For viewers who have a satellite dish installed pointing to HOTBIRD who want to switch to viewing Eutelsat W3A, the process is very simple.

Here you can follow simple instructions to switch your dish from HOTBIRD to Eutelsat W3A.

CONVERTING HOTBIRD DISH TO W3A

1. It is very important to mark clearly your starting position with the satellite. This will allow you to return to the original settings of your satellite dish. You can do this with different methods depending on the type of dish you have, such as marking with markers, or using tape to mark positions, etc.

2. Every city will have different parameters for locking on to the signal for different satellites. Because HOTBIRD and W3A satellites are very close together, it is possible to move your satellite dish slightly to receive the signal from W3A.

3. For most people in the Farsi speaking countries of the Middle East, you can convert your HOTBIRD dish by moving it as follows:

- rotate the satellite dish 6 degrees clockwise (to the right)

- move the angle of the dish down 5 degrees

See the diagram below, where the original position corresponds to HOTBIRD and the changed position corresponds to W3A.

4. For each city, if you have the time, we recommend that you find out the exact azimuth and elevation using this very simple Satellite Calculator from the Eutelsat website. This will allow you to calculate the azimuth and elevation of HOTBIRD for your city first, and then the azimuth and elevation of W3A for your city. You can then calculate the difference and move your dish by the new information you receive.

5. For example if you are in Dubai, the azimuth and elevation (see below for explanation of azimuth and elevation) for HOTBIRD is -115.1 and 34.8 degrees respective. For the same city, the azimuth and elevation for W3A are -110.7 and 29.4 degrees. This means that in Dubai, if you have a dish pointing to HOTBIRD, you can receive W3A by moving your dish 4.4 degrees clockwise (to the right), and 5.4 degrees down. For Tehran, you will need to move   your dish 5.7 degrees clockwise (to the right), and 4.4 degrees down.

6. You can also use the above information and the Satellite Calculator from the Eutelsat to setup a new dish to point to W3A.

7. If you have any concerns or are not confident of making the adjustments to your satellite dish, then we recommend that you do not change anything and contact a satellite specialist to carry out the change for you.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Satellite dishes are located above the equator, at different positions corresponding to the longitude line. The 'degree' in the name of the satellite indicates the location of the satellite along the equator. For example, HOTBIRD is a Eutelsat satellite which is located at 13 degrees East of the Zero degree location of Greenwich, England. The location of HOTBIRD 13 degrees east is about the same longitude line of Rome, Italy (12 degrees east). Eutelsat W3A is located at 7 degrees east, which is about the same longitude as Bern, Switzerland (7 degrees). Both satellites however are above the equator, so they are south of the middle east.

When setting up satellite dishes, you need two very important pieces of information:

a. Azimuth - This is the direction which the dish will be facing if you were to look at the dish from the top down. This is generally measured in degrees from north. For example, 90 degrees means that it is facing East. 180 degrees means it is facing south. -90 degrees means it is facing west.

b.  Elevation - This is the angle of elevation of the dish from the ground. For example, 90 degrees means it is facing the sky. 0 degrees means that it is facing parallel to the ground.

With the above two angles, you can easily set up any dish provided you are within the coverage area and there are no interferences.

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