3410 lines
178 KiB
Plaintext
3410 lines
178 KiB
Plaintext
COMMUNICATIONS IN SPACE))EDITION 5.5
|
||
|
||
THE LAST DXers GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
|
||
|
||
|
||
George Wood January, 1994
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
TABLE OF CONTENTS
|
||
|
||
|
||
Introduction)Satellites...........................................1
|
||
|
||
Part I: Satellite Broadcasting)TVRO
|
||
|
||
North America..........................................2
|
||
|
||
Latin America
|
||
|
||
Europe and Astra......................................12
|
||
|
||
Africa................................................26
|
||
|
||
Middle Eastern Satellite Broadcasting
|
||
|
||
Asia and the Pacific..................................29
|
||
|
||
Global Satellite Channels.............................33
|
||
|
||
|
||
Part II: Weather and other "Utility" Satellites
|
||
|
||
Weather Satellites....................................36
|
||
|
||
Amateur Radio in Space................................38
|
||
|
||
|
||
Part III: Monitoring the Space Shuttle, MIR, and the Military
|
||
|
||
The Shuttle and MIR...................................40
|
||
|
||
Military Communications in Space......................43
|
||
|
||
|
||
Part IV: Horizons.................................................44
|
||
|
||
|
||
For More Information..............................................45
|
||
|
||
|
||
Copyright 1994 Radio Sweden. Reproduction of this publication is
|
||
permitted provided credit is given to Radio Sweden and
|
||
"Communications in Space".
|
||
Radio Sweden is not responsible for anything that might happen
|
||
because of possible mistakes, inaccuracies, or out)of)date
|
||
information.
|
||
|
||
INTRODUCTION SATELLITES
|
||
|
||
In the beginning, the Great Prophet Marconi cast his bread upon
|
||
the waves.
|
||
Long, medium, even short wave))the ether was filled, and at
|
||
home listeners tuned
|
||
the bands, and heard far away signals from
|
||
Bonaire, Motala, and Oakland.
|
||
|
||
Then, on October 4, 1957, the world changed. The Soviet Union
|
||
launched the
|
||
Sputnik satellite, and listeners around the world tuned in
|
||
to its signals just
|
||
above 20 MHz. The Space Age had begun.
|
||
|
||
What we find is this...the skies are filled with satellites that
|
||
can be
|
||
monitored, some with simple equipment, some with more complex
|
||
and expensive
|
||
gear. Weather pictures, satellite TV, astronauts and
|
||
cosmonauts, computer
|
||
bulletin boards in the sky, are all there waiting.
|
||
|
||
We used to call satellite DXing the shortwave listening of the
|
||
future. Well,
|
||
the future is now. The signals are there, and more are
|
||
coming. This guide is
|
||
intended to help you tune in to signals from
|
||
space. Equipment varies from USD
|
||
2000 for C)Band TVRO dishes and
|
||
receivers to less than USD 200 for a scanner and
|
||
discone antenna for
|
||
monitoring weather satellites.
|
||
|
||
Communications satellites were first proposed by science fiction
|
||
writer Arthur
|
||
C. Clarke in 1945. Clarke pointed out that if a satellite
|
||
was positioned high
|
||
enough above the equator (36,000 kilometers or
|
||
23,000 miles), its orbit could be
|
||
matched to the rotation of the Earth.
|
||
The satellite would appear to remain fixed
|
||
in one particular spot in
|
||
the sky. Such a position would be ideal for relaying
|
||
telephone, radio
|
||
and television communications. Three such satellites
|
||
located
|
||
equidistant from each other could cover the entire Earth.
|
||
|
||
It took technology a while to catch up with Clarke's idea. In 1957
|
||
the Soviet
|
||
Union launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial
|
||
satellite. In 1962 the
|
||
United States launched Telstar, the first
|
||
communications satellite. Today there
|
||
are more than 100 commercial TV
|
||
and telecommunications satellites in
|
||
geostationary orbit, and many more
|
||
are scheduled for launch before the end of
|
||
the century.
|
||
|
||
In addition, there are communications satellites in non*geostationary orbits
|
||
(such as the former Soviet Molniya), weather and
|
||
other Earth resources
|
||
satellites, amateur radio satellites, and
|
||
American and CIS space vehicles. All
|
||
are accessible, if you have the
|
||
right equipment.
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Third World AA
|
||
|
||
In many ways, Third World countries have more to gain from
|
||
satellite communications than do the developed nations. Arthur C.
|
||
Clarke is today a citizen of Sri Lanka, and a dedicated advocate of
|
||
satellites
|
||
for Third World development. As one of Sri Lanka's
|
||
representatives at a UNESCO
|
||
conference in 1981, Clarke said:
|
||
|
||
"To many developing countries, satellites are ESSENTIAL; they will
|
||
make it unnecessary to build the elaborate and expensive ground systems
|
||
required in the past. Indeed, to many countries, satellites could be a
|
||
matter of life and death."
|
||
|
||
\v\ PART I: SATELLITE BROADCASTING)TVRO
|
||
|
||
Television Receive Only (TVRO) systems allow home monitors to tune
|
||
in to radio
|
||
and television from geostationary satellites. There are
|
||
around 3.5 million TVRO
|
||
installations in North America and more than 1
|
||
million in Europe. Numbers are
|
||
rapidly increasing in India, China, and
|
||
other parts of Asia. Latin America and
|
||
Africa are areas of expansion,
|
||
where satellites are generally used for relays to
|
||
television stations
|
||
and cable networks, rather than direct to home (DTH).
|
||
|
||
To tune in to broadcast satellites, you need a dish antenna and
|
||
receiver.
|
||
Antennas vary from 20 centimeters for the strongest DBS
|
||
satellites to 3 meters
|
||
or more for weak signals in the C)band. Antennas
|
||
can also be fixed in one
|
||
position, for reception of just one satellite,
|
||
or motorised, to permit reception
|
||
of many satellites. The signals are
|
||
picked up by Low Noise Block amplifiers
|
||
(LNBs) and fed by low loss
|
||
cables to receivers. Fixed antennas can even have
|
||
extra LNBs amounted
|
||
to pick up additional satellites.
|
||
|
||
Different bands are used for satellite broadcasting. Some are more
|
||
common in
|
||
different parts of the world. Higher frequency bands
|
||
generally require smaller
|
||
dish antennas. The satellite TV bands are:
|
||
|
||
S)Band 1700)3000 MHz
|
||
C)Band 3700)4200 MHz
|
||
Ku1)Band 10.9)11.75 GHz
|
||
Ku2)Band 11.75)12.5 GHz (DBS)
|
||
Ku3)Band 12.5)12.75 GHz
|
||
Ka)Band 18.0)20.0 GHz
|
||
|
||
|
||
I. North America
|
||
|
||
Most North American TVRO still uses the C)Band, although Ku)band
|
||
use is
|
||
increasing. C)band dish antennas are at least nine feet (3
|
||
meters) in diameter.
|
||
Dishes and receiver prices start at around USD
|
||
1000 for motorized systems
|
||
without decoders, and USD 1500 for systems
|
||
with decoders. There are also fixed
|
||
dish systems available for the
|
||
Galaxy 5 satellite, which is currently the
|
||
American "hot bird",
|
||
offering a wide variety of free and subscription
|
||
programming (see
|
||
below). An antenna and receiver for Galaxy 5 is available for
|
||
around
|
||
USD 800, with a decoder for an extra USD 375.
|
||
|
||
Here are the North American C and Ku)Band downlink frequencies:
|
||
|
||
Channel 1 = 3720/11730 MHz Channel 13 = 3960/12096 MHz
|
||
Channel 2 = 3740/11743 Channel 14 = 3980/12109
|
||
Channel 3 = 3760/11791 Channel 15 = 4000/12157
|
||
Channel 4 = 3780/11804 Channel 16 = 4020/12170
|
||
Channel 5 = 3800/11852 Channel 17 = 4040
|
||
Channel 6 = 3820/11865 Channel 18 = 4060
|
||
Channel 7 = 3840/11913 Channel 19 = 4080
|
||
Channel 8 = 3860/11926 Channel 20 = 4100
|
||
Channel 9 = 3880/11974 Channel 21 = 4120
|
||
Channel 10 = 3900/11987 Channel 22 = 4140
|
||
Channel 11 = 3920/12035 Channel 23 = 4160
|
||
Channel 12 = 3940/12048 Channel 24 = 4180
|
||
|
||
The Ku)Band frequencies are based on a 16 channel system. For the
|
||
32 channel
|
||
format, half)spacing is used.\v\
|
||
The 27 C and Ku)Band satellites above North America stretch from
|
||
69 degrees
|
||
West longitude to 139 degrees West. They typically carry 24
|
||
transponders (each
|
||
transponder can carry one analog TV channel and
|
||
several radio channels or many
|
||
voice and data channels). The older
|
||
satellite transponders each transmit with 5
|
||
to 8 watts of power. The
|
||
newer generation, such as Satcom C4 and Telstar 401,
|
||
are 16 to 20 watts
|
||
output.
|
||
|
||
American programmers, led by the pay)film channel Home Box Office,
|
||
began
|
||
scrambling signals in 1986. On April 27, 1986 a "video hacker"
|
||
calling himself
|
||
Captain Midnight (the hi)tech hero of a 1960's TV
|
||
series) interrupted Home Box
|
||
Office's broadcast of the film "Falcon and
|
||
the Snowman". He transmitted a
|
||
message over the satellite link,
|
||
overpowering HBO's uplink to the Galaxy 1
|
||
satellite. The message was a
|
||
protest against HBO's scrambling. (The choice of
|
||
the film was apt, as
|
||
it concerns military spy satellites.)
|
||
|
||
John McDougal, who called himself Captain Midnight. was traced to
|
||
a Florida
|
||
uplink station where he worked part)time. He was fined USD
|
||
5000.
|
||
|
||
Many popular American satellite channels now scramble their
|
||
signals, using the
|
||
VC II or VC II+ systems. Modern satellite receivers
|
||
come equipped with decoders,
|
||
and TVRO enthusiasts can subscribe to the
|
||
coded channels, either by monthly
|
||
payment to the stations directly, or
|
||
to organizations offering special packages.
|
||
|
||
|
||
The company manufacturing VC II decoders, General Instruments, has
|
||
a market
|
||
monopoly. Separate decoders for receivers lacking them are
|
||
extremely difficult
|
||
to find, and can cost between USD 600 and 800.
|
||
There is a lively underground of
|
||
enthusiasts hacking decoders, hardware
|
||
and software, in order to view pay
|
||
channels for free. A digital
|
||
compression system allowing up to 10 channels on a
|
||
single transponder,
|
||
General Instrument's, DigiCipher, is gradually being
|
||
introduced.
|
||
|
||
American satellites have recently introduced a new system using
|
||
only 2 degree
|
||
spacing, which may result in interference from adjacent
|
||
satellites with smaller
|
||
dishes. Here are the satellites above North
|
||
America, and some of the more
|
||
interesting satellite channels (C)band
|
||
and uncoded unless otherwise indicated):
|
||
|
||
Satcom C5 (139 degrees): Also known as Aurora II, it has reached
|
||
its projected
|
||
end)of)life, and is primarily used for non)video
|
||
purposes. Alaska Satellite TV
|
||
is on transponder 24.
|
||
|
||
Satcom C1 (137 degrees): Mainly the western coded feeds of network
|
||
affiliates
|
||
from Denver. The Fox Network is on transponder 19, with the
|
||
Jade Channel in
|
||
Chinese on transponder 5 and TV Japan, the NHK feed to
|
||
United States, is on
|
||
transponder 17. NBC, which otherwise uses Ku)band
|
||
on the K)2 satellite, has its
|
||
eastern feed on transponder 8, which is
|
||
sometimes in the clear.
|
||
|
||
Satcom C4 (135 degrees): This high)powered satellite was launched
|
||
on August 31,
|
||
1992. Deutsche Welle is on transponder 5, Italy's RAI on
|
||
7, shopping channels on
|
||
9 and 10, music channel The Box on 11, the
|
||
Travel Channel on 13, the Cable
|
||
Health Club on 14, and C)SPAN2 from the
|
||
U.S. Senate on 19. Viacom uses this
|
||
satellite for its eastern coded
|
||
services, including MTV, VH)1, Nickelodeon, and
|
||
the new digitally*encrypted MTV Latino in Spanish.\v\
|
||
Galaxy 1 (133 degrees): This satellite includes several popular
|
||
coded services,
|
||
including the Disney Channel (West), Comedy Central
|
||
(West), The Cartoon Network,
|
||
Cinemax (East), HBO (East), Showtime 2,
|
||
and the Discovery Channel. Uncoded
|
||
services include the TV Food
|
||
Network, the Nostalgia Channel, shopping,
|
||
religious, and Spanish
|
||
language services Univision and Galavision. Other
|
||
services have moved
|
||
to Galaxy 5.
|
||
|
||
Satcom C3 (131 degrees): This powerful new satellite was launched
|
||
on September
|
||
10, 1992. It carries many popular coded services,
|
||
including the Family Channel,
|
||
Lifetime, Arts and Entertainment,
|
||
Showtime, and Nickelodeon. Uncoded services
|
||
include the Learning
|
||
Channel, Courtroom)TV, C)SPAN1, two shopping channels, and
|
||
E!
|
||
Entertainment.
|
||
|
||
ASC)1 (128 degrees): 18 C)band and 6 Ku)band transponders. On C*band, the Home
|
||
Dish Market Channel is on transponder 7, religious
|
||
programming on transponder
|
||
12, Channel America on 20, and SCOLA, which
|
||
carries news from TV stations around
|
||
the world, in on 23. (News from
|
||
Sweden's TV4 is now carried Monday to Friday at
|
||
7:30 AM Eastern time,
|
||
and on Saturdays at 6:00 AM Eastern.) There are occasional
|
||
transponders
|
||
on Ku)band channels 23 and 24.
|
||
|
||
G)Star 2 (125 degrees) Ku)band only: Turner's Airport Channel is
|
||
on transponder
|
||
20.
|
||
|
||
Galaxy 5 (125 degrees): This new satellite is the first of a new
|
||
generation of
|
||
high)powered satellites, and is somewhat similar to
|
||
Europe's Astra as a
|
||
"hotbird" target for fixed systems. It includes
|
||
many popular coded services,
|
||
including: the Disney Channel (transponder
|
||
1), Playboy (2), CNN (5), Turner
|
||
Broadcasting (6), WGN (7), Home Box
|
||
Office (8 and 15), ESPN (9), The Family
|
||
Channel (11), the Discovery
|
||
Channel (12), CNBC (13), the new ESPN 2 (14, and
|
||
initially in the
|
||
clear), Cinemax (16), TNT (17), The Nashville Network (18), the
|
||
USA
|
||
Network (19), CNN Headline News (22), and Arts and Entertainment
|
||
(23).
|
||
Uncoded services include a religious broadcaster (3), the Science
|
||
Fiction
|
||
Channel (4), a music channel (10), Black Entertainment TV (20),
|
||
and Mind
|
||
Extension University (21). Viacom is carrying out digital
|
||
compression tests on
|
||
transponder 24.
|
||
|
||
Telstar 303 (123 degrees): Carries mainly TVN pay)per)view
|
||
programming. Fox
|
||
(East) is on transponder 18, Fox (West) on transponder
|
||
23.
|
||
|
||
SBS)5 (123 degrees) Ku)band only: mostly college and pro sports
|
||
feeds.
|
||
|
||
Morelos 1 (113.5 degrees) and Morelos 2 (116.8 degrees): Mexico's
|
||
Morelos 1
|
||
offers a number of local stations and sports feeds, some
|
||
coded and not available
|
||
to the US market. Morales 2 is less active, but
|
||
Turner Broadcasting's TNT Latin
|
||
America, coded and not available for
|
||
the US market, is on transponder 12.
|
||
|
||
Anik E1 (111.1 degrees): Canadian channels and feeds. The TV
|
||
Northern Canada
|
||
service for Native Americans is on transponder 19, and
|
||
TV5 Quebec is on
|
||
transponder 17. Occasional transmissions of news and
|
||
sports on Ku)band.
|
||
|
||
\v\ Anik E2 (107.3 degrees): Canadian stations including weather on
|
||
transponder
|
||
1 and relays of the Canadian House of Commons on
|
||
transponder 24, with sound in
|
||
English and French on separate
|
||
subcarriers. The CBC uses transponder 11
|
||
(Pacific), 15 (French), and 19
|
||
(Atlantic), and other transponders for feeds. CBC
|
||
Newsworld on
|
||
transponder 16 relays BBC World Service Television, but is coded in
|
||
the
|
||
Oak system, as are several other transponders. Visnews/London
|
||
uses
|
||
transponder 17. There are BBC feeds on transponder 7, including the
|
||
final
|
||
10 minutes of BBC "Breakfast News" weekdays at 3:00 AM Eastern
|
||
Time. Many
|
||
Canadian Channels on Ku)band as well.
|
||
|
||
G)Star 4 (105 degrees) Ku)band only: News and sports feeds (CNN on
|
||
transponders
|
||
21, 26, and 28), The Classroom Channel on transponders 31
|
||
and 32.
|
||
|
||
Galaxy 6 (103 degrees): Moved from 99 degrees, sports feeds, with
|
||
the NHK feed
|
||
to Tokyo on transponder 22.
|
||
|
||
G)Star 1 (103 degrees) Ku)band only: news and sports feeds.
|
||
|
||
Spacenet 4 (101 degrees): PBS uses transponders 4, 6, 8, 10, and
|
||
12. Newscasts
|
||
from Britain's ITN can be found around 17:30 Eastern Time
|
||
via PBS on transponder
|
||
10. There's a religious broadcaster on
|
||
transponder 9. Three of the six Ku-band
|
||
transponders have gone bad and
|
||
are considered unusable.
|
||
|
||
Galaxy 4 (99 degrees): Has replaced Galaxy 6 and Westar 4 at this
|
||
position. CBS
|
||
makes extensive use of this satellite and Galaxy 7, with
|
||
occasional transponders
|
||
in the clear, especially relays of the "CBS
|
||
Evening News" and sports feeds. CBS
|
||
uses transponders 16, 17, 18, 19,
|
||
20, 21 and 24. Religious broadcasters on
|
||
transponders 6, 15, and 23,
|
||
Spanish on 8, 13, and 14. On Ku)band, NASA Select
|
||
uses transponder 18,
|
||
and the National Weather Net is on transponder 12. There
|
||
are also many
|
||
news and sports feeds.
|
||
|
||
SBS)2 (97 degrees) Ku)band only: NBC News Channel is on
|
||
transponder 8, NBC
|
||
feeds on transponders 3 and 9.
|
||
|
||
SBS)6 (95 degrees) Ku)band only: CONUS News feeds on transponders
|
||
12 and 13,
|
||
Asia Net (coded) on transponder 14.
|
||
|
||
BB Galaxy 3 (93.5 degrees): The Caribbean Satellite Network is on
|
||
transponder
|
||
14, ABC is occasionally in the clear on transponder 18, as
|
||
is TV Asia (Hindi) on
|
||
transponder 7. Other coded channels are Empire
|
||
Sports Network (2) and Radio
|
||
Television Portugal (5). There are
|
||
religious broadcasters on transponders 11, 12
|
||
and 21, shopping channels
|
||
on 10, 13, 15, and 17. The entertainment channel
|
||
Showcase America is on
|
||
transponder 22.
|
||
|
||
G)Star 3 (93 degrees): Ku)band only, in inclined orbit, only
|
||
occasional
|
||
reception is possible.
|
||
|
||
Galaxy 7 (91 degrees): This new high)powered satellite carries 24
|
||
transponders
|
||
in the C)band (16 watts each), and 24 in the Ku)band (50
|
||
watts each). CBS is a
|
||
major user on C)band, sometimes in the clear,
|
||
with the Western network feed on
|
||
transponder 2 and the Eastern feed on
|
||
19, and newsfeeds on 18. Many channels
|
||
used for feeds, with the Fammily
|
||
Network on transponder 14. On Ku)band, there
|
||
are many college and pro
|
||
sports feeds, the Asia)American Satellite Network in
|
||
Chinese (12), The
|
||
Asia Net in Korean (15), and the Fire and Emergency TV Network
|
||
(17). \v\
|
||
On December 6, 1993 Emirates Dubai TV began broadcasts on Galaxy 7
|
||
in Arabic
|
||
and English.
|
||
|
||
Spacenet 3 (87 degrees): Nebraska Educational Television is on
|
||
transponders 2
|
||
and 4. There are coded relays of local TV stations in
|
||
Dallas, New York, and Los
|
||
Angeles and several sports channels. CNN
|
||
International and TNT Latin America is
|
||
coded, not for the U.S. market,
|
||
on transponder 16. CNN newsfeeds in Spanish, not
|
||
coded, are on
|
||
transponder 11. On Ku)band, there are sports feeds on transponders
|
||
6
|
||
and 10.
|
||
|
||
Satcom K)1 (85 degrees) Ku)band only: PrimeStar DBS pay channels
|
||
in B)MAC.
|
||
|
||
Telstar 302 (85 degrees): Has taken over from Telstar 301 as a
|
||
major feed
|
||
satellite. Paramount uplinks such programs as "Star Trek:
|
||
The Next Generation"
|
||
and "Deep Space Nine" on transponder 3. Several
|
||
coded services, including HBO 2
|
||
and 3, and Cinemax 2. The ABC Eastern
|
||
feed on transponder 10 is sometimes in the
|
||
clear.
|
||
|
||
Satcom K)2 (81 degrees) Ku)band only: NBC uses transponders 3
|
||
(East), 7
|
||
(Pacific), 10 (sports), 15 (news and sports), 19 (Central),
|
||
23 (newsfeeds), and
|
||
27 (newsfeeds). The North American Chinese
|
||
Television Network is on transponder
|
||
28.
|
||
|
||
SBS)4 (77 degrees) Ku)band only: NBC has acquired the entire
|
||
capacity of this
|
||
satellite, the first time a broadcast network has
|
||
arranged to be the sole user
|
||
of a satellite. The network will have
|
||
access for occasional use until February,
|
||
1994, when it will have full*time access to all transponders. Hughes has allowed
|
||
the satellite to
|
||
move into an inclined orbit, which will mean NBC affiliates
|
||
must have
|
||
special tracking equipment, but the expected lifetime of the
|
||
satellite
|
||
has been extended by as much as ten years, until well into the
|
||
next
|
||
century.
|
||
|
||
Galaxy 2 (74 degrees): CNN feeds can be found on transponder 9,
|
||
sports feeds on
|
||
many others.
|
||
|
||
Satcom 2R (72 degrees): NASA Select TV, including live video from
|
||
space shuttle
|
||
missions, is on transponder 13. Programming is in four
|
||
hour blocks, repeated
|
||
during the broadcast day. The Arab Network of
|
||
America on transponder 1 is a
|
||
Saudi)financed channel seeking to reach
|
||
the one million Arabic)speaking
|
||
Americans and expatriates in the U.S.
|
||
It hopes to broadcast 24 hours a day of
|
||
news, entertainment and
|
||
religious programming. New England Cable News is on
|
||
transponder 21, NBC
|
||
sports feeds on 20, the Outdoor Channel on 3, and shopping
|
||
channels on
|
||
7 and 11.
|
||
|
||
Spacenet 2 (69 degrees West): The United States Information
|
||
Agency's Worldnet
|
||
uses transponder 3. There are Spanish feeds and
|
||
programming on transponders 2
|
||
(GEMS TV), 4 (Canal SUR))coded), and 5
|
||
(NBC Canal de Noticias). Main Street TV
|
||
is on transponder 7. On Ku)band
|
||
there are news and sports feeds on transponders
|
||
4 and 10, educational
|
||
programming on transponder 5.
|
||
|
||
Intelsat 513 (53 degrees): is also used to relay signals from
|
||
Europe to North
|
||
America. Australia uses the satellite to relay TV
|
||
programs from London to Los
|
||
Angeles. They are retransmitted to
|
||
Australia from there on Intelsat 508 over the
|
||
Pacific.\v\
|
||
Panamsat 1 (45 degrees): used to relay across the Atlantic, to
|
||
Latin America
|
||
and the Caribbean on C)band and to North America and
|
||
Europe on Ku)band. RTV
|
||
Beograd is on 11.760 GHz to North America, TV
|
||
Japan feeds on 11.920 GHz, and
|
||
Peru's Canal Sur on 4.140 GHz.
|
||
|
||
Intelsat 601 (27.5 degrees), generally a European satellite, also
|
||
carries NTSC
|
||
transmissions to North America from Europe. During the
|
||
lead up to the Gulf War
|
||
its predecessor Intelsat VI)F4 was used for
|
||
NTSC feeds from the United States,
|
||
presumably programs for American
|
||
soldiers in the Gulf, on Ku)band 11.056 and
|
||
11.090 GHz. BBC World
|
||
Service Television is being relayed uncoded to the CBC on
|
||
C)band
|
||
transponder 4, presumably 3.780 GHz.
|
||
|
||
Intelsat)K (21.5 degrees): This Ku)band only satellite was
|
||
launched in June,
|
||
1992, also to relay signals across the Atlantic. The
|
||
satellite carries 32
|
||
high)powered television channels, which can be
|
||
directed to North America (as far
|
||
as the Midwest), Europe (as far east
|
||
as Greece), and selected parts of South
|
||
America. All beams will use
|
||
11.45-11.7 GHz, while 11.7-11.95 GHz will also be
|
||
used to the Americas.
|
||
Deutsche Welle and Italy's RAI use this satellite to relay their
|
||
services to
|
||
North America.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Coming Channels and Satellites
|
||
|
||
Rupert Murdoch's Fox Inc. says that it will formally launch its
|
||
long planned
|
||
basic cable network on March 1, 1994, and it has already
|
||
signed agreements with
|
||
one-third of US cable networks for its
|
||
distribution. The network, known as FX,
|
||
will be a general
|
||
entertainment network. New networks from Paramount and Time
|
||
Warner are
|
||
also planned.
|
||
|
||
Turner Broadcasting will introduce two new channels next year, a
|
||
domestic feed
|
||
of CNN International, and Turner Classic Movies. Turner
|
||
Classic Movies will
|
||
debut on April 14, 1994, the exact centennial
|
||
anniversary of the first public
|
||
movie showing in New York City. It will
|
||
air hundreds of movies from the 1930's
|
||
to the 1980's.
|
||
|
||
Time Warner and Spiegel Inc. have announced they will launch two
|
||
cable
|
||
television home shopping channels next year, including an
|
||
interactive "video
|
||
shopping mall". The joint venture makrs the first
|
||
attempt by either company to
|
||
develop a home shopping business. The
|
||
channels will feature clothes,
|
||
accessories, and home furnishing sfrom
|
||
Spiegel's catalog and from its Eddie
|
||
Bauer and other speciality
|
||
divisions.
|
||
|
||
The interactive channel will make its debut next April on an
|
||
experimental cable
|
||
network Time Warner is building in Orlanda, Florida.
|
||
"The interactive channel
|
||
will, in effect, be a video shopping mall,"
|
||
say the two companies. "Cable
|
||
customers will be able to enter any
|
||
catalog 'store' at any time, view a variety
|
||
of merchandise in full
|
||
motion video and make purchases on demand."
