the UK—if we can no longer receive them via the new satellite this summer—with programmes  streamed via the computer.

He tells us:

“Websites that re-transmit live TV over the internet without permission from broadcasters are in breach of copyright, Europe’s highest court has ruled in a judgement with wide ranging implications.”

UPDATE Astra 2E – The soon to come new replacement satellite for the 28.2 degrees east satellite position which is called “Astra 2E” and which will not be launched until Early/Mid June, 2013 will not be “officially” operational at 28.2 degrees east until August, 2013. Naturally some testing of this satellite will occur before it becomes operational.

Amovate Member,  Cormac Murphy wanted to share a recent experience concerning a delayed Easyjet flight to Gatwick:

“I thought this information may be useful as so many of our members are regular airline travelers.

On the 29th December 2012 myself and my 2 sons were delayed at Faro airport for 10 hours for an Easyjet flight to Gatwick.

This had nothing to do with weather – it was a technical fault. 

Naturally, we were overjoyed with our €7.50 meal voucher, and their email apologising profusely. I thought that’s the end of that.

While in England, a friend suggested taking a look at moneyexpert.com website. I went into it and there is a section on flight delays and cancellations:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/flight-delays#delay5

Apparently you can claim for delays of 5 hours or more. The site provides templates of letters to make your claim. These state all the relevant 

EU aviation laws. I filled in the template giving my flight booking reference, names in party etc. and emailed it off to Easyjet customer services. 

I claimed €1800 – which was the maximum claim for 3 people.

Low and behold, a few days later I received an email off Easyjet saying they had approved the claim, but were only going to refund me €1200(I didn’t argue!). They also asked for my phone number so they could take the details of my credit card verbally. They promised the funds would reach my account within 10 days. 

True to their word I received the refund in 7 days.

I believe having the help of this template, which is very professionally written, and quoting the various sections of aviation law, really did the trick.

Hope this helps people in the future.”

Many thanks to Cormac for sharing this with our readers.

D-Day looming…

Doug, he of “Doug the Dish” fame, has e-mailed us with this update (1 Dec):

Several channels will be transferred next Tuesday when we should get a better idea of what is happening with our reception.

We have received this further update from Doug regarding the situation over satellite reception (5 Dec):

Some good news regarding 2F

These are some updates I am receiving, which, although I cannot guarantee it as accurate, is slightly better news….

Firstly, some channels are really going to move and might already have done so, such as:

Channel 5

5 USA

5* (Five Star)

4seven

Channel 4 HD?

BUT as of tomorrow, because the new Astra 2F is lacking some frequencies range it cannot accommodate some channels from Astra 1N broadcasting on those frequencies, therefore some of these channels will stay on Astra 1N until new Astra 2E arrives on orbit in Jun/Jul 2013.

These channels should stay for now:

BBC HD

BBC ONE HD

ITV 1 HD

Channel 4 HD

Channel 4

E4

FILM 4

ITV 2

ITV 3

ITV 4

BBC TWO

BBC THREE

BBC FOUR

CBBC

There is also some information here, too:

http://www.a516digital.com/2012/11/…k.html?spref=tw

Astra 2E to be launched in 03/2013 and it will take at least 2 months to test and move to its final position on orbit, and

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_chr/lau2013.htm

There are growing concerns that some or all of us could soon lose our UK TV signals following the launch of a new satellite.

A recent report in the Portugal News by Sky Realm here on the Algarve, headlined “The Future of Sky & Freesat”, sums up the whole situation, explaining:

With rumours abounding about the renewal of the Astra 2D satellite early in 2013 Sky Realm feels it is the right time to let all customers know what it will mean for watching their favourite programmes.

Firstly, they stress, this has nothing to do with the digital changeover in the UK as Sky and Freesat has been digital for many years.

There are several satellites aligned in space which homeowners’ satellite dishes point at, enabling views to watch Sky and Freesat.

One of these, called Astra 2D is a satellite that transmits most of the free channels including BBC, ITV, C4, E4 More4 and C5. This satellite has now grown old and is in need of replacing, with the new satellite due to take over in early 2013.

The problem is that while the signal in UK and Ireland will improve as a result of the new satellite, the signal at the extremities such as in the Algarve will be slightly weaker.

Anyone with a good quality prime-focus dish of at least 1.4m should not really notice much difference. However, people who are getting by with a 1.2m or 1.3m dish at the moment are at risk of losing some channels.

What Sky Realm is now advising its customers is to fit the largest dish they can accommodate following the motto big is beautiful.

The company says it is also important to know that this may not affect customers from the Lisbon area up through the Silver Coast as the signal up there is much stronger.

The other satellites that supply customers’ Sky channels are Astra 2A, 2B and Eurobird. Whilst these are also nearing the end of their lives they are not due to be replaced until the start of 2014.

To cut a long story short, your free channels will get weaker so insist on the right dish for the job.

The details of the new satellite can be found on this website:

http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2012/11/21/astra-2f-ready-for-disputed-orbital-slot/

Their story reads: Astra 2F ready for disputed orbital slot

November 21, 2012 11.56 Europe/London By Julian Clover

Picture: SES

The Astra 2F satellite has entered commercial service.

The SES-operated satellite has now completed its in-orbit testing and is fully operational within the 28.2/28.5 degrees East neighbourhood. The 52nd SES satellite was successfully launched on board an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, on September 28, 2012.

The map shown here with Portugal on the fringes of the satellite transmission area apparently reflects the coverage picked up by a 1.2m dish, although that (the size of the dish) isn’t confirmed.

Another website also offers technical information on the situation, should you be able to negotiate your way around it…

http://robssatellitetv.webs.com/astra2f.htm

On that same site there is this forum-type discussion page, with technicians and experts (and do I see the name of our very own Doug from the extreme Western Algarve) reporting the signal status from different parts of Europe.

http://robssatellitetv.webs.com/astra2freceptionreports.htm

*NB: It is important to understand that this article, written by a “Luddite”, is for outline information only, as a service to our members.

By no means should it be regarded as a recommendation of any sort, nor should it be taken as an authoritative account of the situation regarding the satellite changeover.

If you need any technical assistance or further information please consult someone who does know what they are talking about!