THE BRITISH CUSTOMER - ASTRA 28 FOOTPRINTS

The choice of which size dish you should install very much depends on where you plan to travel within Europe and the Satellite required.  Due to the fact that Satellites are placed in a geostationary orbit at 36000km from Earth and are fed by solar panels the power available for transmitting to the ground is very low which in turn forces them to transmit to a very small area on Earth, this small area is known as a footprint.  Different Satellites have different footprints which is dependent on its power. 

The majority of channels from UK Broadcasters are transmitted through the satellite grouping of Astra 2 (also known as Astra 28).  The footprints of the Astra 28 group of satellites is shown below.  As you can see there is a UK centric beam which tends where the majority of FreeSat channels are transmitted, and the Pan European  Beam, where the majority of subscription services are transmitted eg. Sky.

It is important that if you plan to travel into Europe that you purchase the correct system with the correctly sized dish and receiver in order to give you the best possible chance of receiving the channels you want to watch. 

Teleco offers three dish dimensions, 50cm, 65cm, and 85cm; as these sizes are able to meet most of the requirements of every camping enthusiast.