ANIK F2 - Thy End Is Near

[harshness]

Any geostationary object placed between the equilibrium points would (without any action) be slowly accelerated towards the stable equilibrium position, causing a periodic longitude variation.

What's varying most significantly here, as the n2yo path clearly illustrates, is the latitude (North and South of the Equator), not the longitude (East and West on the equator).

 

[Keith Brannen]

What's varying most significantly here, as the n2yo path clearly illustrates, is the latitude (North and South of the Equator), not the longitude (East and West on the equator).

Correct, as they are only doing East-West station-keeping, which probably doesn't require much fuel to make the minor adjustments necessary.

Just a little clarification here, are you asking why the pattern has changed so much from, as an example, the pattern on the left, to what it is now, on the right? NOTE: the image on the left is an old one of SES3, the one on the right, F2 currently. Also note the there are not equal in scale as to the size of the orbit variations.

If so, SES3 was at the time "in the box" so any adjustments East-West and North-South would be carried out when necessary. F2, of course, is only getting East-West adjustments.

Looking at the elliptical orbit of SES3, any adjustments I would assume (and it is an assumption only) would be done East-West when the satellite was in the middle of the orbit (or could be they are done at the top-bottom of the orbit!). I would also assume that any North-South adjustments would be done at the top or bottom limit of the elliptical orbit. These station-keeping measures would shrink the elliptical orbit. I have also seen some satellite orbits that are almost circular, which would suggest that station-keeping in both directions had been done fairly recently.

With F2's orbit, I would imagine that any East-West adjustments could be done at pretty much any time necessary. I have also seen other inclined satellite orbits which are a squashed (East-West) figure eight (obviously they are also getting East-West adjustments only).

 

[harshness]

Correct, as they are only doing East-West station-keeping, which probably doesn't require much fuel to make the minor adjustments necessary.

Since the longitude is relatively well under control (around 0.03 degrees/week), the fact that gravity varies by longitude doesn't seem to apply. nelson61's graph shows that the longitude is creeping.

I'm not convinced that the evidence presented thus far supports the notion that the force of gravity on Anik F2 is changing significantly at any point in its orbit as long as the longitude is mostly maintained). Such evidence would necessarily show that gravity varies measurably by latitude.

 

[Keith Brannen]

Sorry, but I'm not really understanding what you are try to say in relation to its orbit. If you are asking why it is now lingering longer in the north quadrant as opposed to the south, then if you look closely (really zoom in) at the orbit at the n2yo.com site you will see it is almost an inverted teardrop shape. So it will spend more time in the north quadrant.

Why that is, I'm not sure, but wonder whether the timing of the East-West thrusters have an effect on it. They definitely aren't using the North-South thrusters at all, as then we would have seen a lessening of the inclined orbit. I will check some of the other inclined orbit satellites I know about and see whether there is a similar anomaly.

 

[Foxbat]

Regarding gravitational influences, I wonder how much the Moon swinging by every 28 days impact the Clarke Belt? Obviously, the Earth is closer and more massive, but I would expect it to have a larger impact than other satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

 

[navychop]

And solar wind, which varies. Solar storms certainly affect things.

 

[nelson61]

60 days until their estimated end of service date (Feb 15)

 

[harshness]

60 days until their estimated end of service date (Feb 15)

Maybe Canada will have an early Spring and the snowbirds can return home to get their TV fix. NHL Hockey goes on into June, IIRC.

 

[dwc]

Word has it the "new" Anik G1 satellite has failed to maintain stationkeeping and is currently offline for customers. Not a good situation for ShawDirect customers given how precarious Anik F2 has been. https://www.shawbroadcast.com/Content/English/Anik.htm

Lots of people complaining about it on X as well; https://twitter.com/search?q=shawdirect&src=typed_query&f=live

 

[Keith Brannen]

G1 went off at about 11.25 am ET, and began to return at around 3.30 pm ET. Has been having "teething" problems (signal there, then fades away, then moments later its back again) since then. SQ strengths are below normal at the moment, and are varying substantially, but look to be more stable than earlier. Hopefully, will be back to previous levels as time goes on.

EDIT: Still having problems, but at least it hasn't failed completely!

 

[nelson61]

Wow

 

[nelson61]

around +/- 0.95 N/S offset
And, just about back to even N/S offset

 

[ElectronPusher]

Got my Shaw bill today.

Notice the fine print. Looks like they will terminate accounts that don't contact them to upgrade the box.

Last evening I noticed that I had lost all of my remaining channels except for TSC, News Forum HD, Shaw Spotlight, Spark, Nick and YTV. Might as well contact my broker, what remains sure isn't worth $121 (US). For me it has been a 27 year ride with Shaw and before that Bell, but this is the end.

 

[grantb3]

I killed mine off mid-December, so all I have left is my PVR'd stuff. RIP Canadian TV down here.

 

[modefan63]

Got my Shaw bill today.

Notice the fine print. Looks like they will terminate accounts that don't contact them to upgrade the box.

Last evening I noticed that I had lost all of my remaining channels except for TSC, News Forum HD, Shaw Spotlight, Spark, Nick and YTV. Might as well contact my broker, what remains sure isn't worth $121 (US). For me it has been a 27 year ride with Shaw and before that Bell, but this is the end.
View attachment 167642

they turned off my 630 riciever last augest i am in Los Angeles. it was 19 years for me i had bell too till july 5th 2012 that deay all stations lost signal for me in la

 

[modefan63]

I killed mine off mid-December, so all I have left is my PVR'd stuff. RIP Canadian TV down here.

lost mine in Augest in la

 

[nelson61]

North/South a full +/- 1.0 degrees a couple times a day

 

[grantb3]

lost mine in Augest in la

I'm south of LA. As of mid-December there was nothing useful left on my 75cm/630 setup, but before that there was enough content that I could still use it.

 

[Mr Tony]

per a company using F2 signals in Canada to rebroadcast them OTA (legally) it looks like the move to G1 will be at the end of February. This was on their website as of the 12th.

The transition to HEVC modulation and the shift to Anik G1 has been delayed by our
signal supplier. Instead of Feb 5th to 15th and will now happen Feb 15th to Feb 27th.

 

[nelson61]

They have posted the final transition plans.
All ending by Feb 27.

When looking at the tables - "Dual Feed" sections are the ones of interest

https://www.shawbroadcast.com/Documents/2024/jan/16/Revised%20Final%20Step%20Transition%20of%20Signals%20to%20HEVC-AAC%20February%202024%20Updated%20January%2016%202024.pdf