|
||
|
||
A more conventional home shopping channel with a working title of
|
||
"The Catalog
|
||
Channel" will start in the first quarter of next year on
|
||
Time Warner's cable
|
||
systems, the second largest in the US, with 7.1
|
||
million subscribers in 36
|
||
states. The channel will later be offered to
|
||
other cable operators. \v\
|
||
ValueVision International Inc., a TV home shopping network, has
|
||
signed up for a
|
||
C-band transponder on Hughes Communications'
|
||
next-generation Galaxy 1-R
|
||
satellite, set to be located at 133 degrees
|
||
west longitude.
|
||
|
||
The video game company Sega is planning to launch The Sega Channel
|
||
in 1994.
|
||
Initially, viewers in 13 American cities will be offered a
|
||
chance to download
|
||
games for Sega's Genesis megadrive games machine,
|
||
using a special decoder,
|
||
before the service launches nationally in the
|
||
United States. Sega has joined
|
||
forces with Time Warner and the giant
|
||
cable operator TCI to form the network.
|
||
The 24)hour broadcast service
|
||
will feature specially)engineered play games,
|
||
previews, hints and tips.
|
||
Users will supply their own video games machine and rent the decoder
|
||
interface
|
||
which enables them to utilise the programming carried by The
|
||
Sega Channel. Sega
|
||
is rumored to be seeking access to a transponder on
|
||
Astra, for a European
|
||
service next year.
|
||
|
||
The Public Broadcasting System, PBS, together with WGBH in Boston
|
||
and WNET in
|
||
New York, are planning to launch a channel devoted
|
||
exclusively to cultural
|
||
programming. The new channel, called Horizons
|
||
TV, is expected to be running by
|
||
the end of 1994.
|
||
|
||
PBS is expanding enormously when it moves to the Telstar 401
|
||
satellite, which
|
||
was launched on December 15, 1993. The satellite is to
|
||
begin regular operation
|
||
in February, 1994.
|
||
|
||
PBS intends to move to 6 Ku)band transponders on the new
|
||
satellite, 3 digital
|
||
and 3 analog. C)band transmissions on Spacenet 4
|
||
transponder 4 would remain
|
||
analog for dish owners.
|
||
|
||
On Telstar 401 PBS will be using DigiCipher digital compression
|
||
techniques to
|
||
squeeze 8 to 10 channels into each transponder. PBS plans
|
||
to provide a total of
|
||
more than 40 Ku)band channels, creating what is
|
||
being described as an "education
|
||
neighborhood". Most of these new
|
||
channels will be used for educational
|
||
programming to schools. The plans
|
||
include two way contact, in which
|
||
participating classes would interact
|
||
with the programming, sending data from
|
||
computers over the telephone to
|
||
the closest PBS station, which would relay
|
||
signals to the satellite.
|
||
|
||
One transponder would carry the PBS national schedule A and B
|
||
programs, along
|
||
with a high definition television program. While HBO
|
||
and other programmers will
|
||
be using the General Instrument's DigiCipher
|
||
II technology, PBS will be using
|
||
the non)consumer DigiCipher I
|
||
technology and those digital signals are not
|
||
compatable with the other
|
||
system.
|
||
|
||
Other users of Telstar 401 will include ABC and Paramount, for
|
||
relays of such
|
||
programs as " Star Trek" and Entertainment Tonight".
|
||
A second satellite is to launched in early 1994, and a third (to be
|
||
used as a
|
||
spare) is scheduled for orbit in late 1994 or early 1995.
|
||
|
||
The NBC Network has acquired the entire capacity of the Ku)band
|
||
SBS)4
|
||
satellite. NBC will use the satellite on an occasional)use basis
|
||
until
|
||
September, 1994, when the network will have full)time access.
|
||
SBS-4 was launched
|
||
in 1984 and carries ten 20-watt Ku-band
|
||
transponders at 77 degrees west longitude. Hughes operates the
|
||
satellite in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, enabling it to use
|
||
less fuel with north-south station keeping. SBS-4 is expected to
|
||
provide service until 2004. \v\
|
||
NBC has also signed an agreement with GE Americom Communications
|
||
for Ku-band
|
||
satellite capacity aboard its GE-1 satellite. Capacity
|
||
will be used from 1996.
|
||
Like the SBS-4 transponders, NBC will use GE-1
|
||
transponders for feeds and
|
||
program distribution.
|
||
|
||
NBC has also increased its interest in American Television
|
||
Network, a partnership that produces health and medical programmes
|
||
aimed at consumers and physicians. NBC plans to transform the
|
||
network into a 24-hour cable channel at a later stage.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Non)Video Signals
|
||
|
||
Communications satellites carry much more than TV signals. There
|
||
are also
|
||
telephone channels, transmissions by international news
|
||
agencies, stock market
|
||
reports, commodity news, and hundreds of radio
|
||
network relays.
|
||
|
||
There are two main kinds of audio signals. Audio subcarriers are
|
||
extra signals
|
||
transmitted along with the video signal. The video
|
||
information on a satellite
|
||
transponder typically occupies the space 0*4.2 MHz. Subcarriers are added at
|
||
frequencies higher than the video.
|
||
Usually they will be on 6.2 or 6.8 MHz, but
|
||
any frequency between 5 and
|
||
8 MHz can be used.
|
||
|
||
There are more than 70 audio only signals available on North
|
||
American
|
||
satellites. Here are a sample:
|
||
|
||
|
||
Satellite/Channel Program Frequency(ies)
|
||
|
||
Spacenet 2/3 Voice of America 5.92 MHz
|
||
|
||
Spacenet 2/4 SUR Radio (Spanish) 5.8
|
||
|
||
Spacenet 2/7 Spanish Christian Radio 5.94
|
||
|
||
Spacenet 2/20 AFRTS Radio 7.4
|
||
|
||
Satcom 2R/1 ANA Arab Net 6.8
|
||
|
||
Satcom 2R/7 Project Saturn Global 5.8
|
||
|
||
Satcom 2R/18 Radio Tropical (French) 7.6
|
||
|
||
Satcom 2R/23 Christian Music Network 6.2 7.6
|
||
|
||
Spacenet 3/2 Nebraska Public Radio 5.76 5.94
|
||
|
||
Spacenet 3/9 Modern Country 5.76 5.94
|
||
|
||
Spacenet 3/15 KLON)FM (Jazz/NPR) 5.58 5.76
|
||
Radio Sedeye Iran 6.17
|
||
|
||
Spacenet 3/21 Let's Talk Radio 5.8
|
||
|
||
Galaxy 3/22 KGAY Denver 7.46
|
||
(off the air, Sept, 1993)
|
||
\v\ Galaxy 4/8 Hispanic Radio Broad. Net. 7.75 7.93
|
||
|
||
Galaxy 4/20 WCBS New York 7.4
|
||
|
||
Anik E2/16 CBC Radio East 5.76 5.94
|
||
CBC Radio Atlantic 6.12 6.3
|
||
Voice Print)Reading Service 7.44
|
||
|
||
Anik E2/20 CBC Radio East French 5.4 5.58
|
||
|
||
|
||
Anik E2/22 CBC Radio Pacific 5.76 5.94
|
||
CFMI)FM 6.8
|
||
CBC Radio News B.C. 7.36
|
||
|
||
|
||
Anik E1/17 Radio France International 5.41 6.12
|
||
|
||
Galaxy 5/18 WSM Nashville 7.38 7.56
|
||
|
||
Galaxy 5/22 CNN Headline News 7.56
|
||
|
||
Satcom C5/24 KSKA)FM Anchorage/NPR 7.38 7.56
|
||
|
||
|
||
"Let's Talk Radio" is a program about radio and television on
|
||
Spacenet 3
|
||
transponder 21, using the 6.2 MHz subcarrier (daily at 6:00
|
||
PM)1:00 AM Eastern
|
||
Time). There are programs about satellites, amateur
|
||
radio, shortwave listening,
|
||
and computers.
|
||
|
||
The satellite and cable station C)Span carries broadcasts from the
|
||
American
|
||
Congress. C)Span also has two special audio channels. One
|
||
rebroadcasts BBC World
|
||
Service 24 hours a day, the other carries a
|
||
variety of international
|
||
broadcasters, including Deutsche Welle, Radio
|
||
Japan, "As It Happens" from the
|
||
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and
|
||
Radio Sweden's program "Sweden Today".
|
||
|
||
"Sweden Today" is carried on Saturdays at 9:30 AM Eastern Time.
|
||
Other
|
||
broadcasters are the Voice of America daily at 1:00)8:00 PM,
|
||
Radio Havana Cuba
|
||
at 8:00 and 11:00 PM, Deutsche Welle during the week
|
||
and Radio Japan weekends at
|
||
10:00 PM, and China Radio International at
|
||
midnight. Radio Japan is carried
|
||
weekdays at 6:00 AM, and programs from
|
||
the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation are
|
||
at 8:00 AM.
|
||
|
||
C)Span has been on transponder 24 on the Galaxy 3 satellite at
|
||
93.5 degrees
|
||
West. BBC World Service uses the subcarrier at 5.4 MHz.
|
||
The international
|
||
broadcasters are on 5.22 MHz.
|
||
|
||
KGAY, a new radio network for gays and lesbians, moved from
|
||
Spacenet 3R to
|
||
Galaxy 6, transponder 17, using the audio subcarrier at
|
||
7.48 MHz. However it
|
||
stopped satellite relays in September, 1993, and
|
||
it is uncertain if it will
|
||
return.
|
||
|
||
The Becker Satellite Network provides a common channel to a
|
||
variety of
|
||
eccentric programmers. According to "Popular Communications"
|
||
magazine, it's a
|
||
place where would)be pirate broadcasters can reach
|
||
listeners legally. Among the
|
||
programmers are the former pirate Radio
|
||
New York International, the Satellite
|
||
Information Service, the Johnny
|
||
Lightning Show, the World Jazz Federation, and
|
||
DBI Satellite Radio
|
||
Talk. The Becker Satellite Network is on Spacenet 2,
|
||
transponder 7,\v\audio 7.5 MHz.
|
||
|
||
Project Saturn Global is to be the world's first all educational
|
||
24 hour
|
||
international satellite radio network. Regular broadcasts to
|
||
North America were
|
||
due to begin in January, using the Galaxy 5
|
||
satellite, transponder 7, audio
|
||
subcarrier 5.80 MHz. Programs will
|
||
originate from Los Angeles at 16:00 hrs
|
||
daily.
|
||
|
||
Worldwide coverage is planned for April, 1993. The daily
|
||
programming is drawn
|
||
from an audio library of more than 2000 programs,
|
||
aimed at all ages, with
|
||
subjects ranging from fairy tales to computer
|
||
technology. Programs are to be
|
||
repeated every eight hours to
|
||
accommodate global time zones, and will include
|
||
hourly educational
|
||
news.
|
||
|
||
The World Radio Network, which carries programs from NPR and many
|
||
international
|
||
broadcasters over an Astra transponder to Europe, is
|
||
starting a similar
|
||
multi)lingual service to North America. The service
|
||
will be on an audio
|
||
subcarrier of SCOLA on ASC)1, transponder 23.
|
||
Broadcasts are to officially begin
|
||
on January 1, 1994, but test
|
||
transmissions may start on December 15, 1993. Radio
|
||
Sweden will be
|
||
among the international broadcasters relayed to North America.
|
||
|
||
There are several digital satellite radio services in the United
|
||
States:
|
||
|
||
Digital Cable Radio transmits to American and Mexican subscribers
|
||
and cable
|
||
systems on Satcom C3, transponder 9. Launched in May, 1990,
|
||
DCR was the first
|
||
digital cable audio service marketed in the United
|
||
States. DCR currently
|
||
provides 28 CD)quality radio channels. On May 1st
|
||
this is increasing to 56. DCR
|
||
says that additional music, information,
|
||
news, talk and foreign language
|
||
channels are set to be introduced,
|
||
along side additional commercial formats
|
||
(background music) for
|
||
business users. DCR hopes to provide 250 channels within
|
||
a few years.
|
||
|
||
AA DCR plans to expand into Canada and is currently seeking
|
||
regulatory approval.
|
||
DCR has long)term plans to launch the service in
|
||
Europe, the Far East and parts
|
||
of Latin America.
|
||
|
||
Another service called Digital Music Express, or DMX, is available
|
||
to more than
|
||
10 million cable subscribers in the United States. It
|
||
offers themed channels of
|
||
various types of music without the need for
|
||
DJs, jingles, or commercials. The
|
||
DMX decoder, manufactured by
|
||
Scientific Atlanta, displays information on the
|
||
music being played,
|
||
such as the name of the artist, song and album title,
|
||
composer, and
|
||
chart position.
|
||
|
||
International Cablecasting Technologies Inc. has signed a USD 20
|
||
million
|
||
contract with Spar Communications Group for the supply of
|
||
digital audio
|
||
receivers that will receive DMX's coming 120 channel
|
||
service by DBS satellite.
|
||
|
||
DMX initially started with a 30 channel offering, but the company
|
||
is in the
|
||
middle of an aggressive service and geographical expansion
|
||
programme. With the
|
||
new receivers, customers can tune into 120 20Khz
|
||
CD-quality music channels at
|
||
the touch of a button. The new offering
|
||
will be initially restricted to the
|
||
North American marketplace, and it
|
||
will enable the company to expand its
|
||
business music offering, DMX for
|
||
Business, which provides commercial-free,
|
||
DJ-free music to stores,
|
||
offices and factories.\v\
|
||
A 75 cm antenna will be used to receive broadcasts throughout the
|
||
USA and North
|
||
America from the SBS-5 satellite. Each receiver is fully
|
||
addressable, enabling
|
||
special broadcasts to be sent to subscribers.
|
||
There is also the capability to
|
||
offer generic corporate programming
|
||
broadcasts on under-utilised channels, switching in receivers as
|
||
required.
|
||
|
||
The second system of sending audio by satellite is SCPC (single
|
||
channel per
|
||
carrier). This involves dividing up an entire transponder
|
||
into individual
|
||
non)video channels. There is both FM and single side
|
||
band (SSB) SCPC. Most of
|
||
the high quality audio (and data) services
|
||
today use FM/SCPC. It is typically
|
||
used for network relays.
|
||
|
||
The American non)commercial radio network National Public Radio
|
||
has 16 audio
|
||
channels on Galaxy 6, on transponders 2, 3, and 4 (which
|
||
are used for many other
|
||
SCPC services as well, such as NPR's rival,
|
||
American Public Radio. The BBC World
|
||
Service is carried for some 8
|
||
hours a day on an APR SCPC channel.
|
||
|
||
There are special SCPC receivers, but SCPC can be monitored with a
|
||
satellite)TV
|
||
receiver and a continuous coverage scanner or VHF)UHF
|
||
communications receiver,
|
||
although the quality may be less than with a
|
||
dedicated SCPC receiver. Some
|
||
(older) TVRO receivers have intermediate
|
||
or downblock frequencies at 70 or 134
|
||
MHz. If this signal is available,
|
||
a scanner or VHF)UHF receiver can be used to
|
||
monitor the frequencies 18
|
||
MHz to either side of these channels on appropriate
|
||
transponders.
|
||
|
||
On more modern TVRO set)ups, a splitter can be installed in the
|
||
cable from the
|
||
LNB to the satellite receiver, and the extra output can
|
||
be fed through a DC
|
||
block to an FM scanner that covers the LNB's 950*1450 MHz range.
|
||
|
||
Universal Electronics has developed the first consumer)priced SCPC
|
||
decoder,
|
||
which can be attached easily to an ordinary satellite
|
||
receiver. Universal sells
|
||
the SCPC)100 for USD 400, plus shipping. More
|
||
details from: Universal Radio,
|
||
6830 Americana Parkway, Reynoldsburg,
|
||
Ohio, 43068, USA.
|
||
|
||
SSB/SCPC includes many digital services offering news or business
|
||
information.
|
||
Fine tuning will reveal many radioteletype (RTTY) signals
|
||
which can be monitored
|
||
with the proper RTTY interface.
|
||
|
||
Many satellites carry telephone services, One single transponder
|
||
can hold 9000
|
||
telephone channels. These services can be monitored by
|
||
hooking an SSB
|
||
communications receiver to the 0)4.2 MHz output of a
|
||
TVRO receiver, if this is
|
||
available. The telephone services, on
|
||
satellites such as Satcom 5 and Galaxy 2,
|
||
can usually be found by
|
||
tuning the SSB receiver between 3720 and 4180 MHz.
|
||
|
||
Radio Netherlands is using PanAmSat (PAS)1) to broadcast to Latin
|
||
America and
|
||
the Caribbean, but this is a digital audio signal (64 kb/s
|
||
in a 10 kHz audio
|
||
channel). This Ku)band signal is downlinked in
|
||
Florida and uplinked on C)band to
|
||
receiving stations in the Caribbean.
|
||
|
||
IBM, NBC, and a company called NuMedia are to test a system of
|
||
"news on demand"
|
||
delivered via satellite. The system, which would be
|
||
called NBC Desktop News,
|
||
would allow people to scan lists of headlines
|
||
using personal computers and
|
||
recall the stories that interest them. It
|
||
involves text, graphics, video and
|
||
sound extracts in a multimedia PC\v\system.
|
||
AA
|
||
AA
|
||
\\ North American DBS
|
||
|
||
Most North American satellite television has been in the C)Band,
|
||
which is
|
||
really intended for professional relays and not for home
|
||
viewing. Many American
|
||
TVRO enthusiasts have added extra low noise
|
||
block amplifiers for Ku)Band,
|
||
however. The NBC network, for example,
|
||
has stopped using C)Band, and can be
|
||
found only in the Ku)Band, on the
|
||
K)2 satellite.
|
||
|
||
There are also several plans for European)style direct broadcast
|
||
satellites
|
||
(DBS) to North America, using the Ku)band. The first
|
||
proposals came in early
|
||
1990, when General Electric announced a joint
|
||
venture with 9 major cable
|
||
operators to deliver 10 channels of
|
||
programming using medium power in the
|
||
Ku)band.
|
||
|
||
The service, called PrimeStar, began in November, 1990, using the
|
||
K)1 satellite
|
||
stationed at 85 degrees West. It now uses 12 transponders
|
||
on the satellite.
|
||
Three of the channels are pay per view, the others
|
||
so)called Super Stations, and
|
||
include the Family Channel, the Nashville
|
||
Network, and Japan's NHK. Other
|
||
services include PrimeAudio (digital
|
||
audio and radio) and a range of news services delivered as data to
|
||
the desktop including X*Press X*Change and X*Press X*Press
|
||
Executive, provided by X*Press Corp.
|
||
|
||
General Instrument Corp. has signed an agreement with Primestar to
|
||
upgrade the DBS service with GI's DigiCipher digital video
|
||
compression technology for all channels carried on the satellite.
|
||
Up to 70 channels may be included by the end of 1994.
|
||
|
||
Primestar Partners is a joint venture between many US cable
|
||
companies, including TCI, Time Warner, Cox and Comcast, and GE
|
||
American Communications.
|
||
|
||
Hughes Communications and United States Satellite Broadcasting are
|
||
starting a
|
||
DBS system, called DirecTV. Two satellites would be able to
|
||
carry up to 150
|
||
channels, including regular cable channels,
|
||
pay-per-view networks, and high
|
||
definition television services.
|
||
|
||
The first DirecTV satellite, DBS)1, was launched from French
|
||
Guiana on December
|
||
17, 1993. Tests will begin in January, 1994 and
|
||
receiving equipment going on
|
||
sale in April. A second satellite will be
|
||
launched in June, 1994. There will be
|
||
separate services from USSB and
|
||
Hughes' DirecTV. Together they will offer 100
|
||
subscription channels and
|
||
50 more pay)per)view channels, using digital
|
||
compression techniques.
|
||
|
||
Both satellites will be located at 101 degrees West, and will
|
||
deliver news,
|
||
sports, movies, and other programming to American homes
|
||
equipped with 45 cm (18
|
||
inch) antennas. Receiving systems will cost USD
|
||
700 plus installation. The cost
|
||
of subscribing to 100 channels will be
|
||
around USD 50 a month.
|
||
|
||
Among the broadcasters lined up for DirecTV are several channels
|
||
from Turner
|
||
Broadcasting: CNN International, CNN, Headline News, TNT,
|
||
Cartoon Network,
|
||
Superstation TBS, and Turner Classic Movies. Other
|
||
broadcasters signed up
|
||
include the USA Network, the Sci)Fi Channel, the
|
||
Nashville Network, Country
|
||
Music Television, Discovery, the Learning
|
||
Channel, E! Entertainment, the Family
|
||
Channel, Courtroom Television
|
||
Network, The Weather Channel, Playboy TV, The Golf
|
||
Channel and The
|
||
Travel Channel.
|
||
\v\ There are pay)per)view agreements with Paramount, Sony, MGM,
|
||
Disney, and
|
||
Columbia Tristar. Around 50 PPV films will be carried on
|
||
the 150 channel system
|
||
once launched.
|
||
|
||
USSB has announced that their programming lineup contains 14
|
||
premium feeds
|
||
(HBO 1, 2, and 3, Cinemax 1 and 2, and Showtime 1 and 2,
|
||
East and West in all
|
||
cases) and six or seven basic channels (MTV, VH)1,
|
||
Nickelodeon, Comedy Central,
|
||
E! Entertainment, All News Channel).
|
||
|
||
The Federal Communications Commission has awarded direct broadcast
|
||
satellite
|
||
orbital slot assignments and channel frequencies to two
|
||
companies called Direct
|
||
Broadcasting Satellite Corporation and
|
||
Directsat. DSBC has been assigned 11
|
||
transponders at both the 61.5
|
||
degrees and 175 degrees West orbital slots, with
|
||
DSAT receiving 10
|
||
transponders at 119 degrees West, one at 110 degrees West and
|
||
11 at 175
|
||
degrees West. Final launch approval is to be granted by the FCC
|
||
by
|
||
March, 1994.
|
||
|
||
The FCC hopes competition from DirecTV and other DBS ventures will
|
||
provide
|
||
much)needed rivalry for cable systems, nearly all of which
|
||
operate as local
|
||
monopolies. The cable companies are concerned about
|
||
the potential competition.
|
||
There are fears of a different kind in
|
||
Canada, where the intrusion of 150
|
||
channels of south)of)the)border
|
||
cultural imperialism has led to DirecTV being
|
||
dubbed "The Death Star",
|
||
referring to the "Star Wars" films. There will be two
|
||
Canadian channels
|
||
on DirecTV, however. The CBC is providing an international
|
||
version of
|
||
its Newsworld service, while the privately)owned Power
|
||
Broadcasting
|
||
will provide the Northstar Channel, a compilation of the best
|
||
of
|
||
Canadian drama, arts, and entertainment.
|
||
|
||
Other observers have asked what people will do with 150 or 500
|
||
channels. Large
|
||
chunks, of course, will be allocated to pay)per)view
|
||
blockbuster movies, with
|
||
the same film starting every 20 or 30 minutes
|
||
so viewers will never have to wait
|
||
longer than that. One DBS expert has
|
||
pointed to the proliferation of magazines
|
||
on store racks, and suggested
|
||
that the magazine racks of the future will be
|
||
satellites offering
|
||
scores, or even hundreds, of narrow channels appealing to
|
||
various
|
||
interests. There are already cable systems in the United States
|
||
offering
|
||
500 video channels.
|
||
|
||
The cable giant TCI has ordered two Tempo DBS satellites, to be
|
||
launched in
|
||
June and October 1996. Each will feature 32 high)powered
|
||
transponders at 107
|
||
watts, switchable to 16 transponders at 200+ watts.
|
||
|
||
\Z\ II. Latin America and the Caribbean
|
||
|
||
Latin American signals can be found on a number of satellites,
|
||
such as
|
||
Intelsats K, 601, and 513. There are extensive relays from
|
||
Europe as well on
|
||
Panamsat and more planned on Hispasat. Many Latin
|
||
American services from North
|
||
America are on Spacenet 2 (the women's
|
||
channel GEMS TV on transponder 2, Canal
|
||
SUR on transponder 4, and Canal
|
||
de Noticias NBC on transponder 5), and Galaxy 4
|
||
(Telemundo on
|
||
transponders 8 and 14).
|
||
|
||
Mexico's Galavision is on Galaxy 1 transponder 20, and Univision
|
||
on transponder
|
||
6.
|
||
|
||
Canal SUR (Sistema Unida de Retransmision) is a coded satellite
|
||
service in
|
||
Spanish and Portuguese from Latin America to North America.
|
||
It includes
|
||
broadcasts from stations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile,
|
||
Colombia, Ecuador, and
|
||
Peru.
|
||
|
||
There are two new services to Spanish)speaking people in the
|
||
United States,
|
||
both using the DigiCipher digital compression system.
|
||
MTV started its MTV Latino service in October, 1993 from Miami.
|
||
Initially MTV
|
||
Latino is reaching 1.9 million homes in 10 Latin American
|
||
countries and some
|
||
parts of the United States, but hopes to eventually
|
||
reach 3 to 5 million homes.
|
||
MTV Latino is on the Satcom C3 satellite.
|
||
MTV hopes its sister channels, VH)1
|
||
and Nickelodeon, will follow into
|
||
Latin America.
|
||
|
||
The American pay)film channel Home Box Office has also launched
|
||
a
|
||
Spanish)language version of its regular schedule of movies,
|
||
original
|
||
programming, and sports to major Hispanic markets in the United
|
||
States.
|
||
"HBO en Espanol" will be available soon in San Francisco,
|
||
Houston,
|
||
Albuquerque, El Paso, and San Diego.
|
||
|
||
When consumer DigiCipher receivers become available in mid to late
|
||
1994, it is
|
||
expected that these and other DigiCipher services will be
|
||
sold to home dish
|
||
owners.
|
||
|
||
The Caribbean Satellite Network went on the air in December,
|
||
1992,
|
||
appropriately following the 500th anniversary of the arrival
|
||
of
|
||
Christopher Columbus in that part of the world. Signals are uplinked
|
||
from
|
||
Miami to the Galaxy 3 satellite, transponder 14. Programing
|
||
concentrates on
|
||
music, but there will also be documentaries based on
|
||
life in the Caribbean,
|
||
news, and situation comedies. European relays
|
||
are also planned.
|
||
|
||
Turner Television's Cartoon Network began broadcasts in May to
|
||
Latin America,
|
||
transmitting to 300,000 subscribers mainly in Argentina.
|
||
The channel will
|
||
eventually have three audio subcarriers for English,
|
||
Spanish, and Portuguese.
|
||
CNN International and TNT Latin America
|
||
broadcast coded on Spacenet 3
|
||
transponder 16.
|
||
|
||
Fox has recently launched a small cable channel to South America.
|
||
|
||
Brazil has its own satellite, Brasilsat, which was launched in
|
||
1986 and is
|
||
located at 70 degrees West. This C)band only satellite
|
||
carries a variety of
|
||
Brazilian stations, all in M)PAL.
|
||
|
||
Mexico's two Morales satellites are listed above. Mexico is
|
||
following up with
|
||
two new communications satellites called Solidaridad,
|
||
built by Hughes. Besides
|
||
Mexico, they will have spot beams to cover the\v\southern United States, the
|
||
Caribbean, and South America. The new
|
||
satellites will have three times the
|
||
capacity of the two Morelos
|
||
satellites. Solidaridad)1 was launched on November
|
||
19, 1993, and will
|
||
be placed at 109 degrees West. Solidaridad)2 is scheduled for
|
||
launch in
|
||
1994.
