Radiovibrations.com - > European Satellites

European Satellites



compact overview of the radio and TV satellites over European skies. There are always a few exotic programmes to receive, but they change from time to time. Look for Angola, Mali and Senegal on 7$deg;W for example. A few years ago it was possible to receive Ecuador, Kenya, Phillipines and Cameroon but they've disappeared from the strong satellites now. The hunt for these stations makes satellite TV so interesting. The resolution is much better than on most internet TV stations. And these are real domestic programmes, not only a news summery or so. This list is not always up to date but it should give a rough idea about the orbit.
Dish sizes are (Ku / C - Band)


from east to west:

80°E (1.5 m / 3 m)



Ku: a few Russians
C: A few Russian stations including OTV Sakhalin, TVC Siberia.

78.5°E (- / 1.8 m)


Ku: Thailand local coverage
C: some Thai and Indian stations, exotic highlights: North Korea and Myanmar

75°E (1 m / 4 m)


Ku: best choice for Russian TV (about 20 free stations) though a bit low above the horizon
Exotic attractions:
Tajik TV and radio and Belarus TV
C: Madagascar TV and radio analogue

72°E (1 m)


a handful channels that can be found on other satellites except
STS/ORT Moldova & 2 Moldovan radios (both Russian outlets)
C: Kongo and Cameroon, but in Europe probably only with dish sizes >10 m

68.5°E (80 cm / 3m)



Ku: Some of the Ku-Band transponders are targeting Africa but can also be seen in Europe. South African SABC has unfortunaltely left the Europe & Africa-combibeam and is now spotting only SA, also more than 20 local SA radios have left. Uncrypted are more than a dozen Christian TV stations. Call it the missionary satellite if you want.
C: a few Asians like NHK Japan, DD India (3 channels) and Burma.
64°E (50 cm / 1.60 m)
C: Uganda and Star Tanzania TV. Nothing on Ku.
62°E (60 cm / 5 m)
only some feeds (C & Ku). With very big dishes the Iranian spot beam (Ku, 5 m) or the African beam with Kenya TV (C, 10 m) might be possible.

60°E (1 m only East Europe / 2.5 m)

some Russian, Kazakhstan only with very big dishes (10 m)
57°E (60 cm / 3 m)
Ku: only feeds C: Ethiopia (only Southern Europe) C: US external services (VoA / Sawa / Alhurra etc), min. size 9m
54.8°E (1 m)
feeds

53°E (60 cm)

some Russian, Belarus Music TV, in So. Europe also Egypt
45°E (50 cm)
feeds

42°E (40 cm to 1.5 m) TurkSat


The Turkish position with more than 100 radio & TV stations, almost completely free.
In Central Europe a 1 m dish will do for most programmes. In SE-Europe a 1.5 dish could pick up some additional stations of the Turkey spot beams.

40°E (80 cm / 1.5 m)

Ku: Space TV Azerbaijan
C: Tchechnya and Dagestan TV & some Russians

39°E (40 cm) HellasSat


The Greek satellite (70 radio & TV) incl. some crypted.

36°E (60 cm)

Azerbaijan (2 TV & 1 radio), a few Italians
only in East Europe: many Russian channels
33°E (60 cm)
feeds

28°E (40 cm) Astra 2 and Eurobird


about 50 freeview channels (mostly with 100% ads), about 50 free UK radios, 100s of crypted BSkyB channels
also BBC radio and TV (but only NW Europe). Though offically on 28,2 and 28,5 best signals appear to be on 28,0 and 28,9 degrees
There is also Record TV from Brazil.

26°E (80 cm / 1.5 m) Arabsat


100 Arab radio & TV stations on C and Ku band. Some exclusive like Yemen, Mauritania and domesic stations all over North Africa and the Middle East. Surprisingly, I get the best Arabsat signals on 24,7 degrees East. Has it moved?

23°E (40 cm)


12 Slovak radio & 5 TV (3 crypted), many cryted German packages (cable feeds), a few free German
21.5°E
feeds

19°E (40 cm) Astra 1


50 German freeview TV & 100 radio. About 100 free radios from Spain, the Netherlands, France.
40 of the German TV stations be received analogue as well. About 70 German radios also provide a signal in the special ADR mode.
Many crypted packages with 100s of programmes for the Benelux (Canal Digitaal), Germany (Premiere), France (Canalsat), Spain (Digital +), Hungary (UPC) and MTV outlets.

16°E (80 cm)

a few Bulgarian and Albanian/Kosovan TV & radio stations, some crypted, plus many feeds.

