Coordinates for aiming a dish at Astra 2
The reference to 28.2ºE in connection with the position of Astra 2, although strictly accurate, can be confusing. It actually refers to the line of longitude at which the satellite system is located above the equator. So the exact compass bearing of the system depends very much on where are you at the time. It's unlikely that a compass will be accurate enough to aim the dish by compass bearing alone, but it will get you in the right general area to start aiming the dish more precisely. (Of course, geologists will tell you that the magnetic north and south poles flip over every million years or so and that we're overdue for the next one - which will make a bit of a mess of this page!)
The following information is a list of compass bearings and dish settings for various cities and major towns across Europe - just pick the one nearest to you. The capital city is listed first, followed by other towns in alphabetic order. (I make that point to emphasise that certain other towns are above my home town Manchester only in terms of alphabetic sequence, not in importance!)

Compass bearing
(in degrees)
Dish elevation *
(in degrees)
Skew (degrees from vertical, clockwise as you face the dish)
United Kingdom
London 146 26 14
Aberdeen 145 20 11
Aberystwyth 142 24 16
Barnstaple 141 24 16
Belfast 141 20 14
Birmingham 145 26 15
Bristol 142 25 16
Caernarfon 142 23 15
Canterbury 147 26 13
Cardiff 142 25 16
Edinburgh 144 20 12
Fort William 142 19 13
Glasgow 143 20 13
Inverness 143 19 12
King's Lynn 146 24 13
Londonderry 139 20 15
Manchester 144 23 14
Newcastle-upon-Tyne 145 22 12
Penzance 139 24 18
Plymouth 141 25 17
Swansea 142 24 16
Ullapool 143 18 12

Austria
Vienna 164 34 4
Graz 162 34 4
Innsbruck 157 33 8
Salzburg 160 33 8

Belgium
Brussels 150 27 11
Antwerp 150 27 11
Bruges 149 27 12

Czech Republic
Prague 162 31 4

Denmark
Copenhagen 161 25 3
Aarhus 159 24 5
Esbjerg 156 27 6
Skive 158 23 5

France
Paris 147 29 14
Bourg-en-Bresse 149 32 13
Brest 140 26 18
Caen 144 27 15
Calais 148 27 13
Chartres 146 29 15
Châteauroux 145 30 16
Clermont-Ferrand 147 32 15
Dijon 150 31 13
La Rochelle 142 30 18
Le Mans 144 29 16
Lyon 149 32 14
Marseilles 148 35 15
Nice 151 35 13
Orleans 147 29 15
Perpignan 146 34 17
Rouen 146 28 15
St Malo 143 27 17
Strasbourg 154 31 10
Tours 145 30 16

Germany
Berlin 161 28 4
Dortmund 154 27 9
Dresden 162 30 4
Dusseldorf 154 28 9
Frankfurt 156 30 8
Göttingen 158 28 7
Hamburg 158 25 5
Hannover 158 28 7
Leipzig 160 30 6
Mannheim 154 31 10
Munich 159 33 7

Greece
Athens 174 46 -2
Salonica 172 42 -1

Holland
Amsterdam 152 27 10
Eindhoven 152 28 10
Groningen 154 26 8

Hungary
Budapest 168 34 1
Pécs 166 36 3

Ireland
Dublin 140 22 16
Cork 137 22 18
Galway 137 21 17
Limerick 137 21 17
Tralee 135 21 19
Waterford 138 22 17

Italy
Rome 157 39 10
Florence 156 36 10
Genoa 156 36 12
Milan 154 35 11
Naples 159 40 9
Rimini 159 37 8
Turin 153 34 12
Venice 158 36 9

Luxembourg
Luxembourg City 152 29 11

Norway
Oslo 160 20 -1
Stavanger 154 20 0
Tromsø 170 11 -4
Trondheim 160 17 -1

Poland
Warsaw 171 30 -1
Krakow 170 32 0

Portugal
Lisbon 129 31 30
Faro 130 33 31
Oporto 131 30 28

Romania
Bucharest 177 39 -5
Constanta 180 39 -7

Slovakia
Bratislava 165 34 3

Slovenia
Ljubljana 161 35 6

Spain
Madrid 136 33 23
Alicante 139 37 24
Almería 136 37 27
Badajoz 133 33 28
Barcelona 143 36 20
La Coruña 133 29 25
Malaga 134 36 28
San Sebastían 140 32 21
Seville 132 34 32
Valencia 140 36 23
Valladolid 136 31 24

Sweden
Stockholm 168 22 -1
Jämtland 165 18 0
Orebro 164 22 1

Switzerland
Bern 152 32 12
Basel 154 32 10
Geneva 151 33 13
Lucerne 154 33 11
Wengen 154 33 11
Zurich 155 33 10

* Don't forget that most dishes are of the offset type. This means that the signal strikes the face of the dish at an angle and is reflected downwards to the LNB. Therefore the dish has to be aimed some way below the given angle of elevation. Only with prime-focus dishes such as the Multimo should the dish be pointed directly at the satellite.

The above figures were derived using calculations provided by the SES-Astra website,
http://www.ses-astra.com:80/consumer/en/how-to-receive-astra/installation-assistant/index.php
The skew values take account of the fact that Astra 2 is

tilted by 7º relative to the earth's axis.

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© Copyright D. Sullivan 2004-2009