|
||
|
||
Radiotelevision Espanola's Canal Iberoamericano Television will
|
||
use Spain's
|
||
Hispasat satellite to reach Latin America. 18 hours a day
|
||
of broadcasts from
|
||
Valencia are to begin by the end of this year.
|
||
|
||
BBC World Service Television, Reuters, and Telemundo are
|
||
negotiating on
|
||
creating a 24 hour Spanish)language news service for
|
||
Latin America, Spain, and
|
||
the United States. Telemundo currently
|
||
operates a Spanish language channel on
|
||
the Spacenet 2 satellite which
|
||
by satellite and cable reaches 85 percent of the
|
||
Hispanic households in
|
||
the United States. The new channel would broadcast from
|
||
Miami by
|
||
satellite and cable, and would start later this year.
|
||
|
||
Grupo Televisa and the the largest cable operator in the US, TCI,
|
||
have agreed
|
||
to form a joint venture to provide cable, pay)TV, and
|
||
multi)channel television
|
||
to Mexico and other Latin American countries.
|
||
|
||
AA Two major Christian shortwave broadcasters, HCJB in Ecuador, and
|
||
Trans World
|
||
Radio, have announced they are launching a 24 hour Latin
|
||
American satellite
|
||
radio network. The target date was November 20, 1993
|
||
and they'll be using
|
||
digital technology to reach a network of affiliate
|
||
stations from the US)Mexican
|
||
border to the southern tip of Chile.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
\<\ III. Europe and Astra
|
||
|
||
The Soviet Union's Ghorizont was the first TV satellite over
|
||
Europe. While, the
|
||
Ghorizont satellites operate mainly in the C)Band,
|
||
Western European satellites
|
||
use several sections of the Ku)Band for
|
||
different purposes. The Ku1)Band
|
||
10.9)11.75 GHz is, like the American
|
||
C)Band, intended for professional relays
|
||
and not for home viewing. Home
|
||
reception was originally intended for the Ku2
|
||
(DBS) Band 11.75)12.5
|
||
GHz. The Ku3)Band 12.5)12.75 GHz, or Telecom Band, is also
|
||
not intended
|
||
for home viewing.
|
||
|
||
The first Western European satellites were from Eutelsat, which is
|
||
made up of
|
||
the PTTs and Telecom administrations of Western European
|
||
countries. The
|
||
intention was that individual countries would offer home
|
||
viewing to their own
|
||
residents over high)powered DBS satellites
|
||
offering only a few channels. Astra,
|
||
operated by Luxembourg's SES, has
|
||
changed all that.
|
||
|
||
Because Astra's several medium)powered satellites are at the same
|
||
spot in the
|
||
sky, viewers with relatively small fixed antennas (60)90
|
||
cm) can tune into all
|
||
available channels.
|
||
|
||
Here are the channels on Astra 1A, 1B, and 1C (as of Jan., 1994):
|
||
|
||
Channel Transponder Frequency Language
|
||
|
||
1 RTL 2 11.214 GHz German
|
||
2 RTL Plus 11.229 German
|
||
3 TV3 Sweden (D2)MAC) 11.244 English/Swedish
|
||
4 Eurosport 11.258 English/German/Dutch
|
||
5 Vox 11.273 English/German
|
||
6 SAT 1 11.288 German
|
||
7 TV1000 (D2)MAC) 11.303 Swedish/English (pay)
|
||
8 Sky One 11.317 English (pay channel)
|
||
9 Teleclub 11.332 German (pay channel)
|
||
10 3)SAT 11.347 German
|
||
11 FilmNet+ (to Scandinavia) 11.362 English (pay channel)
|
||
12 Sky News 11.377 English
|
||
13 RTL 4 11.391 Dutch
|
||
14 Pro 7 11.406 German (partly pay)
|
||
15 MTV Europe (northern Eur.) 11.421 English
|
||
16 Sky Movies Plus 11.435 English (pay channel)
|
||
17 Premiere 11.464 German (pay channel)
|
||
18 The Movie Channel 11.479 English (pay channel)
|
||
19 ARD 11.493 German
|
||
20 Sky Sports 11.509 English (pay)
|
||
21 DSF (Sports) 11.523 German
|
||
22 MTV Europe (southern Eur.) 11.538 English
|
||
23 UK Gold 11.553 English (free)coded)
|
||
24 JSTV 11.567 Japanese
|
||
25 N3 11.582 German
|
||
26 Sky Gold/TV Asia 11.597 English/Hindi (pay)
|
||
27 TV3 Denmark (D2)MAC) 11.611 Danish
|
||
28 CNN International 11.626 English
|
||
29 n)tv (News) 11.641 German
|
||
|
||
30 Cinemania 11.656 Spanish (pay channel)
|
||
31 TV3 Norway (D2)MAC) 11.670 English/Norwegian
|
||
32 Documania 11.685 Spanish (pay channel)
|
||
33 ZDF 10.964 German
|
||
34 UK Living 10.979 English (pay channel)\v\ 35 Children's/Family
|
||
Channel 10.994 English (pay)
|
||
36 Sogecable 11.009 Spanish (pay channel)
|
||
37 Cartoon Network/TNT 11.023 Eng/French/Swed/Nor.
|
||
38 QVC (Shopping) 11.038 English (pay)
|
||
39 West 3 11.053 German
|
||
40 Sogecable 11.068 Spanish (pay channel)
|
||
41 Discovery/Country Music TV 11.082 English (pay)
|
||
42 Bravo/Adult Channel 11.097 English (pay)
|
||
43 MDR 11.112 German
|
||
44 Galavision 11.127 Spanish (Mexico)
|
||
45 BFS 3 11.186 German
|
||
46 Nickelodeon 11.156 English (pay channel)
|
||
47 Sky Sports 2 11.171 coming (pay)
|
||
48 SWF 3 11.186 German
|
||
63 FilmNet Movies 10.921 English (pay channel)
|
||
64 RTL 5 10.936 Dutch (pay channel)
|
||
|
||
|
||
Odd)numbered transponders carry horizontal polarization, while the
|
||
even
|
||
transponders are vertically polarized. All channels are PAL unless
|
||
D2)MAC is
|
||
indicated. Pay channels use a variety of scrambling systems,
|
||
although the
|
||
emerging standards seem to be Videocrypt for PAL channels
|
||
and Eurocrypt M for
|
||
D2)MAC. The Sogecable Spanish transponders (30, 32,
|
||
36, and 40) use Nagravision.
|
||
|
||
Until Sky Sports 2 comes on the air, transponder 47 will be used
|
||
to provide
|
||
Astra technical information. First reports said Sky Sports 2
|
||
would begin
|
||
operation on February 1, 1994, but now it is said that
|
||
British Sky Broadcasting
|
||
could wait for improved technology to launch
|
||
the channel on a pay)per)view
|
||
basis.
|
||
|
||
China News Europe uses transponder 35 during the night for uncoded
|
||
broadcasts
|
||
from the Far East, in parallel with Eutelsat II)F1.
|
||
|
||
Astra uses the Ku1)Band for medium)powered signals, with 16)18
|
||
channels per
|
||
satellite. Astra 1A, 1B, and 1C are currently in orbit at
|
||
19.2 degrees East.
|
||
Astra 1A and 1B carry mono channel sound on 6.50
|
||
MHz, with many stations
|
||
carrying stereo as well on 7.02/7.20. Most
|
||
Astra 1C outlets have stereo)only TV
|
||
sound on 7.02/7.20. Astra 1C
|
||
carries two transponders, 63 and 64, which cannot
|
||
be received on
|
||
ordinary receivers, although LNBs are being produced that will
|
||
cover
|
||
these frequencies. They are part of the channel plan for later
|
||
satellites,
|
||
using 10.7 to 10.95 GHz, and intended for cable systems
|
||
rather than home
|
||
viewers.
|
||
|
||
British Sky Broadcasting, the company formed by the merger of Sky
|
||
Television
|
||
and British Satellite Broadcasting in 1990, is a major user
|
||
of the Astra
|
||
satellites. BSkyB's channels are Sky News, the
|
||
entertainment channel Sky One,
|
||
Sky Movies Plus, the Movie Channel, Sky
|
||
Movies Gold, and Sky Sports. Sky Sports
|
||
2 is planned for transponder
|
||
47. Sky News is uncoded, while the other channels
|
||
are videocrypt
|
||
encoded. A number of other channels are included in BSkyB's
|
||
Multi*Channels Package: Discovery, Bravo, UK Gold, UK Living, CMT,
|
||
QVC,
|
||
Children's Channel, Family Channel, and Nickelodeon.
|
||
|
||
FilmNet is offering viewers in the Netherlands and Belgium the
|
||
chance to
|
||
subscribe to a five-channel package of Astra channels,
|
||
scrambled in Videocrypt.
|
||
The package, called "MultiChoice", will
|
||
consist initially of three "basic"
|
||
channels and two premium channels.
|
||
Discovery, The Children's Channel and Country
|
||
Music Television will\v\form the basic package, with The Adult Channel and
|
||
FilmNet forming the
|
||
two premium channels. It is hoped that such channels as
|
||
Nickelodeon,
|
||
Nick)at)Nite, TV Asia, and RTL)5 may join the package.
|
||
|
||
FilmNet will utilise its out-of-band Astra transponder (10.920
|
||
GHz) for
|
||
"FilmNet: The Complete Movie Channel" as part of the package.
|
||
While the basic channels and The Adult Channel will continue using the
|
||
conventional flavor of UK Videocrypt, FilmNet will broadcast in
|
||
Videocrypt
|
||
Europe, also known as Videocrypt 2. Videocrypt 2 receivers
|
||
are compatible with
|
||
existing Videocrypt broadcasts, although it is
|
||
understood that Videocrypt 2
|
||
transmissions will not be decoded
|
||
by existing (UK type) Videocrypt decoders, even with the correct
|
||
smartcard.
|
||
|
||
By early 1994, the package is to be extended to Portugal, and
|
||
eventually will
|
||
be available to other European countries, including the
|
||
Czech Republic,
|
||
Slovakia, Hungary and Scandinavia. Larger European
|
||
countries such as Germany and
|
||
France are expected to be catered for by
|
||
the soon-to-be-announced Sky/Pro7 deal.
|
||
Rumors suggest that Sky could
|
||
soon begin selling its channels, including Movies
|
||
and Sports, on a
|
||
Europe-wide basis.
|
||
|
||
Nickelodeon is owned by MTV's parent, Viacom. The Nick)at)Nite
|
||
service is due
|
||
to share the transponder, beginning next year. MTV's
|
||
music channel for somewhat
|
||
older audiences, VH)1 is expected to join
|
||
the Multi)Channels package in 1994,
|
||
probably taking over MTV's
|
||
transponder 15. At that time, both MTV and VH)1 will
|
||
probably encrypt.
|
||
|
||
Eurosport has ceased providing a French audio soundtrack on its
|
||
Astra and
|
||
Eutelsat service. Viewers wishing to watch in French will
|
||
need to subscribe to
|
||
the Canal Plus package to receive "TV Sport", the
|
||
French version of Eurosport.
|
||
|
||
Landmark Communications Inc, the US media conglomerate which owns
|
||
The Weather
|
||
Channel and The Travel Channel, has confirmed that it is to
|
||
launch The Travel
|
||
Channel in Europe in early 1994. The development
|
||
plans include Britain, the
|
||
Benelux, and Scandinavia." There are reports
|
||
The Travel Channel may use Astra
|
||
transponder 24 during the day and
|
||
early evening, before JSTV takes over the
|
||
channel.
|
||
|
||
Other Astra hopeful is the Afro)Caribbean Satellite Channel, which
|
||
wants to
|
||
broadcast for 6 hours nightly after midnight, carrying films,
|
||
sports, general
|
||
entertainment and news. This channel hopes to
|
||
eventually reach the emerging
|
||
African cable market.
|
||
|
||
There are a number of other Astra hopefuls, but the three
|
||
satellites are now
|
||
completely filled. Now that NBC has bought and
|
||
revamped Super Channels, a move
|
||
to Astra would be welcomed by many.
|
||
There are, however, reports that some
|
||
current broadcasters could be
|
||
departing from the high)cost Astra transponders.
|
||
Eurosport may leave
|
||
Astra to rely solely on Eutelsat, while the German channel
|
||
Vox is in
|
||
danger of closing due to low viewership. The 4 Scansat channels,
|
||
the
|
||
TV3 transmissions to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark and TV1000, might
|
||
leave
|
||
Astra in favor of the Swedish Space Corporation's new Sirius
|
||
satellite (the
|
||
former Marco Polo 1), to be positioned together with
|
||
Tele)X at 5 degrees East.
|
||
|
||
Astra 1D, with a further 18 channels, is due for launch in the
|
||
third quarter of
|
||
1994. It will carry 18 more transponders in the Fixed
|
||
Satellite Service range.
|
||
The 1D transponders and frequencies are:\v\
|
||
49 10.714 GHz 57 10.832
|
||
50 10.729 58 10.847
|
||
51 10.744 59 10.852
|
||
52 10.758 60 10.876
|
||
53 10.773 61 10.891
|
||
54 10.788 62 10.906
|
||
55 10.803 63 10.921 (also on Astra 1C)
|
||
56 10.817 64 10.935 (also on Astra 1C)
|
||
|
||
As with the other Astra satellites, odd)numbered transponders have
|
||
horizontal
|
||
polarization, while even transponders have vertical
|
||
polarization.
|
||
|
||
Astra 1D will also carry digital programming in the BSS band on
|
||
transponders 65
|
||
to 82 between 11.720 and 12.051 GHz.
|
||
|
||
Thames Television has taken options on two transponders on Astra
|
||
1D. Thames
|
||
hopes to launch another two themed channels on these
|
||
transponders, although it has not yet announced any details. Germany's
|
||
ZDF has also announced it has booked a transponder on Astra 1D. The
|
||
Chinese
|
||
Channel, with programming aimed at the Chinese community in
|
||
Europe, hopes to
|
||
offer a subscription service over Astra 1D.
|
||
|
||
Astra 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D together will provide 64 channels of DTH
|
||
(direct to
|
||
home) programming to viewers in Europe.
|
||
|
||
Astra 1E is to be launched early in 1995 and will carry 18
|
||
transponders with 85
|
||
watts each (compared to 45 watts on Astra 1A). The
|
||
similar Astra 1F is to be
|
||
launched in 1996. Astra 1E and 1F will
|
||
provide 40 transponders for digital
|
||
broadcasting services. 1E will
|
||
operate in the 11.7 to 12.1 GHz range, while 1F
|
||
will cover between 12.1
|
||
and 12.5 GHz.
|
||
|
||
The use of digital compression techniques will allow the
|
||
transmission of eight
|
||
to ten channels per transponder, and British Sky
|
||
Broadcasting is reported to be
|
||
planning to use several to transmit pay*per)view films, where a film would be
|
||
starting every 20 minutes.
|
||
|
||
Other European Ku1)Band satellites include:
|
||
|
||
Intelsat 602 63 degrees East Italy/Iran
|
||
Intelsat 604 60 degrees 4 Turkish transponders
|
||
Statsionar 5 53 degrees EBU Moscow
|
||
DFS 2 Kopernikus 28.5 degrees German broadcasters
|
||
DFS 3 Kopernikus 23.5 degrees German transponders
|
||
Eutelsat I)F5 21.5 degrees feeds
|
||
Eutelsat II)F3 16 degrees Middle Eastern, Eastern Europe
|
||
Eutelsat II)F1 13 degrees many European programs
|
||
Eutelsat II)F2 10 degrees Italian, Iberian, Turkish
|
||
Eutelsat II)F4 7 degrees Turkish/Greek/EBU
|
||
Intelsat 512 1 degree West Norwegian channels/Israel
|
||
Statsionar 11 11 degrees WTN Moscow
|
||
Statsionar 4 14 degrees Reuters TV
|
||
Intelsat 515 18 degrees Norwegian channels
|
||
Intelsat K 21.5 degrees trans)Atlantic feeds
|
||
Intelsat 601 27.5 degrees European (BBC, CMT, Wire TV)
|
||
Intelsat 603 34.5 degrees EBU Sarajevo
|
||
PAS 1 45 degrees mostly feeds (PAL and NTSC)
|
||
\v\
|
||
|
||
Eutelsat
|
||
|
||
The Eutelsat II satellites are higher)powered than their
|
||
predecessors, and
|
||
approach Astra in strength. The most interesting
|
||
Eutelsat is II)F1 at 13 degrees
|
||
East, which includes the following
|
||
transponders:
|
||
|
||
Eurosport 10.970 GHz Sports
|
||
Super Channel 10.987 Radio: BBC World Service
|
||
Der Kabelkanal 11.052 D2)MAC, German
|
||
Viva 11.006 German music videos
|
||
TV5 Europe 11.080 French
|
||
RTL 2 11.095 German
|
||
Deutsche W/World N 11.161 Radio: DW, VOA
|
||
TRT 11.181 Turkish
|
||
MBC 11.554 Arabic, Radio: Vatican
|
||
Euronews 11.575 Multi)lingual sound
|
||
interStar 11.596 Turkish
|
||
Emirates Dubai TV 11.638 Arabic, some English
|
||
MTV Europe 11.658
|
||
FilmNet (Holland) 11.678 Digital sound
|
||
VisEurope 12.521 coded newsfeeds
|
||
Maxat 12.560 newsfeeds
|
||
France Telecom 12.585 HD)MAC tests
|
||
|
||
|
||
Germany's international radio broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, has
|
||
taken over the
|
||
facilities of the Berlin)based American TV station RIAS,
|
||
and is broadcasting on
|
||
Eutelsat II)F1 with three two hour blocks after
|
||
16:00 hrs European time on
|
||
11.161 GHz. The first 90 minutes of each
|
||
block is in German, followed by 30
|
||
minutes in English. There are also
|
||
Spanish programs. Managing Director Dieter
|
||
Weirich announced at the
|
||
Internationale Funkaustellung in Berlin on August 30,
|
||
1993 that
|
||
Deutsche Welle TV will be expanding to 24 hour a day service from
|
||
1994.
|
||
However, the expansion from 16 hours at present would only be possible
|
||
if
|
||
ARD and ZDF agree to work together.
|
||
|
||
The American government's World Net uses this same transponder
|
||
at 10:00)15:30 hrs European time daily. The transponder also carries
|
||
radio
|
||
programs from both Deutsche Welle and VOA Europe. It's hard to
|
||
say what will
|
||
happen to World Net if Deutsche Welle goes to 24 hours.
|
||
World Net was kicked off
|
||
the French TV5 transponder for exactly the
|
||
same reason.
|
||
|
||
The European Broadcasting Union's all)news station, Euronews, went
|
||
on the air
|
||
at 14:00 hrs on January 1, 1993 from Eutelsat II)F1 at
|
||
11.575 GHz. There are no
|
||
presenters, instead the news footage is
|
||
accompanied by soundtracks in five
|
||
languages on various audio
|
||
subcarriers: German on 6.65 Mhz, English on 7.02,
|
||
French on 7.20,
|
||
Spanish on 7.38, Italian on 7.56, (and probably Arabic on 7.74)
|
||
MHz.
|
||
|
||
The American TV network NBC has bought Super Channel, which was
|
||
started as a
|
||
"Best of British TV" channel (as UK Gold later became),
|
||
but was forced to
|
||
abandon this because of opposition from the British
|
||
Actors' Union. A controlling
|
||
interest was bought by an Italian music
|
||
video company, and Super Channel has
|
||
carried an unfocused mix of music
|
||
videos, B movies, and news programs. NBC has
|
||
cut back on the videos,
|
||
and has added such programs as the "Today Show", the
|
||
"NBC Nightly\v\News", "The Tonight Show", and other news programs from NBC and
|
||
its
|
||
financial channel CNBC.
|
||
|
||
Super Channel is carrying three hours of Far Eastern programming
|
||
every night,
|
||
at 2:00)5:00 AM European time. Called Europe)China
|
||
Satellite TV, as well as
|
||
China News Europe, this brings together
|
||
reports from Hong Kong, China, and
|
||
Taiwan, in English, Cantonese, and
|
||
Mandarin. The channel hopes to move to Astra,
|
||
initially keeping the
|
||
same broadcast hours and times, and sharing with a UK
|
||
Astra channel -
|
||
possibly The Family Channel or UK Living. The channel will will
|
||
also
|
||
then change its name to "Chinese News and Entertainment".
|
||
|
||
Emirates Dubai TV is mostly in Arabic, but there are English
|
||
newscasts at 15:00
|
||
and 18:00 hrs British time. It uses half the former
|
||
Filmnet transponder, and
|
||
there are reports the other half, 11.678 GHz,
|
||
may be used to launch a European
|
||
version of the Sci Fi Channel in early
|
||
1994.
|
||
|
||
Turning to the other Eutelsats:
|
||
|
||
II)F3 (16 degrees East) carries largely programs from the Middle
|
||
East and
|
||
Eastern Europe. Egypt's ESC is on 11.178 GHz, and that
|
||
country's new foreign
|
||
language channel, Nile TV International, has been
|
||
testing with extremely low
|
||
power on 11.146 GHz. Other Middle Eastern
|
||
broadcasters are RTV Marocaine on
|
||
10.970, Turkey's TGRT on 11.090 and
|
||
HBB on 11.615, and TV7 Tunisie on 11.658.
|
||
Telepace from Rome, which
|
||
carries daily programming from the Vatican, is on
|
||
11.575 GHz. Albania's
|
||
TV Shqiptar uses this transponder between 17:30 and 20:30
|
||
hrs British
|
||
time.
|
||
|
||
Eastern European broadcasters include Croatia's HTV on 10.986 GHz
|
||
(shared with
|
||
Eurostep), Polonia TV on 11.080, Hungary's Duna TV on
|
||
11.596, and Polsat on
|
||
11.675.
|
||
|
||
Eutelsat II)F2 (10 degrees East) is a largely "Latin" or
|
||
Mediterranean
|
||
satellite. Spain's TVE is at 11.149 GHz. Italy's RAI has
|
||
two transponders
|
||
(10.972 and 11.095). The Portuguese RTP International
|
||
service is at 11.658 GHz.
|
||
RTP also transmits to Africa on Ghorizont 12
|
||
at 40 degrees East, at 3.925 MHz.
|
||
There are three private Turkish
|
||
stations: A)TV on 10.986, Show TV on 11.575, and
|
||
interStar on 11.617.
|
||
The American AFRTS uses the B)MAC system for broadcasts on
|
||
11.175.
|
||
|
||
Eutelsat II)F4 (7 degrees East) has Greece's ET1 on 11.174 GHz and
|
||
PIK from
|
||
Cyprus at 11.141, Turkey's Kanal 6 at 11.162 and a new service
|
||
are on 11.578,
|
||
with Serbia's RTS Sat Beograd at 11.536 GHz. There are
|
||
also EBU feeds using the
|
||
sound)in)synch system on a number of
|
||
transponders.
|
||
|
||
Greece's ERT has announced the establishment of a satellite
|
||
channel called ERT
|
||
International. As it is to broadcast to Europe,
|
||
North Africa, and the Middle
|
||
East, it will probably use Eutelsat.
|
||
|
||
The venerable Eutelsat I)F1 is being redeployed to improve
|
||
coverage of Russia
|
||
and the CIS. Both 36 and 50 degrees East have been
|
||
mentioned as new locations.
|
||
But Eutelsat II)F5 is due to be launched
|
||
soon, and is to be located at 36
|
||
degrees East.
|
||
|
||
Eutelsat II-F6 is to be co-located with Eutelsat II-F1 at 13
|
||
degrees east, now
|
||
dubbed the "Hot Bird" position. The satellite, due to
|
||
be launched in the second
|
||
half of 1994, will be able to relay 16\v\additional high)powered television
|
||
channels. Eutelsat is already taking
|
||
bookings on the satellite. According to a
|
||
statement issued by Eutelsat,
|
||
in order to guarantee that the 13 degrees east
|
||
position "can be
|
||
reinforced as Europe's principal slot for television for cable
|
||
and
|
||
direct)to)home reception, the new satellite will only carry
|
||
entertainment
|
||
services at prime)time (17:00-01:00 CET)."
|
||
|
||
Eutelsat plans a third satellite for 13 degrees east, called "Hot
|
||
Bird Plus".
|
||
It would be launched in early 1996, with either 14 or 20
|
||
110 watt transponders.
|
||
This would mean reception in most of Europe with
|
||
40 cm antennas. "Hot Bird Plus"
|
||
will enable Eutelsat to meet demands
|
||
for digital television, offering such
|
||
future options as interactive
|
||
television, video)on)demand, pay)per)view, etc.
|
||
|
||
The problem for Eutelsat is "too little too late". Next year it
|
||
will have 29
|
||
transponders at 13 degrees East. Today, Astra has 50 at
|
||
its position, and by the
|
||
time the first "Hot Bird" launches, Astra will
|
||
already have the equivalent of
|
||
"Hot Bird Plus" in orbit, the Astra 1D
|
||
satellite, which will be followed in 1995
|
||
by Astra 1E, and the
|
||
following year by Astra 1F.
|
||
|
||
Eutelsat's only chance is that it may be able to serve Eastern
|
||
Europe better
|
||
than Astra, and there might be a greater demand for
|
||
satellite capacity than
|
||
Astra can meet. Also, Eutelsat's transponders
|
||
have a wider bandwidth (36 MHz)
|
||
than Astra (25 MHz). This means more
|
||
digital channels can be squeezed in.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Intelsat
|
||
|
||
Another interesting satellite (which may be virtually vacated by
|
||
the end of the
|
||
year) is Intelsat 601 at 27.5 degrees West. This has
|
||
carried CNN, Discovery,
|
||
Bravo, and the Children's Channel, all of which
|
||
have moved to Astra. What's left
|
||
are broadcasts from the British
|
||
Parliament (11.095 GHz), Country Music
|
||
Television Europe (24 hours on
|
||
11.509, using a weak half transponder), the
|
||
shopping center
|
||
entertainment channel Wire TV (coded) and The Learning
|
||
Channel
|
||
(uncoded) sharing a transponder (11.505), Sweden's D2)MAC coded
|
||
FilmMax
|
||
(11.665), the SAVE coded British forces SSVC (11.563), and BBC
|
||
World
|
||
Service Television (10.995).
|
||
|
||
In January, 1993 BBC World Service Television switched to D2)MAC,
|
||
encoded in
|
||
Eurocrypt M. Subscriptions are available from TV Extra in
|
||
Motala, Sweden, at
|
||
telephone number +46)141)355)12. The system uses the
|
||
same smartcards as Filmnet,
|
||
and in Scandinavia and the Benelux, Filmnet
|
||
is handling subscriptions.
|
||
|
||
Intelsat 603 was launched in 1990, but a mistake put it into a
|
||
useless orbit.
|
||
In May, 1992 the American space shuttle Endeavour
|
||
successfully captured the
|
||
satellite and relaunched it into its proper
|
||
orbit (34.5 degrees West). This
|
||
carries C)band feeds to Greenland and
|
||
the Canary Islands. EBU feeds from
|
||
Sarajevo are on 11.475 GHz.