13°E (40 cm) Hotbird


more than 1000 radio and TV channels from all over Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. More than 300 freeview, the rest crypted: French packages TPS and ABSAT, Polish Cyfra, Mediaset and Sky Italy. Free among others: the whole Arab world, Bosnia, US external services (VoA), Croatia, Slovenia, some Russian TV, single channels from Turkey, Hindi and Bangla TV, Venezuela, Columbia, Macedonia, Greece, Romania, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Hungary, Azerbejdzan, Kazakhstan and BBC World.

10°E (80 cm)

many feeds and single stations from Romania, Serbia, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and Kurdistan.

9°E (80 cm)

some Italian and Asian stations (Tamil, Urdu, Hindi)

7°E (80 cm)


Exotic favourites easy to receive: domestic TV from Senegal (RTS1 and 2STV), Mali (ORTM) and Angola (TPA) other: M6 Suisse, 16 Italian radios & TV, many crypted feeds by European Broadcasting Union, a crypted Turkish package.

5°E (60 cm)

A few free channels from Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania. Only one or two for Latvia, Bulgaria. The Danish and Swedish packages are mostly crypted. Exotic highlight: 2 channels from the Phillipines, rarely uncrypted, but with a little luck you can watch them.
3°E
this old French Telecom satellite is mostly out of use

1°W (60 cm / 1.5 m)


Ku:A few free channels from Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia. The Scandinavian packages are big but mostly crypted and contain similar programmes as on 5°E. Most of the radios are free.
C: not interesting

4°W (80 cm SE - 1.2 m NW)


Many Hungarian stations, half of them free, also some Romanians and Ukrainians. The spot is focussed on East Central Europe. This is also the satellite for Israel, but these programmes are spotted only to the Middle East.

5°W (60 cm / 1.2-2.5 m)


Ku: The 6 main TV channels for France uncrypted (analogue + DVB). In addition Montenegro TV and the crypted Serbian package Pink.
C: Reunion, Kenya, Niger, Cameroon and French Guyana

7°W (1m south -1.5 m north EU)


Dozens of TVs and radios from Egypt, numerous channels from the Arab world.
8°W (50 cm / 1.20-1.80 m)
Ku: Single channels from France, Germany and Syria.
C: Reunion, Morocco
11°W (1m)
Ku: 4 non-exclusive Italians
C: single channels from Bulgaria (1 m) and Russia (9 m dish)

12°W (60 cm)

Some Italians, a few Tamil, German, Turkish, Albanian, Bosnian.
14°W (9 m)
Though extremely hard to receive, "Gorizont 32" is still transmitting the first Russian TV programme in analogue SECAM. The position varies by 12° every day because the satellite is not stable anymore (inclined orbit by 6°).

15°W (60 cm)

Full with Farsi stations heading for the Iranian audience in Europe. Antena and Seven from Greece, PARS in Armenian and some English supermarket stations.
18°W (60 cm)
Feeds and crypted NBA TV (Basketball).

22°W (60 cm / 2.5 m)


Ku: 2 Algerian TV stations and 15 radios.
C: Algeria, Morocco, Spain, some radios
by the way this is the satellite that offers pay-TV packages for West Africa in the Ku band. They cannot be received in Europe.
24°W (60 cm / 3m)
C: Burkina Faso Ku: Nigerian NTV in DVB, South American package in DVB-S2

27°W (1 m / 1.50 m)


C: Guinea, Dozenz of TV and radio stations from the Voice of America, Record Brazil, Myanmar MRTV3

30°W Hispasat (80 cm)


Hundreds of Spanish channels, most of them crypted but quite a few free

31°W (80 cm / 2.5 m)


C: Mali and Senegal, easier to receive on 7° W Ku-Band.
Ku: 2 stations (Italy/Romania)

34°W (60 cm / 80 cm)


C: pretty exotic ! Greenland, RTI Toronto + Canadian radio, Nigeria TV + radio
Ku: only feeds
37°W (80 cm)
only feeds

43°W (1 m)


Ku: US-religious EWTN and crypted Spanish channels

45°W (80 cm)

Ku: almost dead

53°W( - / 3m)


C: Benin

55°W ( - / 2m)


C: Some stations from Brazil, a few from Peru and Argentina, Nicaragua, Costa Rica.

58°W (70 cm / 2.5 m)


Ku: Cubavision (easier on Astra) C: Ariang Korea, NHK Japan, local US stations in Spanish, some religious
Dish sizes refer to the minimum size to get a signal at all in Central Europe (clear skies). For stable reception at least the double size is neccessary. The signal strength depends very much on the position within Europe.
The flags are only used to illustrate this site a bit. They are not meant to be complete.
For detailled channel information and footprints please refer to Lyngsat.


Questions? Corrections? Ideas? Comments?
Mail me: PeerAxel@aol.com

Disclaimer


Site base:

radiovibrations.com/eusat.htm