Which satellites can I receive with simple reception equipment?
Ive had some feedback from one of the forums I use that it would be a good idea to put up a list of the satellites that can be easily received in north western Europe. The list below will be refined in the next few weeks as information comes in.
I have made an assumption on this page that the maximum dish size available to the average enthusiast is 80cm Lots of old 80cm dishes are still hidden away in sheds and garages, and can be obtained for minimum cost. Even new, an 80cm dish can be obtained for well under £50, which is a reasonable price for general exploring. Of course, bigger dishes are available, but cost a lot more, and are really only to be considered by the serious enthusiast, or for receiving a specific satellite outside its main coverage area.
I have limited the satellite list to 55°E to 60°W. Only free to air (fta) channels are considered, as scrambled pay tv services are really outside the scope of this web site.
This page details the main satellites currently in orbit above Europe between 55°E and 58°W, with details of what the main languages transmitted off each satellite. There are a few other satellites, but most of them are elderly and no longer in service.
Please note - satellite constellations such as {Astra 1B / 1C / 1E / 1F / 1G / 1H / 2C} at 19.2°E are effectively co-located. You will get all the signals with your dish pointing in ONE direction.
| Not available in north western Europe with 80cm dish |
| No definite information currently available |
| Satellite off air. |
| Satellite currently only testing. |
The hyperlinks in the first column link to the appropriate tables on this website. These satellites are especially easy to find for beginners.
Table last updated: 01 December 2007
| Orbital Position | Satellite(s) | Main Languages only listed. |
| 53.0 E | Express AM 22 | European beam is strong. |
| 50.2 E | Intelsat 706 | Off air |
| 49.0 E | Yamal 202 | Currently only transmitting C-band |
| 48.0 E | Eutelsat 2F2 (heavily inclined, 4.3deg) | 2F2 deactivated Oct 2004 |
| 45.0 E | PAS 12 (was Europe*Star 1) | Mainly carries feeds. A couple of channels are available, but seem to be of little interest. |
| 42.0 E | Turksat 1C | Turkish. Not all channels available with 80cm dish - east beams not available. |
| Eurasiasat 1 | ||
| 39.0 E | HellasSat 2 | Carrying Greek & Macedonian languages. This is a new satellite, and the channel line up will increase over the next few months. |
| 38.0 E | Paksat 1 | Not available. Transmitting C-band only. |
| 36.0 E | Eutelsat Sesat | Not available in most of Europe. Satellites mainly serve Russia, although a few channels have European beams. Carries lots of feeds. |
| Eutelsat W4 | ||
| 33.0 E | Eutelsat E-Bird | Likely to mainly carry internet traffic, promotional tv signals currently available |
| Intelsat - 802 | C-band only | |
| 30.5 E | Arabsat 2B | Not available |
| 28.2 E | Astra 2A | Astra 2B
north beam not available in southern Spain. Astra 2D has restricted coverage across Europe, More details here. Approximate dish sizes to receive the BBC channels across Europe on Astra 2D can be found here. Eurobird 1 has restricted coverage due to use of spot beams. S2 spot weak in north western Europe. These satellites mainly carry the Sky Digital service. Main language is English, although you will also find Arabic, Welsh, and a handful of the Indian languages on these satellites. |
| Astra 2B | ||
| Astra 2D | ||
| Eurobird 1 | ||
| 26.0 E | Arabsat 2C | Not available. Only carrying C-band signals |
| Arabsat 2D (ex Hotbird 5) | Not available. Footprint covers Mediterranean Basin area | |
| Arabsat 3A | Arabic / English. Signals not strong, but can be locked up with a bit of careful alignment. | |
| 23.5 E | Astra 3A | German. Very marginal in northern UK. |
| Astra 1D | Testing HDTV services | |
| 21.5 E | Eutelsat W6 (ex W3) | Not available. |