|
||
|
||
Intelsat)K at 21.5 degrees West is intended to relay signals
|
||
across the
|
||
Atlantic. Intelsat's first Ku)band only satellite, it
|
||
carries 32 high)powered
|
||
transponders, which can be directed to North
|
||
America (as far as the Midwest),
|
||
Europe (as far east as Greece), and
|
||
selected parts of South America. All beams
|
||
use 11.45-11.7 GHz, while
|
||
11.7-11.95 GHz is also used to the Americas, and
|
||
12.5-12.75 GHz to
|
||
Europe. \v\
|
||
Feeds from North America to Europe can be found on 11.531, 11.558,
|
||
11.593,
|
||
11.652, and 11.681 GHz, using both horizontal and vertical
|
||
polarization. The CBS
|
||
"This Morning" program, for rebroadcast by Sky
|
||
News, is carried weekdays
|
||
12:50)14:00 hrs European time on 11.558
|
||
vertical. When NBC took over Super
|
||
Channel, relays of many shows,
|
||
including the "The Today Show" and programming
|
||
from CNBC could be found
|
||
on 11.616 GHz, although this has recently disappeared.
|
||
|
||
|
||
PanAmSat
|
||
|
||
Alpha Lyracom, now known as Panamsat, has taken on the massive
|
||
Intelsat,
|
||
seeking to provide an alternative international satellite
|
||
organization. PAS)1,
|
||
launched in 1988, is located at 45 degrees West,
|
||
carries the American Galavision
|
||
to Europe, along with several channels
|
||
for newsfeeds.
|
||
|
||
PAS)2, to be launched in May, 1994, will be placed above the
|
||
Pacific. PAS)3, to
|
||
be launched in late 1994, will complement PAS)1 from
|
||
43.5 degrees, reaching
|
||
farther into Scandinavia and the Middle East.
|
||
Other parts of the world are to be
|
||
covered by PAS)4 and 5 above the
|
||
PAS)4 will be placed over the Indian Ocean at
|
||
72 degrees East in March,
|
||
1995. M)Net and the South African Broadcasting
|
||
Corporation have already
|
||
booked transponders.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Eastern European Satellites
|
||
|
||
A Soviet Ghorizont was the first television satellite over Europe.
|
||
However, the
|
||
Soviets concentrated on the C)band, while European
|
||
satellite broadcasting has
|
||
used the Ku)band. But there are in fact Ku*band transponders on the Ghorizont
|
||
(or Statsionar) satellites used by
|
||
the former Soviet Union. Each of the
|
||
Ghorizonts over Europe, at 53
|
||
degrees East, 14 degrees West and 11 degrees West,
|
||
has a transponder at
|
||
11.525 GHz. The Ghorizont at 53 degrees East carries EBU
|
||
feeds, 14
|
||
degrees carries Reuters TV (formerly Visnews), while 11 degrees
|
||
has
|
||
WTN.
|
||
|
||
The Russian satellite ZSSRD at 16 degrees West carries two very
|
||
interesting
|
||
Ku)band transponders, using to relay signals from the MIR
|
||
space station. Data
|
||
information is carried at 11.375 GHz, which can
|
||
often be seen as flashing lines
|
||
on the screen. More interesting is the
|
||
transponder at 10.835 GHz, which carries
|
||
video from MIR in clear SECAM.
|
||
Unfortunately this frequency is slightly below
|
||
that covered by most
|
||
satellite receivers.
|
||
|
||
MIR video has also been reported from the Ghorizont at 11 degrees
|
||
West on
|
||
11.525 GHz.
|
||
|
||
While the dishes used for Ku)band monitoring in Europe are
|
||
generally too small
|
||
for C)band reception, the introduction of new
|
||
sensitive C)band LNBs has made it
|
||
possible to receive the very strong
|
||
Russian C)band signals using dishes as small
|
||
as 1.5 meters. The Russian
|
||
signals on 3.675 GHz at 40.5 degrees East and 14
|
||
degrees West are
|
||
perhaps one hundred times stronger than other C)band signals in
|
||
Europe.
|
||
Molniya satellites use a highly elliptical orbit that makes it
|
||
possible to
|
||
reach high latitudes out)of)reach of geostationary
|
||
satellites (which would be
|
||
too low on the horizon). These carry\v\satellite broadcast television, relaying
|
||
Double II (the East Siberian
|
||
version of the second TV program) on 3.875 GHz.
|
||
|
||
The first of Russia's new Ekspress satellites, which will replace
|
||
the current
|
||
Ghorizonts, is to be in orbit at the end of the year. The
|
||
satellites will better
|
||
be able to maintain the correct inclination in
|
||
orbit, and will carry 24
|
||
channels, as well as four back)up
|
||
transponders.
|
||
|
||
Antenna Hungaria, the Hungarian telecommunications company, says
|
||
that it plans
|
||
to launch a 16-channel European satellite called
|
||
"Domestic" in 1996, offering
|
||
Eastern Europe's first commercial
|
||
satellite service.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Telecom Band
|
||
|
||
There are 8 European satellites currently using the 12.5)12.75 GHz
|
||
Telecom
|
||
band:
|
||
|
||
DFS Kopernikus 2 28.5 degrees Germany
|
||
DFS Kopernikus 3 23.5 degrees Germany
|
||
Eutelsat II)F3 16 degrees European
|
||
Eutelsat II)F1 13 degrees European
|
||
Eutelsat II)F2 10 degrees European
|
||
Telecom 1C 3 degrees France
|
||
Telecom 2B 5 degrees West France
|
||
Telecom 2A 8 degrees France
|
||
|
||
To Astra's disappointment, French TV broadcasters have not booked
|
||
any Astra
|
||
channels. Instead, France is using its own Telecom 2A
|
||
satellite, at 8 degrees
|
||
West, for direct to home broadcasting. The
|
||
French government having surrendered
|
||
its demand for D2)MAC programming,
|
||
eleven channels are now using Telecom 2A.
|
||
Eight are in coded SECAM, and
|
||
three in widescreen D2)MAC.
|
||
|
||
The SECAM channels are coded in Nagravision: MCM on 12.543 GHz,
|
||
Paris 1:ere on
|
||
12.564, Planete Cable on 12.585, Cine Cinefil on 12.626,
|
||
Canal Plus on 12.648,
|
||
Cine Cinemas on 12.666, Eurosport France on
|
||
12.710, and Canal Jimmy on 12.732
|
||
GHz. France 2 is broadcasting in D2*MAC on 12.606 GHz. Widescreen D2)MAC with
|
||
Eurocrypt is being used by
|
||
Canal Plus on 12.522, Cine Cinefil on 12.564, and
|
||
Cine Cinemas on
|
||
12.689 GHz.
|
||
|
||
Telecom 2B (5 degrees West) carries the following uncoded channels
|
||
in SECAM: M6
|
||
(12.522), France 2 (12.564), Arte (12.606), Monte Carlo
|
||
TMC (12.658), and TF1
|
||
(12.689). Cine Cinemas on 12.669 GHz uses
|
||
Eurocrypt and D2)MAC. Luxembourg's RTL
|
||
Television began relays of its
|
||
French service in October, 1993 on 12.732 GHz.
|
||
|
||
Telecom 1C has now been moved to 3 degrees East, where it is used
|
||
for feeds in
|
||
PAL, D2)MAC, and B)MAC.
|
||
|
||
France's TF1 is to launch a satellite and cable news channel
|
||
during the first
|
||
half of 1994.
|
||
|
||
Germany's DFS Kopernikus 3 has taken over from Kopernikus 1 at
|
||
23.5 degrees
|
||
East. Kopernikus 1 has moved to 33.5 degrees East.
|
||
Kopernikus 2 is operating
|
||
from 28.5 degrees East.
|
||
\v\
|
||
European DBS
|
||
|
||
Direct Broadcast Satellites (DBS) are intended to beam a few (2)5)
|
||
high)powered
|
||
signals directly to homes in a single country. Viewers
|
||
require dish antennas
|
||
less than 30 cm in diameter. A number of DBS
|
||
satellites have been orbited above
|
||
Europe:
|
||
|
||
|
||
Tele)X 5 degrees East Sweden
|
||
Thor 0.8 degrees West Norway
|
||
Olympus 18.8 degrees Western Europe (gone)
|
||
TDF)1 and TDF)2 19 degrees France
|
||
TV)SAT 2 19.2 degrees Germany
|
||
Hispasat 1A and 1B 30 degrees Spain
|
||
Marco Polo 1 31 degrees Britain (for sale)
|
||
|
||
|
||
Astra's hopes to attract Spanish customers are threatened by
|
||
Spain's two
|
||
Hispasat direct broadcast satellites. Hispasat 1A was
|
||
launched on September 10,
|
||
1992 and carries 5 DBS channels and 18
|
||
transponders in other parts of the
|
||
Ku)band. Most will be directed
|
||
towards Spain and the Canary Islands, but two
|
||
will be aimed at the
|
||
Americas.
|
||
|
||
TVE International is in the clear on 12.160 GHz, with feeds and
|
||
sports on
|
||
12.588. Tele 5 is coded in Nagravision on 12.631 GHz. The
|
||
three Spanish radio
|
||
stations Antena Tres, Ole, and Serie Oro are also
|
||
on Hispasat.
|
||
|
||
This satellite, however, has antenna problems, displacing the
|
||
footprint towards
|
||
the north, which hopefully will be rectified now
|
||
following the launch of
|
||
Hispasat 1B on July 22, 1993. Five new
|
||
television channels are to begin
|
||
broadcasts. The first of these are to
|
||
go on the air in December, a cultural
|
||
channel called Canal Clasico and
|
||
Teleporte with exclusively sports programs, to
|
||
be operated RTVE in the
|
||
clear. Later they will be joined by Telesat 5, Antena 3
|
||
Television Sat,
|
||
and an as yet unnamed outlet from Canal Plus, all of which will
|
||
be
|
||
encrypted.
|
||
|
||
The European Space Agency announced August 26, 1993 that it has
|
||
terminated the
|
||
four-year-old mission of its troubled Olympus satellite,
|
||
11 months ahead of
|
||
schedule. The ESA says it sent the satellite to a
|
||
lower, non-operational orbit
|
||
where it would not collide or interfere
|
||
with other satellites. Olympus had
|
||
started spinning and did not have
|
||
enough fuel to return to its proper
|
||
geostationary orbit. Olympus had
|
||
carried broadcasts from Italy, an Irish sports
|
||
channel, and relays of
|
||
news from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and was
|
||
also used to
|
||
test advanced communications technologies, including
|
||
high-definition
|
||
television. Two years ago the satellite's position had to be
|
||
corrected
|
||
after it went into an uncontrolled drift around the world.
|
||
|
||
A DBS war has been fought between Sweden and Norway. Both the
|
||
Swedish Space
|
||
Corporation and Norwegian Telecom bid on Britain's Marco
|
||
Polo 2 satellite. The
|
||
Norwegians won, and moved the satellite to 0.8
|
||
degrees West, renaming it Thor.
|
||
They are offering a package of CNN
|
||
(11.785 GHz), Eurosport (11.862), Children's
|
||
Channel/Discovery
|
||
(11.938), FilmNet (12.015), and MTV (12.092) to Scandinavian
|
||
viewers,
|
||
with hopes of increasing to 15 channels by co)locating other
|
||
DBS
|
||
satellites at that position. \v\
|
||
Intelsat 512 is already at this position, (with the entertainment
|
||
channel TV
|
||
Norge in clear PAL on 11.016 GHz) and is to be replaced with
|
||
a stronger
|
||
satellite, adding to the offerings at this position.
|
||
FilmNet, in fact, sold its
|
||
85 percent ownership of Tele)X back to the
|
||
Swedish Space Corporation and moved
|
||
its transmissions to Thor.
|
||
|
||
However, having won the satellite battle, the Norwegians lost the
|
||
standards
|
||
war. They chose two of Europe's most obscure standards, D*MAC and Eurocrypt S,
|
||
available to few satellite viewers. (The exception
|
||
is FilmNet, which uses D2)MAC
|
||
and Eurocrypt S.) Writing in the magazine
|
||
"Elektronikvaarlden", Sweden's
|
||
satellite guru, Bertil Sundberg, referred
|
||
to the Thor coding as "Norwegian
|
||
Harakiri". Finally, after several
|
||
months, on December 16, 1993 the Norwegians
|
||
backed down and all Thor
|
||
channels now use D2)MAC (itself a doomed standard, if
|
||
less obscure than
|
||
D)MAC). It is unclear if the Norwegians have also abandoned
|
||
their
|
||
alligance to the even more obscure Eurocrypt S system.
|
||
|
||
The potential audience is in Finland and northern Norway and
|
||
Sweden, which are
|
||
outside the main Astra footprint. FilmNet is
|
||
distributing subscription cards for
|
||
Thor.
|
||
|
||
Norway's approach to satellite broadcasting has been eccentric.
|
||
Initially, most of the country's satellite channels were on Intelsat
|
||
512 at 1
|
||
degree West. Besides the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK,
|
||
these are the new
|
||
Norwegian terrestrial commercial station TV 2, the
|
||
private TV Norge, and Swedish
|
||
Television 1 and 2, which are uplinked
|
||
from Oslo for use by cable systems in
|
||
Spitsbergen and on North Sea oil
|
||
platforms.
|
||
|
||
In late 1992, these channels cloned themselves onto Intelsat 515
|
||
at 18 degrees
|
||
West. Moving away from 1 degree West was a bit strange,
|
||
since it happened at
|
||
exactly the same time Norway was moving Marco Polo
|
||
2/Thor to that same position.
|
||
|
||
Bertil Sundberg in "Paa TV" magazine has pointed out that there are
|
||
now
|
||
Norwegian programs on 5 satellites at 4 different positions. They
|
||
use a
|
||
bewildering array of standards: PAL, D2)MAC in both Eurocrypt M
|
||
and Eurocrypt S,
|
||
and D)MAC. This, he says, may explain why 80 percent
|
||
of satellite systems in
|
||
Norway are motorized.
|
||
|
||
The Norwegians are the traditional target of Swedish jokes. But
|
||
Norwegian
|
||
satellite broadcasting seems to have become a Norwegian joke
|
||
in itself.
|
||
|
||
Sweden's Tele)X carries Sweden's TV4 (12.207 GHz) and TV5 Nordic
|
||
(12.475), both
|
||
in clear PAL, and Norway's NRK (12.332) in D)MAC. Sweden
|
||
has fought back, and in
|
||
December, 1993 NSAB, owned by the Swedish Space
|
||
Corporation and Swedish Telecom,
|
||
succeeeded in buying the second Marco
|
||
Polo satellite, apparently after Norway
|
||
tried to block the sale. The
|
||
satellite, renamed Sirius, is to be moved to
|
||
Tele)X's position, where a
|
||
rival package to Scandinavia is to be marketed.
|
||
Together the two
|
||
satellites should carry 7 channels. The first broadcasts are
|
||
expected
|
||
to begin in March, 1994. The Sirius frequencies are identical to
|
||
those
|
||
on Thor.
|
||
|
||
At the instruction of the Nordic prime ministers, the public
|
||
service
|
||
broadcasters of Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland have
|
||
presented a proposal
|
||
for a joint Nordic television channel. The
|
||
broadcasters say the Nordic satellite
|
||
channel "Nordstjaarnan", or "North\v\Star", could be on the air by the end of
|
||
1994 or early 1995 (however,
|
||
the Nordic Council's Ministerial Council has vetoed
|
||
allocating funds to
|
||
the project). The fifth Nordic country, Denmark, is not
|
||
participating
|
||
in the project because the channel would not be available to
|
||
all
|
||
viewers. The Danes would prefer to strengthen the current
|
||
Nordvision
|
||
co)operation.
|
||
|
||
Despite this Spanish/Nordic activity, the DBS idea seems to have
|
||
been made
|
||
obsolete by improving technology. Viewers want more than 2)5
|
||
channels and they
|
||
want channels from other countries (which is why both
|
||
Filmnet and Norwegian
|
||
Telecom are now talking about co)locating several
|
||
DBS satellites). A 60 cm Astra
|
||
dish that can deliver 16, 32, or 48
|
||
channels is more desireable than a 30 cm
|
||
dish with access to only 3
|
||
stations.
|
||
|
||
With the failure of the British BSB system on Marco Polo (it was
|
||
bought out by
|
||
Sky in 1990), the decision of the French government not
|
||
to build a third direct
|
||
broadcast satellite, to follow up the existing
|
||
TDF)1 and TDF)2 satellites (after
|
||
the breakdown of TDF)1), and the
|
||
failure of Olympus, the DBS idea seems to be
|
||
virtually dead. French
|
||
Minister for Post, Communications, and Space Paul Quiles
|
||
has announced
|
||
the satellites will be replaced in due course by a new generation
|
||
of
|
||
spacecraft. In the meantime, France is concentrating on its medium*powered
|
||
Telecom satellites.
|
||
|
||
Similarly, Germany's Kopernikus (and the German channels on Astra)
|
||
have proved
|
||
to be more popular than TV)SAT.
|
||
|
||
Eutelsat's answer to Astra was to be Europesat, a series of high*powered
|
||
satellites being called "second generation DBS" all located at
|
||
19 degrees West.
|
||
However, that project has been abandoned in May, 1993
|
||
in favor of the "Hot Bird"
|
||
position at 13 degrees East.
|
||
|
||
|
||
C)Band
|
||
|
||
New C)band LNBs have made possible C)band reception on smaller
|
||
dishes. However,
|
||
over Europe just about the only signals that can be
|
||
picked up on standard
|
||
Ku)band dishes of less that 1.5 meters are from
|
||
the Russian Ghorizonts, which
|
||
are much stronger than other C)band
|
||
signals. The American TDRS A4 at 41 degrees
|
||
West has recently begun
|
||
relaying a station from Denver, Gala Americana, in PAL
|
||
on 3.920 GHz. A
|
||
radio station has been heard on 5.80 MHz.
|
||
|
||
|
||
HDTV and Digital Technology
|
||
|
||
The European Commission has abandoned its plans for the forced
|
||
introduction of
|
||
the D2-MAC standard, as a step towards the future
|
||
introduction of a system
|
||
called HD-MAC for high definition television.
|
||
Instead broadcasters are moving
|
||
directly towards digital HDTV, after
|
||
years of conflict over D2)MAC.
|
||
|
||
A memorandum of understanding to work together to find a common
|
||
standard for
|
||
digital HDTV has been signed by a group of satellite
|
||
operators, broadcasters,
|
||
manufacturers and regulators. The group, known
|
||
as the European Launching Group
|
||
for Digital Video Broadcasting project,
|
||
comprises of 85 members including one
|
||
Japanese electronics firm.
|
||
|
||
NTL and Eutelsat have completed joint tests to prove the viability\v\of
|
||
wideband satellite transponders for carrying both conventional
|
||
analog FM
|
||
television signals and the new digitally compressed TV
|
||
signals of the NTL System
|
||
2000. A single Eutelsat transponder was shown
|
||
to be able to carry simultaneously
|
||
either a single FM channel and four
|
||
digitally compressed channels or a total of
|
||
eight digital channels at
|
||
broadcast quality.
|
||
|
||
The compatibility, within one transponder, of a high power analog
|
||
transmission
|
||
and lower power digitally compressed signals means that
|
||
operators can more
|
||
easily migrate from analog to digital, with its
|
||
attractive cost reductions.
|
||
Eutelsat says that its wideband
|
||
transponders are especially attractive since the
|
||
premium for the
|
||
additional bandwidth is much less than the extra cost of a
|
||
whole
|
||
transponder.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Radio
|
||
|
||
There are more than 100 radio channels on European satellites,
|
||
using audio
|
||
subcarriers, slowly approaching the number in North
|
||
America.
|
||
|
||
Astra is a radio pioneer, with many interesting stations, both new
|
||
channels and
|
||
established international broadcasters. There are music
|
||
stations, such as Sky
|
||
Radio, Super Gold, and Quality Europe FM. Sunrise
|
||
Radio is a commercial medium
|
||
wave station in London for the Indian
|
||
community there, now on satellite as well.
|
||
|
||
Radio Sweden is on the Sky Movies Gold transponder at 11.597 GHz,
|
||
audio
|
||
subcarrier 7.74 MHz. Our satellite schedule is also transmitted
|
||
over the Tele)X
|
||
direct broadcast satellite, using the TV4 transponder
|
||
at 12.207 GHz, audio
|
||
subcarrier 7.38 MHz. Radio Sweden is also part of
|
||
the World Radio Network
|
||
package of English language broadcasters on
|
||
Astra.
|
||
|
||
Also on the Sky Movies Gold transponder (at 7.38 MHz) is Radio
|
||
Asia, which
|
||
broadcasts over Spectrum Radio in London. Spectrum's full
|
||
schedule is to be
|
||
broadcast over this channel in the near future.
|
||
|
||
Another shortwave broadcaster on Astra is Swiss Radio
|
||
International, on the
|
||
Teleclub transponder at 11.332 GHz, audio
|
||
subcarrier 7.2 MHz. SRI is changing
|
||
its programming to fit satellite
|
||
broadcasts by April, 1994. SRI is planning to
|
||
expand to four satellite
|
||
channels, three relaying the national services in
|
||
German, French, and
|
||
Italian, complemented by SRI programs in those languages.
|
||
The fourth
|
||
would be a 24 hour English channel, consisting of a repeated
|
||
and
|
||
updated 2 hour program block.
|
||
|
||
According to one report, some British local ILR stations are to
|
||
appear on the
|
||
Discovery and Bravo transponders in the near future.
|
||
|
||
MTV reportedly may be planning to join up with the American
|
||
network ABC in
|
||
launching a pan)European radio channel.
|
||
|
||
List of Radio stations broadcasting from the ASTRA satellites
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Station Frequency Subcarrier(s) TV station
|
||
)))---------------------------------------------))))))))))))))))))
|
||
Deutsche Welle 11.229 7.38 RTL-Plus\v\
|
||
Deutsche Welle 11.229 7.56 RTL-Plus
|
||
Deutschlandfunk 11.288 7.38/7.56 Sat.1
|
||
Deutschlandf.Int. 11.288 7.74 Sat.1
|
||
Deutschlandf.Int. 11.288 7.92 Sat.1
|
||
Sky Radio 11.317 7.38/7.56 Sky One
|
||
Radio 538 11.317 7.74/7.92 Sky One
|
||
Swiss Radio Int. 11.332 7.20 Teleclub
|
||
Radio Eviva 11.332 7.74/7.92 Teleclub
|
||
Virgin 1215 11.376 7.38/7.56 Sky News
|
||
Super Gold 11.376 7.92 Sky News
|
||
RTL Radio 1 11.391 7.38/7.56 RTL)4
|
||
RTL Radio 2 11.391 7.74/7.92 RTL-4
|
||
Star*Sat Radio 11.406 7.38/7.56 Pro-7
|
||
Radio-Ropa 11.406 7.74/7.92 Pro-7
|
||
RMF 11.420 7.74/7.92 MTV)Europe
|
||
Quality Europe FM 11.435 7.38/7.56 Sky Movies
|
||
ASDA
|
||
storecast FM 11.435 7.74 Sky Movies
|
||
MDR Sputnik
|
||
11.464 7.38/7.56 Premiere
|
||
Sunrise Radio 11.479 7.38 Movie Ch.
|
||
Holland-FM 11.479 7.56 Movie Ch.
|
||
Sudwestfunk 3 11.493 7.38/7.56 ARD
|
||
Q)CMR 11.509 7.38 Sky Sports
|
||
United Christian Broad. 11.509 7.56 Sky Sports
|
||
World Radio Network 11.538 7.74 MTV)Europe
|
||
BBC WS 11.553 7.38 UK Gold
|
||
BBC Radio 4 11.553 7.56 UK Gold
|
||
BBC Radio 1 11.553 7.74 UK Gold
|
||
BBC Radio 5 11.553 7.92 UK Gold
|
||
NDR 2 11.582 7.38/7.56 N3
|
||
NDR 4 11.582 7.74/7.92 N3
|
||
Radio Asia 11.597 7.38 Sky Gold
|
||
Radio Sweden 11.597 7.74 Sky Gold
|
||
CNN Radio 11.626 7.92 CNN
|
||
Cadena Principales 11.686 7.38 Cinemania
|
||
Cadena Dial 11.686 7.56 Cinemania
|
||
Cadena SER 11.686 7.74 Cinemania
|
||
|
||
|
||
The World Radio Network relays English language programs from a
|
||
number of
|
||
broadcasters. The current schedule (British local time) is:
|
||
|
||
00:00 NPR "All Things Considered"
|
||
01:30 Radio Netherlands
|
||
04:00 Radio Canada International
|
||
04:30 Vatican Radio
|
||
05:00 BBC "News Hour" and "Europe Today"
|
||
06:00 NPR "All Things Considered"
|
||
08:00 Radio Australia
|
||
09:00 Radio Korea
|
||
10:00 Radio Moscow
|
||
10:30 Radio Netherlands
|
||
11:30 Voice of Israel
|
||
12:00 Radio France International
|
||
13:00 NPR "Morning Edition"
|
||
15:00 Radio Finland
|
||
15:30 WRN info
|
||
16:00 Radio Australia
|
||
17:00 Radio Moscow
|
||
17:30 Radio Netherlands
|
||
18:30 Radio Telefis Eireann (Ireland)\v\ 19:00 NPR "Talk of the Nation"
|
||
21:00 RADIO SWEDEN
|
||
21:30 BBC "Europe Today"
|
||
22:00 NPR "All Things Considered"
|
||
|
||
The schedule varies slightly on weekends.
|
||
|
||
Astra apparently wants to use the 6.50 MHz audio subcarriers on
|
||
the 1C
|
||
satellite for digital radio or business data transmissions.
|
||
Astra is also
|
||
carrying out research into satellite radio broadcasting,
|
||
to small antennas,
|
||
without the need for a receiving dish. This would
|
||
apparently be introduced with
|
||
the upcoming Astra 1D and 1E satellites.
|
||
Presumeably this is DAB)Satellite, also
|
||
called BSS)Sound, allocated
|
||
frequencies by last year's World Administrative
|
||
Radio Conference.
|
||
|
||
There are also a number of interesting radio stations on Eutelsat
|
||
II)F1:
|
||
|
||
BBC WS 10.987 7.38 Super Channel
|
||
BBC External 10.987 7.56 Super Channel
|
||
France Info 11.080 7.02 TV5 Europe
|
||
France Inter 11.080 7.20 TV5 Europe
|
||
Radio Victor 11.080 7.38 TV5 Europe
|
||
Radio Free Europe 11.095 7.74/7.92/8.10 RTL)2
|
||
Deutsche Welle 11.163 7.02 Deutsche Welle
|
||
Deutsche Welle 11.163 7.20 Deutsche Welle
|
||
VOA Europe 11.163 7.38/7.56 Deutsche Welle
|
||
Deutsche Welle 11.163 7.74 Deutsche Welle
|
||
Radio Finland 11.163 8.10 Deutsche Welle
|
||
Bonn Rundfunk 11.163 8.28 Deutsche Welle
|
||
World Radio Network 11.554 7.74 MBC
|
||
Super FM 11.596 8.10 Interstar
|
||
Radio Contact 11.638 7.02 FilmNet Plus
|
||
Radio Contact 11.638 7.20 FilmNet Plus
|
||
Radio 10 Gold 11.678 7.92/8.10 FilmNet Plus
|
||
Digital Radio 12.542 digital
|
||
|
||
Radio Free Europe uses separate audio subcarriers for news feeds
|
||
in Czech,
|
||
Baltic languages, and Polish. VOA Europe is now being carried
|
||
digitally on
|
||
Eutelsat II)F4. The analog relay on II)F1 will continue
|
||
until the end of 1994.
