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Astra 3A is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES, launched in 2002 to the Astra 23.5 E orbital slot providing digital television and radio for DTH and cable, multimedia and interactive services, corporate networks, and occasional and other business services to central Europe.
The satellite provides two broadcast beams, of horizontal and vertical polarisation, across two footprints that cover essentially the same areas of Europe principally the countries of central Europe[1].
TV signals can be received with a 50 cm dish across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, most of Denmark, and in parts of France, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, and Slovakia. Reception is even possible as far afield as Scotland, Sweden and Serbia when a larger dish (around 110 cm) is used.
In addition to contribution feeds and individual TV channels, Astra 3A carried pay-TV networks including Kabel Deutschland (Germany), CanalDigitaal (The Netherlands), TV Vlaanderen (Belgium), CS Link (Slovakia and Czech Republic) and Skylink (Slovakia and Czech Republic).[2] On February 1, 2012 Kabel Deutschland left the Astra 3A.[3] At the moment the astra 3A is only used for occasional feeds. All other services are taken over by Astra 3B.
Astra 3A was launched to provide follow-on capacity to replace the DFS-Kopernikus 3 satellite and deliver additional capacity for the Benelux countries and central Europe, to create SES-Astra s second major European satellite hotspot after Astra 19.2 E with access to channels at both positions using a single dish fitted with a monoblock Duo LNB.
See also
-
Astra 3B co-located satellite
- Thor 2 co-located satellite
- Astra 23.5 E orbital position
- SES satellite operator
- Astra satellite family
- DFS-Kopernikus previous position holder
References
External links
de:Astra 3A pl:Astra 3A uk:Astra 3A
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