From VMSSERV@arecibo.aero.org Mon Mar 29 14:09:58 1993 Received: from arecibo.aero.org by cs.tut.fi with SMTP id AA17699 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Mon, 29 Mar 1993 14:09:52 +0300 Message-Id: <199303291109.AA17699@cs.tut.fi> Date: 29 Mar 93 02:39:00 PST From: "VMSSERV Mail Server" Subject: SCDX2161.TXT To: "rko" Status: OR ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: MediaScan :: :: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS :: :: from Radio Sweden :: :: Number 2161--Sept. 1, 1992 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden. This week's bulletin was written by George Wood. Packet Radio BID SCDX2161 All times UTC unless otherwise noted. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCANDINAVIAN SATELLITE BROADCASTING: NORWEGIAN TV 2--September 5th is going to be a big day in Norway, when TV2, the country's first nationwide commercial television station, goes on the air. Based in Norway's second city, Bergen, TV2 is in fact already testing on the Intelsat 515 satellite at 18 degrees West, at 11.538 GHz. The signals are in D2-MAC, but unfortunately the tests have been using the unusual Eurocrypt S coding system. (Bertil Sundberg in "Elektronikvaerlden") MARCO POLO--So far there are no reports on what is to happen when Norway takes over the Macro Polo 2 satellite. The satellite hasn't begun its move to 1 degree West yet, and is unlikely to do so during September. The satellite is supposed to be in operation from its new location in November. (Bertil Sundberg in "Paa TV") FILM CHANNELS MULTIPLY--Scandinavia's two Astra-based film channels are replicating. TV1000 has started a new channel of older films called "FilmMax". It begins today (September 1st) in Stockholm and expands to Gothenburg and Malm in October. (Scansat) But it seems to be totally cable- based, without any satellite relays. Meanwhile FilmNet is starting a new channel called "FilmNet Plus", with test transmissions this month. (TT) FilmNet was supposed to vacate its extra transponder on Astra, number 23, last month. But it's still there, so it's possible this extra channel may be used for the new "FilmNet Plus". (The same thing is happening with Sky, see below.) ETV--The Stockholm newspaper "Svenska Dagbladet" is starting a business channel called Executive Television, using the Tele-X satellite. Broadcasts every evening for three hours are due to begin at the start of next year. ETV hopes to provide programming to existing outlets, such as Sky News, CNN, and Financial Times TV. ("Svenska Dagbladet" and "Satnews") EUROPEAN SATELLITE BROADCASTING: RTL 2--Astra transponder 32 has been reported activated. Bertil Sundberg speculates in "Electronikvrlden" that the new German RTL 2 may appear there when it starts transmissions on September 26th. (Bertil Sundberg in "Elektronikvaerlden") ASTRA--"Satnews" says a consortium of satellite TV channels is finalizing plans to offer a low-subscription alternative to the British Sky Broadcasting channels. The group includes MTV, Screensport, Lifestyle, Bravo, and CNN. They are also considering a tie-in with the joint BBC/Thames venture UK Gold. "Satnews" UK GOLD--As the British actor's union Equity continues to block plans to launch UK Gold, "SatNews" quotes BBC chiefs who say they are prepared to go it alone by screening old BBC programs without signing a new agreement with Equity. ("Satnews") SKY--Sky has long been reported to be planning some kind of new subscription package for its hitherto free channels, such as Sky News, Sky One and a revamped Comedy Channel. However, "In Orbit" says Sky has confirmed that the Comedy Channel will go off the air at the end of September. It will be replaced by a channel showing older films, called "Movie Gold", or "Sky Movies Gold". Like the Comedy Channel, this will be free to subscribers to either of Sky's two current film channels. ("In Orbit" and James Robinson) INTELSAT-K--The new trans-Atlantic satellite Intelsat-K at 21.5 degrees West didn't make it in time for the Olympics, but Intelsat says it's supposed to go into operation today. There have been test transmissions from Brightstar Washington on 11.332 and 11.558 GHz, and from an American Channel 7 on 11.530 GHz. (Bertil Sundberg in "Elektronikvaerlden") Altogether the satellite carries 16 transponders. The only ones we know about planned to the Americas are from Italy's RAI and Germany's Deutsche Welle. Deusche Welle-TV says it will begin operations in November on Intelsat-K, as well as on an American domestic satellite. (Harald Brinkman on Internet News) NORTH AMERICAN SATELLITE BROADCASTING: GALAXY--An Atlas rocket launched from Cape Canaveral went out of control, and had to be destroyed on August 22nd. With it went Galaxy 1R, which as to have replaced the aging Galaxy 1 satellite at 133 degrees West. That satellite currently carries such services as Home Box Office, the Disney Channel, Showtime, and Cinemax. Fortuately, the satellite was insured. (AP, Reuters) SATCOM--Just over a week after the failed launch of Galaxy 1R, a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral successfully carried Satcom C-4 into orbit Monday. This satellite will replace the current Satcom 4, which is at 82 degrees West. The new, higher-powered