Footprints

The Astra 2 (Sky) system consists of 3 satellites close together in space so that your dish will see all of them as if they were a single unit. All 3 transmit signals aimed at Europe but the coverage on the ground varies considerably. The 2 older satellites, 2A and 2B, can be thought of as flood lights, lighting up a huge area of Europe, whereas the newer Astra 2D is more like a spot light focused on the British Isles.

For the sake of convenience the signals are referred to as the north beam, south beam and narrow beam (or more usually just the 2D beam). All 3 beams cover the UK so all channels are viewable if you have the appropriate Sky contract. However, as you travel further away from the UK, some channels can only be obtained with a large dish.

At least I can get the BBC's & ITV's...

Of the terrestrial channels the first to be lost will be ITV1 and the BBC both of which transmit on Astra 2D, the narrow beam, and once you get down into Spain or Italy you'll also begin to lose Channel 4 and Five (on the north beam).

Many of the Sky channels transmit on the south beam and therefore can be received in virtually all of Europe except for northern Scandinavia and parts of Greece.

Can I see some pictures?

The north beam

The south beam

The hard to reach beam! This carries the main BBC and ITV channels.

These images are a reference only and we would say that they are erring very heavily on the side of caution. For instance; we know that a 65cm gives very good coverage on all beams to much farther south than shown on the illustrations above.