|
||
VOA Europe is also carried on Intelsat 601 at
|
||
27.5 degrees West, and Intelsat
|
||
505 at 66 degrees East. The service
|
||
will also soon be available on Intersputnik
|
||
1 and 2.
|
||
|
||
The World Radio Network relays Vatican Radio in many languages and
|
||
Radio Canada
|
||
International in Russian. NPR relays were here before the
|
||
Astra service began.
|
||
|
||
The digital radio channels are the following French stations:
|
||
Europe 2, FIP,
|
||
Fun Radio, Modulation France, Nostalgie, ad NRJ.
|
||
|
||
The Swedish news agency TT has been heard on Swedish Radio since
|
||
its pioneer
|
||
days. TT is now making hourly newscasts available to
|
||
community radio stations
|
||
around Sweden, over Tele)X, using the TV5
|
||
Nordic transponder at 12.475 GHz,
|
||
audio 7.56 MHz. Radio Sweden uses
|
||
7.38 MHz on the TV4 transponder. The
|
||
Copenhagen local station The Voice
|
||
is on 7.74/7.92 on the same transponder.
|
||
Curiously, Radio Sweden and
|
||
the Voice have appeared on the same audio
|
||
subcarriers on the TV5 Nordic
|
||
transponder, for no apparent reason. Some of
|
||
Sweden's new commercial
|
||
radio stations may be networked as well over Tele)X.\v\
|
||
Other audio subcarriers can be found on:
|
||
|
||
DFS Kopernikus 3 (German channels, DSR)
|
||
Eutelsat II)F3 (Morocco, Poland, Croatia, Hungary, Egypt and Tunisia)
|
||
Eutelsat II)F2 (Spain, Portugal, Turkish, RL/RFE)
|
||
Eutelsat II)F4 (Serbian)
|
||
Intelsat 512, 515 (Norwegian channels)
|
||
Telecom 2B, 2A, TDF)1/2 (French channels)
|
||
TV)Sat (DSR as on Kopernikus 3)
|
||
Intelsat 601 (BBC WS and British Forces Broadcasting)
|
||
Hispasat (Spain)
|
||
|
||
Taiwan's Voice of Free China says that within the next couple of
|
||
years they
|
||
would be coming to Europe via satellite, through the help of
|
||
Deutsche Welle.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Digital Radio on Satellite
|
||
|
||
Digital Satellite Radio (DSR) is a German)developed technology,
|
||
providing CD
|
||
quality satellite radio. Unfortunately DSR cannot be
|
||
broadcast terrestrially,
|
||
which means it will be replaced when Digital
|
||
Audio Broadcasting (DAB) starts in
|
||
the next couple of years. Currently
|
||
16 DSR channels in German are on DFS)3
|
||
Kopernikus at 23.5 degrees East
|
||
on 12.625 GHz and on TV)Sat at 19.2 degrees West
|
||
on 11.977 GHz.
|
||
|
||
A number of international broadcasters have taken part in tests of
|
||
DSR on
|
||
Eutelsat II)F3 (16 degrees East). Transponders 26 (11.078 GHz)
|
||
and 34A (11.650
|
||
GHz) have been used, and among the 8 channels are Voice
|
||
of America, Radio France
|
||
International, Deutsche Welle, and BBC World
|
||
Service.
|
||
|
||
Two digital satellite radio services from the United States are
|
||
expanding into
|
||
Europe. Digital Music Express, or DMX, is already
|
||
available to more than 10
|
||
million cable subscribers in the United
|
||
States. Thirty themed channels of
|
||
various types of music would be made
|
||
available to European subscribers, without
|
||
the need for DJs, jingles,
|
||
or commercials. The 30 types of music would include:
|
||
|
||
US hottest hits, European hottest hits, contemporary jazz, classic
|
||
jazz,
|
||
country, big band, world beat, blues, reggae, golden oldies,
|
||
heavy metal,
|
||
classic rock, chamber music, and opera.
|
||
|
||
Signals are being relayed from DMX's Atlanta studios to a C)band
|
||
transponder
|
||
aboard Intelsat 601, before being cross)linked to a Ku)band
|
||
transponder. Signals
|
||
would be downlinked by cable operators.
|
||
|
||
DMX, has launched a new pan-European consumer marketing campaign,
|
||
which will be
|
||
initially run in the UK, Denmark and Norway before being
|
||
rolled out throughout
|
||
Europe as distribution contracts are signed with
|
||
carriers. British Sky
|
||
Broadcasting is reported to be close to signing
|
||
an agreement with to relay DMX
|
||
over Astra from June 1994.
|
||
|
||
The DMX decoder, manufactured by Scientific Atlanta, displays
|
||
information on
|
||
the music being played, such as the name of the artist,
|
||
song and album title,
|
||
composer, and chart position.
|
||
|
||
Another service called Digital Cable Radio currently provides 56
|
||
CD)quality
|
||
radio channels to North American subscribers and cable\v\systems. DCR plans to
|
||
bring 68 themed radio channels to Europe, under
|
||
the name Music Choice Europe. A
|
||
number of cable operating and
|
||
distribution agreements have already been signed
|
||
in the Netherlands,
|
||
Britain, and Switzerland, giving it a potential subscriber
|
||
base in
|
||
excess of three million homes.
|
||
|
||
Digital Audio Broadcasting, or DAB, will replace FM in the next
|
||
few years. The
|
||
World Administrative Radio Conference held in Spain in
|
||
January, 1992 approved
|
||
frequencies for satellite DAB, which would be
|
||
receivable on small portable
|
||
receivers. Various countries, including
|
||
Sweden and Britain, have been conducting
|
||
test broadcasts of DAB, prior
|
||
to its expected introduction in 1995. The BBC used
|
||
the Olympus
|
||
satellite for DAB tests as well.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Other Non)Video Signals
|
||
|
||
We have had no reports yet of European SCPC. But a number of news
|
||
agencies are
|
||
using satellites to distribute their signals. BBC
|
||
Monitoring is now subscribing
|
||
to the Russian ITAR)TASS news agency, via
|
||
a data link on Intelsat 601. The BBC
|
||
will receive information from
|
||
Moscow in English and Russian, replacing the
|
||
previous intricate system
|
||
of communications cables.
|
||
|
||
|
||
\2\ IV. Middle Eastern Satellite Broadcasting
|
||
|
||
The Middle East is an expanding area for satellite broadcasting,
|
||
centering
|
||
around the Arab League's Arabsat satellites and Turkey's
|
||
broadcasts to Turkish
|
||
emigrants in Western Europe and the newly
|
||
independent countries of Central Asia.
|
||
|
||
Arabsat 1B is drifting eastward and has reached at least 43
|
||
degrees East.
|
||
Both Arabsat 1B and 1C have 25 C-Band transponders, as
|
||
well as one strong S-Band
|
||
transponder around 2600 MHz. 1B has been used
|
||
to relay programs from Morocco,
|
||
Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Mauritania. One
|
||
transponder has been used for Inter-Arab
|
||
news, co-ordinated via Tunis.
|
||
|
||
Arabsat 1C (31 degrees East) is now the main Middle Eastern
|
||
satellite, and
|
||
includes:
|
||
|
||
MBC 2.560 GHz PAL
|
||
Canal France International 3.811 PAL
|
||
CNN International 3.829 PAL
|
||
Libyan feeds 3.867 PAL
|
||
UAE TV1 Dubai 3.956 PAL
|
||
Saudi Arabia TV1 3.977 SECAM
|
||
RMT 1 Morocco 4.008 SECAM
|
||
UAE TV2 Dubai 4.033 PAL
|
||
Saudi Arabia TV2 4.051 SECAM
|
||
Oman TV 4.063 PAL
|
||
Mauritanian TV 4.081 SECAM
|
||
MBC 4.107 PAL
|
||
Jordanian TV 4.144 PAL
|
||
Egyptian Space Channel 4.164 PAL
|
||
KTS Kuwait 4.180 PAL
|
||
|
||
The Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC) is a London)based Arabic
|
||
channel.
|
||
Although it is Saudi)backed (the chairman is the brother)in*law of Saudi
|
||
Arabia's King Fahd), the channel was briefly banned in
|
||
Saudi Arabia for its
|
||
bare)headed female announcers. Parallel
|
||
transmissions continue to Europe on
|
||
Eutelsat II-F1. The station is
|
||
working together with the Saudi)financed Arab
|
||
Network of America in the
|
||
United States.
|
||
|
||
The MBC is to launch a package of three to six subscription
|
||
channels for the
|
||
Middle East in 1994. These would include a family
|
||
channel, a general
|
||
entertainment channel, and a movie channel. The
|
||
current MBC Europe channel would
|
||
become MBC1, a free service offering
|
||
news and teasers for the other channels.
|
||
NTL's digital compression
|
||
system is to be used for the package, which would be
|
||
carried on an
|
||
Arabsat.
|
||
|
||
The Kuwait Satellite Channel carries a news bulletin in English at
|
||
around 19:30
|
||
UTC. BBC World Service TV is planning on starting a 24
|
||
hour Arabic service to
|
||
the Middle East from Arabsat in April, 1994.
|
||
|
||
The new Arabsat 1D at 20 degrees East has carried test signals on
|
||
two
|
||
transponders (3.760 and 3.840 GHz) for "ART ) Arabic Radio and
|
||
Television".
|
||
|
||
The Arab Space Communications Corporation has awarded a contract
|
||
for two new
|
||
Arabsats. The first would be launched in 1996. Besides 18
|
||
C)band channels, and 2
|
||
S)band channels, they would also carry 12 Ku*band transponders, making reception
|
||
possible with 60 to 80 cm dishes.\v\
|
||
Eutelsat II)F3 is the main satellite for broadcasts from Arabic
|
||
countries to
|
||
North Africa and Europe. Tunisia's first satellite
|
||
channel, RTT (or TV7
|
||
Tunisie), is on 11.660 GHz. The new external
|
||
service of Tunisian Radio is
|
||
carried on the subcarrier at 7.02 MHz
|
||
(7.20 also reported). English is heard at
|
||
13:00 hrs, German at 14:00
|
||
hrs, and French at 15:00 hrs. The international
|
||
service, RTCI,
|
||
broadcasts mainly in French.
|
||
|
||
Morocco's RTM is on 10.970 GHz, with sound in Arabic on 6.60 MHz,
|
||
Berber on
|
||
7.20, and a multi)lingual service on 7.38. The RTM
|
||
International service in
|
||
Arabic uses 7.02, with RTM Morocco on 7.56.
|
||
|
||
The Egyptian Space Channel is on 11.178 GHz, with radio stations
|
||
on 7.02, 7.20,
|
||
and 7.38 MHz. The International Service Nile TV
|
||
International, began low)powered
|
||
test transmissions on 11.156 GHz on
|
||
October 10, 1993. Initial broadcasts are
|
||
between 17:00 and 19:00 hrs
|
||
UTC, most in English. When the channel is officially
|
||
launched there
|
||
will be two hours in English and one hour in French daily.
|
||
|
||
Dubai launched its 24 hour "Emirates TV Dubai" satellite service
|
||
to Europe,
|
||
North and Central America on December 6, 1993. Most
|
||
programming is in Arabic,
|
||
but there are newscasts at 15:00 and 18:00
|
||
hrs British time in English.
|
||
Broadcasts to Europe are on Eutelsat II)
|
||
F1, while the Americas are reached
|
||
through Galaxy 7.
|
||
|
||
Iraq is to launch the Iraq International Television station during
|
||
the last
|
||
quarter of this year. Broadcasts are to be to Europe and North
|
||
Africa on
|
||
Eutelsat and to the Middle East on Arabsat and another
|
||
satellite known as
|
||
"al)Jisr".
|
||
|
||
Arabsat 1D at 20 degrees East is to carry four Lebanese channels:
|
||
Future on
|
||
3.787 GHz, and ART with a sports channel on 3.788, an
|
||
entertainment channel on
|
||
3.844, and a children's channel on 3.626 GHz.
|
||
|
||
Intelsat 602 at 63 degrees East carries Iran's IRIB TV1 and TV2 on
|
||
Ku)band
|
||
10.990 and 11.150 GHz, and the American AFRTS on 11.470 GHz.
|
||
|
||
Iran has announced it plans to broadcast six hours a day of
|
||
television to
|
||
Europe and Asia. According to the report "a number of
|
||
satellites will be hired."
|
||
|
||
There are Turkish channels on several Eutelsats: TGRT and HBB are
|
||
on II)F3.
|
||
A)TV, Show)TV, and interStar are on II)F2. Kanal 6 and Kanal
|
||
Market are on
|
||
II)F4. The Turkish State Television's TRT International
|
||
broadcasts to Europe on
|
||
Eutelsat II)F1. There have been news bulletins
|
||
in English and German following
|
||
the Turkish news at 21:00 hrs European
|
||
time.
|
||
|
||
TRT began satellite broadcasting 4 channels to Central Asia on
|
||
April 1, 1992,
|
||
using Ku)band transponders on Intelsat 604 at 60 degrees
|
||
East (10.974, 11.138,
|
||
11.647, and 11.683 GHz). TRT hopes to reach as
|
||
many as 57 million Turkic
|
||
speakers in the 6 new Moslem states of the
|
||
former Soviet Union.
|
||
|
||
Turkey's first 16 transponder Turksat is due to be launched on
|
||
January 20,
|
||
1994, with a second satellite 6 to 12 months later. CNN has
|
||
applied to lease a
|
||
transponder on Turksat. According to reports, Turkey
|
||
has also reached agreement
|
||
to lease transponders to Kazakhstan,
|
||
Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, and Georgia.
|
||
Presumeably, the 5 TRT channels\v\and the current 6 or more private Turkish
|
||
broadcasters will also find
|
||
homes on Turksat.
|
||
|
||
Israel broadcasts from Intelsat 512 on 11.015, 11.174, and 11.590
|
||
GHz. The
|
||
domestic Radio Israel uses 7.20 MHz and the international
|
||
service Kol Israel
|
||
uses 7.38 and 7.56 MHz on the 11.590 GHz
|
||
transponder. Israel's Amos DBS,
|
||
carrying 6 or 7 Ku-Band transponders,
|
||
is due to be launched, probably from
|
||
French Guyana, in 1994.
|
||
|
||
|
||
AA
|
||
\\ V. African Satellite Broadcasting
|
||
|
||
In Africa, satellite broadcasting is expanding, particularly to
|
||
South Africa.
|
||
European satellites can be monitored in southern Africa,
|
||
and there are even
|
||
reports of reception of Astra (with a 4 meter dish)!
|
||
An important satellite is
|
||
Intelsat 601 at 27.5 degrees West. While
|
||
European broadcasters use this
|
||
satellite for Ku)band transmissions, C*band is used to Africa. Broadcasters
|
||
include:
|
||
|
||
BBC World Service Television 3.650 GHz PAL
|
||
Deutsche Welle/WorldNet 3.743 PAL
|
||
Canal Horizons (French) 3.803 PAL
|
||
Canal France International 3.915 SECAM
|
||
Algerian TV 4.003 PAL
|
||
CNN International 4.048 PAL
|
||
|
||
The BBC is encrypted using the IRDETO system, requiring a decoder
|
||
from the
|
||
South African)based M)Net company, which shares the
|
||
transponder with BBC. (This
|
||
is in fact the same system used by the
|
||
Dutch RTL)4 on Astra, but known there as
|
||
Luxcrypt.)
|
||
|
||
Sky News was due to start 12 hours a day of broadcasts to South
|
||
Africa,
|
||
beginning October 3, 1993 , using a relay from Intelsat.
|
||
|
||
The South African Broadcasting Corporation's external services
|
||
have changed
|
||
their name to Channel Africa. This includes both Radio RSA
|
||
and a television
|
||
service on the Intelsat 605 satellite at 24.5 degrees
|
||
West, at 4.166 GHz. This
|
||
consists of African news, information, and
|
||
educational material in English and
|
||
French, weekdays at 12:00)13:00 hrs
|
||
for rebroadcast by stations in other parts
|
||
of Africa. The SABC intends
|
||
to move from the C)band to the Ku)band in 1994.
|
||
|
||
Intelsat 505 (66 degrees East) carries WorldNet/Deutsche Welle, as
|
||
well as
|
||
Zaire, South Africa's SAIS and Bop)TV, and France's Canal
|
||
France International.
|
||
Intelsat 602 (63 degrees) carries South Africa's
|
||
M)Net and SABC.
|
||
|
||
The international French)speaking channel TV5 Afrique is now
|
||
broadcasting to
|
||
Africa via the former Soviet Ghorizont 12 at 40 degrees
|
||
East (on 3.730 GHz).
|
||
Besides TV5, Portugal's RTP International (3.930
|
||
GHz) is on this satellite.
|
||
Unfortunately, Ghorizont 12 is in an
|
||
inclined orbit, which means that Earth
|
||
stations must be able to track
|
||
the satellite as it drifts in a "figure eight"
|
||
pattern.
|
||
|
||
M)Net and the South African Broadcasting Corporation have booked
|
||
transponders
|
||
on PAS)4, set to launch in March, 1995, for southern
|
||
Africa's first direct to
|
||
home broadcasting service.
|
||
|
||
The planned Afro)Caribbean Satellite Channel, which is to begin
|
||
operations
|
||
aimed at Europe, hopes to eventually reach the emerging
|
||
cable systems of Africa.
|
||
The American Black Entertainment Network also
|
||
plans to expand into the African
|
||
market.
|
||
|
||
\j\ VI. Asia and the Pacific
|
||
|
||
There are nearly 30 geostationary satellites in orbit above Asia
|
||
and the
|
||
Pacific. Five are former Soviet satellites, another five are
|
||
from Intelsat. The
|
||
Intelsat satellites provide a variety of C-Band
|
||
services. Intelsat 508 at 180
|
||
degrees relays in C)band Australia's Nine
|
||
Network and Network 10, as well as
|
||
Japan's NHK, and the American CNN,
|
||
ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, and WorldNet/Deutsche
|
||
Welle. There's an RFO-France
|
||
relay to Tahiti and WTN news feeds. In the Ku)band,
|
||
there are
|
||
transponders carrying Turner Broadcasting and Fuji TV.
|
||
|
||
Intelsat 505 (66 degrees East) carries WorldNet/Deutsche Welle,
|
||
and several
|
||
Chinese channels, as well as television from Malaysia.
|
||
Intelsat 602 (63 degrees)
|
||
carries two channels from Thailand.
|
||
|
||
Intelsat has relocated Intelsat 501 to 91.5 degrees East to
|
||
provide expanded
|
||
coverage to the Asia)Pacific countries.
|
||
|
||
On October 22, 1993 the first of the new 7th generation Intelsats,
|
||
Intelsat
|
||
701, was launched by an Ariane rocket. The satellite will be
|
||
used to provide
|
||
services in the Asia-Pacific region from 174 degrees
|
||
East. The satellite is the
|
||
first of nine Intelsat 7's scheduled for
|
||
launch before the end of 1995.
|
||
|
||
There are Ghorizonts at 80, 90, 96.5, and 103 degrees East. Each
|
||
has 6
|
||
C-Band transponders, and the first three have experimental
|
||
Ku-Band transponders
|
||
as well (presumably on 11.525 GHz).
|
||
|
||
The Soviet satellite Ekran at 99 degrees East carries a
|
||
transponder on UHF
|
||
714 MHz. This is between Japanese channels 53 and 54
|
||
and European channels 51
|
||
and 52, and is reported to be available all
|
||
over Asia. This carries the Orbita
|
||
service from Moscow. India's first
|
||
state)wide cable network, Asianet in Kerala,
|
||
has booked another Ekran
|
||
transponder on 751 MHz (European UHF channel 56) to
|
||
relay a program in
|
||
Malayalam to systems around the state.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Star)TV
|
||
|
||
Asiasat)1, the first commercial satellite designed for Asian
|
||
countries, was
|
||
launched in April, 1990 by a Chinese Long March rocket.
|
||
Located at 105.5 degrees
|
||
East, it carries 24 C-Band transponders, half
|
||
dedicated to a North Beam covering
|
||
northern Asia, the rest to a South
|
||
Beam covering southern Asia.
|
||
|
||
Here are the channels on Asiasat:
|
||
|
||
Mongolian TV 3.760 North beam SECAM
|
||
Pakistan TV 3.780 South PAL
|
||
Star TV Sport 3.800 North NTSC
|
||
MTV Asia 3.840 North NTSC
|
||
Star TV Sport 3.860 South PAL
|
||
BBC WS TV Asia 3.880 North NTSC
|
||
MTV Asia 3.900 South PAL
|
||
Star Mandarin TV 3.920 North NTSC
|
||
BBC WS TV Asia 3.940 South PAL
|
||
Star TV Plus 3.960 North NTSC
|
||
Zee TV 3.980 South PAL
|
||
Yunnan TV 4.040 North PAL
|
||
Star TV 4.060 South PAL
|
||
CCTV4 4.120 North NTSC
|
||
Myanmar TV (Burma) 4.140 South NTSC
|
||
|
||
The first pan-Asian satellite broadcaster, Star-TV, began
|
||
broadcasts on
|
||
Asiasat in August, 1991. It is owned by Hong Kong's
|
||
Hutchvision, which become
|
||
part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation
|
||
media empire in 1993. Star)TV now
|
||
reaches at least 1.8 million homes
|
||
from Asiasat 1. It includes 6 channels, 4 on
|
||
both beams (N/S):
|
||
|
||
1) Star-Sports (3.80 GHz/3.86 GHz)
|
||
2) MTV Asia (3.84 GHz/3.90 GHz)
|
||
3) BBC World Service Television (3.88 GHz/3.94 GHz)
|
||
4) Star TV (entertainment) (3.96 GHz/4.02 GHz)
|
||
5) Mandarin TV (3.92 GHz) NTSC
|
||
6) Zee TV (3.98 GHz) PAL
|
||
|
||
Zee TV is Star's Hindi language channel to South Asia. The Hong
|
||
Kong
|
||
authorities have also given permission for Star)TV to broadcast in
|
||
Cantonese.
|
||
This service will begin after the system's three year trial
|
||
ends.
|
||
|
||
News Corporation is expected to begin new Star)TV pay channels.
|
||
Star is
|
||
offering four subscription channels to Hong Kong's first cable
|
||
TV network: Star
|
||
Asian Movie Channel, Star Movie Channel, Star
|
||
Children's Channel, and the Asian
|
||
News and Business Channel. Japan's
|
||
Mitsui company, NBC in the United States and
|
||
Pearson plc, owner of the
|
||
"Financial Times", are behind the 24 hour Asian News
|
||
and Business
|
||
Channel. Presumeably these channels will also be carried on
|
||
Asiasat.
|
||
|
||
News Corporation has tried to terminate the BBC's 10 year contract
|
||
(after only
|
||
2 years) claiming that the BBC's planned Arabic service
|
||
from Arabsat would
|
||
overlap with Star. The BBC has blocked the attempt,
|
||
but it is possible News
|
||
Corporation would like to carry its own Sky
|
||
News instead.
|
||
|
||
At the annual meeting of News Corporation in October, 1993 Rupert
|
||
Murdoch
|
||
announced the splitting of Star)TV, into four divisions, one
|
||
each for China,
|
||
India, Indonesia and the Middle East.
|
||
|
||
Asiasat has signed a contract for an Asiasat)2, with an option for
|
||
a further
|
||
satellite. Asiasat)2 will have 40 C)band transponders, and 9
|
||
Ku)band
|
||
transponders at 100.5 degrees East. It would be launched in
|
||
March 1995, and
|
||
would have an unprecedented footprint reaching from
|
||
Tokyo to Berlin, and south
|
||
to Australia.
|
||
|
||
British Telecom has booked 5 transponders, Australia's Nine
|
||
Network another 10.
|
||
Deutsche Welle also plans to use Asiasat)2.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Palapa
|
||
|
||
The main competition to the Star)TV service is on Indonesia's
|
||
Palapa B2P
|
||
satellite at 113 degrees East. CNN, ESPN, Home Box Office,
|
||
the Australian
|
||
Broadcasting Corporation, and Hong Kong's TVB have
|
||
agreed to co)ordinate efforts
|
||
to broadcast their programs on one
|
||
satellite, initially B2P. CNN is on 3.840
|
||
GHz, ESPN on 4.042 GHz, both
|
||
in B)MAC.
|
||
|
||
\t\ The Australia Television International service to Asia began on
|
||
February
|
||
17, 1993 via Palapa B2P. The programs, which are hoped to
|
||
reach 30 Asian)Pacific
|
||
countries, include news reporting, special
|
||
international topics, Asian)Pacific
|
||
socio)cultural aspects, reports on
|
||
scientific and technical developments, and
|
||
education.
|
||
|
||
TVB, which has an enormous library of Chinese language films, has
|
||
not yet begun
|
||
transmissions on the satellite.
|
||
|
||
Asia's first business television channel began broadcasts on
|
||
November 1, 1993
|
||
on the same satellite. Among the owners of Asia
|
||
Business News are Dow Jones, the
|
||
American cable giant TCI, Television
|
||
New Zealand, and the Singapore Broadcasting
|
||
Corpation.
|
||
|
||
Canal France International is also broadcasting over Palapa B2P on
|
||
3860 MHz.
|
||
The network beams a variety of programs including news,
|
||
features, filmes,
|
||
debates, sports, and children's programs produced by
|
||
the main French channels
|
||
TF1, France 2 and France 3.
|
||
|
||
B2P also provides television for Thailand, Malaysia, and the
|
||
Philippines as
|
||
well as Indonesia.
|
||
|
||
Hughes Communications has signed an agreement to build a third
|
||
generation of
|
||
satellites for Indonesia, Palapa)C. The first two
|
||
satellites will be delivered
|
||
in July 1995 and January 1996, with an
|
||
option for a third, which expires in
|
||
1999. Each satellite will carry 30
|
||
C)band and 4 Ku)band transponders, providing
|
||
coverage through)out
|
||
southeast Asia and parts of China and Australia.
|
||
Arianespace has signed
|
||
a contract to launch Palapa C1 in October 1995. It will
|
||
replace Palapa
|
||
B2P at 113 degrees East, and will have an expected life of 14
|
||
years.
|
||
|
||
China's commercial satellite launch service has signed a contract
|
||
with Hong
|
||
Kong's APT Satellite to launch the 24 transponder Apstar)1
|
||
satellite in June,
|
||
1994. The satellite will be made by Hughes, which
|
||
will also make Apstar)2, due
|
||
to be launched a year later. The Star
|
||
rivals on Palapa B2P are to move to
|
||
Apstar)1 after its launch.
|
||
|
||
These services hope to move in to the lucrative Chinese market,
|
||
which may be
|
||
difficult following the Chinese government's recent
|
||
restrictions on satellite
|
||
television.