satellite will go into operation in two months, and will be placed at 135 degrees West. (AP) GSTAR--Turner Broadcasting has moved off the Gstar 4 satellite, with the Checkout Channel now on Spacenet 1 Ku band and the Airport Channel on Spacenet 2 Ku band. Apparently, Gstar 4 and Gstar 2 are switching positions, with Gstar 4 as the more powerful satellite, basically replacing Gstar 2. (Keith Knipschild and Bill Rood on CompuServe) McDTV--McDonald's has started an McD TV channel, using the SBS 6 satellite on Ku-band channels 4 and 6. (Keith Knipschild on CompuServe) CANADA--the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and a private partner hope to provide Canadian television programs around the world by satellite. The service, which ultimately will provide 18 hours of Canadian programming a day, will start in the US market. (Radio Canada International via BBC Monitoring) ASIA AND THE PACIFIC: MTV--MTV is launching a Japanese DBS service on Superbird. It will begin on October 1st in the clear, but will be scrambled from the beginning of December. ("In Orbit" and "Satnews") ZEE TV--Star-TV has officially announced the launch of its South Asian Channel, called Zee TV, which will start with 3 hours a day on October 2nd, and increase to a 24 hour service within a year. Zee TV will broadcast, presumeably on the Asiasat satellite, on 3980 MHz. (BBC Monitoring) ABC--The Australia Broadcasting Corporation is planning to use one of Indonesia's Palapa satellites for a service to Asia, in competition with Star-TV. Inter Press Service reports there's been a problem, because the ABC hoped to initially broadcast in the clear, switching to a coded subscrioption service after testing the market, while Indonesia was insisting on scrambling from the beginning. (IPS) But the ABC's Managing Director has dismissed the problem, saying that negotiations have been underway with the Indonesian authorities, and confirming that the signals would initially be unscrambled. (BBC Monitoring) SHORT AND MEDIUM WAVE: KUWAIT--Radio Kuwait is increasing the power of its medium wave transmitter on 1341 kHz, from 10 kW to 200 kW. There are also increases planned for the outlets on 540 kHz, which is being boosted first to 600 kW, then to 1600 kW, and on 1134 kHz, also to 600 kW. New 50 kW transmitters are to go on the air on 963 and 1269 kHz. New shortwave transmitters are also planned, presumeably in connection with the new Voice of America transmitter station planned for Kuwait. (BBC Monitoring) TANAZANIA--Radio Tanzania's external service in English has been heard on new frequenices of 5050 and 837 kHz, both formerly used by the national service in Swahili. The schedule is between 03:30 and 19:15 hrs. (BBC Monitoring) UNITED ARAB EMIRATES--UAE Radio in Dubai is now broadcasting in English at 03:30-04:00 hrs to the Americas on 11945, 13675, 15400, and 17890 kHz; to Asia and the Pacific at 05:30-06:00 hrs on 15435, 17830, and 21700 kHz; and to Europe and the Middle East at 10:30-11:10, 13:30-14:00, and 16:00-16:40 hrs on 13675, 15320, 15435, and 21605 kHz. At 16:00 hrs, 11795 kHz replaces 15435. (BBC Monitoring) USA--The Eternal World TV Network, an American satellite-TV broadcaster, is about to launch a shortwave station, to be called WEWN. Here is part of the schedule that begins September 27th: English to North America from 00:00-08:00 hrs on 7540 kHz, 08:00-10:00 hrs and 13:00-16:00 hrs on 9870, and 16:00-00:00 hrs on 13615 kHz. English is also scheduled to South Asia at 01:00 hrs on 9985 kHz, and to East, North, and then South Africa between 13:00 and 20:00 hrs on 21670 kHz. There's English to Western Europe at 08:00-10:00 hrs and 23:00-00:00 hrs on 5825 kHz. There are other broadcasts directed to Europe at 15:00 hrs on 18930 kHz, and 18:00-20:00 hrs on 13710 kHz. Broadcasts in French are at 16:00-18:00 hrs on 18930 kHz and 20:00-22:00 hrs on 7540 kHz. Russian is scheduled at 03:00 hrs on 7520 kHz, followed by Czech and Slovak at 04:00, with Bylorussian at 05:00 hrs on 7465 kHz. Ukrainian is at 03:00 hrs on 5825 kHz, followed at 04:00 by Bulgarian, 05:00 in Lithuanian, and 06:00 hrs in Hungarian. (Michael Batchelor via Internet News) CLUB NEWS: EDXC--The 1992 connference of the European DX Council was held August 21-24 in Tampere, Finland. The EDXC is the organization bringing together clubs for shortwave listeners across Europe, and the annual meetings are a unique chance for listeners and broadcasters to meet. The turn-out was a bit disappointing this time, with some 150 participants, around 50 from abroad. But among them were a number of representatives from Eastern Europe, participating in the EDXC for the first time. There was a DXer from Czechoslovakia, and broadcasters from Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Russia, Romania and Hungary. There were several talks and a panel discussion about the changes in Eastern Europe, including the growth of private broadcasters. Jaroslav Bohac of Czechoslovakia said that when the first contacts among DXers started in the summer of 1975, almost all involved were investigated by the secret police. After November, 1989 everything changed, and today the Czech DX club has 150 members. This year satellite broadcasting made a big appearance at the