| 20.0 E | Arabsat 2A (2.0 deg inclined) | Off air. |
| 19.2 E | Astra 1B | Off air. Seems to be parked out of the way at 19.4E |
| Astra 1C | Not carrying digital transmissions at this time | |
| Astra 1E | Mainly German, but a limited number of French, Spanish, Arabic, Luxembourgish, Portuguese are available. There are also a few channels in other European languages. | |
| Astra 1F | ||
| Astra 1G | ||
| Astra 1H | ||
| Astra 2C | ||
| 16.0 E | Eutelsat W2 | Various languages available, including Italian, Albanian, & Romanian. You may find not all channels are available with 80cm dish. Some tp's low power. |
| 13.0 E | Hotbird 1 | Hotbird
1 is slightly weaker than the other satellites. Hotbirds 6 & 7A are very strong indeed Many languages available from this orbital position. These include German, French, Italian, Russian, Kurdish, Spanish, Polish, Romanian, Hungarian, Greek, Korean, English & Farsi. |
| Hotbird 2 | ||
| Hotbird 3 | ||
| Hotbird 4 | ||
| Hotbird 6 | ||
| Hotbird 7A | ||
| 10.0 E | Eutelsat W1 | Turkish. (Very few channels available) Some tp's low power. |
| 7.0 E | Eutelsat W3A | French, Turkish & Polish. Many feeds available |
| 5.0 E | Sirius 2 | English / Romanian / Russian / Ukranian Satellite mainly covers Scandanavia |
| Sirius 3 | Not generally available, although may be just in range of very accurately aligned dishes in some Eastern parts of the UK. Satellite designed to cover Scandanavia. | |
| 3.0 E | Telecom 2A (inclined 2.8 deg) | Not available. Nowadays only carries feeds |
| 1.0 W | Thor 2 | Coverage limited by use of various spot beams. Main target of satellite is Scandanavia, so locations in the north-east of the UK are more favourable. There are a couple of English language channels available. |
| Thor 3 | Not available in most of Europe - satellite covers Scandanavia | |
| Intelsat 10-02 | English / Slovakian. (Very few channels available) | |
| 4.0 W | Amos 1 | Not available in most of Europe. 2 spot beams cover eastern Europe and Israel |
| Amos 2 | European beam activated mid February 2004, signals weak in much of UK | |
| 5.0 W | Atlantic Bird 3 | Romanian / Serbian (Limited channels available) |
| Telecom 2C | Off air. | |
| 7.0 W | Nilesat 101 | Not easily available in most of Europe. Satellites footprints are focused onto Middle East area. Some reception in south eastern England on 1m+ dishes |
| Nilesat 102 | ||
| 8.0 W | Atlantic Bird 2 | Arabic / Kurdish (Very few channels available). Mainly carries feeds |
| Telecom 2D | Limited channels avalaible | |
| 11.0 W | Express 3A | Info suggests most tp's should be available |
| 12.5 W | Atlantic Bird 1 | Only carries feeds |
| 14.0 W | Express A4 | C-band only |
| 15.0 W | Telstar 12 | Hebrew, Farsi and English available, although few channels carried on this satellite |
| 18.0 W | Intelsat 901 | Mainly carries feeds, although a solitary Romanian channel is currently also carried. Not all tp's available |
| 22.0 W | NSS 7 | Arabic / Italian (Few channels available). Mainly carries feeds. |
| 24.5 W | Intelsat 905 | Should be available |
| 27.5 W | Intelsat 907 | New info suggests this bird is a powerful signal |
| 30.0 W | Hispasat 1B (Inclined 2.0 deg) | Off air |
| Hispasat 1C | Spanish / Portuguese. Lots of channels available. | |
| Hispasat 1D | ||
| 31.5 W | Intelsat 801 | No info currently available |
| 34.5 W | Intelsat 903 | No info currently available |
| 37.5 W | Telstar 11 | Not available in Europe |
| Astra 4A | will be c-band only | |
| 43.0W | PAS 3R | English & Spanish (Few services available) |
| PAS 6 | Not available in Europe | |
| PAS 6B | Not available in Europe | |
| 45.0 W | PAS 1R | Barely worth bothering with. Mainly carries feeds, although CCTV4 currently available. Probably only available with very precisely aligned dishes. |
| 50.0 W | Intelsat 705 | Not available in Europe |
| 58.0W | PAS 9 | One or two transponders available. Mainly carries feeds. |
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