|
||
|
||
Another potential broadcaster to China is Australia's state-owned
|
||
multicultural
|
||
broadcasting network, the Special Broadcasting Service or
|
||
SBS. SBS is holding
|
||
talks with potential Asian and North American
|
||
partners to establish an
|
||
international satellite television service in
|
||
several languages with English
|
||
subtitles. SBS currently broadcasts
|
||
television and radio in 63 languages across
|
||
Australia.
|
||
|
||
|
||
India
|
||
|
||
India began using the American ATS)6 satellite for rural
|
||
education, the
|
||
SITE experiment, in 1975. The first Insat satellite was
|
||
launched in 1983. The
|
||
most recent, Insat 2)A, is at 74 degrees East,
|
||
and three regional Indian
|
||
television channels have moved to it from
|
||
Arabsat. Tamil Nadu programs are on
|
||
4.115, Karnataka on 4.135, and
|
||
Maharashtra on 4.175 GHz. Insat 2)B was launched
|
||
in July, 1993, and
|
||
placed at 93.5 degrees East. A new package of 5 channels, in
|
||
an effort
|
||
to compete with Star)TV, which has made tremendous inroads in
|
||
India,
|
||
was inaugurated on Indian Independence Day, August 15th.\v\
|
||
A survey in January indicated that 3.3 million Indian homes were
|
||
watching Star
|
||
and Zee TV. Another survey revealed that satellite TV has
|
||
reached 4 percent of
|
||
India's half a million villages, where English*language soap operas are the most
|
||
popular programming.
|
||
|
||
A group of non)resident Indian businessmen has started anther
|
||
Hindi)language
|
||
channel, Asian TV Network, from Ghorizont 19 (96.5
|
||
degrees East), on 3.800 GHz.
|
||
|
||
India's first state)wide cable network, Asianet in Kerala, has
|
||
booked a
|
||
transponder on the Russian Ekran satellite at 99 degrees East
|
||
on 751 MHz
|
||
(European UHF channel 56) to relay a program in Malayalam to
|
||
systems around the
|
||
state. Other transponders may be booked on the (now
|
||
dormant) Ekran satellites at
|
||
48, 64, 84, and 95 degrees East.
|
||
|
||
A new 9 channel satellite television service to India is to be
|
||
begin on January
|
||
1, 1994. The nine channels carried by the joint
|
||
American)India network are to
|
||
cover: religious and spiritual
|
||
programming; politics; children's programming,
|
||
entertainment, music and
|
||
movies; sports; medicine, health, fitness and sex
|
||
education; business
|
||
and economy; and development, environment, and women's
|
||
issues, science,
|
||
and technology. Broadcasts are to be over two satellites, the
|
||
Russian
|
||
Statsionar 21 at 103 degrees East, and Asiasat.
|
||
|
||
The Insat 2)C satellite, to be launched in 1995, will bring
|
||
Doordarshan
|
||
programs to viewers in the Middle East and Asia. It will
|
||
carry more than the
|
||
eight transponders on 2)B, including Ku)band
|
||
transponders.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Japan
|
||
|
||
Japan has been a pioneer in direct satellite broadcasting, as
|
||
might be expected from its consumer electronics industry. The world's
|
||
first direct broadcast satellite was Japan's BS-2. It's successors, BS-
|
||
3A and BS)3B, are positioned at 110 degrees East. They each carry three
|
||
12 GHz
|
||
transponders, and one wide-band data channel. Programs are
|
||
provided by the
|
||
Japanese public service broadcaster NHK and the
|
||
commercial JSB.
|
||
|
||
BS)3B also broadcasts High Definition Television using the
|
||
Japanese Hi)Vision
|
||
system on 11.880 GHz.
|
||
|
||
On February 26, 1992 an Ariane rocket put into orbit Japan's
|
||
Superbird B)1 at
|
||
162 degrees East. Superbird carries six new satellite
|
||
TV stations, including CNN
|
||
International and MTV. This satellite
|
||
carries 19 Ku)band transponders and 10
|
||
Ka)band transponders, and can be
|
||
received on 20)24 cm dish antennas.
|
||
|
||
Three television stations have started new satellite channels,
|
||
bringing the
|
||
number of Japanese satellite channels to 9. The three are
|
||
SVN Space Vision
|
||
(entertainment and sports), Let's Try Life Design
|
||
(hobby and cultural programs),
|
||
and Asahi Newstar (news and
|
||
documentaries). At present there are only 58,000
|
||
satellite
|
||
subscriptions in Japan, far short of the targeted 200,000. One
|
||
reason
|
||
for the sluggish demand is the high cost of equipment.
|
||
Currently,
|
||
antennas and receivers cost around 200,000 yen. New receivers,
|
||
cheaper
|
||
by tens of thousands of yen, will be marketed later this year.
|
||
\v\ BBC World Service Television also plans to broadcast its 24 hour
|
||
news and
|
||
information channel to Japan, together with Japanese partner
|
||
the Nissho Iwai
|
||
Corporation. While programs will be sold to terrestrial
|
||
broadcasters in Japan,
|
||
the service will also include direct to home
|
||
broadcasts, presumably via
|
||
Superbird, beginnning in early 1994. Viewers
|
||
will be able to choose between
|
||
English and Japanese sound.
|
||
|
||
Other Japanese satellites are JCSat 1 and 2 (at 150 and 154
|
||
degrees respectively) each with 32 Ku-Band transponders. CS-3a (132
|
||
degrees)
|
||
carries 2 C-Band and 10 Ka-Band (17.7-19.45 GHz) transponders.
|
||
|
||
Nihon Keizai Shimbum, Television Tokyo Channel 13 Limited and
|
||
five
|
||
sub-affiliates say that they will start broadcasting programs by
|
||
satellite from 1997 using the BS-4 satellite, which is set to be
|
||
launched in 1997. The satellite operator TXN will simulcast HDTV
|
||
broadcasts
|
||
alongside conventional broadcasts, and the service will be
|
||
split between pay-TV
|
||
services and advertising supported.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Other Asian Satellite Broadcasters
|
||
|
||
China's DFH2-A1 is at 87.5 degrees East and DFH2-A2 at 110.5
|
||
degrees. Each
|
||
carries 4 C)band transponders.
|
||
|
||
China's CCTV)3 service has begun relays from the Chinasat)5
|
||
satellite at 115.5
|
||
degrees East, on 3720 MHz.
|
||
|
||
The Portuguese Marconi company has signed an agreement with China
|
||
to deliver a
|
||
satellite TV service to all of China and South East Asia,
|
||
called Telesat. Based
|
||
in Macao, Telesat would start in late 1994, and
|
||
will offer what a Hong Kong
|
||
newspaper called "European TV channels".
|
||
|
||
Taiwan's DPP political party is reported to be leasing four
|
||
transponders on
|
||
the American NASA's TDRSS satellite at 174 degrees
|
||
West.
|
||
|
||
After reaching a compromise with Asiasat, Thailand's Thaicom 1 and
|
||
Thaicom 2
|
||
satellites will be co)located at 78.5 degrees east. Thaicom 1
|
||
was launched by
|
||
Ariane in December, 1993. The second satellite is to go
|
||
into orbit by June,
|
||
1994. The satellites will cover South East Asia,
|
||
eastern China, the Korean
|
||
peninsula, and Japan. The two Hughes)built
|
||
satellites will carry 12 transponders
|
||
each, 10 C)band and 2 Ku)band.
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Pacific
|
||
|
||
Australia's 3 Aussats are located at 156, 160, and 164 degrees
|
||
East. They provide television to the Australian Outback, New Zealand,
|
||
and the Pacific, using B-MAC. Each satellites has 15 Ku-Band
|
||
transponders in the 12.25-12.75 GHz range. They are being replaced by
|
||
the new
|
||
Optus B series.
|
||
|
||
Australia's Optus B1 satellite went into service on December 16,
|
||
1992. This
|
||
satellite carries 15 Ku)band transponders, is at 160 degrees
|
||
East. Australia is
|
||
to use B1 and its follow)up B2 to carry a 6 channel
|
||
subscription TV service, due
|
||
to begin operation in early 1994.
|
||
Unfortunately the B2 satellite was destroyed while being launched from
|
||
China on
|
||
December 14, 1992.
|
||
|
||
Moreover, the awarding of the pay)TV franchises has been called by\v\"Satnews":
|
||
"The biggest farce arguably in broadcasting history...Ever
|
||
since the Australian
|
||
government first announced that four channels
|
||
could be broadcast by satellite
|
||
aboard an Optus satellite, the whole
|
||
affair has been dogged by errors, omissions
|
||
and plain stupidity. This
|
||
time two private companies with the same owners, and
|
||
related to an
|
||
unsuccessful previous bidder, have been granted the licences
|
||
to
|
||
broadcast...Only a few weeks ago two companies failed to come up with
|
||
money
|
||
pledged for the licences. Ucom Pty Limited and Hi Vision Limited
|
||
paid
|
||
significantly over the odds against over 50 rivals including
|
||
seasoned veterans
|
||
such as News Corp. to secure the licences."
|
||
|
||
A third licence has been reserved for the state-owned broadcasting
|
||
company ABC.
|
||
|
||
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has jointed forces with Australia's
|
||
largest
|
||
telephone company Telestra to form an alliance to exploit the
|
||
Asian media
|
||
market. The new venture will pursue interests and
|
||
investments in activities such
|
||
as pay television, home shopping and
|
||
interactive services. Telestra and News
|
||
Corp. have already taken a
|
||
stake in Australian terrestrial broadcaster Seven
|
||
Network Limited, and
|
||
the Australian Broadcasting Authority is examining the deal
|
||
for
|
||
evidence of unfair competition.
|
||
|
||
There are many new Pacific satellite services being planned:
|
||
|
||
Panamsat, the company behind the trans)Atlantic satellite PAS)1,
|
||
is preparing
|
||
to reach the Pacific. PAS)2, to be launched in May, 1994,
|
||
will cover the Pacific
|
||
region from China and Japan to Western Canada.
|
||
|
||
Tonga has run into problems on two sides with its Rimsat project.
|
||
Panamsat
|
||
claims Tonga has booked too many orbital slots for such a
|
||
small country, while
|
||
Tonga claims that one of the Indonesian Palapa
|
||
satellites is in the orbital slot
|
||
for the first Tongasat. In 1992
|
||
Indonesia moved its Palapa B)1 satellite, in
|
||
orbit since 1982, to 134
|
||
degrees East, a position claimed by Tonga, and
|
||
registered with the
|
||
International Frequency Registration Board.
|
||
|
||
Tongasat 1, a Russian Ghorizont satellite, was to be moved into
|
||
that position
|
||
on July 20, 1993. When diplomatic efforts to get
|
||
Indonesia to leave the slot
|
||
failed, Tonga threatened to move its
|
||
satellite to one of Indonesia's existing
|
||
orbital positions, switch it
|
||
on, and cause tremendous havoc to Indonesia's
|
||
satellite communications
|
||
service.
|
||
|
||
In December, 1993, Indonesia announced the two countries had
|
||
settled their
|
||
dispute, although this was supposed to involve both
|
||
sharing the orbital
|
||
position, a questionable option. Tongasat plans to
|
||
place Russian)launched
|
||
satellites at 134 and 130 degrees. Five more
|
||
Russian satellites are to be
|
||
launched for Rimsat over the next few
|
||
years.
|
||
|
||
When Tongasat 1 is in operation from its proper position, it is
|
||
expected to
|
||
provide coverage from Iran and India to Hawaii. Behind
|
||
Tongasat are two American
|
||
companies, Rimsat and Unicom, as well as
|
||
Asian investors.
|
||
|
||
The American company TRW has filed to launch Pacificom 1 in 1994,
|
||
to operate in
|
||
both the Ku and C bands from 172 degrees East. The
|
||
footprints would reach from
|
||
the American West coast into Asia and
|
||
Australasia. There would be 11
|
||
high)powered Ku band transponders for\v\DBS services, along with 8 C)band
|
||
transponders.
|
||
|
||
Pacific Satellite Company hopes to launch Pacstar 1 into an
|
||
orbital slot at
|
||
167.5 degrees East in late 1994. This will cover the US
|
||
West Coast, Pacific
|
||
islands, and East Asia.
|
||
|
||
New Zealand is also planning a satellite TV service across the
|
||
Western Pacific
|
||
and East Asia.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Asian and Pacific Satellite Radio
|
||
|
||
Japan launched the world's first nationwide digital radio
|
||
system, using BS-3A. The broadcasts use pulse code modulation, or
|
||
PCM, matching the quality of compact disks, and free from the usual
|
||
radio hissing noises.
|
||
|
||
A Japanese company currently provides 440 cable radio channels.
|
||
There are plans
|
||
to expand the system to 1000 channels within 5 years,
|
||
with the ultimate aim of
|
||
2000 channels. The offerings include the
|
||
sounds of steam trains, roosters, cows,
|
||
and ringing bells.
|
||
|
||
The American company Digital Music Express, DMX, planned to start
|
||
in Australia
|
||
during 1993. DMX services are be relayed from the United
|
||
States via satellite
|
||
and then transmitted to customers using a
|
||
microwave distribution system. A small
|
||
roof)mounted antenna would be
|
||
used to receive the signals. Twenty audio channels
|
||
would initially be
|
||
offered, in addition to a special Australian channel.
|
||
|
||
|
||
\<\ VII. Global Satellite Channels
|
||
|
||
The war in Vietnam was called the first television war, with the
|
||
pictures of violence and horror on American TV screens night after
|
||
night contributing to the feelings that fed the growing peace movement.
|
||
The conflict in the Gulf was the first live TV war, broadcast around
|
||
the world by satellite, and underlining the arrival of the first global
|
||
TV broadcaster, the Cable News Network, CNN.
|
||
|
||
Arthur C. Clarke, the English visionary who first proposed
|
||
communications satellites in 1945, watched what he called "the first's
|
||
first satellite war" from his home in Sri Lanka.
|
||
|
||
In an interview with Reuters, Clarke said communications is power,
|
||
and the forces unleased by satellites in the Gulf War have the
|
||
potential for making the world a safer place. The further development
|
||
of a satellite communications network with the wider availability of
|
||
telephone, fax, and television, Clarke says, will make us one global
|
||
family, whether we like it or not.
|
||
|
||
The conflict in the Gulf was also a boost for the BBC's long
|
||
discussed plans for World Service Television, which became a reality on
|
||
March 11th, 1991, taking over the existing BBC-TV Europe service on
|
||
Intelsat VI-F4 (now Intelsat 601). In October, 1991 the 24 hour a day
|
||
service to
|
||
Asia via Asiasat began. An African service, also on Intelsat
|
||
601, began in May,
|
||
1992.
|
||
|
||
Beginning November, 1992 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and
|
||
BBC World
|
||
Service Television began exchanging daily news video. Under
|
||
the terms of the
|
||
deal, the CBC has exclusive Canadian rights to
|
||
broadcast BBC WS TV's news,
|
||
business, and weather reports. These are
|
||
carried on the English and French
|
||
domestic networks as well as the 24
|
||
hour cable news channel CBC Newsworld (which
|
||
is carried scrambled on
|
||
Anik E2, transponder 16). The service is being relayed
|
||
uncoded to North
|
||
America on Intelsat 601 at 27.5 degrees West, using the
|
||
C)band
|
||
transponder 4.
|
||
|
||
World Service Television is going ahead with plans to start a
|
||
bilingual service
|
||
to Japan and a 24 hour service in Arabic to the
|
||
Middle East via Arabsat. Future
|
||
plans are to expand into the United
|
||
States, the Pacific and Latin America.
|
||
|
||
What seems to be becoming the third global broadcaster, and the
|
||
only
|
||
competition to CNN and BBC World Service, is Rupert Murdoch's News
|
||
Corporation,
|
||
which owns British Sky Broadcasting in Europe, Fox
|
||
Broadcasting in North
|
||
America, Star)TV in Asia, and is branching out
|
||
into Africa and South America. In
|
||
a speech to Sky advertisers in
|
||
London, Murdoch announced "Plans are well
|
||
advanced to take Sky News, or
|
||
a parallel service, to all continents of the
|
||
world, where we will be
|
||
seeking local partners, both national and regional."
|
||
|
||
Murdoch's News International has contracted NTL to join a group
|
||
developing a
|
||
multi)channel digital TV system for direct satellite
|
||
reception in the home. NTL
|
||
will develop the encoding, decoding and
|
||
multiplexing technology. The eventual
|
||
domestic receiver will be mass*produced under licence for the comsumer market in
|
||
Europe, Asia and
|
||
elsewhere.
|
||
|
||
\t\ Deutsche Welle has also become a global broadcaster, working with
|
||
the
|
||
United States Information Agency's World Net in sharing many
|
||
transponders.
|
||
Besides broadcasts to Europe on Eutelsat II)F1, Deutsche
|
||
Welle is using the
|
||
Intelsat)K satellite to reach North America. The
|
||
signal is then relayed on
|
||
Spacenet 2 transponder 3, and Satcom C4
|
||
transponder 5.
|
||
|
||
Deutsche Welle is also relayed to Africa on Intelsat 601 at 27.5
|
||
degrees West
|
||
at 3.745 GHz. Africa, Asia, and the Pacific are covered by
|
||
transmissions on
|
||
Intelsat 505 at 66 degrees East at 4.177 GHz. Finally,
|
||
Deutsche Welle is also
|
||
transmitting to the Far East and Pacific on
|
||
Intelsat 508 at 180 degrees East on
|
||
3.993 GHz.
|
||
|
||
Deutsche Welle's Waldemar Kraamer has told Radio Sweden: "In the
|
||
middle or end
|
||
of 1994 we'll begin broadcasting on Asiasat)2, and we'll
|
||
then cover the world
|
||
from Eastern Europe to East Asia. There are plans
|
||
to reach Africa as well.
|
||
Currently we can be seen for two hours a day
|
||
in North Africa, using transponders
|
||
leased by the American WorldNet."
|
||
|
||
It was announced at the Internationale Funkaustellung in Berlin on
|
||
August 30th
|
||
that Deutsche Welle TV will be expanding from 16 to 24 hour
|
||
a day service from
|
||
1994.
|
||
|
||
Another global broadcaster in the making is the French)language
|
||
TV5, which has
|
||
been broadcasting to Europe on Eutelsat I)F1 on 11.080
|
||
GHz, and to North America
|
||
on Anik E1 transponder 17. TV5 Afrique
|
||
launched on September 30, 1992 via
|
||
Ghorizont 12 at 40 degrees East. TV5
|
||
plans to expand to Latin America using
|
||
Panamsat)1.
|
||
|
||
TV5 carries programs from France (TF1, France 2 and 3), Belgium
|
||
(RTBF),
|
||
Switzerland (SSR), and Quebec (Radio Canada). France also
|
||
transmits its Canal
|
||
France International to Africa on Intelsats 601 and
|
||
505, to the Middle East on
|
||
Arabsat 1C, and to East Asia on Palapa B2P.
|
||
|
||
The Arab world's MBC, which owns the international news agency
|
||
UPI, broadcasts
|
||
to the Middle East and North Africa on Arabsat, to
|
||
Europe on Eutelsat, and is
|
||
working with the Arab Network of North
|
||
America.
|
||
|
||
|
||
International Radio Broadcasting By Satellite
|
||
|
||
While the BBC, Radio France, and Deutsche Welle can put out 24
|
||
hour services in their native languages by satellite, services which
|
||
can be relayed over cable networks, it's much harder for small
|
||
broadcasters. Both Radio Sweden and Swiss Radio International now have
|
||
satellite
|
||
channels. But what cable system would relay them, each with a
|
||
series of programs
|
||
in varying languages?
|
||
|
||
One possibility is for many international broadcasters to share
|
||
several
|
||
satellite radio channels, one for English, one for French,
|
||
one for German, etc. Cable operators in Britain, for example, could
|
||
offer one
|
||
channel with alternating English programs, say from Sweden,
|
||
the Netherlands,
|
||
Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and so on.
|
||
|
||
This is what is being pioneered by the World Radio Network with
|
||
its WRN1
|
||
service in English on Astra, which began in September, 1993.
|
||
If the effort is a
|
||
success, services in other languages will follow.
|
||
|
||
\v\ There are some other options farther into the future, such as
|
||
Digital
|
||
Audio Broadcasting (DAB) by satellite, also called BSS)Sound.
|
||
This would provide
|
||
high quality radio reception to portable receivers.
|
||
BSS)Sound was approved by
|
||
the World Administrative Radio Conference
|
||
held in Torremolinos, Spain during
|
||
February, 1992.
|
||
|
||
The conference agreed that 1.5 GHz was the most technically
|
||
suitable frequency
|
||
range, as it offers best reception for portable
|
||
receivers, without interference
|
||
from the terrain or buildings. Small
|
||
whip antennas can be used and the
|
||
satellites will be cheaper to build.
|
||
|
||
However, politically many countries could not agree, one of the
|
||
reasons being
|
||
that their existing users at 1.5 GHz in some cases
|
||
include the military. The
|
||
conference reached absolute deadlock on this
|
||
subject, and it was only in its
|
||
very last stages that a compromise was
|
||
drawn up. This provided the world with
|
||
three separate allocations for
|
||
BSS-Sound. One is at 1.5 GHz--with a small
|
||
portion of the band
|
||
available immediately, another allocation at 2.6 GHz, and a
|
||
separate
|
||
band for the US at 2.3 GHz. The result is that digital satellite
|
||
radio
|
||
is now just around the corner, Provided, of course, satellites are
|
||
built
|
||
and receivers brought on to the market.
|
||
|
||
Worldspace, based in Washington, DC, plans a service called
|
||
Afrispace,
|
||
which would broadcast 9 digital radio channels to Africa and
|
||
the Middle East.
|
||
The planned portable receivers are expected to cost
|
||
around USD 100 each.
|
||
Afristar 1 would be located at 12 degrees West,
|
||
and Afrispace hopes to be
|
||
operating by late 1994. Radio Netherlands has
|
||
already signed a contract with
|
||
Afrispace to broadcast 24 hours a day to
|
||
Africa and the Middle East.
|
||
|
||
An American company called the International Radio Satellite
|
||
Corporation, or
|
||
RadioSat, has announced plans to create a worldwide
|
||
direct broadcast satellite
|
||
service for international broadcasters.
|
||
RadioSat plans to launch three
|
||
high-powered satellites, each with
|
||
more than 200 channels to be leased to international broadcasting
|
||
organizations. RadioSat says the VOA, BBC World Service, Radio Moscow
|
||
and 5
|
||
other broadcasters have expressed interest. RadioSat hopes to
|
||
launch the first
|
||
of its three spacecraft in 1995.
|
||
\L\ PART II. WEATHER AND OTHER "UTILITY" SATELLITES
|
||
|
||
If TVRO is the satellite version of shortwave broadcast DXing,
|
||
then these
|
||
satellites provide the equivalent of utility monitoring and
|
||
scanning. The
|
||
equipment required can be much less elaborate and much
|
||
less expensive than for
|
||
TVRO. On the other hand, transmissions may be
|
||
less comprehensible, without the
|
||
necessary expensive or unobtainable
|
||
equipment for decoding.
|
||
|
||
|
||
I. Wefax
|
||
|
||
WEFAX or Weather Facsimile, is the method used to transmit
|
||
photographs and
|
||
weather satellite maps via radio and telephone lines.
|
||
The satellite version is known as APT. There are many low orbit
|
||
weather
|
||
satellites using this system in the 136)138 MHz band.
|
||
|
||
Some of the active satellites that can be monitored are the
|
||
American NOAA and
|
||
the former Soviet Meteors:
|
||
|
||
NOAA beacons..................136.770 MHz
|
||
Meteor 3)3, 3)4 and 3)5.......137.300 MHz APT
|
||
NOAA 10 and 12................137.500 MHz APT
|
||
NOAA 9 and 11..................BB137.620 MHz APT
|
||
NOAA beacons..................137.770 MHz
|
||
Meteor 2)21...................137.850 MHz APT
|
||
|
||
Meteor 2)21 is a new satellite, launched on August 31, 1993.
|
||
Meteors 3)4 and
|
||
3)5 are currently not transmitting. Meteor 3)6 is to be
|
||
launched soon. NOAA 13
|
||
was launched on August 9, 1993. Unfortunately,
|
||
contact with the satellite was
|
||
lost on August 21, 1993. The launch of
|
||
NOAA 14 has been moved up to early 1994.
|
||
China has orbited several
|
||
polar orbiting WEFAX satellites in its Fengyun)1
|
||
series. None are
|
||
currently operational, but the frequencies used are 137.06,
|
||
137.80, and
|
||
137.795 MHz.
|
||
|
||
The satellite APT provides a continuous strip of image as the
|
||
satellites circle
|
||
the globe in polar orbit. The NOAAs orbit at around
|
||
800 kilometers, while
|
||
Meteors are in a higher orbit at around 1200
|
||
kilomters. This means that NOAA
|
||
satellites pass overhead at the same
|
||
time every day (for example NOAA 11 passes
|
||
over Britain travelling
|
||
northbound at around 15:30 hrs UTC and southbound at
|
||
around 03:00 hrs).
|
||
Meteors, on the other hand, because of the higher altitude,
|
||
tend to
|
||
arrive earlier each day by 10 to 20 minutes. NOAAs provide both
|
||
visible
|
||
and infrared images (and can be monitored during darkness), while
|
||
the
|
||
Meteors are more irregular in providing infrared images.
|
||
|
||
The satellites are quite strong, and can be heard on simple
|
||
scanners and
|
||
antennas. However, since the bandwidth of the APT signal
|
||
is wider than the
|
||
narrowband FM bandwidth of ordinary scanners, which
|
||
is around 15 to 35 kHz. The
|
||
best images are received with receivers
|
||
having an IF bandwidth of 45 kHz.
|
||
Dedicated WEFAX receivers are sold by
|
||
a number of companies, including Vanguard
|
||
Labs and Hamtronics in the US
|
||
and Timestep in the UK. For those who find a
|
||
dedicated receiver too
|
||
expensive, Software Systems Consulting in the US sells a
|
||
specially
|
||
modified scanner for around USD 150.
|
||
|
||
It is possible to obtain images using an ordinary scanner or
|
||
receiver, such as
|
||
the ICOM R7000, although the detail will be less
|
||
clear.\v\
|
||
Small non)directional antennas, such as ground planes, discones,
|
||
or active
|
||
antennas are usually all that are required to receive
|
||
satellites in low orbit.
|
||
The satellites are so strong that even a
|
||
quarter length whip for the amateur 145
|
||
MHz band will result in clear
|
||
reception.
|
||
|
||
The best antenna to receive polar orbiting satellites, however, is
|
||
a crossed
|
||
dipole or turnstile cut specifically for 137 MHz. It's
|
||
important that the
|
||
antenna be omindirectional, but also have a high
|
||
angle of elevation, to receive
|
||
signals from satellites passing
|
||
overhead. Most scanner and amateur radio
|
||
antennas are designed to have
|
||
a low angle of elevation, to boost reception of
|
||
terrestrial signals.
|
||
Crossed dipoles can be built fairly easily (there are plans
|
||
in the
|
||
Weather Satellite Handbook and the PC GOES/WEFAX User's Reference
|
||
Manual,
|
||
for example). There are also a number of commercially available
|
||
antennas.