EDXC meeting. There was a TV set carrying the Astra satellite in the exhibition area, so participants could monitor satellite television themselves. Because Finland is outside the Astra footprint, a 1.8 meter dish was necessary, three times the diameter usually used in Britain, France, and Germany. Broadcaster David Mawby, a long-time resident of Finland, gave a talk illustrating satellite television DXing, and Simon Spanswick of the BBC World Service spoke about "Future Delivery Systems and How They Will Affect Short Wave Broadcasting". The BBC believes that the instability of the 1990's means that the need for international broadcasting will continue. And despite the BBC's increasing use of satellites to bring programming to local rebroadcasters around the world, shortwave will continue, because it is cheap, covers large areas, and is flexible. Simon Spanswick described two coming technical improvements to shortwave transmission. AM-Data System (AM-DS) is very similar to the RDS system of transmitting digital text information along with an FM signal, now in common use in Europe. AM-DS receivers would display station names, as well as alternative frequencies on which the station is transmitting. Listeners will be able to switch to those alternatives by pressing a button. Tests on AM-DS have already been carried out by Deutsche Welle in conjunction with the Institut fur Rundfunk Technik in Munich. Farther in the future is a receiver system called ID Logic. This is being developed by an American company which proposes that whole station schedules could be downloaded to computer chips in special radios, providing perhaps a complete three or six month schedule. The keypad on ID Logic receivers would have the facility to enter the desired language and the nearest city. The set would then automatically select the frequency scheduled to be operational at that time. Even farther ahead is BSS-Sound, digital radio direct from satellites. The World Administrative Radio Conference at the beginning of the year provided international allocations for BSS-Sound. Simon Spanswick said the Eureka DAB system for terrestrial broadcasting proposed by the European Broadcasting Union may be the best technical system for BSS-Sound. The Finnish DX Association, which did an excellent job organizing the meeting, also included a listening room where participants could try out the latest shortwave receivers any time day or night. There was also a computer room, with displays of radio-related software. At the Computer Workshop, Kauto Huopio demonstrated Internet and its newsgroups of interest to radio listeners. I demonstrated CompuServe and interesting areas there, including the HamNet Forum and the Consumer Electronics Forum. For the first time, a special events radio station was on the air during an EDXC conference. Radio World operated on 103.8 MHz, with highlights from the conference, interviews, and conference news. Videos from past EDXC conferences and about DXing were shown over the conference hotel's TV system during the meeting. Next year's EDXC meeting will be held May 28-31 in the Canary Islands, the first time the conference will ever be held outside of continental Europe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweden Calling DXers is the world's oldest radio program for shortwave listeners. Radio Sweden has presented this round-up of radio news, features, and interviews on Tuesdays since 1948. Radio Sweden broadcasts to Europe in English at 20:30-21:30 hrs on medium wave 1179 kHz, as well as shortwave 6065 and 9655 kHz, and via satellite on Astra 1B (19.2 degrees East) channel 26 at 11.597 GHz, audio subcarrier at 7.74 MHz, and on the Tele-X direct broadcast satellite (5 degrees East) at 12.207 GHz, audio subcarrier 7.38 MHz. That program is also broadcast to the Pacific and the Far East on 17730 kHz. We're also relay our half hour program at 12:30 hrs on satellite, otherwise it's being carried to South Asia, the Pacific and the Far East on 15170 and 17740 kHz. The rest of the Radio Sweden English schedule is (half hour programs): To Europe: 22:30 hrs 1179 and 6065 kHz To the Middle East and East Africa: 15:00 hrs on 15270 kHz To Asia/Pacific: 12:30 hrs 15240 and 21625 kHz 01:00 hrs 9685 and 11730 kHz To North America: 15:00 hrs 17870 and 21500 kHz 02:00 hrs 9695 and 11705 kHz Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood by fax to +468-667-6283, from Internet, MCI Mail or CompuServe (to the CompuServe mailbox 70247,3516), through the FidoNet system to 2:201/697 or to SM0IIN at the packet radio BBS SM0ETV. Reports can also be sent to: Radio Sweden S-105 10 Stockholm Sweden Contributions should be NEWS about electronic media--from shortwave to satellites--and not loggings of information already available from sources such as the "World Radio TV Handbook". Clubs and DX publications may reprint material as long as Sweden Calling DXers and the original contributor are acknowledged, with the exception of items from BBC Monitoring, which are copyright. We welcome comments and suggestions about the electronic edition, Sweden Calling DXers, and our programs in general. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to this week's contributors, especially Kauto Huopio Good Listening!