|
||
|
||
Other onmidirectional antennas that work well with polar orbiting
|
||
satellites
|
||
include the linblad, quadrifilar helix, and the vertical
|
||
helix. It's
|
||
advantageous to use low)loss cable, and a preamplfier,
|
||
usually mounted at the
|
||
antenna end of the cable. Tuned amplifiers, such
|
||
as those used for the amateur
|
||
radio 2 meter band, work much better than
|
||
broadband amplifiers, which do have
|
||
the advantage of being much less
|
||
expensive. Do not use a broadband amplifier
|
||
with a broadband scanner or
|
||
discone antenna.
|
||
|
||
To interpret the satellite signals and view the images, computers
|
||
and special
|
||
interfaces are necessary. These are available from the same
|
||
vendors who sell
|
||
receivers, as well as many others. Check out articles
|
||
and advertisements in such
|
||
magazines as "Monitoring Times" and "Popular
|
||
Communications" in the US and
|
||
"Shortwave Magazine" in Britain. Note
|
||
that many interfaces are solely for
|
||
reception of HF Wefax from
|
||
shortwave. These will NOT work with satellite APT.
|
||
We've tested the PC
|
||
GOES/WEFAX demodulator for MS)DOS computers from Software
|
||
Systems
|
||
Consulting. It seems to work very well.
|
||
|
||
Most of the available software is for MS)DOS computers, although
|
||
there are
|
||
interfaces and software for other machines, such as the BBC
|
||
Micro and Sinclair
|
||
Spectrum. In most cases the interface is connected
|
||
to an available serial port
|
||
on the computer, and to the headphone or
|
||
external speaker jack of the receiver.
|
||
Some receivers have separate
|
||
line output jacks, but the levels there are usually
|
||
too low.
|
||
|
||
It can be useful to plug a "Y" cable into the headphone jack, with
|
||
one end
|
||
connected to the interface and the other to a small speaker
|
||
(preferably with its
|
||
own volume control), so that the monitor can
|
||
listen to the channel at the same
|
||
time that it is permanently connected
|
||
to the interface. (Cable, small speakers,
|
||
and even cables with built)in
|
||
volume controls can be found at suppliers such as
|
||
Radio Shack/Tandy.)
|
||
|
||
Unlike geostationary satellites, the polar orbiting satellites
|
||
move. While it
|
||
can be interesting to tune in from time to time, or
|
||
remember when the daily
|
||
passes of the NOAA satellite occur, the easiest
|
||
way to know when to look for the
|
||
satellites is with a satellite
|
||
tracking program. Some interface software, such
|
||
as PC GOES/WEFAX, come
|
||
with tracking programs included. There are a number of
|
||
programs for
|
||
amateur radio satellite tracking available that work very well
|
||
with
|
||
WEFAX satellites. Some are public domain or shareware, and can be found
|
||
in
|
||
BBS's or in data libraries in online systems such as CompuServe.\v\Others are
|
||
available through AMSAT in various countries.
|
||
|
||
|
||
\\ II. Geostationary Weather Satellites
|
||
|
||
Geostationary satellites provide 24 hour WEFAX transmissions from
|
||
a single
|
||
position in the sky. No tracking or waiting for a satellite to
|
||
come in range is
|
||
required, but the greater distance and higher
|
||
frequencies require more expensive
|
||
equipment than that required to
|
||
monitor polar orbiting satellites.
|
||
|
||
The currently operational geostationary weather satellites are:
|
||
|
||
Meteosat)4 0 degrees
|
||
Meteosat)5 8 degrees West
|
||
Meteosat)3 75 degrees
|
||
GOES)6 75 degrees
|
||
GOES)7 112 degrees
|
||
GOES)2 135 degrees
|
||
GOES)3 176 degrees
|
||
GMS)4 140 degrees East
|
||
|
||
The American geostationary GOES satellites downlink on 1691 MHz,
|
||
while the
|
||
European Space Agency's Meteosats use 1694.5 MHz. Other
|
||
Meteosat frequencies
|
||
include 1695.73 and 1695.76 MHz. Meteosat)3 was
|
||
originally positioned at 50
|
||
degrees West longitude, but in early 1993
|
||
it was moved to 75 degrees West, to
|
||
cover for the failure of a GOES
|
||
satellite. When the system is fully operational,
|
||
there should be GOES
|
||
satellites at 59, 112, and 135 degrees West. Meteosat)4 is
|
||
at 0 degrees
|
||
longitude. Meteosat)5 is positioned nearby, and would have
|
||
replaced
|
||
Meteosat)4 but suffered from imaging faults. The satellite has now
|
||
been
|
||
reactivated and is scheduled to replace Meteosat)3 at 75 degrees West
|
||
in
|
||
early 1994. The Japanese GMS)4 is at 140 degrees East.
|
||
|
||
Meteosat)6 was launched from French Guiana on November 19, 1993.
|
||
It is to
|
||
replace Meteosat)4 at the end of January, 1994.
|
||
|
||
China is scheduled to launch its FENGYUN)2A satellite into
|
||
geostationary orbit
|
||
on February 23, 1994. This will be positioned at
|
||
105 degrees East.
|
||
To receive geostationary satellites, it is often easiest to build
|
||
upon a
|
||
receiving station for polar orbiting satellites. A sensitive
|
||
antenna for 1690
|
||
MHz is required, usually a dish of around 1 meter or
|
||
one or more stacked looped
|
||
yagis. To this is connected a block down
|
||
converter and preamplifier, which
|
||
converts the signal from 1690 MHz
|
||
down to 137 MHz. This is important because
|
||
cable absorbs more energy at
|
||
1690 MHz than at 137 MHz.
|
||
|
||
The GOES and Meteosat satellites use the same APT format as found
|
||
on the polar
|
||
orbiting satellites. They also supply higher quality PDUS
|
||
and HRPT images, which
|
||
require specialized receiving equipment, which
|
||
is also available. The GMS
|
||
satellites use a wide band FM format that is
|
||
incompatible with APT. They use a
|
||
frequency deviation of 150 kHz, which
|
||
requires receivers with that bandwidth.
|
||
|
||
The European Space Agency plans to launch a new Meteosat in late
|
||
1993 and NOAA
|
||
has scheduled launches of new GOES satellites in April,
|
||
1994 and in 1995.
|
||
AAAAMeteosat, operated by the European Space Agency on behalf of the
|
||
European
|
||
Meterological Office, will be undergoing in)flight tests
|
||
before it enters
|
||
service at 0 degrees longitude at the end of January
|
||
1994. Tests will be
|
||
conducted while the satellite drifts from its
|
||
current orbital position at 19
|
||
degrees west. \v\
|
||
The first on)board test images will be relayed back towards the end of
|
||
this
|
||
week.
|
||
|
||
Once operational Meteosat 6 will replace Meteosat 4, which will become
|
||
a back up
|
||
satellite. Meteosat 5 will then be drifted to cover the
|
||
Americas to replace
|
||
Meteosat 3, presently on loan to the US Weather
|
||
Service )) NOAA )) which has
|
||
suffered the loss of many of its
|
||
satellites (Satnews passim). Meteosat only has a lifespan of a few
|
||
months left.
|
||
|
||
Meteosat 7 and 8 are scheduled to be launched by the end of 1995, just
|
||
before
|
||
Eumetsat takes over all the operation off Meteosat satellites
|
||
from ESA.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
III. Other "Utility" Satellites
|
||
|
||
There are many other satellites using the 136)138 MHz band. Many
|
||
use narrow
|
||
band FM to transmit their telemetry. Britain's Prospeso
|
||
satellite is on 137.56
|
||
MHz. Temisat transmits on 137.72 MHz. Japan's
|
||
Marine Observation Satellites MOS
|
||
1 and 1B can be heard on 136.11 MHz.
|
||
India's Bhaskara 1 (137.230 MHz) and 2
|
||
(137.380 MHz) also use narrow
|
||
band FM. A Transit navigational satellite can be
|
||
heard on 136.65 MHz.
|
||
Sweden's Freja)1 auroral research satellite uses 137.50
|
||
MHz, a
|
||
frequency generally used by the NOAA satellites.
|
||
|
||
Other satellites monitored in this band in the past include NASA's
|
||
ATS)3
|
||
(136.37), Transit (136.65), IUE (136.86), Marecs A/B (137.17),
|
||
Okean (137.4),
|
||
and Intercosmos (137.45). There have been, and will be,
|
||
many other satellites in
|
||
this band.
|
||
|
||
Other interesting satellites on nearby frequencies include the
|
||
American Hilat
|
||
(149.988 MHz narrow band FM) and Geosat (150.015 and 400
|
||
MHz CW).
|
||
|
||
The American Transit and former Soviet CosNav satellites provide
|
||
navigational
|
||
data to ships and submarines. They transmit simultaneously
|
||
on two frequencies:
|
||
|
||
Channel 1))149.910 and 399.762 MHz
|
||
Channel 2))149.940 and 399.842 MHz
|
||
Channel 3))149.970 and 399.922 MHz
|
||
Channel 4))150.000 and 400.200 MHz
|
||
Channel 5))150.030 and 400.082 MHz
|
||
|
||
The CosNavs may also use 148.91 and 388.84 MHz.
|
||
|
||
Scientific and research satellites use the following bands: 400*402 MHz,
|
||
1400)1429 MHz, and 2655)2700 MHz.
|
||
|
||
Sweden's Freja)1 research satellite, investigating the Northern
|
||
Lights, has a
|
||
beacon on 400.55 MHz. Other satellites monitored around
|
||
400 MHz include DOD
|
||
(401)401.5) and DCS (401.5)403). Various DOD
|
||
satellites are listed using the
|
||
band between 406 and 425 MHz.
|
||
|
||
Marisat are geo)stationary satellites carrying transponders for
|
||
maritime mobile
|
||
and aeronautical communications. Maritime Mobile use
|
||
1535)1543 MHz downlinks
|
||
while Aero Mobile uses 1458)1542 MHz for\v\downlinks.
|
||
|
||
The American Landsat operates around 2 GHz, as do the Franco*Swedish Spot photo
|
||
satellites.
|
||
|
||
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a new American system that
|
||
will
|
||
eventually include 24 Navstar satellites in a 55 degree inclined
|
||
orbit at 20 to
|
||
200 kilometers above the Earth. These provide accurate
|
||
longitude, latitude, and
|
||
altitude information to handheld units that
|
||
monitor 3 to 4 satellites. They use
|
||
spread spectrum transmissions
|
||
around 1575.42 MHz. Besides the commercial
|
||
version, which provides
|
||
accuracy to around 100 meters, there is a more accurate
|
||
military system
|
||
which was used by American Army Intelligence during the Gulf
|
||
War. This
|
||
uses an additional signal on around 1227.6 MHz to compensate
|
||
for
|
||
various delays between the satellites and the receiver.
|
||
|
||
Although GPS satellites don't transmit a signal that can be
|
||
listened to in a
|
||
traditional sense, the status of the entire system can
|
||
be monitored on a
|
||
shortwave receiver. WWV transmits an update the
|
||
system every 14 minutes on 2.5,
|
||
5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz.
|
||
|
||
The similar former Soviet GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite
|
||
Systems) system
|
||
uses 1250, 1597, 1603, and 1617 MHz. There are to be 24
|
||
GLONASS satellites in
|
||
orbit.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
\6\ PART III. Amateur Radio in Space
|
||
|
||
Besides governments and corporations, radio amateurs have also
|
||
launched many
|
||
satellites. The first communications satellite was in
|
||
fact the Moon, which radio
|
||
amateurs bounced have bounced signals off
|
||
for years. In 1960 a group of radio
|
||
amateurs in the United States
|
||
formed the Project Oscar ("Orbiting Satellite
|
||
Carrying Amateur Radio")
|
||
Association to design and build satellites for use in
|
||
the amateur radio
|
||
bands.
|
||
|
||
Oscar was succeeded by the Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT)
|
||
in 1969. There
|
||
are national AMSAT societies in many countries, and the
|
||
international
|
||
headquarters is in Washington, DC.
|
||
|
||
Amateur Radio Satellites:
|
||
|
||
Satellite BBOrbit Beacon or Downlink Modes/Comments
|
||
|
||
Oscar 10 elliptical 145.810/145.987 MHz
|
||
Oscar 11 circular 145.826/435.025
|
||
RS 10/11 circular 29.357/.408 RS)10 CW
|
||
145.857/.903 "
|
||
29.407/.453 RS)11 CW
|
||
145.907/.953 "
|
||
Oscar 13 elliptical 145.812/435.651
|
||
UO)14 circular 435.070
|
||
PO)16 circular 437.02625/437.0513
|
||
DO)17 circular 145.825 voice synth.
|
||
WO)18 circular 437.0751/437.102 slowscan TV
|
||
LO)19 circular 437.1258/437.15355 packet BBS
|
||
FO)20 circular 435.795/435.910 packet BBS
|
||
AO)21 145.987 FM/packet dnlink
|
||
145.800/.819/.838/.948 beacons
|
||
UO)22 circular 435.120 (see below) packet BBS
|
||
RS)12/13 circular 29.408/.454 RS)12 CW
|
||
145.912/.959 "
|
||
29.458/.504 RS)13 CW
|
||
145.862/.908 "
|
||
KO)23 circular 435.175 packet BBS
|
||
AO)24 elliptical 2446.47 2 meter failure
|
||
KO)25 circular 435.175/500 packet BBS
|
||
IO)26 circular 435.867/822 packet and voice
|
||
AO)27 circular 436.800 packet and FM
|
||
PO)28 circular 435.250/435.275 occasional
|
||
|
||
|
||
The easiest way to get started in amateur satellite monitoring is
|
||
to listen to
|
||
the RS satellites in the 10 and 15 meter bands on an
|
||
ordinary shortwave
|
||
receiver. Radio amateurs with a shortwave receiver
|
||
and a 2 meter transmitter
|
||
(even a handheld) can work the RS satellites.
|
||
An ordinary longwire antenna is
|
||
all that is needed for shortwave, and
|
||
simple quarter wavelength 2 meter whips
|
||
will do for transmitting.
|
||
|
||
Most users use more sophisticated equipment. Omnidirectional
|
||
antennas will work
|
||
the satellites in low earth orbit, although most
|
||
active users prefer directional
|
||
gain antennas, such as crossed yagis,
|
||
on a motorised rotor run from a satellite
|
||
tracking program.
|
||
|
||
\t\ Tracking programs are vital for finding amateur radio satellites.
|
||
Some are public domain or shareware, and can be found in BBS's or in
|
||
data
|
||
libraries in online systems such as CompuServe. Others are
|
||
available through
|
||
AMSAT in various countries. We've tested one of the
|
||
best programs for the MS)DOS
|
||
computers, RealTrak, which is highly
|
||
recommended. The more sophisticated
|
||
programs can interface with antenna
|
||
rotors.
|
||
|
||
Most amateur radio satellites use some kind of digital packet
|
||
radio mode.
|
||
Terrestrial packet radio operators can move up to satellite
|
||
operation fairly
|
||
easily, although a variety of packet modes are used,
|
||
and new modems to connect
|
||
to existing TNCs will be needed in most
|
||
cases. Conventional packet radio uses a
|
||
system known as AFSK (Audio
|
||
Frequency Phase Shift Keyed) modulation. This was
|
||
used by some earlier
|
||
satellites, such as UO)11, and is used by Dove. UO)11 uses
|
||
an older
|
||
ASCII system, AMSAT)TTY, similar to Bell 202, but at 1200 baud.
|
||
|
||
Because of the Doppler Effect (frequency shift from high speed),
|
||
satellite
|
||
packet generally uses a different system called PSK (Phase
|
||
Shift Keyed)
|
||
modulation. AO)13 and 21 use a system with 400 baud ASCII.
|
||
The first "microsats"
|
||
(AO)16, WO)18, LO)19, FO)20, and AO)21) use a
|
||
1200 baud system where the uplink
|
||
is Manchester coded AFSK (FM), while
|
||
the downlink is BPSK (SSB). UO)22, KO)23
|
||
and 25, and PO)28 use what may
|
||
be the amateur satellite of the future, FSK (FM)
|
||
at 9600 baud. Some of
|
||
the second generation "microsats", A0)27 and IO)26, are
|
||
more flexible,
|
||
with up and downlinks at varying speeds up to 9600 baud.
|
||
|
||
Oscar 10 and 13 have elliptical orbits, which mean that they tend
|
||
to "hover"
|
||
over the Northern Hemisphere, making for long periods for
|
||
contacts with little
|
||
adjustment needed in tracking antennas. However,
|
||
they require antennas with
|
||
higher gain than those used for the circular
|
||
orbit satellites.
|
||
|
||
The former Soviet RS)10/11 and RS)12/13 are each two separate
|
||
packages on the
|
||
same satellite.
|
||
|
||
UO)14 (UoSat)3), PO)16 (PacSat), DO)17 (Dove), WO)18 (WeberSat),
|
||
LO)19 (LuSat)
|
||
are known as "microsats" because of their small size.
|
||
They were launched
|
||
together with an Ariane rocket in January, 1990.
|
||
|
||
UO)14 was made by the University of Surrey in Britain. UO)15,
|
||
launched with
|
||
UO)14, stopped transmitting the day after launch. Owned
|
||
by Volunteers in
|
||
Technical Assistance, UO)14 carries a packet radio
|
||
BBS, which is used to
|
||
transmit free medical information to universities
|
||
in East Africa. The service,
|
||
known as HealthNet, is operated by an
|
||
organization called Satel)Life. Health)Net
|
||
transmissions use packet
|
||
radio at 9600 baud, with downlinks on 428.01 and
|
||
429.985 MHz.
|
||
|
||
PO)16 was built by AMSAT)North America, and LO)19 by AMSAT
|
||
Argentina. They
|
||
contain PSK packet radio BBS's. Dove is a Brazilian*made "peace satellite". It
|
||
has a voice synthesizer and also transmits
|
||
standard packet AFSK)FM on 145.825
|
||
MHz. WO)18 was built by Weber State
|
||
University in Utah. It contains an onboard
|
||
camera that downlinks its
|
||
pictures by packet radio. The Japanese JO)20 also
|
||
carries a packet BBS,
|
||
with similar up and downlink frequencies to PO)16 and
|
||
UO)19.
|
||
|
||
The French satellite SARA is an amateur astronomy satellite, with
|
||
a beacon on
|
||
145.955 MHz. It's use of an amateur radio frequency is
|
||
controversial, and
|
||
probably illegal.
|
||
\v\ South Korea's KO)23 downlinks ordinary packet radio at 9600 baud
|
||
on 435.175
|
||
MHz. The satellite can also photograph the Earth and measure
|
||
cosmic rays. It
|
||
carries an amateur radio electronic mail system, and
|
||
will conduct experiments in
|
||
voice broadcasting. It's described as a
|
||
near clone of UO)14 and UO)22. KITSAT)B
|
||
(KO)25), launched with the
|
||
second set of microsats on September 5, 1993, is
|
||
virtually identical,
|
||
as is the amateur radio part of Portugal's PoSat (PO)26),
|
||
launched at
|
||
the same time.
|
||
|
||
The Kitsats are in near circular orbit 1300 kilometers from the
|
||
Earth, with an
|
||
inclination of 66 degrees, which make them available to
|
||
users much farther to
|
||
the north and to the south than most amateur
|
||
radio satellites.
|
||
|
||
Arsene, launched with Astra 1C in May, 1993, orbits over the
|
||
equator. It's
|
||
farthest distance from the Earth is 37,000 kilometers,
|
||
just about the same
|
||
distance as geostationary satellites, but since it
|
||
gets as close as 17,500
|
||
kilometers, it appears to slowly drift from
|
||
west to east. The high orbit means
|
||
access time of nearly 20 hours a
|
||
day. ARSENE was supposed to function as a
|
||
packet radio repeater in the
|
||
sky, relaying AFSK packet down to Earth. However,
|
||
the 2 meter equipment
|
||
has failed, and the satellite can only be worked on voice
|
||
in S mode
|
||
with a downlink on 2446.54 MHz. There is also a beacon on 2446.47 MHz.
|
||
|
||
The Italian amateur radio satellite IO)28 (Itamsat) downlinks
|
||
voice FM as well
|
||
as ordinary AFSK packet at 1200 baud and PSK at 1200
|
||
and 9600 baud. Uplinks can
|
||
vary between 1200, 4800, and 9600 baud. The
|
||
American commercial satellite Amrad
|
||
(AO)27) will sometimes relay
|
||
digital (300)9600 baud) and FM voice amateur radio
|
||
signals.
|
||
|
||
There are plans for many more amateur radio satellites. UNAMSAT
|
||
from Mexico and
|
||
RS)15 from Russia are awaiting launch. UNAMSAT will
|
||
carry a packet PSK BBS, with
|
||
a downlink on 437.200 MHz. CEsat)1 from
|
||
Chile, SUNSAT from South Africa,
|
||
Finland's HUTSAT, the American Sedsat,
|
||
and Guerwin)1 from Israel are under
|
||
construction. Guerwin will probably
|
||
be a packet PSK BBS, with a downlink around
|
||
435.250 MHz.
|
||
|
||
Radio amateurs are particularly looking forward to the Phase 3)D
|
||
satellite, a
|
||
follow)up to the aging Oscars 10 and 13. Phase 3)D will
|
||
carry a matrix of
|
||
separate transmitters and receivers that can be
|
||
linked together, rather than
|
||
discrete transponders. The satellite will
|
||
carry equipment for 145 and 435 MHz,
|
||
as well as 1.2, 2.4, 5.6, and 10
|
||
GHz.
|
||
|
||
Phase 3)D will cost around USD 5 million, as much as a
|
||
geostationary satellite.
|
||
Many radio amateurs are looking forward to the
|
||
day when there will be
|
||
geostationary amateur radio satellites, what is
|
||
called Phase 4 But AMSAT has
|
||
decided to go ahead with Phase 3)D,
|
||
because a single geostationary satellite
|
||
would only benefit one third
|
||
of the world's amateur radio population. Three
|
||
would be needed to
|
||
provide communications for radio amateurs everywhere. But we
|
||
can look
|
||
forward to the day when radio amateurs will have access to 24
|
||
hour
|
||
communications, without the bother of tracking programs and rotors
|
||
to
|
||
complicate things.
|
||
|
||
Then there's Northern California's Project Oscar, which orbited
|
||
the first
|
||
amateur radio satellite, which has now proposed installing
|
||
the first repeater on
|
||
the Moon. The group hopes to get "Project
|
||
Moonray" off the ground by the turn of
|
||
the century.\r\ Part IV. MONITORING THE SPACE SHUTTLE, MIR, AND THE MILITARY
|
||
|
||
I. The Space Shuttle and MIR
|
||
|
||
Space shuttle communications have been relayed on shortwave from a
|
||
number of
|
||
amateur radio clubs at NASA bases. These are in single side
|
||
band (SSB), and the
|
||
frequencies to look for are 3862, 7185, 14295,
|
||
21395, and 28650 kHz from WA3NAN
|
||
at the Goddard Space Flight Center in
|
||
Maryland; 3840, 14280, 21350, and 28495
|
||
kHz from the Johnson Space
|
||
Center in Texas; and 3840 and 21280 kHz from the Jet
|
||
Propulsion
|
||
Laboratory in California.
|
||
|
||
Here are some reported frequencies connected with the shuttle
|
||
missions:
|
||
|
||
Shortwave (SSB):
|
||
|
||
Western Test Range.............................. 5700 kHz
|
||
13218
|
||
Eastern Test Range.............................. 5190
|
||
NASA Tracking Ships............................. 5180
|
||
5187
|
||
Launch Support Ships............................11104
|
||
19303
|
||
NASA Kennedy Operations......................... 7675
|
||
USAF Cape Radio................................. 6837
|
||
6896
|
||
11414
|
||
BB 11548
|
||
19640
|
||
23413
|
||
|
||
Shuttle)Mission Control.........................11201
|
||
|
||
NASA Ascension Island tracking..................20186
|
||
NASA CB Radios..................................27065
|
||
|
||
VHF/UHF (AM):
|
||
|
||
Military aircraft emergency frequency........... 243.0 MHz
|
||
Primary shuttle communications.................. 259.7
|
||
Shuttle space suits............................. 279.0
|
||
Primary UHF downlink............................ 296.0
|
||
Air)to)ground or orbiter)to)suit................ 296.8
|
||
|
||
S)Band (Wideband FM) via TDRS satellites:
|
||
|
||
NASA downlink................................... 2205.0 MHz
|
||
2217.5
|
||
2250.0
|
||
2287.5
|
||
Primary digital downlink........................ 2287.5
|
||
|
||
North American satellite TV monitors can watch live video from the
|
||
shuttle
|
||
missions via NASA Select on Satcom 2R transponder 13. A voice
|
||
TV schedule update
|
||
can be heard by calling American telephone number 1*202)755)1788. Missions with
|
||
German astronauts may be relayed on one of
|
||
the Kopernikus satellites to Europe.
|
||
Space launches may also be carried
|
||
on Intelsat 504 at 31.4 degrees West, on
|
||
11.133 GHz.
|
||
\v\
|
||
Amateur Radio on the Shuttle
|
||
|
||
There have been many amateur radio operations from the shuttles,
|
||
known as SAREX
|
||
(Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment). The first was Dr.
|
||
Owen Garriott, W5LFL, from
|
||
"Columbia" in 1985. He was heard by tens of
|
||
thousands of listeners and made two
|
||
way contact with some 350 stations
|
||
using FM with a downlink on 145.55 MHz.
|
||
|
||
With the resumption of shuttle missions after the "Challenger"
|
||
crash, amateur
|
||
radio operations have resumed as well, with both FM
|
||
voice and packet radio.
|
||
Unfortunately most shuttle flights maintain an
|
||
orbital inclination of 28
|
||
degrees, which restricts radio contacts to
|
||
stations within around 30 degrees of
|
||
the Equator. Occasional missions
|
||
use a greater inclination, up to 57 degrees,
|
||
which make it possible for
|
||
many more people to listen to and contact the
|
||
shuttle.
|
||
|
||
STS)37, on "Atlantis" in April, 1991, was particularly noteworthy,
|
||
as all five
|
||
crew members were licensed radio amateurs. There were
|
||
hundreds of contacts with
|
||
amateur radio operators on Earth. While a
|
||
problem curtailed packet radio and
|
||
slowscan television operation, the
|
||
first television picture ever received on
|
||
board a spacecraft was
|
||
carried out using fast scan television. The Atlantis crew
|
||
was also able
|
||
to hear the Soviet cosmonauts on MIR, but were unable to complete
|
||
two
|
||
way communications.
|
||
|
||
The entire crew of STS)45, in March, 1992, were also radio
|
||
amateurs. At least
|
||
nine of the current astronauts have amateur radio
|
||
licenses, which means that
|
||
virtually every launch will have an amateur
|
||
onboard. The usual downlink
|
||
frequency is 145.55 MHz.
|
||
|
||
|
||
MIR
|
||
|
||
The former Soviet MIR space station can easily be heard with its
|
||
powerful FM
|
||
signals on 143.625 MHz, but this channel is now only being
|
||
used over Europe,
|
||
when the station is in range of the ground station in
|
||
the Crimea. Funding cuts
|
||
dictated that the communications ships off
|
||
Sable Island, Madeira, etc., which
|
||
were relaying MIR by shortwave, are
|
||
no longer operational.
|
||
|
||
Voice communications have also been reported on 143.42 and 142.42
|
||
MHz, as well
|
||
as a beacon on 121.75 MHz. Data communications from MIR
|
||
have been heard on
|
||
166.130 (or possibly 165.875) MHz. Other frequencies
|
||
reported from the former
|
||
Soviet space program are:
|
||
|
||
Soyuz T)11 space vehicle telemetry.... 20008
|
||
Soyuz T)11 voice communications.......142.423 MHz
|
||
Soyuz TM)3 and TM)4...................121.750
|
||
Progress 7 supply ship................166.000
|
||
|
||
When out of range of the CIS ground stations, MIR communications
|
||
are now often
|
||
relayed through the "Luch" or "Altair" transponder
|
||
systems of CIS geostationary
|
||
satellites. The Soviet satellite tracking
|
||
network is called SDRN, the Satellite
|
||
Data Relay Network. Downlinks are
|
||
on 10.8, 11.3, and 13.7 GHz. The relay most
|
||
used over Europe is via the
|
||
satellite at 16 degrees West listed as ZSSRT)2 (an
|
||
abbreviation of the
|
||
Russian words "Zemlya S Sputnik Radio Translator", meaning
|
||
"Western
|
||
geostationary satellite transponder"). There is also an eastern
|
||
relay
|
||
at 167 degrees East. \v\
|
||
The SECAM color signals from MIR are listed at 10.835 GHz, but are
|
||
actually
|
||
carried at 10.829 GHz (unfortunately just below the range of
|
||
most satellite TVRO
|
||
receivers). Monitors can look for the satellite by
|
||
tuning in to the strong data
|
||
signals on 11.375 GHz, which can often be
|
||
seen as flashing lines on the screen.
|
||
Voice signals from MIR can be
|
||
heard near the TV frequency, on a 300 kHz SSB
|
||
subcarrier, but only when
|
||
no TV signals are being relayed.
|
||
|
||
MIR video has also been reported on the Ghorizont at 11 degrees
|
||
West, on 11.525
|
||
GHz.
|
||
|
||
The Molniya satellites are also used for relaying manned space
|
||
voice
|
||
communications.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Amateur Radio on MIR
|
||
|
||
Several MIR cosmonauts have been radio amateurs. In 1988 amateur
|
||
radio stations
|
||
U1MIR, U2MIR, and U3MIR operated on 145.550 and 145.400
|
||
MHz FM. Musa, U2MIR, was
|
||
on the air frequently in 1990 and 1991.
|
||
|
||
Britain's first astronaut, Helen Sharman, spent 8 days on MIR in
|
||
May, 1991. She
|
||
operated the amateur radio station there, under the call
|
||
sign GB1MIR. Contacts
|
||
on 145.55 MHz continued in 1992, and are expected
|
||
to continue in 1993, in both
|
||
FM as U6MIR and packet radio with the
|
||
callsign U6MIR)1. MIR reception reports
|
||
can be sent, along with a self*addressed envelope and USD 1 to 5 to:
|
||
|
||
RV3DR, Sergai Samburov, Space QSL Manager
|
||
P.O. Box 141070, Box 73
|
||
Kaliningrad)10 City
|
||
Moscow Area
|
||
Russia
|
||
|
||
|
||
\H\ II. Military Communications in Space
|
||
|
||
Military communications are usually coded, but occasionally some
|
||
transmissions
|
||
are in the clear. Most military satellites are in geo*stationary orbit. These
|
||
include FLEETSATCOM satellites at 72, 75, 77,
|
||
100, 105, 145, and 177 degrees
|
||
West. These use frequencies in the 240
|
||
to 399 MHz range, as well as around 7, 8,
|
||
19, 20, 30, and 44 GHz.
|
||
|
||
FLEETSATCOM are the most popular satellites for listeners as they
|
||
have some
|
||
unencrypted FM channels. The most active are between 261 and
|
||
263 and between 269
|
||
and 270 MHz.
|
||
|
||
During the Gulf War, monitors reported that American military
|
||
communications in
|
||
the Gulf could be heard from the FLEETSATCOM
|
||
satellite network between 240 and
|
||
270 MHz, with most of the voice
|
||
traffic in the 260 MHz range, and most coded.
|
||
One monitor reported to
|
||
"Popular Communications" American AWACS planes on
|
||
263.825 MHz and Saudi
|
||
forces on 249.325 MHz. Other active frequencies reported
|
||
were 261.825,
|
||
262.200, 262.150, 262.425, and 263.525 MHz. According to
|
||
another
|
||
report, traffic on Fleetsatcom 7 has been heard on 249.125,
|
||
250.350,
|
||
262.300, and 263.825 MHz.
|
||
|
||
Since the shooting down of an American U)2 surveillance plane over
|
||
the then
|
||
Soviet Union in 1960, the United States has developed a
|
||
network of spy
|
||
satellites, some of which monitor radio communications.
|
||
The most recent
|
||
generation known to the public is KH)11, first launched
|
||
in 1976, and the first
|
||
spy satellite to transmit images in real time. A
|
||
new type, called "Advanced
|
||
KH)11" was first put into orbit by the space
|
||
shuttle Discovery in 1989.
|
||
|
||
In order to communicate with ground stations the KH)11 satellites
|
||
use a system
|
||
of satellites in polar orbits. The 14 current satellites
|
||
in this Satellite Data
|
||
System (SDS) seem to use frequencies around 240
|
||
MHz and in the 1700)1900 MHz
|
||
range. As there have been no SDS launches
|
||
since 1988, there is a good
|
||
possibility that the American Tracking and
|
||
Data Relay Satellites (TDRS) are
|
||
taking over the task of relaying data
|
||
from the KH)11 satellites.
|
||
|
||
The next generation of American military satellites is called
|
||
Milstar. Funding
|
||
for 6 Milstars has been approved. They will be the
|
||
most sophisticated
|
||
communications satellites ever designed, putting all
|
||
military communications in
|
||
the same system, making possible
|
||
communications between the various services.
|
||
"Popular Communications"
|
||
says there are 10 assigned positions, but only 2 or 3
|
||
are known to be
|
||
in orbit at this time. Milstars use frequencies around 2, 20,
|
||
and 45
|
||
GHz.
|
||
|
||
The former Soviet satellite tracking network is called SDRN, the
|
||
Satellite Data
|
||
Relay Network. Downlinks are on 10.8, 11.3, and 13.7
|
||
GHz.
|
||
|
||
The Molniya satellites use a highly elliptical orbit that makes it
|
||
possible to
|
||
reach high latitudes out)of)reach of geo)stationary
|
||
satellites (which would be
|
||
too low on the horizon). Molniya 1 uses 800
|
||
MHz and 1 GHz, while Molniya 3
|
||
satellites use 4 and 6 GHz. These carry
|
||
satellite broadcast television as well
|
||
as military and manned space
|
||
voice communications.
|
||
|
||
|
||
\v\ PART V. HORIZONS
|
||
|
||
Space exploration can be expected to continue. The American space
|
||
station
|
||
Freedom is scheduled for launch in the late 1990's. AMSAT and
|
||
the ARRL have
|
||
submitted a formal proposal to NASA for a permanent
|
||
amateur radio station on
|
||
Freedom. The proposal includes downlinks in
|
||
the 145, 435, and 2401 MHz bands.
|
||
Three geostationary satellites would
|
||
be used to relay continuous communications
|
||
from Freedom. AMSAT hopes to
|
||
have its own geostationary satellites in orbit in
|
||
the near future.
|
||
Until then, the system would use the TDRS satellites used for
|
||
shuttle
|
||
communications.
|
||
|
||
Project Oscar has called for an amateur radio repeater on the
|
||
Moon.
|
||
|
||
Farther into the future, it may be possible to monitor
|
||
communications from
|
||
proposed Moon bases, expeditions to Mars, or future
|
||
space colonies in Earth
|
||
orbit.
|
||
|
||
Moving deeper into space, radio astronomy probes the limits of the
|
||
universe on
|
||
wavelengths other than those of light used by conventional
|
||
astronomy. To this
|
||
belongs SETI, the Search for Extra Terrestrial Life.
|
||
The first SETI project was
|
||
carried out by Dr. Frank Drake at the
|
||
National Radio Astronomy Observatory in
|
||
Greenback, West Virginia, in
|
||
1960. He listened to two relatively close stars for
|
||
two weeks on one
|
||
particular frequency.
|
||
|
||
Project META, a SETI project at Harvard University, funded by the
|
||
Planetary
|
||
Society and film director Steven Spielberg (the maker of
|
||
"E.T." and "Close
|
||
Encounters of the Third Kind") is monitoring sweeps
|
||
across the sky on 8.4
|
||
million discrete frequencies. After five years of
|
||
observations, there are 11
|
||
interesting "events" that satisfy all but
|
||
one of the critera for a genuine alien
|
||
signal. As astronomer Carl
|
||
Sagan, President of the Planetary Society, writes in
|
||
"Parade Magazine":
|
||
|
||
"We've never been able to find any of them again. We look back at
|
||
that part of
|
||
the sky three minutes later, there's nothing. We look the
|
||
following
|
||
day))nothing. Examine it a year later, or six years later,
|
||
and still there's
|
||
nothing."
|
||
|
||
NASA started its new SETI program on October 12, 1992, using a
|
||
radio telescope
|
||
in California's Mohave Desert, and another at the
|
||
Arecibo Observatory in Puerto
|
||
Rico. In the first year, 164 strong
|
||
"candidate" signals were found for closer
|
||
examination. Unfortunately,
|
||
in the Fall of 1993, the U.S. Congress, looking to
|
||
reduce the budget
|
||
deficit, cut the USD 10 million dollar a year funding for the
|
||
program.
|
||
|
||
Carl Sagan writes about the effect finding intelligent life on
|
||
other worlds
|
||
could have on us: "The knowledge that such other beings
|
||
exist and that, as the
|
||
evolutionary process requires, they must be very
|
||
different from us would have a
|
||
striking implication: Whatever
|
||
differences divide us down here on Earth are
|
||
trivial compared to the
|
||
differences between any of us and any of them. Maybe
|
||
it's a long shot,
|
||
but discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence might play a
|
||
role in
|
||
unifying our squabbling and divided planet. It would be a rite
|
||
of
|
||
passage for our species, a transforming event in the ancient quest
|
||
to
|
||
discover our place in the universe."
|
||
|
||
\t\ There may be a role in the SETI quest for amateurs. Speaking to
|
||
"Monitoring
|
||
Times", astronomer Kent Cullers of the NASA Ames Research
|
||
Center in California
|
||
says that amateurs could try searching the 1)1.4
|
||
GHz range, because
|
||
"interstellar noise is relatively low there."
|
||
"Monitoring Times" points out that
|
||
antennas are critically important,
|
||
and suggests dishes, quads, and helical
|
||
antennas. A computer can be
|
||
programmed to scan frequencies. If signals are
|
||
passed through a
|
||
digitizer, the computer can break the information into small
|
||
slices and
|
||
can reject certain kinds of local interference.
|
||
|
||
|
||
FOR MORE INFORMATION
|
||
|
||
One way to keep up with the amateur radio satellites is to listen
|
||
to one of the
|
||
AMSAT nets on shortwave. Here are some:
|
||
|
||
International Net))Sundays 19:00 hrs UTC on 14282 kHz
|
||
European Net)))))))Saturdays 10:00 hrs on 14280 kHz
|
||
Asian)Pacific Net))Sundays 11:00 hrs on 14305 kHz
|
||
|
||
AMSAT and its national societies publish newsletters and sell
|
||
computer hardware
|
||
and software for use in monitoring amateur radio
|
||
satellites. The main AMSAT
|
||
address is: Box 27, Washington, DC, 20044,
|
||
USA. AMSAT)UK is at 94 Herongate
|
||
Road, Wanstead Park, London E12 5EQ,
|
||
England. AMSAT)Sweden is at Box 1311, S)600
|
||
43 Norrkoeping, Sweden.
|
||
|
||
There are a number of computer bulletin boards for space
|
||
enthusiasts in the
|
||
United States:
|
||
|
||
1)205)895)0028 NASA BBS
|
||
1)512)852)8194 AMSAT Software Exchange BBS
|
||
1)214)394)7438 Downlink BBS (AMSAT)
|
||
1)214)340)5850 N5ITU BBS
|
||
1)513)427)0674 Celestial RCP/M BBS
|
||
1)904)786)8142 Starship Enterprise BBS
|
||
1)804)743)0559 Astro BBS (amateur astronomy)
|
||
|
||
There are also resourcess on the Internet of interest to space
|
||
enthusiasts,
|
||
such as: NASA News, NASA Spacelink, Shuttle and Satellite
|
||
Images, the NASA/IPAC
|
||
Extra Galactic Database, and news groups such as
|
||
alt.radio.amateur.packet,
|
||
alt.satellite.tv.*, and others.
|
||
|
||
The CompuServe HamNet Forum has a section devoted to amateur radio
|
||
satellites.
|
||
The Consumer Electronics Forum has a TVRO section. There
|
||
are a number of other
|
||
space forums on CompuServe, including a NASA
|
||
section with news from the American
|
||
space agency. CompuServe now has
|
||
local access nodes around the world, especially
|
||
in Western Europe and
|
||
Japan. For more information contact: CompuServe, 5000
|
||
Arlington Centre
|
||
Blvd,. Box 20212, Columbus, OH 43220, USA.
|
||
|
||
The FIDO network contains several conferences about satellite
|
||
television,
|
||
amateur radio satellites, and packet radio.
|
||
|
||
There are several BBS's for WEFAX enthusiasts in Britain. The
|
||
Dartcom BBS
|
||
(0822)88249) is located at a WEFAX equipment supplier. The
|
||
Remote Imaging Group
|
||
operates the RIG BBS (0945)85666) for members.
|
||
|
||
\r\ Two very interesting newsletters about satellite broadcasting are
|
||
available
|
||
over data networks. Both of which were used extensively in
|
||
compiling this
|
||
booklet, and we'd like to thank both for making
|
||
themselves available to us.
|
||
|
||
"SatNews" is huge, so big that the fortnightly uploads have to be
|
||
divided into
|
||
two or three files. There's probably more here about the
|
||
electronics and
|
||
satellite industries than any one person wants, but all
|
||
the important news is
|
||
included. Editor Darren Ingram does a great job,
|
||
but it caters to business
|
||
interests, at business prices. Fortunately
|
||
they offer a special rate to
|
||
non)commercial subscribers: GBP 50 or USD
|
||
100 for one year to an
|
||
Internet)compatible mailbox. If you need this
|
||
kind of information, it's well
|
||
worth it. You can contact SatNews at the
|
||
Internet mailbox
|
||
satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk for more information.
|
||
|
||
"Skyguide" is a short weekly newsletter covering satellite and
|
||
cable
|
||
broadcasting, concentrating on the UK. Fortunately, it's free,
|
||
although
|
||
distribution has been uneven recently. You can find Skyguide
|
||
every week on
|
||
London's CIX conferencing system, in the Skyguide
|
||
conference, the Fidonet
|
||
Satellite TV echo, and the packet radio
|
||
network. Skyguide is now available on
|
||
the Internet in the
|
||
alt.satellite.tv.europe newsgroup.
|
||
|
||
"Dial)a)Shuttle" is a telephone number available during shuttle
|
||
missions, with
|
||
news updates and live relays from the astronauts. The
|
||
number is 1)900)909)6272.
|
||
|
||
Europeans can access interesting, if uneven, rumors and news about
|
||
satellite
|
||
broadcasting from the "In Orbit" teletext pages, on Super
|
||
Channel beginning on
|
||
page 375 and on UK Gold, pages 333 and 334. The
|
||
content of the services vary
|
||
slightly ) Super Channel's version is
|
||
consistently more critical of Astra and
|
||
Sky, while the UK Gold version
|
||
appears (at the moment) to be more neutral.
|
||
|
||
There's a very good source of up-to-date satellite news, most of
|
||
it in German, from a fax polling number in Germany. If you have a fax
|
||
machine, you just dial up the number, and automatically receive pages
|
||
of news. The initial number is +49-89-418-608. Then there are two more
|
||
numbers
|
||
for the different services.
|
||
|
||
99 gets you a list of satellite channels in the S-band, C-band,
|
||
and Ku-band,
|
||
between 66 degrees East and 10 degrees East. 49 gets a
|
||
similar list between 7
|
||
degrees East and 53 degrees West. 97 is for
|
||
satellite programming news, and 98
|
||
for satellite industry news. 94 is
|
||
for satellite data communications news,
|
||
compiled by English by Darren
|
||
Ingram, editor of "Satnews".
|
||
|
||
The World Radio TV Handbook contains a section on World Satellite
|
||
Broadcasts,
|
||
which lists current and some planned geostationary
|
||
broadcast satellites, with
|
||
detailed lists of transponder usage. We made
|
||
extensive use of the WRTH in
|
||
compiling the section on Asian satellites.
|
||
Unfortunately, there are no satellite
|
||
listings in the ordinary section
|
||
of the handbook. If you look up Radio Sweden or
|
||
Swiss Radio
|
||
International, or the BBC in the WRTH, you'll find the
|
||
shortwave
|
||
schedules, but not a word about the satellite relays. The
|
||
only
|
||
indication is a tiny little dish symbol next to the
|
||
appropriate
|
||
broadcaster. These refer to the "World Satellite Broadcasts"
|
||
section.
|
||
|
||
\t\ Nevertheless, you still have to know what you're looking for, and
|
||
it would
|
||
make a lot of sense to include this information under the
|
||
regular listings as
|
||
well. This can get complicated, of course.....where
|
||
do you list information on
|
||
Deutsche Welle's broadcasts on satellites
|
||
over North America, under Germany,
|
||
Canada, or the USA? But there ought
|
||
to be a solution.
|
||
|
||
The World Satellite Annual, compiled by Mark Long, has just about
|
||
everything
|
||
you could possibly want to know about communications
|
||
satellites. It lists all
|
||
the current and many planned satellites in
|
||
geosynchronous orbit, with footprint
|
||
maps and channel tables. There are
|
||
chapters on satellite launch vehicles for the
|
||
1990s, the status of DBS
|
||
in America, updates on Intelsat and Eutelsat, European
|
||
Scrambling
|
||
Systems, and the Satellite News Gathering Revolution. The book
|
||
is
|
||
expensive, at USD 100 plus postage. But for the serious satellite DXer,
|
||
it's
|
||
well worth it. For more information contact MLE Inc., Box 159,
|
||
Winter Beach,
|
||
Florida, 32971, USA.
|
||
|
||
Together with Jeffrey Keating, Mark Long as also written The World
|
||
of Satellite
|
||
Television, a basic guide to installing, operating, and
|
||
maintaining a backyard
|
||
satellite dish antenna. Available for USD 13
|
||
from Quantam Publications, Box 310,
|
||
Mendocino, CA 95460, USA.
|
||
|
||
Communications Satellites, by Larry Van Horn, covers U.S. and
|
||
Soviet manned
|
||
space missions, military, weather, navigational, and
|
||
communications satellites.
|
||
It's available for USD 13. (*)
|
||
|
||
The Hidden Signals on Satellite Television, by Thomas Harrington
|
||
and Bob Cooper
|
||
Jr., goes into detail about SCPC, audio subcarriers,
|
||
teletext, and other
|
||
non)video signals on North American satellites. It
|
||
also covers the equipment
|
||
needed. Available for USD 20. (*)
|
||
|
||
The three books above are the best guides for satellite radio and
|
||
TV DXing.
|
||
Those interested in weather satellites should look into:
|
||
|
||
The New Weather Satellite Handbook by Dr. Ralph Taggart is the
|
||
most
|
||
comprehensive book around about monitoring weather satellites.
|
||
The new 4th
|
||
edition is available for USD 20 from the American Radio
|
||
Relay League, Newington,
|
||
CT, USA, or from Metsat Products, Box 142,
|
||
Mason, MI 48854, USA. (*)
|
||
|
||
AMSAT and the American Radio Relay League have published an
|
||
excellent guide to
|
||
amateur radio satellites called The Satellite
|
||
Experimenter's Handbook. (*) The
|
||
2nd edition is available for USD 20,
|
||
from: AMSAT, Box 27, Washington, DC 20044,
|
||
USA. The later Satellite
|
||
Anthology ought to update the handbook, but it doesn't.
|
||
Instead it
|
||
reprints articles from "QST" magazine, some of which are very
|
||
out)of*date. AMSAT also publishes "Satellite Journal" magazine and
|
||
"Amateur
|
||
Satellite Report".
|
||
|
||
Most of these books are available from a number of sources. Many
|
||
of the ones
|
||
marked (*) should be available from the following: "73
|
||
Magazine", Forest Road,
|
||
Hancock, NH 03449, USA; Grove Enterprises, 140
|
||
Dog Branch Road, Brasstown, NC
|
||
28902, USA; Universal Electronics, 4555
|
||
Groves Road, Suite 3, Columbus, Ohio
|
||
43232, USA); and EEB, 323 Mill St.
|
||
NE, Vienna, VA 22180, USA.
|
||
|
||
Some books of interest to Europeans may be ordered from PW
|
||
Publishing, Enefco
|
||
House, The Quay, Poole, Dorset BH15 1PP, Britain.
|
||
\v\ The best program listing for North American TVRO monitors is
|
||
"Satellite TV
|
||
Week", available for USD 48 a year from Satellite TV
|
||
Week, Box 308, Fortuna, CA
|
||
95540, USA.
|
||
|
||
There are a couple of British monthlies with channel listings and
|
||
satellite
|
||
news, "What Satellite" (57)59 Rochester Place, London NW1
|
||
9JU) and "Satellite TV
|
||
Europe" (5 Riverpark Estate, Berkhamsted HP4
|
||
1HD).
|
||
|
||
"Transponder" is a British newsletter, filled with information
|
||
about satellite
|
||
broadcasting. Published 24 times a year, it's available
|
||
in the UK for GBP 37, in
|
||
Europe for GBP 60, and outside Europe for GBP
|
||
75, from: Transponder, Box 112,
|
||
Crewe Cheshire, CW2 7DS, England.
|
||
|
||
"Satellite Watch Newsletter" is the magazine of the video pirate
|
||
satellite
|
||
underground, people who regard any kind of coding as a
|
||
violation of American
|
||
Constitutional rights. Lots of details on
|
||
descrambler hardware and software. But
|
||
12 issues are available for USD
|
||
35, from: Walker Media Group, 6599 Commerce Ct.
|
||
No. 103, Gainsville, VA
|
||
22065, USA.
|
||
|
||
Radio Netherlands publishes an interesting leaflet called "Weather
|
||
Satellite
|
||
Fact Sheet", as well as "Satellites for the Shortwave
|
||
Listener". Both are
|
||
available for free from: Radio Netherlands, Box
|
||
222, NL)1200 JG Hilversum, the
|
||
Netherlands.
|
||
|
||
The Fall, 1990 edition of "Whole Earth Review" has an excellent
|
||
article by
|
||
Robert Horvitz called "Tabletop Earth)Watch Stations" about
|
||
monitoring WEFAX,
|
||
with the WER's usual good guide to sources. Available
|
||
for USD 7 (more for
|
||
postage abroad) from: Whole Earth Review, Box 38,
|
||
Sausalito, CA 94966, USA.
|
||
|
||
The American magazines "Monitoring Times" and "Popular
|
||
Communications" have
|
||
columns with the latest on North American
|
||
satellite TVRO. "73 Magazine" has a
|
||
column on amateur radio satellites.
|
||
The British sister magazines "Short Wave
|
||
Magazine" and "Practical
|
||
Wireless" cover satellites very well from the European
|
||
perspective. The
|
||
emphasis in the former is on TVRO and WEFAX, in the latter on
|
||
amateur
|
||
radio satellites.
|
||
|
||
If you're into cyberpunk, "Wired" magazine from San Francisco
|
||
covers everything
|
||
from the Internet and Virtual Reality to satellite
|
||
television in Asia and
|
||
special effects on "Star Trek". When he was
|
||
being interviewed for the magazine,
|
||
Arthur C. Clarke took one look at
|
||
it and thought it should have been spelled
|
||
"Weird".
|
||
|
||
For the story of telecommunications, from the first Atlantic cable
|
||
to his own
|
||
original proposal of communications satellites, and up to
|
||
the present, science
|
||
and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke's How
|
||
the World Was One is a
|
||
fascinating read.
|
||
|
||
CNN: The Inside Story by Hank Whitmore is the story of Turner
|
||
Broadcasting's
|
||
early years, published in connection with CNN's 10th
|
||
anniversary in 1990. Since
|
||
it was released by CNN, it's not likely to
|
||
contain anything really negative or
|
||
overly)revealing, but it is a
|
||
fascinating behind)the)scenes look at how the
|
||
satellite TV industry got
|
||
started, and how CNN works. Our only complaint is that
|
||
there's too
|
||
little about CNN International and the network's expansion beyond
|
||
North
|
||
America (which has largely happened after 1990).
|
||
\v\ For information about amateur radio astronomy, you can contact the
|
||
British
|
||
Amateur Radio Astronomy Society, c/o Steven Newberry, 19
|
||
Oakway, Kingsley Park,
|
||
Birkenshaw, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD11 2PG,
|
||
Britain.
|
||
|
||
For more information about the Planetary Society, write to: The
|
||
Planetary
|
||
Society, 65 N. Catalina Ave., Pasadena, CA 91108, USA.
|
||
|
||
Reason not)withstanding, the universe continues unabated, terribly
|
||
huge and
|
||
terribly complicated. "The DXers Guide to the Galaxy", while
|
||
relatively short,
|
||
and undoubtedly filled with much that is wildly
|
||
wrong, out)of)date, or of
|
||
marginal interest, is nevertheless greatly
|
||
inspired by (some might say
|
||
plagiarized from) Douglas Adams and "The
|
||
Hitch)Hikers Guide to the Galaxy".
|
||
|
||
We hope he doesn't mind too much.
|
||
|
||
For more information on this engrossing subject, consult the books
|
||
and
|
||
magazines mentioned above. We did to write this. Repeatedly. Please
|
||
note that
|
||
things change rapidly in this field, numbers to computer
|
||
bulletin boards even
|
||
faster. This is as accurate as we could get it on
|
||
the day it went to the
|
||
printers, in November1993. There were
|
||
undoubtedly mistakes then, stuff left over
|
||
from earlier editions, and
|
||
many changes since. We disclaim all responsibility
|
||
for anything that
|
||
happens due to these mistakes or changes.
|
||
|
||
Should you have any information you would like to pass along, in
|
||
order to
|
||
rectify or update any of these unavoidable errors, you can
|
||
contact Radio
|
||
Sweden's DX Editor George Wood through any of the
|
||
following electronic means:
|
||
|
||
CompuServe Mail 70247,3516
|
||
MCI Mail to the CompuServe address
|
||
Internet 70247.3516@compuserve.com
|
||
Fidonet to George Wood at 2:201/697
|
||
Packet Radio to SM0IIN on the SM0ETV mailbox
|
||
Telefax +468)667)6283
|
||
|
||
In case of electrical failure the mail will also work:
|
||
|
||
Radio Sweden
|
||
S)105 10 Stockholm
|
||
Sweden
|
||
|